August 24 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Webster. Sam wanted Webster to “Pitch into Mills’s business & square it up.” He spoke highly of Mills, not identified further.

Sam also reported on Duncan’s lawsuits:

“I have a telegram from Bath, Maine,—the grand jury threw out the bill, to that editor’s vast comfort. Duncan went for a criminal indictment, in that case.”

The Brooklyn Eagle reported on page 2:

Mark Twain gave his testimony at Elmira yesterday before a commission appointed to take evidence in the suit for libel brought by Captain C.C. Duncan against the New York Times. From the report forwarded by telegraph it appears that the distinguished humorist is disinclined to acknowledge a great many things attributed to him in the Times’ interview, which is the basis of the action. Captain Duncan seeks to ascertain whether the offensive passages truly represent what Twain said, or are the production of the reporter’s imagination. His refusal to confess the paternity of some first class examples of withering sarcasm and gall provoking vituperation cannot but cast a gloom over the large community of his admirers.

Jane Clemens wrote replying to Sam’s of Aug. 16, sorry that Livy had been “so sick” and confessing she also had been ill. “I would like to see Jean when she looks like me, but I can’t wish to see her when she looks like her father” [MTP].

Henry Heath, attorney, wrote from NYC to explain Capt. Duncan’s love of jokes but hatred of malicious attacks, and the distortions of the press on these matters [MTP].