Hello Folks,

            I just now discovered James Leonard's fine essay on
"Lynching Colonel Sherburn" in The Mark Twain Annual, No. 1.

            After comparing the published version of the Sherburn-Boggs
story, as told by Huck in chapters 21 And 22, with the version of the
story in the rediscovered manuscript, Leonard concludes that Twain both
admired and despised Sherburn's actions.  As the manuscript shows, Twain
could simply have had Sherburn skedaddle away from the lynch mob but
chose to have him face down the mob, instead, ready to kill any who
stepped toward him.
      Leonard's piece has stirred me to read through and around this
bothersome scene, once again.  I have always emphasized Sherburn's
admirable actions in confronting a lynch mob, separating his heroism
from his cold-blooded killing of Boggs.  After all, Twain leaves him
standing alone-high above the rest of humanity with other courageous
souls like Huck, Hank, and No. 44 (and Doangivadam).
     Leonard, however, suggests reading beyond Twain's admiration of
courageous action and into the "context of the discomfort and confusion
Twain must have felt toward the violent solutions to social problems
that he so much deplored but apparently was drawn to."   Such a
suggestion, besides deepening our understanding of Twain's views and
complicating my settled opinions, calls for us to revisit many other
such violent confrontations in Twain's work.  Or am I showing my
ignorance, here?  Has work been done on Twain and violence?

Jason