March 8 Thursday – At sea on the SS New York, Sam wrote to Henry H. Rogers, outlining a “scheme” whereby William Evarts Benjamin, Frank Bliss, and himself would “join teams on the Uniform Edition” with a third profits to each, Benjamin to furnish the capital, Bliss to do the work. There would be an initial outlay of three or four hundred dollars for the “dummy” book for canvassers (another subscription approach) and when 1,000 subscriptions had been sold, the type could be set and the plates made, costing about $3,600. Then the books would only be printed as fast as demand warranted, “thus avoiding all risk of loss.” Sam added that Mr. Benjamin would thus be free of all the labors of publication unless he chose to be the “General Agency for New York.”

Sam then wrote of other matters, and of his “exodus”:

I sat up until 2 in the morning waiting for Mr. Colby but he did not arrive. It was very kind of Mrs. Duff & Harry the Energetic to come down with me & take the cheerlessness out of my exodus, but it was a pity Mr. Colby made them wait so long. I was a good deal troubled about it, but they said it wasn’t any worse than being in a house full of doctors without the privileges of the floor & the vote.

Mr. & Mrs. Benjamin are on board, so I am provided with pleasant company.

By this time Mrs. Rogers is in her chair again, I am perfectly sure, & I am very glad of it, too [MTHHR 40-2].

Notes: Bainbridge Colby was a lawyer with the N.Y. firm of Stern & Rushmore; he handled legal matters for H.H. Rogers and Sam before he was appointed assignee in the bankruptcy of Webster & Co. on Apr. 18, 1894. Cara (Clara) Rogers Duff, H.H.’s widowed daughter; Harry Rogers, H.H.’s son, was “Harry the Energetic.” The Benjamins on board were not Mr. & Mrs. William Evarts Benjamin but probably related. Abbie Gifford Rogers (Mrs. Henry H. Rogers) had been invalided for several years.

Urban H. Broughton, Chicago attorney and H.H. Rogers’ future son-in-law (he would marry the widow Duff) wrote Sam:

I am in receipt of your esteemed favor of 6th inst, enclosing two copies of agreement between yourself and the Paige Compositor Mfg. Co. I will execute and return the same to Mr. Rogers [MTHHR 43n1].

Henry H. Rogers also wrote to Sam. Bainbridge Colby had been in and said there was a misunderstanding about meeting Sam at the steamer. Since the papers were all prepared no “embarrassment was occasioned by” Sam’s leaving, which means it was no problem.

Mr. Hall has been in to-day and I have gone over his papers and concluded to advise him to accept an offer which he had for the first story and basement of his building [to sublet] at $2500 per year. This reduces the C.L. Webster obligations to $900 a year, plus certain expenses for heating….Mr. Hall reports somewhat favorably in regard to business. He expects to hear from the Mt. Morris Bank people in regard to renewals to-morrow. The U.S. Bank have renewed for three months.

Rogers also wrote that Colby would write Sam concerning the transfer of royalties to Livy and send papers for execution. Colby had communicated with Broughton in Chicago and Rogers expected to receive the stock certificates in the next two days. Rogers assured Sam that Livy was “fully protected by reason of my action today,” — his execution of power of attorney to transfer assets to her name [MTHHR 42-3]. Note: also mentioned along with the Mt. Morris Bank was Thomas Russell, printer and bookbinder, a major creditor of Webster & Co. He would sue Sam in July 1895 for monies owed.