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Profiles in History
   
Historical Document Auction 63
51. Clinton, William Jefferson and Hillary Rodham Clinton. 
Remarkable typed document signed and dated (“Bill Clinton 
3/7/99”) as President and (“Hillary Rodham Clinton March 5, 
1999”) as First Lady, 1 page (8.5 x 11 in; 215 x 279 mm.), headed 
“Certification by President and Mrs. Clinton to Clinton Legal 
Expense Trust.” Both documents referred to in the document are 
present: the March 3, 1999 Williams Connolly “Statement for Legal 
Services Rendered” and the “Certification by Counsel” typed 
document signed (“David E. Kendall, March 3, 1999”), each (8.5 x 
11 in; 215 x 279 mm.) Fine condition.
President and First Lady Bill and Hillary Clinton sign a 
document stating $365,039.11 in unpaid legal expenses 
are appropriate for reimbursement by the Clinton Legal 
Expense Trust – an entity formed in 1998 to help pay their 
legal bills relating to Whitewater, Paula Jones, Monica 
Lewinsky, impeachment and illegal fundraising.
In full: This will certify that we have incurred legal expenses in connection 
with fundraising matters, from November 1, 1998 to January 31, 1999, 
in an amount of $38,348.42 as reflected on the attached statement of 
Williams Connolly, dated March 3, 1999, as certified by David E. Kendall, 
Esq. A total of $365,039.11 is presently due for billed but unpaid legal fees 
and expenses. We further certify that we are familiar with the legal services 
rendered, that we have read the Clinton Legal Expense Trust Indenture, 
dated February 17, 1998, and that we believe these legal expenses are 
appropriate for reimbursement by the Trust. [signed by both] Bill Clinton 
3/7/99 Hillary Rodham Clinton March 5, 1999
$10,000 was the maximum donation to the Trust allowed per 
individual per year with contributions from political action 
committees (PAC), corporations, or labor organizations not 
permitted. Donations could only be made by U.S. citizens who 
were not registered lobbyists or employed by the executive branch 
of the U.S. government. 
As a college student, David E. Kendall spent the summer of 1964 
working in Mississippi to register voters. The experience led him to 
go to law school. After graduation, he served for a year as a law clerk 
for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White. He then worked 
for the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund. Kendall has 
represented the Clintons in the matters involving Whitewater, Paula 
Jones, Monica Lewinsky, impeachment, and illegal fundraising. He 
continues to represent them in civil litigation matters. 
In June 1994, the Presidential Legal Expense Trust was established 
by President and Mrs. Clinton to help pay legal bills resulting from 
the Whitewater real estate controversy and the Paula Jones sexual 
harassment lawsuit. Three years later, the Senate Committee 
on Governmental Affairs chaired by Tennessee Senator Fred 
Thompson subpoenaed documents relating to contributions that 
Yah Lin “Charlie” Trie, an Arkansas restaurateur and friend of 
President Clinton, had delivered to the Trust. After questions were 
raised about their origins, the President returned the $639,000 
that Trie had raised for his legal defense fund and the Democratic 
National Committee returned $645,000 that he solicited. Shortly 
thereafter, the Presidential Legal Expense Trust was dissolved. 
On 28 February 1998, a new fund called the Clinton Legal 
Expense Trust was formed to raise money to continue paying 
the mounting legal expenses for Whitewater and Paula Jones, and 
for the new campaign fundraising controversy. Donations to the 
Trust were later used to pay legal fees resulting from the Monica 
Lewinsky matter and the President’s impeachment. On 22 May 
1999, two months after the Clintons signed the document here 
offered, in a Federal court in Little Rock, Arkansas, Charlie Trie 
pleaded guilty to two charges related to his political fundraising. 
He admitted giving false donor names to the Democratic 
National Committee’s treasurer, which were then submitted in a 
report to the Federal Election Commission. Ironically, fundraising 
irregularities still haunt the Clintons. Hillary Clinton’s campaign 
for the Democratic presidential nomination returned $850,000 in 
contributions by Norman Hsu after it was revealed in September 
2007 that he was a fugitive in a 15-year-old California fraud case. 
On 4 December, 2007, Hsu was indicted in a case brought by 
the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York which 
alleged that Hsu conducted “a massive scheme that defrauded 
investors across the United States” of tens of millions of dollars. 
He also was charged with violating federal campaign finance laws 
by making contributions to various political candidates in the 
names of others, exactly what Charlie Trie had done years earlier. 
$8,000 - $12,000

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52. Clemens, Samuel Langhorne. Autograph riddle in 
pencil, not signed, 1 page (5.5 x 5.25 in; 139 x 133 mm.), on 
watermarked laid paper. No place, no date. Irregular top edge, 
with numerous cross-outs in Twain’s hand. Fine condition.
Penciled riddle in Mark Twain’s hand found in the 
facsimile edition of William Caxton’s 1489 printing of 
The Statutes of Henry VII sold in the 1911 Anderson 
auction of Clemens’ library.
Clemens writes in full: I never speak except when spoken to; I 
answer respectfully when respectfully addressed, but offensively when 
offensively addressed; I forget a thing as soon as I hear it; yet I can 
always recal [sic] it & repeat it as soon as I am always ready to talk, 
yet indifferent to conversation, & take no interest in any subject. I could 
talk when I was not ten seconds old, & the moment I cease to be able 
to talk I shall die. Echo (or telephone)
Mark Twain has offered two possible solutions to this riddle: 
Echo or telephone. The telephone, like many innovative 
inventions, fascinated Clemens. He had one installed in his 
Nook Farm home as soon as they were available, and he 
made the device a critical part of his 1878 burlesque story 
The Loves of Alonzo Fitz Clarence and Rosannah Ethelton. 
This autograph fragment was included in the 1911 Anderson 
auction of Clemens’s library, lot 73, loosely inserted in a copy 
of a facsimile edition of William Caxton’s 1489 printing of The 
Statutes of Henry VII.  $1,500 - $2,000
contines next page
Lot 51 continued

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