From Explanatory Notes: Clemens returned to New York “in an express train ... a distance of nearly twelve hundred miles by the route I came,” He stays at the Westminster Hotel.
From Lorch: "Back in New York again by April 16, Mark Twain immediately found himself involved in a demanding round of activity. He continued his correspondence with the Alta California, at the rate of $20 a letter, and contributed a number of articles to the New York Weekly on the Sandwich Islands. Furthermore, the Jumping Frog book was now in press and scheduled to appear April 30. Anticipation of his first book kept him in a simmer of excitement, added to which was unrest caused by his preparations for the "Quaker City" excursion to the Holy Land, schduled to begin June 8." (pg 60)
May 6 - Cooper Institute, New York City - "Sandwich Islands"
Sam had wanted (Governor) James W. Nye to introduce him to the audience, but Nye did not appear. Frank Fuller, in 1910 wrote to Paine:
Dec, 7th 1910.
Dictated.
Albert Bigelow Paine, Esq.,
Redding, Conn,My Dear Mr. Paine:
The name of Gov. Nye was James W. Mark wanted him to accompany him to the platform and introduce him to the audience. Mark wrote to Gov. Nye, who was then in Washington, and got no reply. Then I took a night train to Washington and saw Gov. Nye in his rooms at Willards. I made known my errand and he assented and invited me to sit right down and write a polite affirmative assent to an invitation which I could write after I returned to New York. I got his signature and rushed back to New York.
Gov. Nye did not appear and Mark introduced himself, in a speech which set everybody laughing and was not over complimentary to Gov. Nye.
Twenty years or more later on I asked Nye why he did not keep his promise to appear and introduce Mark Twain. He replied, “I never intended to introduce him. He is nothing but a damned Secessionist anyway.” That’s the sort of man Nye was. I think the records of the Police Dept. of New York City show that James W. Nye was an official thereof before Lincoln appointed him to Nevada. He was a fat, vulgar, profane fellow whose colloquialisms were tainted with obscenity. He could make an effective speech, however, and took well with the crowd. He was witty and told a story capitally.
May 10 - Athenaeum, Brooklyn, New York - "Sandwich Islands"
May 15 - Irving Hall, New York City - "Sandwich Islands"
From Lorch: "If Mark Twain ever tried to assess the value of his New York and Brooklyn lectures in his career on the public platform there is no record of it. Yet their importance was enormous. Aside from the celebrity they provided him among the "Quaker City" passengers and in the New York area generally, their chief value lay in the assurance they gave him that his humor, style of speaking, and platform manner were as pleasing to eastern as to western audiences, and that his fear of the greater sophistication of eastern audiences greatly diminished." (pg 67)