22? October 1875 • Hartford, Conn. (Hartford Courant, 25 Oct 75, UCCL 01272)
Sir: I lately published in The Courant an article about a person whom I referred to as “Professor A. B.Ⓐemendation”2explanatory note I said that this person called himself a “professor,” without stating what he was a professor of; that he signed one of his documents “Late Candidate for the Legislature” (of Virginia); that in other papers he was the “Hon.” A. B. Likewise, that he professed to be engaged in establishing a normal school for colored people (in Virginia.)Ⓐemendation In my article I intimated that he might be a fraud, &Ⓐemendation suggested that he furnish documents to show that he was not—if he could. If he could show that my suspicions were unjust, I proposed to repair, as well as I could, any damage my article might have done him.
This A. B. is one George Vaughan, a person who seems to have been struggling for the past two years to found the aforesaid colored normal school—if one may judge by the date of the documents which he has sent to me in answer to my prayer for “information.”
To be complete, the information should have stated:
1. The location of the proposed normal school.
2. How much money Mr. Vaughan had collected, & what other progress had been made.
3. Particularly, how the money had been expended, & what reputable person might be written to concerning the matter.
I am sorry, but Mr. Vaughan has wholly overlooked these trifles, & has confined himself to showing that he suffered for his Union sentiments during the war.
In his petitions to the public, in his private letters to me, in his communications to you & your journal, in his supplications for political preferment, he sings but one song, & sings it without ceasing. That song is, He has suffered, he has suffered, he has suffered for his opinions! Chorus—He has suffered, he has suffered, he has suffered for his opinions! Second verse—He has suffered, he has suffered, he has suffered for his opinions! Chorus—same as before.
Before you get very far in his documents & his “endorsements,” you begin to wonder why it is that the “Hon.,”Ⓐemendation “Prof.,” “Late Candidate” Vaughan’s sufferings are so excessively & frantically prominent, & the poor negro & the normal school scarcely mentioned. You begin to imagine that this philanthropist (so “devoted to the cause of freedom”) is in a good deal more of a sweat about George Vaughan & his miseries than about the negro race & their education.
In all his letters Mr. Vaughan keeps before you the fact that he is a poor man, a poor man, a poor man. Secondly—He is a poor man, a poor man, a poor man. Thirdly—He is a poor man, a poor man, a poor man. Postscript—He is a poor man, a poor man, a poor man!Ⓐemendation He flaunts the banner of his poverty in every breeze. His poverty is his most precious boon, apparently. He travels on it, he solicits on it, he revels in it. His poverty is his capital.
But what has his poverty got to do with normal schools & the education of the negro? Is it an argument in favor of the education of the negro? Will it move our sympathy for the negro’s darkened condition when the negro’s darkened condition itself cannot stir us? In truth, Mr. Vaughan rings the changes upon his poverty so anxiously,Ⓐemendation & says so very little about the negro & the school, that one presently begins to fancy that Mr. Vaughan’s cravings are the real thing that money is needed to appease, & that the educational needs of the negro are merely the faint music-box accompaniment to his personal stentorian howl.
Now it is altogether possible that this man has suffered for his opinions, & that he is poor. But these are no sufficient reasons why strangers should entrust money to him to found a normal school with. They are not evidences of character, or of honesty, or of fitness, or of capacity. What the solicitor for a charity has suffered is nothing to the contributor to that charity. Nothing whatever. As an argument in favor of the charity it is simply worthless. Would you feel particularly & especially called upon to contribute to the cause of religion in South Africa because the solicitor was poor & had a broken leg? Why not contribute to him, if that is the main argument he offers?
