March 26 Saturday – In the morning Sam looked out his master bedroom window and saw flames on the roof of 455 Delaware Street. He and Patrick McAleer (1846-1906), his coachman for many years, raced to help. McAleer rang fire-alarm box 62 at the corner of Virginia and Delaware. Reigstad writes:

Meanwhile, Twain reached his neighbor’s front entrance, pulled the doorbell, and is said to have drolly introduced himself: “My name is Clemens. We ought to have called upon you before and I beg your pardon for intruding now in this informal way—but your house is on fire.” After thus meeting the owner, J.M. Gwinn, a teller at Marine Bank, they scampered up the stairs to address the blaze. McAleer climbed out of a window onto the roof and put half the fire out by throwing snow on it. Then Twain and Gwinn passed him buckets of water to extinguish the rest. By the time the two fire department steam engines arrived, led by Chief Tom French of Columbia Hose II, the fire—caused by a defective chimney—was under control [138].

Sam wrote from Buffalo to his mother and family. He had received a “coffin” of Enterprise files. He praised Annie’s letter and told them about the Galaxy appointment [MTL 4: 98].