Speaking of Twain.  Some of you will know that I now live in the small
mining town of Wallace in north Idaho.  It's a place with lots of history
(see, for a sampling thereof, http://www.roizen.com/ron/Big-Trouble.htm ).


I've been reading May Arkwright Hutton's book, which is a contemporary and
vigorously anti-mine-owners account of the labor troubles that emerged in
this area around the turn of the 20th century (M.A.H., _The Coeur d'Alenes
Or A Tale of the Modern Inquisition in Idaho_, which was originally
published in 1900 and is now available in its entirety as an included
reprint in James W. Montgomery, _Liberated Woman : a life of May Arkwright
Hutton_, Farfield, Washington: Ye Galleon Press, 1985 [originally, 1974].

No (to my knowledge, at least) Twain never visited Wallace.  Hutton's book
offers a cameo of a feller known around here as "Uncle Tonk" however --
real name, Addison Orvando Toncray.  Tonk, according to Hutton, lived in
Murray, a once thriving mining community not too far from Wallace that is
now but a mere shadow of its former self.  Hutton says Tonk went to school
with Clemens and later became the model for Huck Finn.

Hutton tells that Tonk became a besotted alcoholic.  "He was once a bright
man, with a fair educatipon, but drink and other vices had shattered his
intellect so that now he does not keep to a subject two minutes at a time.
In fact, he's a walking temperance lecturer, but he informed Jock that he
had not taken a drink for four months, and said he never would again" (p.
190).  According to this brief picture, Tonk managed to "eke out an
existence doing chores, taking care of gentlemen's offices and running
erands" (p. 190).

Ron


----------
> From: Jon Stephen Miller <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Klapproth and title correction (fwd)
> Date: Monday, October 11, 1999 9:12 AM
>
> Someone might be interested in this.
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Fri, 8 Oct 1999 14:58:32 -0500
> From: Barbara Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Klapproth and title correction
>
> A title correction on the Kelsey citation -- It should be _Drinking with
> Twain_.  Unpaginated; privately published with the author's name as
Laurel
> O'Connor which I believe is a pseudonym for Laurabell Reed Connor.
> Copyrighted by Frank Edward Kelsey in 1936.  The booklet appears to be
> memoirs of Frank Kelsey who signs the booklet at the end.
>
> The book has numerous factual errors (I think!) including giving Twain a
> "half-brother" named H. L. Clemens who lived in Louisville, KY at Center
> and Walnut Street.  "Klaproth" and Twain supposedly visited H. L. Clemens
> and song composer William Shakspeare Hayes during the trip to Kentucky.
>
> Kelsey's background is yet unclear, but I gather that in his later life
he
> might have worked as a company representative for OLD CROW. Is this
memoir
> the only documented basis for the OLD CROW ads as well as the source of
the
> misspelling in the ads??
>
> Unfortunately, there is no mention of Twain's favorite scotch.
>
> As to the SLC to Fuller correspondence on whiskey "mills":
>
> One letter is online at:
>
> http://www.tarleton.edu/~schmidt/19230709.html
>
> The above letter is believed to have been misdated in the news release
and
> probably falls into the category with the following correspondence:
>
> Fuller to SLC, 23 Feb 1880;
> SLC to Fuller, 24 Feb 1880;
> Clinton Furbish to Fuller, 21 Apr 1880;
> SLC to Fuller, 22 Apr 1880
>
> Barb