She was beat to the punch by Ida Belle White in 1915. Ida Belle published SPIRITS DO RETURN, and claimed Twain assisted her with her book. It's even scarcer than JAP HERRON. In 1916 Hutchings contacted Harper Brothers, perhaps inspired as much by Ida Belle as by Twain, but ended up with Mitchell Kennedy. There's some unintentionally hilarious research into all of this by James Hyslop who published a book and at least one magazine article about it in 1919. Twain stayed dead until 1968 when he visited another midwestern lady whose daughter had recently died, but so far as I know he's stayed dead ever since. Kevin @ Mac Donnell Rare Books 9307 Glenlake Drive Austin TX 78730 512-345-4139 Member: ABAA, ILAB ************************* You may browse our books at: www.macdonnellrarebooks.com -----Original Message----- From: K. Patrick Ober Sent: Wednesday, March 02, 2016 4:20 PM To: [log in to unmask] ; [log in to unmask] ; [log in to unmask] Subject: FW: How Mark Twain’s ghost almost set off the copyright battle of the century | Fusion This was just forwarded by a medical school classmate. You likely know all of the details of this already [I have a vague recollection about hearing about it once], but this struck me as a well-written story worth passing on to people who appreciate odd tales from beyond the grave. Pat -----Original Message----- From: Steven DeKosky [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Wednesday, March 02, 2016 4:43 PM To: K. Patrick Ober Subject: How Mark Twain’s ghost almost set off the copyright battle of the century | Fusion http://fusion.net/story/274974/mark-twains-seance-novel-jap-herron/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=fusion8&utm_content=5&utm_term=fusion-newsletter-275544