May 7 Monday – Ah Sin opened in Washington for a week long trial before a New York premier. Sam sent Charles Parsloe a telegram, saying he’d been laid up sick but had prepared two speeches in case he’d been able to make the opening—“one to bewail a failure, the other to glorify a success.” Sam wanted to know which one he should use the next day [MTLE 2: 66]. Note: Parsloe answered Sam on May 11 that the presence of Bret Harte was “an added annoyance” [Duckett 143].

Charles T. Parsloe sent a telegram to Sam: “Telegram read from stage at close of performance. The audience unanimously pronounced in favor of glorifying speech” [MTP].