March 10 Thursday – The New York Tribune editorial of this date, “How Juries are Obtained in This Town,” evoked a spot in Sam’s notebook:
March 11 Friday – Frank M. Scott, cashier and bookkeeper for Webster & Co., was arrested for embezzling $20,000. He had been siphoning off funds each month since his hire in July 1885. From the N.Y. Times of Mar. 13, 1887, p.2 (See Mar. 18 entry for more details.)
A WEAKNESS FOR DISPLAY
FRANK SCOTT HAD IT AND IS NOW IN JAIL
March 12 Saturday – Henry Ward Beecher was laid to rest at the Greenwood Cemetery after a simple funeral, as per his wishes [Brooklyn Eagle, p.6 “Ashes to Ashes”]. Sam did not attend.
Sarah Orne Jewett for Longfellow Memorial Committee wrote from Boston inviting him to read at the Mar. 31 Authors’ Reading in the afternoon [MTP].
March 13 Sunday – In Hartford Livy wrote to Mary Emily Mantz (1863-1940), betrothed of Samuel Moffett, now in San Francisco (they married on Apr. 13, 1887). His mother, Pamela Moffett, had undoubtedly filled in the Clemenses on Samuel’s love life on her recent visit [MTP].
Orion Clemens wrote to Sam, “worried yesterday over the news that a cashier had stolen forty thousand dollars from your firm” [MTP].
March 14 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Charles E. Deuel (1864-1932), a student at Trinity College in Hartford (he would become a pastor in Wyoming, Idaho, Chicago and Santa Barbara, Calif.) Deuel had some project and wished help from Sam.
Won’t you kindly drop in at my house when you have a spare moment, & give me an idea of about what is required of me?…I am not averse from the undertaking, if I find it is within the scope of my pretensions [MTP].
March 15 Tuesday – In Boston, William Dean Howells wrote to Sam:
I wish to acquaint you with Mr. Wilson Barrett, to whom we all took such a liking when he was here. I wish you might see him as Hamlet; but if not, he is very good as Wilson Barrett [MTHL 2: 588]. Note: Barrett was an English actor who toured the U.S. several times between 1886 and 1897.
March 16 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam responded to his brother’s letters of Mar. 13 and 14. Orion had evidently expressed concern about reading about the embezzler, Frank M. Scott at Webster & Co., arrested on Mar. 11.
Nobody is crippled — to hurt.
March 17 Thursday – In Hartford Sam responded to an invitation by Annie A. Fields to stay with her during his planned Boston visit, to read “English As She Is Taught” at the Longfellow Memorial on Mar. 31. He accepted but warned of “timorous” misgivings:
March 18 Friday – A week after Frank M. Scott was arrested for embezzling from Webster & Co., the New York Times carried a full account:
CONFESSIONS OF A THIEF
L.. — — — —
SCOTT ADMITS THAT HE STOLE $25,000
FROM HIS EMPLOYERS
March 19 Saturday – Susy Clemens’ fifteenth birthday. Sam inscribed two of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s books (under pseudonym “Christopher Crowfield”): The Chimney Corner, and Oldtown Folks to: Susie Clemens, Mch. 19, 1887 [Gribben 670]. Daisy Warner wrote her father about Susy’s birthday party:
March 20 Sunday – The New York Times, p.9 ran a short article, “MARK TWAIN’S MEMORY,”touting Professor Loisette’s “system of memory,” and quoting Sam’s letter (See the beginning of this year.)
March 21 Monday – In Hartford Sam responded to a neighbor’s note, Charles E. Thompson, that he would “report at the Armory at 8 tomorrow evening.” He also gave Thompson permission for his son to tie up his boat on the creek at the rear of Sam’s property.
…& if he will speak to my coachman, he will provide a place for his oars in our stable, if he would like that [MTP]. Note: The Armory event is unknown.
March 22 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks, now in London, England. Sam’s was an obvious response to her (not extant) letter. He mentioned problems about Mary’s daughter Alice living anywhere but Cleveland and possible separation or divorce, no doubt heavy concerns for Mary.
It is a most pitiable case; hard for you, & hard for Alice too. But don’t you see? — Alice cannot go anywhere but Cleveland to live
March 23 Wednesday –
Check # Payee Amount [Notes]
3628 Mr. F.R. Pierson 23.48
3629 Mssrs Aitkin Son & Co 28.00 Machinist
March 24 Thursday – Franklin G. Whitmore wrote a letter for Sam to Charles Webster. The formal, business-like letter was essentially Sam’s agreement to the course Webster intended to pursue in recovering assets from the embezzler, Frank M.
March 25 Friday – In Hartford Sam responded to a letter from Mrs. Jenny S. Boardman, once Jenny Stevens, daughter of “the old jeweler of Hannibal, & sister of Ed, John & Dick” [Apr. 2 to Pamela]. Jenny had written about the idyllic Mississippi riverboat days.
March 26 Saturday – Sam inscribed a copy of P&P to Harriet Beecher Stowe:
To Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe / with the reverence & admiration / of / The Author, / self-appointed instructor of the public / under the name of / Mark Twain / Hartford, March 26, 1887 [MTP].
March 27 Sunday – Robert U. Johnson for Century Magazine sent Sam proofs of “The Private History of A Campaign That Failed” for him to correct and return [MTP]. Note: essay written in 1885.
March 28 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote a short note to Richard Watson Gilder, asking again for the proofs of “English As She Is Taught” — Rush! Sam wrote, as he needed them on Mar. 31 [MTP].
March 29 Tuesday – In Boston, William Dean Howells wrote to Sam:
It has just dawned on me that you may be coming to Boston to-morrow — the day before the circus. In that case we all want you to put up here! / Telegraph![MTHL 2: 588-9;MTP].
March 30 Wednesday – Sam either went to Boston as planned in his Mar. 17 to Fields, or left early the next morning. An entry in his notebook implies he wanted to take Susy, but as his Apr. 1 to Annie Fields shows, she was too ill to go.
March 31 Thursday – Sam read “English As She Is Taught” for the Longfellow Memorial, Boston, Mass. Charles E. Norton (1827-1908) presided, and Sam was the third to read, as he recalled 20 years later in an interview [N.Y. Times, Feb. 24, 1907 p.4]. The following Boston Globe article, however, puts him first. The program began at 2 P.M. and he barely made his 4 P.M. train to New Haven.
Spring – Profits on Grant’s Memoirs: Sam, $93,481.34; Webster $25,942.37; Mrs. Grant $394,459.53 [MTNJ 3: 316n47].
April 1 Friday – A new contract between Charles Webster, Samuel L. Clemens and Frederick J. Hall was dated April 1, 1887. It called for the following: Sam would keep $75,000 in the firm; Webster’s salary would be increased to $3,800, an increase of $800; Hall was given the annual salary of $2,000 and also one-twentieth of the net profits, with Sam and Webster dividing the remaining profits, two-thirds and one-third [MTLTP 230n2].
April 2 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to his sister, Pamela Moffett, now in San Francisco, awaiting the wedding of her son, Samuel Moffett on Apr. 13 to Mary Emily Mantz. Clemens informed her about the letter from “Mrs. Boardman, was Jenny Stevens, daughter of the old jeweler of Hannibal, & sister of Ed, John & Dick.” He’d answered Jenny’s first letter but didn’t care to answer her second, as he couldn’t “afford a correspondence…”