‸149 Asylum street‸
Hartford, Conn. 17th.
Click to add citation to My Citations.
‸
‸
Horace Greeley Esq
Dear
Sir:
I am here putting my new book on California &c., to press., & find that in it I have said in positive words that the famous episode Hank Monk anecdote has no truth in it refers to an episode which never occurred. 1
I got this from a newspaper editor, who said he got it from you.2 I never knew of his telling a lie—but to make sure & will you please endorse his statement if you can—or deny it if you must?‸—so that I can leave my remark as it is; or change it if truth requires.‸ 3
Ys Truly,
Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary
Click to add citation to My Citations. 1
Clemens had probably reached chapter 20 in the Roughing
It proofs. In that chapter he repeated the famous anecdote
about the hair-raising ride that Hank Monk gave Greeley in the
stagecoach between Carson City, Nevada, and Placerville, California. In
a footnote at the end of the chapter Clemens reported that the incident
“never occurred” (RI 1993, 131–32, 136n, 866).
Click to add citation to My Citations. 2
In 1869 Joseph Goodman had delivered to Greeley in New York a request
from Monk for a railroad pass east “in memory of their
celebrated mountain ride,” only to have Greeley exclaim:
“‘Damn him! that fellow has done me more harm than
any man in America! . . . there was not a damned word of truth in the
whole story!’” (Joseph T. Goodman 1872; RI 1993, 611). Goodman had probably told this story to Clemens when he
read chapter 20 in manuscript (18 Apr 71 to OC, n.
2; RI 1993, 866).
Source text(s):MS, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations (NN).
Previous publication:
L4, 445–446.
Provenance:Before the MS was acquired by NN, it was in the collection of businessman and
patron of the arts Gordon Lester Ford (1823–91).
Emendations and textual notes:
S • [partly formed]
