MARK TWAIN IN THE SAN FRANCISCO DRAMATIC CHRONICLE
1865
STAND BACK!
Let the Supreme Court stand back and give the Alta a chance. The Alta knows more about these things than the Supreme Court does. What does a man who is defeated in the Supreme Court stop there for? Why don't he appeal his case to the Alta? All this withering irony is called forth by a luminous editorial in Monday's issue of that paper in which the conduct of the Supreme Court is sharply criticised, the Judges instructed, and one or two of their decisions set aside with unspeakable gravity. Let all hands "take a fresh holt" on the earth, now, and look out for "blood, hair and the ground tore up" -- for the Alta has hung an anvil on her safety valve, and is going to try the Moses Frank forgery case all over again!
[published in Early Tales & Sketches, Volume 2, 1864-1865,
University of California Press, 1981, pp. 492 -93.]
