November 10 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Webster, directing him to send William Hamersley a check for $3,500—“it finishes the type-setter business in a very satisfactory fashion,” Sam wrote. Sam also instructed Webster to gather information regarding “General Grant’s literary powers—his happily proven ability as an author…” [MTP]. Because Grant had not been a good speaker, many were still skeptical that he could have written his memoirs with any ability.

Rollin Daggett left Hartford [Nov 11 to Webster, MTP].

James Redpath came to Sam’s and talked three hours on behalf of Charles Allen Thorndike Rice,  “the ambitious young editor and publisher of the North American Review” [MTNJ 3: 284n195]. Rice had compiled Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln by Distinguished Men of his Time and had included anecdotes by Fred Grant directly from the manuscript of Grant’s Memoirs. Rice had hired a Webster & Co. bookkeeper to gain information regarding the company’s subscription methods. When the prospectus of the Lincoln book appeared, Webster and Sam suspected foul play. Redpath gained permission after the fact for use of the anecdotes, but Sam would not budge. He deferred prohibition of Fred Grant’s chapter in Rice’s book until his attorneys at Alexander & Green could judge that it would do no harm to Grant’s Memoirs.

Mary L. Leverette for Acorn Magazine wrote to thank Sam for his “kind, friendly letter” which evidently told of his being rejected at the start of his career. “We forget that noted authors have had trials, like the rest of us, don’t we” [MTP].

Daniel Whitford sent a telegram: “Have seen Rice & am to see him again tomorrow morning. Colonel called today but I was out. He says in note did not agree to any time to deliver the manuscript. I think it will be all right” [MTP].