Edwards did not ask Jones to recommend him to Harte & Perkins. Jones was a good fellow, but writers are notoriously jealous of their prerogatives. After staking out a claim, the writer-man guards warily against having it "jumped." Edwards went about introducing himself to the New York firm in his own way. At that time he had on hand a fairly well-written, but somewhat peculiar long story entitled, "The Mystery of Martha." He had tried it out again and again with various publishers only to have it returned as "well done but unavailable because of the theme." This story was submitted to Harte & Perkins. It was returned, in due course, with the following letter: New York, March 23, 1893. Mr. John Milton Edwards, Chicago, Ills. Dear Sir:-- We have your favor of March the 19th together with manuscript of "The Mystery of Martha," which as it is unavailable we return to you to-day by express as you request. We are overcrowded with material for our story paper, for which we presume you submitted this manuscript, and, indeed, we think "The Mystery of Martha" is more suitable for book publication than in any other shape. The only field that is open with us is that of our various five and ten cent libraries. You are perhaps familiar with these, and if you have ever done anything in this line of work, we should be pleased to have you submit the printed copy of same for our examination, and if we find it suitable we think we could use some of your material in this line. Mr. Jones, whom you refer to in your letter, is one of our regular contributors. Yours truly, Harte & Perkins. Here was the opening! Edwards lost no time in taking advantage of it and sent the following letter: Chicago, March 25, '93. Messrs. Harte & Perkins, Publishers, New York City. Gentlemen:-- I have your letter of the 23d inst. In reply would state that I have done some writing for Beadle & Adams ("_Banner Weekly_") although I have none of it at hand, at present, to send you. I also am a contributor to "_Saturday Night_," (James Elverson's paper) and have sold them a number of serial stories, receiving from them as much as $150 for 50,000 words. It is probable that material suitable to the latter periodical would be out of the question with you; still, I can write the kind of stories you desire, all I ask being the opportunity.