Well, it occurs to me that Artemus Ward might have written that in jest.
I've done this kind of thing a few times myself, & now I shiver to think
what some future biographer might make of that!

Ward, de Quille, and according to this theory, any other male in the
vicinity may be added to the union catalog of SLC's possible liaisons.
Bisexual I can take, but *bigamist*? Oh, it's the James Fenimore Cooper
papers for me, now.

The above evidence - er, 'evidence' - seems quite tame. Well, someone got
a paper out of it, so it did someone some good.

You know, if each of us here on the Mark Twain Forum drew up a treatment
of each male citizen's possible dalliances with the great Samuel Clemens
in his western years, we could keep ourselves in publication indefinitely.
What an academic goldmine!

The operative word being "academic".

I and my net colleagues have been asked if we are 'convinced', several
times.
I'm still not sure if the inquirer is being sarcastic or not (though I
thank him for posting the sources & such to the net, and promptly).

Robert Dagnall