October 16 Wednesday – The New York Times, Oct. 17, p.18, ran an article about humor in Ashcroft v. Hammond libel case, and a deposition of Sam’s read in court this day:
SWORN JEST BY MARK TWAIN.
———
Humorist Says He First Met John Hays Hammond in Jail—Ashcroft’s Suit.
A touch of humor enlivened the otherwise prosaic deposition of Mark Twain, which was read to the jury yesterday afternoon in the Supreme Court, Brooklyn, where the suit of Ralph W. Ashcroft against John Hays Hammond for $25,000 libel damages is being heard.
The humorist explained that the first occasion upon which he met the defendant the latter was in jail. Mr. Clemens referred to the time when Hammond was a military prisoner in Pretoria under sentence of death for participating in the Jameson raid. The sentence was afterward commuted to a ransom of $125,000.
The ground for the suit lies in a certain telegram sent to the author by the defendant Sept. 15, 1894, at which time both Mr. Clemens and Hammond were stockholders in the Plasmon Manufacturing Company, of which the plaintiff was manager. The telegram criticised Ashcroft as “incompetent, if not worse.” Mr. Clemens admitted that the telegram had been sent.
Several letters written by Hammond belittling the plaintiff were also read. The case will be continued to-day.
Frank N. Doubleday for Doubleday, Page & Co. wrote to Sam.
This is a paragraph from a letter just received from Dr. Hart, Controller of the University Press, Oxford, England:
“We were all very much interested in Dr. Clemens. In saying good bye to him, I told him to observe that we had not asked him to be funny, or make any speech, or to do anything but enjoy himself in a quiet way. If you meet him again you can tell him that as to the protection of the copyright of the Bible, it has practically no copyright protection but an extraordinary sentiment in the public mind which prevails as much in America as in England; that it has to be accurate, absolutely accurate, and accurate every time, and that although there is a license to the Privileged Printers, in my opinion that license would not hold the copyright for a day if it were not for the confidence felt by the public that the three Privileged Presses print correctly, and Oxford Press most correctly of all. In addition, I believe I am correct in saying that, while the Privileged Printers of the Bible in England chiefly, but in Scotland also, hold their own nominally because of that privilege, but actually because of accuracy, no difficulty is ever made if the Bible is printed in polyglot or diglot, or with the notes and annotations, or in any way which makes it, or attempts to make it, simpler or more acceptable to the public.” I know you are interested in this, so I pass it along.
Mrs. Doubleday and I plan to sail on the LUSITANIA on Saturday, and take a breath of the London fog, and return on November 15th….[MTP].
Clarence E. Leonard wrote to invite Sam to speak at the Annual Banquet for the Society of Mayflower Descendants on Nov. 21, 1907 [MTP]. Note: Lyon wrote on the letter, “Answd. Oct. 17, ‘07”
Hamilton W. Mabie for The Outlook wrote to ask Sam for two hours of his time on Oct. 21; he’d arrive on the train to Tuxedo at 10:33 a.m. [MTP].
Anna S. MacDonald wrote to Sam. She was sending her “small volume” Columbia; The Land of the Free” which included a poem Sam had advised her on “some years ago.” She had friend in Oxford who witnessed the ceremonies and said it made Americans very proud [MTP].