Bob,

Don't the "two conflicting events" disappear when you see that the letter
to Clagett is written on 9* September,* not October? And as for the
Petrified Man pub date, two reprinting papers (Sac Union and Auburn Placer
Herald) attribute it to the Enterprise of the 4th.

RHH

On Sat, Sep 20, 2014 at 5:55 PM, Robert E Stewart <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Without question, Mark Twain took full credit for creation of the Petrified
>  Man tale.
> ( http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/1523/  )
> It was written, he says, when he was reporting for the Territorial
> Enterprise, presumably (and this is the heart of my quandary) having
> arrived in
> Virginia City and assumed the post.
>
> Two conflicting events occurred on Thursday, October 9, 1862.
>
> First: the Sacramento Daily Union printed an article titled "A Petrified
> Man," quoting the Territorial Enterprise as the source, and telling briefly
> of  the discovery of the petrified man, and the fact that "Judge S--" would
> not let  the people blast him loose for burial. The Union was a morning
> paper, the  Enterprise article had to have appeared no later than the Oct.
> 8
> issue to reach  Sacramento the afternoon of the 8th, for inclusion in the
> next
> morning's paper.  (Online at cdnc.ucr.edu/ Sacramento Daily Union, 9
> October
> 1862, page 2,  col. 5, "A Petrified Man."
>
> Second: In the Mark Twain Letters at the Twain Project in The Bancroft,
> there is a letter (MS ViU, UCCL 00059 ) datelined Aurora, October 9,
> written
> to  Billy Clagett and signed "Sam L.C." The envelope is damaged, and no
> date
> of  cancellation is extant. There is no mention in it of the petrified man,
> although  Billy lived in the Humboldt district, where "Judge S--" held
> court.
>
> To add to the confusion: It is highly possible Clemens left Aurora for
> Carson and Virginia cities with Frank Fuller, who he first met in Aurora
> and
> about whose travel there is some question of timing. But it was in Aurora
> that Fuller met Sam Clemens in late September. He had left by September 27,
> because in Aurora Col. Saml Youngs received a letter from Fuller  on
> September 27, and mailed a response the next day.
>
>
> I did not find a discussion of this conflict of dates and  locations in the
> Archives of the Forum. Has anyone done any  exploration of this time frame
> in Sam Clemens' life?
>
> Bob Stewart
> Carson City NV
>