New York and Washington DC 1867-68 - Day By Day

January 15 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Washington to Charles Webb, acknowledging receipt of the books he had asked for on Jan. 10; he passed on the reaction by Cornelius Stagg (b.1827?) to Sam’s questions about a scandal Stagg was involved in. Evidently Stagg was accused of extorting bribes from whiskey dealers in New York State, using a tax as a cover [MTL 2: 158-9].

January 17–19 Sunday – Sam traveled to New York and stayed at Dan Slote’s and “part of two days at Moses Beach’s in Brooklyn” [MTL 2: 165] until about Jan. 21. He also went by ferry to the home of Henry Ward Beecher, who advised him further on the matter of the proposed contract with Bliss [MTL 2: 160].

January 18 Saturday – Elisha Bliss wrote to Sam, anxious to secure promise that IA would be published by American Publishing, at future agreed upon term. [MTP].

January 19 Sunday – Sam and Elisha Bliss exchanged telegrams, either this day or the next, regarding the possible publication of IA. Neither dispatch is extant but both are referred to in Bliss’ Jan. 20 letter.

January 2 Thursday – In the Brooklyn Eagle, page 3:

The Quaker City Excursion Again—Captain Duncan’s Reply to “Mark Twain.”

 To the Editor of the Brooklyn Eagle:

 I have read Mark Twain’s last in to-day’s EAGLE, and am of opinion that when that letter was written Mark Twain was sober. Yours, truly, C.C. DUNCAN.

Brooklyn, December 31, 1867

January 20 Monday – Sam wrote from New York to his mother and sister Pamela. (See Jan. 19) [Powers, MT A Life 647n26; MTP drop in letters].

My Dear Mother & Sister:

I received your letters yesterday postmarked 12th, & Pamela’s to-day postmarked 16th— Your arguments are strong—too strong to be refuted—& now I have no idea of going away without visiting St Louis first.

January 21 Tuesday – The Alta had not only registered Sam’s letters for copyright, but they were in a conflict with the Sacramento Union over its printing of one letter. They printed an “emphatic claim to ownership” of Sam’s Holy Land letters [MTL 2: 174n1].

January 22 Wednesday – As per Elisha Bliss’ invite of Jan. 20, Sam took a train to Hartford, Conn., since he had not been able to reach an agreement through correspondence. This was Sam’s first visit to Hartford. He may have arrived the night before [MTL 2: 162n1]. Andrews cites Jan.

January 24 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to his mother, and sister Pamela Moffett.

January 25 Saturday – Sam returned to New York and stayed at the Slote house, where he wrote his old Hannibal friend, Will Bowen. “I have just come down from Hartford, Conn., where I have made a tip-top contract for a 600-page book, & I feel perfectly jolly.” Sam told Will about his newspaper deal with the Herald, and sent best wishes for Will’s brother Bart, scalded in a steamboat accident [MTL 2

January 26 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Thirty-six” dated Sept. 1867 at “Tiberias” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 229-36].

January 27 Monday – Sam wrote from New York to Elisha Bliss, American Publishing Co., agreeing to terms. That evening Sam attended a dinner of “newspaper Editors & literary scalliwags, at the Westminster Hotel” [MTL 2: 169-70].

January 28 Tuesday – Sam’s article, MARK TWAIN IN WASHINGTON, dated Dec. 17, 1867, ran in the San Francisco California Alta. Subtitles: More Mysteries; How a Mystery was Solved; Singular; Personal; Harris [Schmidt].

January 30 Thursday – Sam returned to Washington, D.C. (See Mar. 3 entry), where he wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks.

“I confess, humbly, that I deserve all you have said, & promise that I will rigidly eschew slang & vulgarity in future, even in foolish dinner speeches, when on my guard” [MTL 2: 170].

January 31 Friday – Sam wrote from Washington, D.C. to Emma Beach saying he had:

“not been out of the house since I came home, & have not left the writing table, except to sleep, & take my meals. I have written seven long newspaper letters & a short magazine article in less than two days.”

January 5 Sunday – Sam went to Plymouth Church in Brooklyn and was a guest at Henry Ward Beecher’s home. At dinner there he met Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and Catherine Beecher (1800-1878). Sam’s “old Quaker City favorite, Emma Beach,” was also there.

January 6–7 Tuesday – Sam returned by train to Washington, D.C.

January 7 Tuesday – Sam’s MARK TWAIN’S LETTERS FROM WASHINGTON, NUMBER II, dated Dec.16 1867 was printed in the Enterprise. Sections: “John Ross Browne’s Report,” “Personal,” “’Coast’ Matters,” and “The Holidays” [MTP].

January 8 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Washington to his mother, and sister Pamela. Sam told of his trip to New York, the “blowout” at Dan Slote’s house and the dinner he had at Henry Ward Beecher’s home. He also wrote that he found just found out the night before that he was to give two lectures on Jan.

January 9 Thursday – Sam wrote from Washington, D.C. to Stephen J. Field (1816-1899), Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, recommending Harvey Beckwith for a government agent post to uncover illicit un-taxed whiskey. Sam had known Beckwith from his Nevada days, when Harvey was the superintendent of the Mexican silver mine at Virginia City [MTL 2: 150].

March 1 Sunday – Sam’s MARK TWAIN’S LETTERS FROM WASHINGTON, NUMBER VIII dated Feb. 5 ran in the Enterprise. Sections included: “Office Hunting,” “The Man Who Stopped at Gadsby’s,” “Mrs. Lincoln,” “Felix O’Byrne,” and “Stewart’s Speech” [Schmidt].

March 10 Tuesday – Sam traveled to New York, where he wrote Mary Mason Fairbanks:

“I am so glad of an excuse to go to sea again, even for three weeks. My mother will be grieved—but I must go. If the Alta’s book were to come out with those wretched, slangy letters unrevised, I should be utterly ruined” [MTL 2: 202].

March 3 Tuesday – Sam’s article, MARK TWAIN ON HIS TRAVELS, dated Feb. 1, ran in the Alta California . Subtitles: The White Fawn; Hartford; The Charter Oak; and:

March 4 Wednesday – Sam’s satiric poem, “Rock Him to Sleep” ran in the Cincinnati Evening Chronicle [Camfield, bibliog.]. The work ridiculed Alexander M.W. Ball, one of the claimants of authorship for the popular poem, “Rock Me to Sleep, Mother” [Gribben 21].

March 7 Saturday – Sam’s MARK TWAIN’S LETTERS FROM WASHINGTON,  NUMBER IX dated Feb. 1868 ran in the Enterprise. Sections included: “Washington Rascality,” “The Delegation,” “Postmaster,” “Sandwich Islands Reciprocity,” “Miscellaneous” (McGrorty,) “Hay,” “Wood,” “Rough,” and

Impeachment.