I think “Stiggers” appears first in the ALTA columns in 1864. Most of the
newspapers are online at California Digital Newspaper Collections.

https://cdnc.ucr.edu/

By 1865, he is referred to (by Evans writing as Fitz Smythe) as “Stiggers
alias Fitz Smythe” — see the April 6, 1865 issue. These newspapers can be
sorted by oldest issue first and that helps with the chronology.

Barb

On Wednesday, January 19, 2022, Sarah Elizabeth Fredericks <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Would anyone who has worked directly with issues of the San Francisco _Alta
> California_ clarify the origins of "Armand Leonidas Stiggers" and "Fitz
> Smythe," the two comic personas of Mark Twain's rival Albert S. Evans.
> Namely, were these two separate characters, and if so, which came first?
>
> Sources across Mark Twain studies seem to disagree.
>
> In _Clemens of the Call_, Branch reports: "Evans became doubly vulnerable
> when he invented the satiric character Armand Leonidas Stiggers early in
> 1864. Stiggers, who was presented as Fitz Smythe's assistant on the Alta,
> was part dandy and part bohemian" (p. 82).
>
> However, in vol. 2 of _Early Tales and Sketches_, Branch and Hirst explain:
> "To this end [Evans] had invented, in 1864, the character Armand Leonidas
> Stiggers--a dandified bohemian who loafed about the Alta office, where he
> was not wanted. Stiggers (whose surname Evans later changed to "Fitz
> Smythe") was portrayed as a bungler..."  (p. 336).
>
> Subsequent secondary criticism seems to alternate between these two
> explanations, with some even claiming that it was Twain who combined the
> two characters.
>
> Is this simply a case of an error in _Clemens of the Call_ being
> perpetuated in later scholarship?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> Sarah
>
> Sarah Fredericks
> [log in to unmask]
>