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.
April 9 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Jerome B. Stillson, editor of the New York World, asking him to save all the exchanged newspapers that carried the lie that he paid for a dinner to be given in his own honor.
“In confidence, I am bringing a libel suit & I want these papers as evidence. Don’t mention it” [MTL 6: 102].
April 8 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Chatto & Windus, English publishers who had taken over John Camden Hotten’s company upon his death. Responding to a request for a blurb to promote Ambrose Bierce’s new book, Nuggets and Dust Panned Out in California by Dod Grile; Sam had known Bierce in San Francisco in the 1860s. Sam wrote:
April 7 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Annie F. Fuller (1840?-1906), 2nd wife of Frank Fuller:
My Dear Mrs. Fuller:
April 6 Monday – David Gray wrote from Buffalo, NY. In part:
April 4 Saturday – C. Gleim wrote to Sam [MTP]. (See Apr. 9-12 entry)
April 3 Friday – Sam paid an Apr. 1 bill of $2.45 from Geer & Pond, Hartford booksellers for a subscription of Littell’s Living Age for the period Dec. 6, 1873 to Mar. 21, 1874 [Gribben].
Spring of 1874 – Sam’s pamphlet of ten sketches, Mark Twain’s Sketches. Number One, was ready but was withdrawn before distribution [MTL 6: 49n6].
March 28 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to William S. Andrews, a fellow lecturer and member of the Lotos Club.
March 27 Friday – In Hartford, Sam wrote to James Redpath.
“Dear Redpath: / If you’ve got that old Postmaster monologue by you, please send it to me—I want to revise & publish it in the Atlantic Monthly, & see if I like it upon re-reading” [MTP, drop-in letters]