humiliated he couldn't faoe it* 



0ilbt T>±d he ooxamit suicide before or after Mencken 

 arrived? 



Cogginst Before he arrived* 



0ilbt Qhg ntwt a tragedyl 



Cogginst He couldn't entertain him the vay Mencken should 

 be entertained* 



Silbt If jrou knew Sterling fairly well*.* 



Cogginst I didn't know him very well* I don't think many 

 People knew him very well* He was a shy person. 

 The e&lj times I saw him* •••I fii^st tmt him with 

 tJpton Sinclair when Sinclair came to speak* A 

 n\2mber of us had dinner to^pether* He seemed to 

 avoid attention* He rather followed Sinclair* 



Oilbt What was Sinclair like? 



Cogginst Sinclair was no blushing violet* He didn't try to 

 hide under any bushel. He schemed for publicity t 

 usually for things he believed in. But he didn't 

 play himself down* 



Sinclair and Sterling were extremes* The one 

 shrunk from the worlds the other challenged it* 

 One time Sinclair was eating breakfast at the 

 St* Francis and they charged him 25f^ for a shredded 

 wheat biscuit* Protesting the bill, he got iMadlined 

 end whole columns of newspaper publicity about i^at 



