December 28 Friday – Justus S. North wrote from Welaka, Fla. to Sam, unhappy that he’d purchased a volume entitled Library of Wit and Humor by Mark Twain (and others), and blaming Sam. North had discovered:

on inspection, turns out to be an old Eli Perkins production of old dressed in a new suit, and you (“my heretofore Idol”) do not seem to be in it beyond the cover. It is very evident that your name is used for no other purpose than to impose upon the confiding public. In other words procuring money under false pretenses. Not long ago you made a great show in prosecuting a poor Cabby for doing on a small scale, what you are doing on a large scale. …[MTP]. Note: Sam forwarded this letter to his attorney, Augustus T. Gurlitz, having rec’d it on Jan. 1, 1901. See entry for Sam’s reply.