Do you find it odd that there has been a lot of commentary on this very obscure incident shrouded in dubious historicity since 2018?

A 2018 segment on NPR's Weekend Edition included audio of prominent Grant scholar John F. Marszalek discussing a summarized version of West's account;[21] Marszalek had previously described the narrative to DCist with the preface "The story goes".[19] Michael S. Rosenwald of the Post, noting also a post on Grant Cottage's website treating West's narrative as factual,[22] concluded in 2018, based on Lanier's comments, that the arrest did occur but that "it's nearly impossible to know if [the Star article] is the whole truth and nothing but the truth";[6] this was echoed by Meilan Solly in Smithsonian in March 2023.[23] In early April 2023, William K. Rashbaum and Kate Christobek of The New York Times also took Lanier's comments as confirmation, but acknowledged the apparent lack of documentation prior to the emergence of West's claim.[4]