April 17 Wednesday – Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim (1840-1916) inventor born in Maine who lived in London, wrote to Sam about his “Sitting in Darkness” article:

“I give you my candid opinion that what you have done is of very great value to the civilization of the world. There is no man living whose words carry greater weight than your own, as no one’s writings are so eagerly sought after by all classes” [MTB 1134]. Note: Maxim introduced carbon filimants for light bulbs, a fully automatic machine gun, a hair curling iron, a pneumatic gun, and developed a smokeless gunpowder, cordite.

Rogers purchased the two-year-old steam yacht, Kanawha, “the fastest cruising steam yacht in American waters” [MTHHR 464n1].

In the evening Sam visited the Rogers’ home for dinner and billiards [Apr. 16 to E. Rogers]. Note: do you think there was discussion about the Kanawha? Perhaps plans for cruises were already being made.