April 23 Monday – In New York, Sam wrote Orion Clemens about the assignment of Webster & Co.

I am glad they [Mt. Morris Bank] forced me, & so is Mr. Rogers; but poor Livy — it will nearly kill her, I reckon. However, I prepared her as well as I could before I came away. I told her we were getting into better & stronger shape every day, & that if the bank tried to force me I would protect the creditors by assigning. I was already suspecting that Mr. Rogers’s checks might have been just such an effect; & that the bank might say to itself, ‘He is protected by a multimillionaire — go to we will crowd him.’ Mr. Rogers is a bad man to crowd.

Unless this business interferes (which I am not expecting), I shall sail May 9th.

Sam also wrote that the new machine would be finished in June, and that Rogers had no doubts the “machine’s great future is secure” [MTP]. Note: this letter was quoted in Pamela Moffett’s May 6 to her son, Samuel. Sam’s original is not extant.

William Shakespeare was born on Apr. 23, 1564 and died on the April 23, 1616. The Players Club held a Shakespeare Day celebration for ladies, which Sam wrote on Apr. 25 to Livy drew some 900 to 1500 ladies.