October 3 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to his brother Orion about hickory nuts, Theodore Crane, and the Paige typesetter.

Keep a sharp lookout for some particularly bully hickory nuts; & when as usual you send us a bag, send a bag also to T.W. Crane, Elmira. He is getting along pretty fairly….But apprehension concerning him is not at an end…

To-day I pay Pratt & Whitney $10,000. This squares back-indebtedness & everything to date. They began about May or April or March 1886 — along there somewhere, & have always kept from a dozen to two dozen master-hands on the machine.

Love to you both. All well here. And give our love to Ma if she can get the idea [MTP].

Sam also wrote to William D. Foulke (1848-1935) and Elijah W. Halford (1843-1938) of Indianapolis, declining to attend an event in honor of James Whitcomb Riley (“Hoosier Poet”).

I would go if I could, were there even no way but by slow freight; but I am finishing a book begun three years ago; I see land ahead; if I stick to the oar without intermission I shall be at anchor in thirty days; if I stop to moisten my hands I’m gone. So I send Riley half of my heart — & Nye the other half if he is there…[MTP].

Note: Foulke was born in N.Y.C., the son of a Quaker minister. He graduated from the Friends Seminary in 1863 and became a lawyer in 1871, practicing there until 1876, when he moved with his wife to her hometown of Richmond, Indiana where he lived until his death. He was active in the suffrage movement. Halford was managing editor of the Indianapolis Journal; Riley also wrote for this paper, Halford publishing many of his earliest poems. Halford was born in England, and came to America as a child with his parents, settling in Cincinnati. Like Clemens, he rose from a “printer’s devil” to become editor. At this time he had been with the Journal for 25 years, and was also active in Indiana politics. The N.Y. Times, Nov. 22, 1888 described him as “an editorial writer…widely known for his able and incisive political articles, the pungency of his style giving his writings a distinctiveness, leaving no doubt on the reader’s mind as to their authorship.” This article announced his appointment as private secretary to President-elect Benjamin Harrison. He would later become a Lt. Colonel in the army and promote American actions in the Philippines. He died at the ripe old age of 95. See N.Y. Times, Feb. 28, 1938 p.16.

Sam also wrote three notes to Webster & Co., letters not extant but referred to in their letter by Arthur Wright of Oct. 5 [MTP].

Frederick J. Hall wrote from Chicago on Peale & Co. letterhead. He had had some “pretty lively discussions” with some of their agents about not waiting for a book to be close to publication before pushing it. He was getting commitments from agencies Hamilton, Peale, and Beach. He was picking up good ideas from the large offices of Peale & Co. Webster’s condition puzzled Hall, and he stayed a day and a half with him upon his insistence; Hall described his appearance as Jekyl and Hyde when the drug wore off [MTP].