"By 1868, 25,000 copies of "Put's Golden Songster" had been printed by Appleton and Co."

This information, like there being four editions, is highly suspect. Has anyone seen a copy of either Songster that wasn't Fourth Edition?

I have been to Greenwood Pioneer Cemetery where a marker of recent vintage marks John A Stone's grave. I have an old book by a resident who claims that Stone claimed to be the author of "Joe Bowers" and went by that name late in life. I have no idea if it is true that Stone wrote Joe Bowers, but the lyrics certainly suggest this:

JOE BOWERS

My name it is Joe Bowers;
I have a brother Ike.
I came from old Missoura,
All the way from Pike.

I used to know a girl there;
Her name was Sally Black.
I asked her if she`d marry me;
She said it was a whack.

She said to me, `Joe Bowers.
Before we hitch for life,
You`d better get a little home
To take your little wife.` `

`Oh Sally, dearest Sally,
Oh Sally, for your sake.
I`ll go to California
And try and raise a stake.`

When I got in that country
I didn`t have a red;
I had such wolfish feelings
I wished myself most dead.

But the thughts of my dear Sally
Soon made those feelings git,
And whispered hope to Bowers,
I wish I had them yet.

At last a letter,
Enough to make me swear,
That Sally married a butcher,
And the butcher had red hair.

Before I got through reading,
At length the letter said:
Sally had a baby,
And the baby`s head was red.