To John C. Underwood
7 October 1875 • Hartford, Conn.
(MS: CU-MARK, UCCL 01269)

Dr Sir:

The person I have called Prof. A. B., in the enclosed article,2 is a Mr. George Vaughan. He sends me a certified copy of the following endorsement:—dated Sep. 10, 1873.

“The bearer, Mr. Geo. Vaughan has been an earnest & devoted friend of freedom in this s State, & thoroughly interested in the cause of the education & elevation of our lately emancipated fellow citizens. He has determined to raise funds, if possible, to establish a Normal school in Virginia for this purpose, & to go among the [foriends] of the colored people for aid. I cheerfully recommend him to the public & to the abolitionists & philanthropists of my acquaintance to give him their influence & support.”

“John C. Underwood.”

If I have wronged this stranger, I wish to right him. Therefore will you kindly tell me whether you wrote that endorsement or not?—& if you did, do has nothing [since] occurred to change your opinion of Mr. Vaughan?

With many apologies for troubling you, I am

Dr Sir

Truly Yrs

Sam ℓ. L. Clemens
Mark Twain

P. O. Address, Hartford, Conn

Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary

Editorial Signs

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1 John Curtiss Underwood (b. 1809) was a district court judge and an advocate for the rights of African-Americans in Virginia. In 1866 he presided over the grand jury that indicted Jefferson Davis for treason. He also was president of the state constitutional convention of 1867–68, which drew up a constitution in conformity with the Reconstruction acts of March 1867. Underwood was dead (since December 1873), as Clemens soon realized (11 Oct 75 to Blaine; 22? Oct 75 to the editor of the Hartford Courant).

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2 Clemens’s letter of 27? Sept 75 to the editor of the Hartford Courant.

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

MS, Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley (CU-MARK).

Previous publication: L6, 550–551.

Provenance:see Tufts Collection in Description of Provenance.

Emendations and textual notes:

foriends • [‘o’ partly formed; doubtful]

since • since since [corrected miswriting]