8 January 1876 • Hartford, Conn. (Typed transcription by or for Albert Bigelow Paine: CU-MARK, UCCL 12742)
Sir: The word “Patricide” in your issue of this morning, (telegrams) was an error. You meant it to describe the slayer of a father; you should have used “parricide” instead. Patricide merely means the killing of an Irishman—any Irishman, Male or female.
Paine or his typist indicated on the typescript that this letter was from “M. T. to C. H. Clarke.” Clark was on the editorial staff of the Hartford Courant. The item Clemens referred to was among those that, as a former newspaper editor and proprietor, he recognized had come to the paper by telegraph, although they were not published as telegrams:
Tried for Patricide.
New York, Jan. 7.—The trial of Thomas and James Goodwin for causing the death of their father, in Jersey City, was concluded today. Thomas was found guilty of manslaughter and James was acquitted. (“The Criminal Record,” Hartford Courant, 8 Jan 1876, 3)
The supposed authors of this bogus letter were prominent Hartford residents: James Hammond Trumbull (1821-97), the historian, philologist, and bibliographer who provided the chapter headings for The Gilded Age (1873-74); the Reverend Nathaniel J. Burton (1824-87), pastor of the Park Congregational Church; and the Reverend Joseph H. Twichell (1838-1918), Clemens's close friend and pastor of the Asylum Hill Congregational Church.
Typed transcription by or for Albert Bigelow Paine,, CU-MARK.
See Paine Transcripts in Description of Provenanceclick to open letter.