January 27 Saturday – Sam was in Washington, D.C. In the evening he attended the Gridiron Club’s Banquet at the New Willard Hotel. The club was celebrating the digging of the Panama Canal, and the dining room was transformed into Panama, with the club and guests marching and singing: “We’re going to dig the big canal, Hurrah! Hurrah!” to the tune of When Johnny Comes Marching Home. “Mark Twain kept pace with the rest, as lively as a boy. Associate Justice Brewer, sedate and dignified, was by his side.” Later, speeches were made, including one of about 20 minutes by Mark Twain. Each of the principal speakers were introduced by “appropriate musical numbers,. Secretary Root, Secretary Taft, and Mark Twain being especially honored in that way.” At dinner Sam sat next to “Uncle Joe” Cannon [NY Times, Jan. 28, 1906, p. 4; Fatout MT Speaking 674]. Note: Joseph Gurney Cannon (1836- 1926), Speaker of the House of Representatives (1903-1911), considered by many historians to be the most dominate Speaker in US history. He would later assist Sam in December of 1906 when he came to Washington to speak to a Joint Congressional Committee on Patents.
Isabel Lyon’s journal:
This was a tragic day. I came in from a shopping expedition for Jean and others and when I went into her room for tea, she told me that a terrible thing had happened. In a burst of unreasoning rage she struck Katie a terrible blow in the face. The significance of it is what is so terrible, for now she has done what I have seen in her as possible and feared she would do. She is distressed poor child. She described the wave of passion that swept over her as being that of an insane person. She knew she couldn’t stop—she had to strike and she said that she wanted to kill and was sorry she hadn’t—to her mind it doesn’t seem right not to finish any job you have begun and she had wanted to kill Katie [MTP TS 19-20; also Hill 120-1 in part].
Lystra weighs in on the case for and against Jean striking Katy Leary:
That Jean hit Katy in the face seems possible, though Jean herself never mentioned the incident in her diary or letters. … The incident may have been accidental, occurring during one of Jean’s grand mal seizures, characterized as they are by involuntary movements of the arms and legs. … Katy offers no clues about this incident. … If Katy had any notion that Jean had tried to kill her in 1906, the down-to-earth housekeeper proved mighty charitable in her later portrayal. … Lyon’s interpretation was strikingly negative, visibly framing the event as an expression of homicidal passion [53-5]. Note: in that time, epilepsy was considered by many to be the cause of criminality. Likely the sensitive, melodramatic Isabel Lyon imagined what her fears shaped, and she was definitely afraid of Jean during seizures.
The Gridiron Club sent Sam an engraved invitation to a dinner at the New Willard Hotel, Washington, D.C. Saturday evening, Jan. 27 at 7:30 p.m. [MTP].
Edmund D. Morel wrote again urging, “Don’t ‘retire from Congo’…altogether” [Hawkins 167; MTP].
Joe Twichell wrote to Sam, pasting a Jan. 26 Hartford Courant squib at the top, “Mark Twain’s Coachman Ill.” Joe was going to see him (Patrick McAleer) without fail. Also, he had a call the previous night from the President of the Hartford Yale Alumni Assoc. “whose errand was to extend to you, through me, an urgent invitation and request to come to the Annual Banquet… Feb. 9 and offer a few remarks” [MTP]. Note: Sam did not attend.
Isabel Lyon’s journal:
This was a tragic day. I came in from a shopping expedition for Jean and others and when I went into her room for tea, she told me that a terrible thing had happened. In a burst of unreasoning rage she struck Katie a terrible blow in the face. The significance of it is what is so terrible, for now she has done what I have seen in her as possible and feared she would do. She is distressed poor child. She described the wave of passion that swept over her as being that of an insane person. She knew she couldn’t stop—she had to strike and she said that she wanted to kill and was sorry she hadn’t—to her mind it doesn’t seem right not to finish any job you have begun and she had wanted to kill Katie [MTP TS 19-20; also Hill 120-1 in part].
Lystra weighs in on the case for and against Jean striking Katy Leary:
That Jean hit Katy in the face seems possible, though Jean herself never mentioned the incident in her diary or letters. … The incident may have been accidental, occurring during one of Jean’s grand mal seizures, characterized as they are by involuntary movements of the arms and legs. … Katy offers no clues about this incident. … If Katy had any notion that Jean had tried to kill her in 1906, the down-to-earth housekeeper proved mighty charitable in her later portrayal. … Lyon’s interpretation was strikingly negative, visibly framing the event as an expression of homicidal passion [53-5]. Note: in that time, epilepsy was considered by many to be the cause of criminality. Likely the sensitive, melodramatic Isabel Lyon imagined what her fears shaped, and she was definitely afraid of Jean during seizures.
The Gridiron Club sent Sam an engraved invitation to a dinner at the New Willard Hotel, Washington, D.C. Saturday evening, Jan. 27 at 7:30 p.m. [MTP].
Edmund D. Morel wrote again urging, “Don’t ‘retire from Congo’…altogether” [Hawkins 167; MTP].
Joe Twichell wrote to Sam, pasting a Jan. 26 Hartford Courant squib at the top, “Mark Twain’s Coachman Ill.” Joe was going to see him (Patrick McAleer) without fail. Also, he had a call the previous night from the President of the Hartford Yale Alumni Assoc. “whose errand was to extend to you, through me, an urgent invitation and request to come to the Annual Banquet… Feb. 9 and offer a few remarks” [MTP]. Note: Sam did not attend.
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