January 27 Saturday – In New York at the Players Club, Sam got up at 8 a.m. and answered “an accumulation of letters” and a note from H.H. Rogers. He sent five telegrams; had a “tedious interview” with Charles E. Davis, who told of Rogers’ “bombshell” dropped into the Conn. Co.’s camp on Jan. 25:

[Rogers:] “The Paige contract is now perfected. I have accepted it formally & by signature. My part is done. Now for yours. Clemens & I will allow the lacking 57 royalties to remain on the machine for $50,000 of paid up stock. Go & tell the C.C. so; also that they must have their understandings with the other royalty-holders reduced to written contracts — and right away!”

[Sam:] Consequently, Davis went flying to Washington, Frink to New Haven and Ward to Hartford — the first time these two latter have ever been pulled out of their eternal drowse.

I am to leave now in 15 minutes to sign a contract releasing 150 royalties for $150,000 of paid-up stock.

I guess our ship is mighty near in, now.

4:30 p.m. I have signed that paper. Does the ship seem so very near in? No. The Farnham Co.. in Hartford are hanging back. That inveterate blatherskite Bill Hamersley conspired with the C.C. to gather the Farnham Co’s 150 royalties in for $75,000 of paid-up stock provided his 50 royalties could remain on the machine. He has now resigned his Presidency in that Co. without waiting to get their acceptance in writing. The new President proposes to ignore the agreement & stand out for more stock. This result is going to follow, no doubt: — the poor C.C. [Conn. Co.] will —

— Mr. Rogers’s card; I must go down to the front hall & see him; he is not a member & can’t come up. [MTP] Note: Sam added to the letter on Sunday, Jan. 28 at 9:30, which is where Paine’s copy begins. The sale/exchange of royalties vastly complicated reorganization to a stock company.

To the note from H.H. Rogers, Sam answered:

I’ll be there at 6.30, (un)loaded for bear — in case you are going to have any for dinner. Otherwise, ham will do.

Sam added he was sorry that Rogers’ son-in-law, William Evarts Benjamin, was ill and added “there will be no difficulty about settling the Hall matter.” This may have involved some disagreement about the sale and/or payments of LAL to Benjamin [MTHHR 34].

In his Aug. 19, 1895 to H.H. Rogers, Sam gave this date as the date he signed an agreement with the new Paige Compositor Co. [MTP].

Sam later wrote (on Feb. 12 in the wee hours) of “desperately” working “to dash off the answers” to the “hatful of letters,” that had accumulated while in Boston, so as to make a business engagement, and in so doing, switched two of the letters in the wrong envelopes, sending Mrs. Laffan a letter meant for a missionary, and vice versa.

The first chance I got, I went out to Laffan’s & sure enough she had the missionary woman’s letter & of course the missionary woman had hers. At first I thought I would cry: but upon reflection I didn’t.

Sam’s notebook gives the name of the missionary:

Note to Mrs. Hamilton Marsh, a stranger, who wrote & asked me to come to a meeting and say a few words in behalf of foreign missions & thus raise money to carry the light of the gospel &c &c &c: “Madam: In declining your kind invitation I will be frank with you & say that I have no sympathy with such things & take no interest in them.” / When I got through with my mail the floor was littered with my answers & the envelops for them — superscribed by me. I put Mrs. Marsh’s answer into Mrs. Laffan’s envelop, & Mrs. L’s answer into Mrs M’s envelop — of this blunder I am almost sure. I am waiting for results — with such cheerfulness as I can. I wish Howells had done this; it would seem funny, then. Still there is a neatness & completeness about it that almost reconciles me to it [NB 33 TS 52].

At noon, Sam began a long letter to Livy, telling of the above events of the day, and which he added to on Jan. 28 and Jan. 30 (cited here as both MTLP and MTP). Sam wrote of a new snowfall of six inches, and then detailed his busy Friday, Jan. 26. See entry.

James J. Corbett arrived in New York only two days after beating Charley Mitchell in Jacksonville Florida to defend the title he won in 1892 from John L. Sullivan. The fighter’s party included Dan Creedon, middleweight champion of Australia (he was actually a New Zealander). Creedon had beaten Alexander Greggains in a big middleweight bout in Roby, Indiana on Aug 14, 1893, and engaged afterward in several exhibition matches with Corbett in Florida [NY Times Aug. 15, 1893, p.5 “Creedon the Winner”].

