It may be extrapolated that even though Stark did not outwardly demonstrate racism in his embracing of ragtime, some of his customers may have. Subsequent editions filled this area with a random pattern. The first of these editions had a picture of Joplin on the lower left side. The dedication remained even though the venue was closed by that time.
After perhaps 400 copies had been printed, the cover was changed to the common and more familiar Maple Leaf in 1900. The dancers depicted on the cover are none other than famous black vaudeville stars George Walker and Bert Williams and their wives dancing the cakewalk. Louis and distributed there and Sedalia, and places in between, featured a drawing based on a tobacco advertising sketch from the American Tobacco Company. Of some interest is the progression of Maple Leaf Rag editions that have been in more or less continuous print since 1899. Those periods of animosity between them are in part demonstrated by name of varying publishers whose imprints appear at the bottom of each new Joplin rag. Although the relationship between Stark and Joplin would often be strained over much of the next 18 years, the publisher always promoted Joplin's works as the finest in his catalog. Louis as well, was nearly an instant hit locally, and over the next two decades it reportedly became the first piano rag to sell a million copies, although when that mark was reached is unclear. The Maple Leaf Rag, published in Sedalia but printed and distributed in St. Stark further encouraged Joplin to bring him more compositions, of which the collaborative Sunflower Slow Drag may have been submitted around the same time. Since it was likely a lawyer friend of Joplin's that helped make the contact with Stark and drew up the contract, it may have been a mutually agreed upon point that not only provided protection for both parties, but would eventually alter Joplin's financial well-being, allowing him to spend more time composing. This was very unusual at this time, more so since Joplin was a black composer working with a white publisher. In any event, Stark, who had acquired some publications from another source and was considering putting out some of his own, was impressed enough by Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag that he quickly took it on, giving the composer a royalty (.01¢ per copy). How Joplin actually presented the piece to Stark has also become a point of legend. The club was run by Walker and Will Williams, and located on the second floor of 121 East Main, just over a block east of the primary downtown route, Ohio Street. It was while working in one of the many drinking and gathering establishments in Sedalia in the summer of 1899, the short-lived (December 1898 to January 1900) Maple Leaf Club, that Scott allegedly became involved with one of his greatest champions, music store owner John Stark, and at the very least where he found the name for his first truly inspired rag. Scott's next move towards greatness was back in Sedalia. There have also been stories that Joplin submitted another fine rag to Daniels but that it was rejected as too difficult, but again such stories are hard to confirm, even if they are plausible. There is no clear evidence, based on Daniel's work or his later recollections, that Charles arranged anything more than to have it published. Daniels, who received an "arranged by" credit on the cover. It was endorsed by Hoffman's young staff composer and whiz kid Charles N. He had submitted a work to Kansas City, Missouri publisher Carl Hoffman. Scott's first piano rag publication came in early 1899.
Whether the piece was perhaps commissioned by the publisher or was just opportunism is unknown.
While it has few descriptive titles in it, there is detailed text denoting the passage with the fatal wreck of the trains speeding towards each other at 60 miles per hour. Joplin's march was published soon afterwards in Temple, Texas. With around 40,000 spectators in attendance to watch the spectacle, it was inevitable that at least two would be killed by the boiler explosion following the crash. That afternoon did not go quite as planned. In reality, it was composed to commemorate a wreck staged by agent William George Crush of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas (Katy) railroad line in Texas on September 15, 1896. Paull, who was already gaining fame for his Chariot Race or Ben Hur March, Joplin's The Great Crush Collision was intended to emulate a leisurely afternoon journey ending in a horrific train wreck. A descriptive piece in a style that would soon be the domain of composer E.T. His first instrumental works included two typical waltzes of the period, and one ambitious march.
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