Scott -- a couple of things to consider -- the two letters catalogued by
MTP described as from Lafayette or en route from Lafayette may have been
written on the same date or several hours apart but misdated or mailed
separately.  I have found no convincing evidence that Clemens and Cable
lectured in Lafayette. They may have and the news accounts of it just have
not surfaced.

Yes, there is that interview in Scharnhorst (#37) from the Lafayette
COURIER newspaper.  Footnote 1 indicates a paragraph has been omitted
because it appeared in an earlier interview. The question that arises for
me — Was this an authentic interview or a reporter’s spoof or hoax with
Clemens quoting poetry, drinking beer, and commenting on the mayor and tax
issues in Lafayette?   To nail down whether the Lafayette interview is
authentic and if Clemens and Cable did lecture there, it would help to take
a look at issues of that paper for the week before and after the interview
was published to see if any lectures were advertised or reported.

Barb

On Tue, Aug 8, 2023 at 10:31 AM Scott Holmes <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> While tracking the trains between Fort Wayne, Lafayette, and
> Indianapolis, I became confused over the Day  By Day entries for
> February 6 and 7.  It appears that both "Chronology of Known Mark Twain
> Speeches,..." and "Touring with Cable and Huck" missed the Lafayette
> Lecture on February 6th of 1885.  Gary Scharnhorst did not.  What caused
> me to stumble was the February 6th DBD entry that goes on to describe
> the February 7th lecture in Indianapolis and then the February 7th entry
> that notes Sam had to get up a 7am to take the train to Indianapolis.
> Why would he need to do that if he was already in Indianapolis?
>
> --
> /Unaffiliated Geographer and Twain aficionado/
>