July 3 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to his Hannibal host on the recent trip West, John Garth, responding to his letter.

Next, I myself was stretched on the bed with three diseases at once, and all of them fatal. But I never did care for fatal diseases if I could only have privacy and room to express myself concerning them.

We gave early warning, and of course nobody has entered the house in all this time but one or two reckless old bachelors—and they probably wanted to carry the disease to the children of former flames of theirs [MTP].

Sam also wrote to Andrew Chatto:

“I see by the Irish Times (Dublin) of June 9, that a bogus Mark Twain is fooling people in Belfast. You & Conway please look out for him & expose him” [MTP].

Helen M. Cox wrote from N. Orleans to thank Sam for the book, likely The Stolen White Elephant. And, apologized for being unable to “go down to the boat when you left us” [MTP].