June 18 Saturday – At the Villa Reale di Quarto near Florence Sam wrote to Joe Twichell.
Dear Joe: / It is 13 days. I am bewildered and must remain so for a time longer. It was so sudden, so unexpected. Imagine a man worth a hundred millions who suddenly finds himself penniless & fifty millions in debt in his old age. I was richer than any other person in the world, and now I am that pauper without peer. Some day I will tell you about it, not now. / Mark [MTP].
Sam’s notebook: “Villa di Quarto / I got up in a chair in my room on the second floor, & lost my balance and fell almost out. I don’t know what saved me. The fall would have killed me; in my bereaved circumstances the world would have been sure it was suicide” [NB 47 TS 12].
Bram Stoker in London wrote condolences to Sam [MTP].