I have tried hard to get at the rights of Mr. Vaughan’s case. He sends me his “endorsements,” & I have written to his endorsers. I have also written to several persons who would be likely to know something about him & his educational enterprise. Two or three of his endorsers have answered me—the others have not. I will presently refer to this matter again. Meantime, I desire to give Mr. Vaughan a hearing. One can sometimes judge of what manner of man a person is, by the way he talks. The following communication was sent to The Courant by Mr. Vaughan. The editors declined to publish it, but I now beg them to let it appear—just as a favor to me—for these reasons:—It gives some pleasant examples of the grammar, construction, orthography, & punctuation of a person profoundly interested in the subject of education—that is, the education of other people; it teaches how a “professor of elocution” can quote Shakespeare; &, mainly, it shows how a gentle philanthropist expresses himself:—
“information for mark twain.”
Editor of “Courant”
Sir. If notwithstanding I am Poor & comparatively Friendless (yet unterrified) I do not forfeit all right to Justice through the medium of the paper which has wronged me you will not refuse to publish my brief answer to the infamous & cowardly slander occupying half a Column in the Courant of Sept. 29 last.
Otherwise I shall shamefully be compelled to publish and well distribute it in circular form.
This cheap Wit mistaking me for a fool, in seeking to make poverty & suffering a subject of Jest, & attempting to prejudge my case will only be fully appreciated by Knaves & Fools.
Here then is the “Information Wanted”. First—The list of names as shown to Twain is as follows—Hon. Peter Cooper $50. Hon. W. E. Dodge $25. The late Arnold Sturgis $100. The late Judge Underwood $100. W. C. Bryant $25. and many others. SecondⒶemendation. The Proofs of my worthiness (copies of which are enclosed) are from Hon J. G. Blaine. Hon. W. N. Berkley Ex. Mayor of Alex. Va. Hon. J. Hawxhurst. Alex. Va. Ex. U. S. Senator Osborn Florida, Genl. Logan.3explanatory note The late Judge Underwood & many others some of whom have known me for many years as an honest man, & as all the above testimonials (if lame) are from gentlemen I must decline acceptingⒶemendation one from Twain.
Third—I am a “Professor” of Elocution & somewhat a sufferer by presenting to respectable audiences selections from Mark Twain.
Lastly and for the special information of Twain, my parish Register will show that I am not illigitimate Ⓐemendation. It can be proven that when divers friends of Twain, wounded & starving were prisoners of war in Richmond,Ⓐemendation I gladly assisted them, suffering imprisonment for so doing. After the war & because I worked for the cause of Freedom of Equal Rights, my home was burnt down, while myself & wife stood shivering in the snow storm, homeless, friendless & sick.
Honest and humane people will therefore regret that I have been made the subject of a wit thus prostituted & will fail to see where the laugh comes in, & will inquire what recompense is due me. Sir,Ⓐemendation “the times have been that when the brains were out the man would die & there an end,Ⓐemendation it is not so now”4explanatory note—as witness Twain who advertises the Providence Journal as a Village Newspaper. To the honourable citizens of Hartford on whom I called this explanation is sufficient, & when (in the time rapidly approaching) the genuine Vagrants, Parasites & Frauds now subsisting upon the Industrious are investigated the man of bastard wit will perhaps find active employment nearer home. NEXT!
yours &cⒶemendation Geo. Vaughan
of Virginia.
If space permits please add the following.
Washington D. C. Jany 14
/71.
“To the Secretary of State
The bearer of this note has been known to me for some time as a most estimable & worthy man devoted to the Union in Virginia at the risk of life & the loss of property. He desiresⒶemendation to be made a bearer of Dispatches to London, & I have no hesitation in commending him to you as entirely trustworthy.
very Respy. your Obt. servant
J. G. Blaine.”
Very well. Let us hear from Speaker Blaine once more. I will give an extract or two from his letter to me:—
“I have no recollection of endorsing Mr. Vaughan so gushingly. I should wish to see the original before admitting all the counts in the indictment. * * * He fastened on me as his last and only hope; loaded me down with letters of introduction, certificates of character, etc. * * * My real convictions are that Vaughan, in all his pitiful poverty, belongs to that innumerable caravan of ‘dead beats’ whose headquarters are at Washington.”
