In this unabridged recording of one of Mark Twain's lesser-known short stories, the "campaign of crime" referred to was a rash of robberies, arson, racketeering, and murders in Connecticut, where the author was living at that time. Alternatively funny, disturbing, and self-revelatory, an abridged performance of this piece has been part of Richard Henzel's Jefferson Award nominated stage show Mark Twain In Person since 1979, and was later broadcast on public television in a special produced by WTTW-TV in Chicago, winning the Chicago Emmy for original adaptation.

Of that incarnation of Carnival of Crime, R. Kent Rasmussen, noted Twain author and historian, wrote: "...The performance is a miracle of economy, conveying more energy, passion, and even physical action than one would think possible in a mere reading of a story."