December 27 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote what he later called an “ill-tempered letter” that should be torn up to Frederick J. Hall.

I don’t believe Whitford. Webster was too big a coward to bring a suit when advised against it. The real mistake was in trusting law business to an ignorant, blethering gas-pipe like Whitford. I am not saying this in hatred, for I do not dislike Whitford. He is simply a damned fool — in court — & will infallibly lose every suit you put into his hands. If you are going to have any lawsuits with Gill, I beg that you will either compromise or have some other law conduct the thing.

Note: Watson Gill had an agreement with Webster & Co. to dispose of their surplus books in his bookstore, so when the company began selling to the trade, Gill felt it was a violation of their agreement and would go to court over the matter. Sam’s sudden invective against Whitford probably stemmed from his failure to win the Edward H. House case, as well as knowledge that their appeal of the Joseph J. Little judgment would be denied; Clemens did not relish losing another such case.

Sam also wrote to Gardiner G. Hubbard, father-in-law to Alexander Graham Bell. Hubbard had responded to Sam’s notice on Christmas in the N.Y. World, slighting the inventor of the telephone. This letter may be viewed online at:

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/bellhtml/004039.html

Arguing that since Bell invented the telephone he was also responsible for the Hartford telephone, Sam complained that there was no night-service, even though they charged for it; that the quality of reception was such that it would take a week’s effort to convey a 20-word message,

And if you try to curse through the telephone, they shut you off. It is this ostentatious holiness that gravels me. Every day I go there to practice, & always I get shut off. And so what it amounts to is, that I don’t get any practice that can really be considered practice. Well, as you can see, yourself, the inventor is responsible for all this. For your sake I wish I could think of some way to save him, but there doesn’t appear to be any.

Frederick J. Hall wrote to Sam:

As I wrote you we have fixed the matter up with Gill. When he saw we wanted to do what was right but would not be imposed upon, he came to terms. As I wrote you we shall have to cut loose from him after our present contract expires, as we can do the business he does for us at more profit to ourselves now that we are organized for it.

Hall noted what Sam had said about avoiding lawsuits. LAL collections would run nearly $4,000 for Dec., keeping up the average, though January was usually a bad month since it followed the holidays [MTP].