May 5 Thursday – At the Hotel Metropole in Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore.

He gave his future address the Villa Paulhof in Kaltenleutgeben; Sam often did this when about to move; they would not go to the health resort until May 20.

The Pratt & Whitney Co.’s old bill for $1,744.20, dated Apr. 3, 1890 had arrived; it was one which had been disputed after Paige had moved his typesetter from the company into his Hartford shop. Sam did not remember the bill, and asked how it happened “to wait 8 years?” Why didn’t they send such a bill to Whitmore? “Deep down in my soul” he knew he was free of debt from that company.

“The Webster debts gave me all I want of this life, & I would risk hell in a minute to leave it” [MTP].

Note: Sam may indeed have forgotten about this old bill, but he was billed initially, and again on Oct. 4, 1890 and Jan. 10, 1891 by R.F. Blodgett of Pratt & Whitney for this exact amount. On Mar. 19, 1891 Sam replied to a request by Paige for more money and an enclosed bill (likely this one) from P&W by returning the bill and refusing to pay any more on the typesetter. On Sept. 17, 1892 Sam wrote Whitmore from Lucerne, feeling that it was the right time to put in the claim for this amount to the Chicago concern of new investors for Paige. On Oct. 14, 1892 Sam wrote to Whitmore about this bill, which he’d refused to pay until Henry C. Robinson advised him to. It’s not clear who owed this amount, but Sam had steadfastly refused to pay it, seeing it as Paige’s obligation.