July 21 Friday – Robert G. Ingersoll died in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. of congestive heart failure, age 65. Sam admired Ingersoll, called the “Great Agnostic” for views Sam couldn’t publicly take himself. Audio recordings Ingersoll made at Edison’s Menlo Park laboratory survive and are accessible online. See Sam’s letter of Nov. 12 to Eva L. Farrell, Ingersoll’s niece. Also, Schwartz’s May 1976 article, “Mark Twain and Robert Ingersoll: The Freethought Connection” in American Literature Vol. 48, No. 2, p. 183-93