December 31 Saturday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Whitelaw Reid sending an article Sam wrote on the controversial John H. Surratt (1844-1916), son of the woman who was hanged for her part in Lincoln’s assassination (engaging in the conspiracy and running the boarding house where John Wilkes Booth planned the crime). Sam argued that by persecuting Surratt, his lecture managers would use that to increase his fame. Left alone, Sam argued, Surratt could not gather more than a hundred to hear him speak and would fade away [MTL 4: 290].

John Henry Riley wrote having rec’d Sam’s of the 26th“and request complied with—the idea is now in genuine circulation as far as those one-horse papers go” [MTP]. Note: Sam’s of Dec. 26 not extant.

Isaac E. Sheldon wrote: “I send you by this mail proofs of all the cuts. If they are satisfactory to you please let me know at once. Please also send in ‘The House that Jack built’ just as you want it set up.” He gave more publishing details for “Burlesque Autobiography” [MTP].