As part of his "Fellow Savages of the Sandwich Islands" lecture tour, MT was booked into Collingwood's Opera House in Poughkeepsie, New York, on 3 December 1869. Apparently by a lucky coincidence, in late November the Daily Eagle began running an ad for a local agent to sell Innocents Abroad in the region. According to the ad, the opportunity was literally golden:

In the days before the night of the lecture, the paper "puffed" the coming appearance and a paid advertisement announced that the new local agent "is now canvassing this city." On 2 December, readers of the Eagle could read about both the book and the performance on facing pages:

Whether the local agent ever collected that $100 in gold is unknown, but the publicity surrounding "Mark's first appearance in our city" surely helped her or his canvass. We can only imagine what MT would be able to do with his books, his flair for self-promotion, his prowess as a live performer and today's varied media outlets.