Thanks to Bob Hirst for clearing up the confusion caused by
Margalit Fox's Feb. 15, 1998 article in the New York Times titled
"Rights of Writers Were Lifelong Mark Twain Obsession."

A check of _Mark Twain's Letters to Henry H. Rogers_, (Univ. Cal. Press,
1969) shows that Twain mentioned the manuscript "The Great Republic's
Peanut Stand" in several letters; in addition the manuscript is referenced
as to file location at MTP in the reference notes.  Combining the
H. H. Rogers letters with the Harper letter reprinted by Cyril Clemens
indicates the manuscript was far from "unmentioned" by Twain
or Twain scholarship.

Somewhat surprising are the quotes in the New York Times article that
Fox attributed to today's Twain scholars regarding the significance of
the new "discovery."

Any theories as to why the New York Times apparently opted to ignore
past research and spin a puff instead?

Barb