Further to the recent discussion on the origin of the
"Nigger Jim" epithet: at first some of us thought it was from
Paine, then Donna Campbell cited an earlier use in a 1904
review of _Pudd'nhead Wilson_.  This afternoon I discovered a
much earlier use of "Nigger Jim"--so early, in fact, that the
ink on _Huckleberry Finn_ was still wet, so to speak.

     It appears in a review of the Twain-George Washington
Cable performance in Ottawa on 17 February 1885, as part of
their "Twins of Genius" tour.  One of Twain's readings was the
"King Sollermunn" section from chapter 8 of HF, concerning
which the review says:

          In his �Twain'sÙ dreamy, drawling fashion he tells
          his droll story of Huckleberry Finn.  It was in the
          Mississippi valley.  Huckleberry Finn and Nigger Jim
          ran away from the plantation and camped out.  They
          talked about kings one night. . . .

                         "Fun at the Opera House: 'Mark Twain'
                         and Geo. W. Cable Entertain a Large
                         Audience," Ottawa _Free Press_ 18
                         February 1885, p. 4

Why would the reporter have used this epithet?  Is it possible
that Twain used it when he introduced the piece?  In contrast,
when Twain introduced the same piece in Toronto two months
earlier, he was directly quoted as having said:

          It �HFÙ is a sort of continuation or sequel, if you
          please, to a former story of mine, "Tom Sawyer."
          Huck Finn is an outcast, an uneducated, ragged boy,
          son of the town drunkard in a Mississippi River
          village, and he is running away from the brutalities
          of his father, and with him is a negro man, Jim, who
          is fleeing from slavery. . .

                          Toronto _Globe_ 9 December 1884, p. 2

     Hmmm.  It's well known that Twain had apparently planned
to use the n-word as a title for this piece in the printed
theatre programmes, until Cable wisely dissuaded him (see,
e.g., Arlin Turner, _MT and George W. Cable_, p. 47).  Is it
possible that Twain used the epithet in both cities, and that
the Toronto _Globe_ put into Twain's mouth instead "a negro
man, Jim"?  I don't know.  But if Twain didn't use it, either
the Ottawa reviewer originated the phrase, or picked it up
from a yet earlier source.

Regards,

Taylor Roberts
Univ. of British Columbia