I am afraid I may have had part in this departure from the point of the forum, and for that my humble apologies. In begging pardon of all, I offer a bit of a biosketch on one of Sam Clemens' friends after arrival in Carson City, John Kinney. I had wondered what was behind John Kinney of Cincinnati accompanying George Turner of Portsmouth, Ohio, 200 miles upriver from Cincinnati, on the stagecoach trip from St. Joe to Carson City. Turner was Lincoln's appointee as Chief Justice of Nevada Territory. John and Sam apparently became friends quickly. Perhaps because Sam and his brother Orion knew George Turner's sister, the socialite wife of a prominent attorney in Keokuk, Iowa. It was a small world in those days. It turns out the fathers of George Turner and John Kinney were both significant men and doubtless friends in Portsmouth, and that Johnny was born there. Eli Kinney was a banker, with several banks along the Ohio River, the largest being located in Cincinnati. It was three blocks from the printshop where Sam Clemens worked one winter, though I doubt Sam had need of a bank at the time. Eli Kinney's home, the house where John was born, is now the county museum in Portsmouth. So although there was a pretty good age spread between George and John, there was family friendship. In Nevada, John went down to the new mining camp of Aurora and purchased mining claims for George. Then after a few months rusticating in the new territory, John returned home--by ship. John Kinney, born in 1839, died in 1879, apparently of Yellow Fever in Memphis, during the second year of a malaria outbreak. Bob Stewart Another retired guy. In a message dated 7/31/2012 12:04:50 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes: I would add a hearty amen to Professor Cosgrove's complaint about = commercial self-promotion becoming far too common on the Twain list = serve. Alas, this is not the only such forum being so infected. But = what can one expect? Tawdry times beget tawdry behavior. Or perhaps = Professor Cosgrove and myself are sadly infected with "emerititus," = being now old codgers sniffing disdainfully at the "brave" new world we = find ourselves in. Or would that be "dinosauritis"? Whatever, I do = miss the sprightly exchanges which have so enlivened the forum. Perhaps = the list's monitors need to pay closer heed to what is being posted. dennis eddings One of those emeritus guys=