The man that corrupted Hadleyburg

The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg is a satirical novella by Mark Twain, first published in Harper's Monthly in 1899. Its target is a town proud of its honesty but careful never to test it.

After Hadleyburg offends a passing stranger, he returns with a sack said to contain gold and a story about repaying an unknown benefactor. Identifying that person requires a secret remark, making temptation into an experiment designed to involve the whole town.

Edward and Mary Richards receive the sack, while nineteen leading citizens separately learn a version of the supposed clue. As each prepares a claim, a public meeting turns private greed into public theatre under the direction of an absent revenge-seeker.

Twain's comedy exposes the difference between possessing virtue and possessing a reputation for it. Hadleyburg has tried to preserve innocence by removing temptation; the scheme reveals reputation without moral practice as vanity rather than character.

"It was many years ago. Hadleyburg was the most honest and upright town in all the region round about. It had kept that reputation unsmirched during three generations, and was prouder of it than of any other of its possessions. It was so proud of it, and so anxious to insure its perpetuation, that it began to teach the principles of honest dealing to its babies in the cradle."