April 9 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Jerome B. Stillson, editor of the New York World, asking him to save all the exchanged newspapers that carried the lie that he paid for a dinner to be given in his own honor.
“In confidence, I am bringing a libel suit & I want these papers as evidence. Don’t mention it” [MTL 6: 102].
Winthrop Turney (ca. 1864-1905) wrote: “Dear Sir / Please send me your autograph and greatly oblige your young friend /Winthrop Turney” [MTP]. Note: Hand drawn large letter “T”s on the stationery & env., led Twain to write: “A Curiosity (The initial.) (A boy who manufactures his own).” Turney committed suicide in 1905.
April 9–12? Sunday – In Hartford, Sam wrote to his mother, Jane Clemens, and sister, Pamela Moffett, enclosing an Apr. 4 letter from C. Gleim in Rock Island, Ill. Gleim was evidently a family friend. Sam wrote that “Livy is tolerable & the Modoc is well. We leave for Elmira next Wednesday” [MTP, drop-in letters].