Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1867-09-14
pLAG1AR1sr AND ARrFuL DoDGER.
the stockton Gazette.l

From the Stockton Gazette.l
We find the following in the San
Francisco Daily Tme,:
mark Twain" is "doing" the Holy
Land, and writing letters thereon,
which the Alta copyrights. We must
confess to experiencing some doubts as
to his originality when we are told that
his famous story, "The Jumping Frog
of Calaveras," wal really written by
Sam S%eabough, now of the Sacramento.
Union, and by "Mask' appropriated for
his own.
A more arrant, open and unblushiug
plagiarist than Mark Twain never PEN
ed q line. He is at best q poor imita-
tor of one OF. the worst models of Amer
lean wit and humor that has attained a
worldwide celebrityl-poor Artemus
Ward, whose genial, social nature,
made his reputation and eventually
caused his death-and Artemus took as
his model K. N. Pepper of the New
York Rniekerboeker mot Edward, whom
he immortalized because he was OBJ
livious to his own name when Ar
temus arrived IN Virginia City,
Mark not only adopted the style, manner
and ideas of Artemus, but appropriated
whole articles which he altered and
adopted and palmed off as his own. He
would occasionally get off an original
and good thing, such as his version OF
Ananias and Sapphire, and Baron Num-
chausen, which he applied to his warm
friend, Fitz Smyths, of the Alta Catyor-
mia. This was drawn out by a state
ment Of Fitz'si in one Of his San Fran
cisco letters to the Gold Hill News, that
Sam Clemens took his nom de plume from
his custom of getting credit for. his
drinks, the first score being mark one
and the second "Mark Twain
That "Jim Smiley'si Jumping Frog OF
C%alaveras" vas originally written by
| Sam Seabough, late editor of the Stock
ton Independent, San Francisco Ala, and
now of the Sacramento Union, is an I'M
questionable fact. Mdrk stole it bodily,
and published it in several papers in
California, and at last, laboring under
the hallucination that he really was the
author, published a book with this title,
containing many. sketches, some Of which
were original, but most Of them like the
frog story-stolen goods.
Mark, however, played off a still bet
ter joke on the proprietors of the Ala.
After procuring from them $4,000, to
pay his expenses on his tour to the Holy
Laud-for the Alta people pay all their
employees literally, so does the Bulletin,
and there the matter stops so far US the
San Francisco Press is concerned-with
the understanding that he was to cor
respond exclusively for their paper,
Upon the strength Of this they went tc
the expense Of copyrighting his letters
with the intention Of publishing them
in book form-forbidding any Of the pa
pers to copy them. Mark enters into q
similar engagement with the proprietor'
of the New York Tribune, to give then
duplicate letters to that paper which ART
republished by the papers here. Mark
may not be as sharp q writer rs Orpheus
@. Kerr-ons Of the best Of our WAL
humorists-Miles 0'Riley, or even Pc
troleum V. Nasty, whose wit is moro
strained and far-fetched than either o.
those two-but this little dodge to "pu'
money in his purse - by marking twdh
for these two papers, shows a consider
able amount Of "sharp practice" ant
sharp's the word"