Pray what becomes of Mr. Blaine’s long knowledge of Prof. Vaughan as a “most estimable &Ⓐemendation worthy man” now?—“entirely trust-worthy,” etc. In truth, Mr. Blaine knows nothing about him, &Ⓐemendation admits it.
The only other “endorsement” that is worth anything, comes from a gentleman who is not now living—the late Judge Underwood.
“Endorsement” No. 3 is from the mayor of Alexandria. He says he doesn’t know Mr. Vaughan at all, but knows Judge Underwood—& on that ground he recommends the school as a worthy enterprise. But he ventures no endorsement of Vaughan himself.
“Endorsement” No. 4 is from Mr. John HawxshurstⒶemendation, who simply says he knew Vaughan for a number years as an “earnest republican, who gave much time to the cause in the early formation in this state.” In a private letter, dated 17th inst., Mr. Hawxshurst says he “refused” to endorse Vaughan’s school enterprise because he “doubted Vaughan’s fitness for it.”
Judge Underwood testified that Vaughan had been “an earnest & devoted friend of freedom & thoroughly interested in the elevation & education of the negro”—but Judge Underwood (unlike Mr. Blaine) is no longer here to say whether that endorsement still holds the language it originally held or not. But let us consent that Judge Underwood’s words have not been tampered with,—they are still no “endorsement” in the just sense of the word, for he does not say that Vaughan is fit, worthy, honest—or anything else that is relevant. He “cheerfully recommends him to the public,” & asks the public to give him “its sympathy & support.” On what grounds? One might as well ask the public to put an unknown landsman in command of the fleet, merely because he was a “devoted friend” of navigation, & “thoroughly interested in the maritime education” of sailors.
In a word, no endorser has furnished Mr. Vaughan with an endorsement which is worth the paper it is written on—except Mr. Blaine, & he confesses that he doesn’t know the man.
Mr. Marshall, of the Hampton Normal Institute (colored), says, “We know no person by the name of George Vaughan.”5explanatory note
In a letter to me, dated the 12th inst., the Virginian Superintendent of Public Instruction says: “I know of no George Vaughan.”6explanatory note
In my former article I called Mr. Vaughan’s endorsements “lame.” They still have a sort of crippled look to me. Nevertheless, if he will furnish me some more endorsers I will go on patiently searching his record & trying to establish his worthiness to interest himself in normal schools & tax strangers for their development.
In one of his letters to me, Mr. Vaughan adds another title to his already oppressive string of dignities. He signs himself “Author.” Author of what?7explanatory note Allow me, Mr. Editor, to insert here his letter to you, merely as a specimen of this new author’s style. The public are always interested in fresh literature. The “Hon.,” “Prof.,” “Late Candidate,” “Author,” George Vaughan, addresses his envelop thus:—
The italics are Mr. Vaughan’s. Within the envelop was this:—
Mr. Editor, I am making all this pow-wow over Mr. Vaughan because it seems necessary—not because I like such employment. I willingly confess, too, that to devote so much of your important space to this person is a good deal like assaulting an animalcule with brickbatsⒶemendation.9explanatory note
Since this letter was published on a Monday, it is likely that Clemens wrote it on Friday, 22 October, give or take a day.