5,000 fans and the Old Guard Band met Corbett at the train station in Jersey City. The band played “Hail to the Chief.” Later that night Corbett and Creedon put on an exhibition for 7,000 at Madison Square Garden. Sam had dinner with H.H. Rogers and wife. Rogers bought a $15 box at the Garden for the boxing exhibition featuring Corbett. Sam, Rogers, Dr. Clarence Rice, and two artists from the Players Club occupied the box, Robert Reid and Simmons (Sam referred to the latter as “fire-escape Simmons, the inveterate talker”). Afterward, Sam met Corbett in his dressing room [NY Times, Jan. 28, 1894 p.3 “Corbett Arrives in Town”]. Sam’s letter to Livy continued the next day, relating the exhibition match and his talk with Corbett:

Livy dear, when we got out to the house last night [Jan. 27], Mrs. Rogers, who is up and around, now, didn’t want to go down stairs to dinner, but Mr. R. persuaded her and we had a very good time indeed. By 8 o’clock we were down again and bought a fifteen-dollar box in the Madison Square Garden (Rogers bought it, not I,) then he went and fetched Dr. Rice while I (went) to the Players and picked up two artists — Reid and Simmons — and thus we filled 5 of the 6 seats. There was a vast multitude of people in the brilliant place. Stanford White came along presently and invited me to go to the World-Champion’s dressing room, which I was very glad to do.         Corbett has a fine face and is modest and diffident, besides being the most perfectly and beautifully constructed human animal in the world. I said:         “You have whipped Mitchell, and maybe you will whip Jackson in June — but you are not done, then. You will have to tackle me.”         He answered, so gravely that one might easily have thought him in earnest:         “No — I am not going to meet you in the ring. It is not fair or right to require it. You might chance to knock me out, by no merit of your own, but by a purely accidental blow; and then my reputation would be gone and you would have a double one. You have got fame enough and you ought not to want to take mine away from me.”         Corbett was for a long time a clerk in the Nevada Bank in San Francisco.         There were lots of little boxing matches, to entertain the crowd: then at last Corbett appeared in the ring and the 8,000 people present went mad with enthusiasm. My two artists went mad about his form. They said they had never seen anything that came reasonably near equaling its perfection except Greek statues, and they didn’t surpass it.

Corbett boxed 3 rounds with the middle-weight Australian champion — oh, beautiful to see! — then the show was over and we struggled out through a perfect wash of humanity [MTLP 2: 603-4]

Afterwards, Sam enjoyed a musical evening at Mrs. Cowdin’s that lasted till dawn:

 I had an engagement at a beautiful dwelling close to the Players for 10.30; I was there by 10.45. Thirty cultivated & very musical ladies & gentlemen present — all of them acquaintances & many of them personal friends of mine. That wonderful Hungarian Band was there (they charge $500 for an evening.) Conversation & Band until midnight; then a bite of supper; then the company was compactly grouped before me & I told about Dr. B. E. Martin & the etchings, & followed it with the Scotch-Irish Christening. My, but the Martin is a darling story! Next, the head tenor from the Opera sang half a dozen great songs that set the company wild, yes, mad with delight, that nobly handsome young Damrosch accompanying on the piano.         Just a little pause — then the Band burst out into an explosion of weird & tremendous dance music, a Hungarian celebrity & his wife took the floor — I followed; I couldn’t help it; the others drifted in, one by one, & it was Onteora over again.         By half past 4 I had danced all those people down — & yet was not tired; merely breathless. I was in bed at 5, & asleep in ten minutes. Up at 9 & presently at work on this letter to you. I think I wrote until 2 or half past. Then I walked leisurely out to Mr. Rogers’s (it is called 3 miles but it is short of it) arriving at 3.30, but he was out — to return at 5.30 — (& a person was in, whom I don’t particularly like) — so I didn’t stay, but dropped over & chatted with the Howellses until 6.         First, Howells & I had a chat together. I asked about Mrs. H. He said she was fine, still steadily improving, & nearly back to her old best health [MTLP 2: 605]. Note: Sam’s “&’s” have replaced Paine’s “and’s”. The engagement was most certainly that of Gertrude Cheever Cowdin (Mrs. John E. Cowdin). Also, Robert Reid  encouraged Sam to make her event; finally, Sam’s description seems to fit the “impromptu spree” promised by Mrs. Cowdin. See both invitations Jan 26. 

Emma T.T. Rapallo (Mrs. Edward S. Rapallo) sent Sam an invitation to dine on Jan. 30 at 7:45 p.m. [MTP].