In addition to the Watterson connection to the Lincoln fund raisers that
Andy Hoffman mentions, SLC had been allied with two other board fund
raisers:

District Attorney Jerome - who SLC had supported with a signed endorsement
for reelection during a previous political campaign.

and

Joseph H. Choate who SLC had shared the stage with in Carnegie Hall the
previous January (1906) along with Booker T. Washington in an attempt
to raise $1,800,000 for the Tuskegee Institute, a leading southern Negro
educational institution.  Twain's speech at this event is reprinted in
Fatout's _Mark Twain Speaking_.  However, a better appreciation of the
the scope of the commitment at this event is gained from reading the news
report of New York Times, Jan. 23, 1906.

Barb