Ii6 MARK TWAIN'S SKETCHES. 



Were the heirs of George Fisher killed ? No. They are back now at this very 

 time (July 1870), beseeching Congress through that blushing and diffident creature, 

 Garrett Davis, to commence making payments again on their interminable and 

 insatiable bill of damages for corn and whisky destroyed by a gang of irresponsible 

 Indians, so long ago that even government red-tape has failed to keep consistent 

 and intelligent track of it. 



Now, the above are facts. They are history. Any one who doubts it can send 

 to the Senate Document Department of the Capitol for H. R. Ex. Doc. No. 21, 

 36th Congress, 2nd Session, and for S. Ex. Doc. No. 106, 41st. Congress 2nd Ses- 

 sion, and satisfy himself. The whole case is set forth in the first volume of the 

 Court of Claims Reports. 



It is my belief that as long as the continent of America holds together, the heirs 

 of George Fisher, deceased, will still make pilgrimages to Washington from the 

 swamps of Florida, to plead for just a little more cash on their bill of damages 

 (even when they received the last of that sixty-seven thousand dollars, they said it 

 was only one-fourth what the Government owed them on that fruitful corn-field), 

 and as long as they choose to come, they will find Garrett Davises to drag their 

 vampire schemes before Congress. This is not the only hereditary fraud (if Aaud 

 it is — which I have before repeatedly remarked is not proven) that is being quietly 

 handed down from generation to generation of fathers and sons, through the perse- 

 cuted Treasury of the United States. 



