A colleague is editing a translation of French critic Henri
Gauthier-Villars's  1884 book on Mark Twain. Gauthier-Villars cites an
incident from Baltimore history regarding a character known as McPherson.
The translation reads:

"An amusing story from _Scenes de la vie aux Etats Unis_ [_Scenes of Life
in the United States_] tells of Alexander McPherson, a journalist in
Baltimore who hired a seven foot tall giant to sit in front of his office
at the Baltimore _COURIER and ENQUIRER_. The giant was supposed to defend
the paper from people who were not pleased with what the paper published.
McPherson had become so fed up with the attacks he had suffered that he
resorted to keeping this bodyguard at his office. This giant's name was
John Potter and it was said that he split the skull of Wisconsin native
George Sutter and smashed the jaw of Carolina native Charles Bowie."

Mark Twain may have mentioned this same McPherson in a poem titled
"Charade" which was part of a letter published in the _Chicago Republican_
newspaper May 19, 1868:

They hope some friend with hob-nailed boot
Inclosing an almighty foot
(Like that of grim McPherson)

Gale's _Plots and Characters in the Works of Mark Twain_ (p. 1036)
identifies this McPherson only as "a big creature in the poem which Twain
writes..."

The following year (1869) Mark Twain wrote "Journalism in Tennessee" about
some violent editors down South and Gauthier-Villars suggests it may have
been inspired by the tale of McPherson and his violent employee.

I have not been able to locate any edition of _Scenes de la vie aux Etats
Unis_ by any author (it may have been a French publication or a translation
of one written in English) that contains any mention of McPherson.  Any
light anyone could shed upon the tale of McPherson and his bodyguard --
whether fact or fiction -- would be much appreciated.

Barb