June 20 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Webster about Duncan’s threatened lawsuit:

All right. Tell Mr. Whitford [Sam’s new lawyer] about Duncan’s proposed suit. Tell him also that if I can be allowed to testify on my own behalf, I will go on the stand & point out each and every word in the printed interview that was actually uttered by me, & will show that 20 words will cover the whole; & I will swear that all the rest was the interviewer’s own—invented it himself. Then if Whitford lets Duncan know this, possibly he will drop his prosecution of me & strengthen his Times suit by summoning me as a witness against the Times—a chance I should not be sorry to have [MTBus 216]. Note: In Mar. 1884 a Brooklyn jury awarded Duncan twelve cents damages against the Times.

Charles Webster wrote about business matters: hearing of lawyers preparing papers to serve Sam in the Duncan lawsuit [MTP].