May 2 Saturday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Isabel V. Lyon wrote for Sam to Franklin G. Whitmore.
Mr. Clemens wishes me to write you at once that he will accept Mr.Bissell’s offer and will pay the tax. Regarding the furniture, Mr Clemens will have to write you later as that must be left with Mrs. Clemens, and she cannot talk the matter over at present.
Mr. Clemens does not think that Mr. Reeves will ever put in a claim [MTP].
Note: Sam accepted $28,000 for 351 Farmington Ave. from Richard M. Bissell, vice-president of Hartford Fire Ins. Co. See May 6, 8. This was less than a quarter of the house’s cost. George W. Reeves, Hoyt & Co. real estate agent, who Whitmore thought might claim a commission for the sale.
Nat Lynch wrote from Deronda, Penn. to Sam: “Dear Mark / God bless you for that article in Harpers Weekly, ‘Why not abolish it’” [MTP].
What Hill calls “a curiously hysterical article by Mark Twain” ran in Harper’s Weekly. “Why Not Abolish It?” argued doing away with the age of consent, which limited prosecution of seducers [45]. Note: Hill misdates the issue as July 5, 1902; Budd gives this correct date, and notes it was not collected in any book during Sam’s life [Collected 2: 1008].
The New York Times, p.2 reported that Judge William D. Dickey reduced the assessment from $80,000 to $50,000 on the Clemens’ Tarrytown house. The assessments in Tarrytown had been the subject of much controversy, with sales prices not affecting them to any large degree. Sam had fought the high taxes.