The summary of known “endorsers” is as follows. The only addressees to whom Clemens’s letters have been found were Underwood and Blaine (7 Oct 75, 11 Oct 75). Clemens expressed his intention to contact Peter Cooper, William Dodge, W. C. Bryant, Austin Dunham, and Arnold, Constable and Company (27? Sept 75 to the editor of the Courant click to open link), but there is no evidence that any of them answered. Later in this letter Clemens quoted replies from William Berkley, John Hawxhurst, the Hampton Institute (that is, James Marshall, perhaps writing for Samuel Armstrong: see note 5), and William Ruffner (see note 6). The “late Arnold Sturgis” has not been identified. There is no indication that Clemens wrote to Thomas Osborn or John Logan. Among those not previously identified: William N. Berkley (1815?–97) was twice mayor of Alexandria, Virginia (1868–69, 1872–74). John Hawxhurst (d. 1881) was the son of a Quaker minister on Long Island. In 1846 he and his brother settled in Fairfax County, Virginia, where they ran a flour mill. As a prominent Union supporter during the Civil War, he proposed the emancipation and enfranchisement of slaves and free education for black children, and as a state legislator after the war, he again supported free schools and promoted a progressive tax system. Thomas Ward Osborn (1836–98) was born in New Jersey and became a lawyer in 1861. During the Civil War he attained the rank of colonel in the Union army, and from 1868 to 1873 served as a Republican senator from Florida. John Alexander Logan (1826–86) was born in Illinois and earned a law degree from the University of Louisville in 1851. As a major-general of volunteers he commanded the Army of the Tennessee during the Civil War, and served as a Democratic congressman in 1859–62 and 1867–71 before being elected to the Senate, where he remained (except for one year, 1878) until his death (T. Michael Miller, 35, 37, 122; Worrall, 442–46; Leonard, 489–99; “Died,” Alexandria [Va.] Gazette, 18 Apr 81, 21 June 97; information courtesy of the Lloyd House Library of Virginia History and Genealogy).
From Macbeth, act 3, scene 4. The last phrase, “it is not so now,” should be “but now they rise again.”
James Fowle Baldwin Marshall (1818–91) of Massachusetts engaged in business in the Sandwich Islands as a young man, and it was there that he met Samuel Armstrong, the founder of the Hampton Institute. After working as the paymaster general of Massachusetts troops and an agent of the Sanitary Commission during the Civil War, he joined Armstrong at Hampton, where from 1870 to 1884 he was a trustee, assistant principal, instructor, and treasurer (Peabody, 104–5).
William Henry Ruffner (1824–1908), a Protestant minister, was elected as Virginia’s first superintendent of public instruction in 1870, and served as a state-appointed curator of the Hampton Institute from 1873 to 1877. He was the author of Proposed Abolition of Slavery in West Virginia (Lexington, W.Va.: R. C. Noel, 1847) and Africa’s Redemption: A Discourse on African Colonization in Its Missionary Aspects (Philadelphia: W. S. Martien, 1852) (Moger, 13, 239–40; Peabody, 349).
Vaughan later wrote Progressive Religious, and Social Poems. By Geo. Vaughan, of Virginia (1880) and New Radical and Social Poems (1883).
The Courant had remarked editorially on 29 September (2):
“Mark Twain,” in a letter in another column, relates his experience with a “Professor” of the begging art, and offers a solicitor for a southern educational project a first rate opportunity to prove the merits of his cause. Those who have met the “professor” will enjoy the letter, as well as those who have not had an opportunity to make his acquaintance.
A postcard of 16 March 1876 is Vaughan’s only surviving manuscript response to Clemens’s “pow-wow.” Directing his remarks to “Arthur Clements (Mark Twain),” Vaughan wrote (CU-MARK):
Do not suppose I have forgotten you, or your past conduct toward me. It is being daily demonstrated that—not the ragged & the poor—but the rich & influential are the genuine rascals. You took advantage of a poor but honest man, & like a genuine coward dealt him a blow through a disreputable Journal, which absolutely refused to allow the assailed a chance to reply. I find you are not by any means considered a Gentleman even in Conn. & there is a glimmering of the ludicrous in the fact that you thought I was an ignorant man, easily scared. You are a liar a Coward & a rascal, & as such I will leave your conduct to its sure reward.
George Vaughan.
“‘Information’ from ‘Professor A. B.,’” Hartford Courant, 25 Oct 75, 2. Copy-text is a microfilm edition of the newspaper in the Newspaper and Microcopy Division, University of California, Berkeley (CU-NEWS). In the texts of Vaughan’s letters (which Clemens presumably interleaved with his MS rather than recopying them), the errors deemed actual misspellings have been retained, while those that were probably typographical errors have been emended.
L6 , 563–570.