Your question assumes Susan Crane had  something to do with coaxing or
persuading Sam to listen to Mary Ann Cord's  story, told to Sam and others
at Quarry
Farm. Remember, Sam and Livy stayed with  the Cranes during the summer of
1874. Here's an entry from my WIP, "Mark Twain  Day-By-Day":
1874- September 2nd Wednesday - Sam wrote  from Elmira to William Dean
Howells, who had telegraphed Sam that day to send on  a manuscript for
consideration
in the Atlantic Monthly. In late June or early  July on one of Sam's visits
to New York, he had related the story of Mary Ann  "Auntie" Cord, a former
slave who was the Crane's cook at Quarry Farm, to John  Hay and William
Seaver.
Cord had lost her husband and 7 children when the family  was broken up for
sale
around 1852. Some 13 years later her eldest son, Henry,  was found and
reunited with his mother. Mary Ann told Sam the story of her  slavery,
seperation
and reunion. Upon Hay's urging, Sam wrote up the story and  submitted it
along
with the "Fable for Old Boys & Girls" to Howells at the  Atlantic Monthly.
"Fable" was rejected but "A True Story, Repeated Word for Word  as I Heard
It,"
appeared in the November 1874 issue. This was Sam's first  appearance in the
highly respected literary magazine.  [1f,p217-220]

David H  Fears