April 10 Friday – Mollie Clemens arrived in Hartford remaining at least through Apr. 11. She came to ask Sam to help her and Orion buy a farm in Keokuk. Sam was still deciding by Apr. 23, when Mollie wrote an attorney to seek clear title on a property near Keokuk, owned by her father, William Stotts [MTPO notes in Apr. 23 to Orion]. Sam offered them the alternative of an outright pension with interest on $8,000.

Sam wrote a short note from the railway post office in Hartford to Orion, who was working at the New York Evening Post, a paper which Sam thought had carried the libelous item about him paying for his own tribute dinner. Sam wanted a copy of that paper, not the article cut out, and he wanted Orion to keep the secret of a libel suit. Sam was waiting for Mollie, who had taken the train to Hartford seeking financial assistance from Sam to buy a farm in Keokuk [MTL 6: 103].

Sam also wrote two letters to James Redpath on the same issue, this time about the item appearing in the Boston Evening Transcript.

Dear Red, /There is an item going around like this:

“Mark Twain received & paid the bill for a complimentary dinner to him in Hartford lately.”

Confidentially between you & me, I am bringing a libel suit on this &I want you to send me all the newspapers you can find containing it.

Yours ever, [no signature; MTP drop-in letters].

Sam replied on Farmington Ave. stationery to the Apr. 9 from Winthrop Turney:

“Dear Sir: Your very pleasant letter has just arrived this morning, & I hasten to comply with a request which is a high compliment to me, since it is proof that your friendly interest has survived both the reading of my books & the listening to my lectures” [eBay item 370295829353 Nov. 24, 2009].