November 16 Saturday – Sam and Livy returned to Hartford. In Hartford, Sam telegraphed Joe Goodman in care of Samuel Moffett (not having Joe’s address), saying “Close no bargain if you have not already done so. Wait for my letter.” Then Sam wrote the letter, leading with his description of the telegram and outlining his “new project”, and marking it “Private”:

I want you to get from Jones & two or three others the capital which we shall require. This money to not pass through our hands at all, but through the Chemical Bank if Drexel Morgan & Co. (who must assume the trust & be responsible); they to pay it out only on vouchers for plant & manufacture; the trust to also deliver the machines & collect the money. Jones et al to receive all the profits until they have got back all the money they put in [and] $500,000 besides. After that, they to receive one-third of the profits thenceforth, permanently. You yourself to receive $500,000 out of the profits before we get anything ourselves [MTP] Note: California Senator John P. Jones was a longtime target of Sam’s for investment, but only reluctantly and eventually threw in $5,000. Goodman was working at growing grapes in Fresno with money put up by John Mackay, silver baron of the Comstock Lode.

Sam planned to move the machine to New York the middle of January and that 600 sales would pay all of the above owing and leave two million dollars in the kitty. Sam gave more big numbers following these. He figured the machines would cost $2,000 to manufacture and sell for $10,000. Sam wanted Goodman to keep all of this to himself, and not to give things away to Jones. Sam had misgivings about interrupting any sales of royalties Joe was in the middle of securing, but to go ahead, it would not interfere with the project he’d outlined. Royalties were payments to be made upon each machine’s sale, and therefore were in a superior position to stock. Could Joe come east and have a talk about the end of January?

Sam enclosed the letter to Goodman in a note to his nephew, Samuel Moffett, asking him to find out where Goodman was and to get his letter to him [MTP]. Note: Goodman was grape-growing in Fresno.

Henry K. Dillard wrote from Phila to Sam, “much interested in an article” about Sam “written by Mr. C.H. Clark which appeared in the ‘Critic’”. [MTP].