May 3 Thursday – In the afternoon in New York, Sam and his attorneys met with President William H. Payne of the Mt. Morris Bank and his attorney, Daniel Whitford, who had also been attorney for Webster & Co.

I was instructed to be quiet & composed at the conference; be courteous & polite; parry all attempts to get me excited or angry; make no admissions; answer no arguments; & let Paine [Payne] & Whitford go away empty at last. Hard conditions; but the lawyers said I carried them out, in letter & spirit. Only one attempt was made to bully me & anger me — that was Whitford’s — & it fell so effectless & flat that he was ashamed of it himself [May 4 to Livy].