August 15 Monday – Sam wrote a short note from Hartford to Benjamin H. Ticknor, agreeing with Ticknor’s processing an engraving cut down to the required reduction. Sam would wait for Chapter 1 of P&P to evaluate the book fully illustrated consecutively [MTP].

Sam received a letter dated Aug. 15 from Major John B. Downing (1834-1914) of Middleport, Ohio, who had been a pilot on the Mississippi. Downing related a story about how Sam got his nom de plume; he wanted Sam to confirm it.

Schmidt writes:

“Known as Major Jack Downing and sometimes “Alligator Jack,” Downing was born in Rutland, Meigs County, Ohio. He was a pilot for twenty-seven years on the Mississippi. Downing, an accomplished violinist, toured with a minstrel company when the Civil War disrupted river traffic. Norwegian violinist ‘Ole Bull’ (Bornemann Bull) claimed Downing was the best amateur violinist he had ever heard.”

Downing wrote that Bart Bowen had recalled a version of how Sam got the name Mark Twain, one that varied from Paine’s biography [MTNJ 2: 398n144].