Thomas Kean was the city editor and drama critic of the Buffalo Courier from 1861 to 1883. Clemens presumably met him in 1869 while living in Buffalo. Kean may have obtained the letter of introduction on 7 December 1871, when Clemens lectured in Warsaw, New York (David Gray, managing editor of the Courier, attended the lecture, and Kean may have accompanied him), or the next day, when Clemens stopped in Buffalo. Kean was traveling to the West as agent and companion to phrenologist Orson Squire Fowler (1809–87), who lectured in Virginia City, Nevada, from 13 to 17 January 1872. According to the Gold Hill (Nev.) News, Kean, having come “recommended as a respectable and resolute individual by Mark Twain,” was welcomed by Dan De Quille (William Wright) of the Enterprise and taken on a tour of the rich Belcher silver mine on 17 January (“Personal,” Gold Hill News, 18 Jan 72, 3). De Quille insisted that Kean descend “into the very bowels of the mine” and enjoyed his discomfiture when he had to strip “to the buff” and don special garb (“A Look into the Belcher,” Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, 18 Jan 72, 3). “To see the elephant,” an expression current in America by the mid-nineteenth century, meant “to view the sights in a city,” or “to gain experience of the world, generally at some cost to the investigator” (Cassidy and Hall, 286; Virginia City Territorial Enterprise: “The Belcher Mine” and “Belcher and Crown Point Bullion,” 11 Jan 72, 3; “Professor Fowler’s Lectures and Examinations,” 14 Jan 72, 3; “Prof. Fowler—His Special Lectures,” 17 Jan 72, 3).