November 25 Tuesday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote a draft of a letter to Frederick C. Harriott in response to Howells’ urging of Nov. 24.
We have received a letter from an old and valued friend of ours, Charles Warren Stoddard, in which he charges you with robbing him of four hundred dollars, and asks our advice as to how he would best proceed in order to recover this money. He has furnished us all the details of the transaction as observed from his standpoint; speaking for the Lathrops and for himself. Richard Burton has confirmed in writing the truth of Stoddard’s statement. Upon receipt of your own version we shall have the whole case before us, and shall be in a position to advise Mr. Stoddard. Will you please put it in writing, and send it to one of us as promptly as you can? [MTP]. Note: Howells did not think Sam’s language was quite right and suggested his own approach, which is not extant. See also Nov. 16, 19, 20, 26 from Howells.
Sam’s notebook : “Julie’s Wedding” [NB 45 TS 34]. Note: Julia Olivia Langdon married Edward Eugene Loomis on Nov. 29 in Elmira, so this was likely a reminder.
R.B. Blandell wrote from Reading, Penn. to Sam, offering an “obituary” for his contest. Imagining Twain was dead, she was “shedding tears as large as apple dumplings made of horse apples” [MTP].
Z. Pfenneg wrote from Jamestown, NY to Sam, offering an “obituary” contest, solicited in the Nov. 15 issue of Harper’s Weekly [MTP].