In _Selected Letters of P.T. Barnum_, (Columbia Univ. Press, 1983)
A. H. Saxon states that Twain's "A Curious Pleasure Excursion"
actually appeared in print in the New York Sun first and that
the story was reprinted in the New York Herald.

According to Twain's own text in the first edition of _Sketches New and
Old_, the New York Herald version of 1874 was used in that book.

The University of Califonia Press' _Early Tales & Sketches, Vol. 1_
states the sketch appeared in the New York Tribune on July 6, 1874.

Is there a verified chronology of when this story actually did
appear in the various New York newspapers?


Barb