September 25 Sunday – Cesare Bellucci wrote a short note to Sam in Italian from Florence [MTP].

September 24 Saturday – William Evarts Benjamin wrote to Sam, enclosing a bill from C.H. Curtiss Co. for repairs to the Tarrytown house, which Sam offered to continue leasing, but turned down the tenant’s offer to purchase the house for what Sam paid, $45,000 [MTP].

September 22 Thursday – Sam returned to N.Y.C. and wrote to Senator Odoardo Luchini in Florence.

Your kind letter of the 5th has just reached me from Lee, Mass., where Jean & Katy & Miss Lyon are occupying the cottage in the hills; Clara is in a rest-cure in a village in Connecticut, where she sees no one but the nurse & the doctor & neither writes letters nor reads them; I am kept constantly in New York.

I am very sorry Mr. Traverso has had an accident, & I hope he is well again by this time. Jean had one, but is well again. She & her horse… [etc.]

September 21 Wednesday – Sam was in Fairhaven, Mass. The dedication of the church was postponed; it finally took place on Oct. 4, 1904, and was reported on Oct. 8 by the Fairhaven Star. The article did not mention either Mark Twain nor Henry Rogers on those dates. However, Sam’s Oct. 7 to Lyon included a note that he’d breen “too busy dedicating churches in Fairhaven” to write Jean, which reveals Sam did attend the Oct. 4 event. Note: thanks to Carolyn Longworth, Millicent Library.

September 20 Tuesday – Sam was in Fairhaven, Mass.

September 19 Monday – Sam was in Fairhaven, Mass. Ralph W. Ashcroft wrote two letters to Sam. “Wheeler went to St. Louis with Hammond. / I enclose amended Second page of my ‘defence’ which please attach to the other pages, & destroy (or return to me Wednesday) the page it supplants.” His second letter discussed The International Spiral Pin Co. and stock which Sam might purchase. “On behalf of my uncle, Capt. W.D. Garside, of Melbourne, Australia, I hereby offer you all or any part of $6,000. of the preferred shares…” [MTP].

September 18 Sunday – Sam was in Fairhaven, Mass.

September 17 Saturday – In the morning, the Kanawha arrived in Fairhaven, Mass. With Mark Twain, and Mr. and Mrs. H.H. Rogers. The New York Times, Sept. 20, p.1 reported:

H.H. ROGERS IS ILL. ——

Dedication of Fairhaven Church Postponed—Indisposition Slight.

Special to The New York Times.

September 16 Friday – With Mr. and Mrs. H.H. Rogers, Sam left New York on the Kanawha for Fairhaven, Mass. to “help dedicate that church” (Unitarian Memorial Church), that Rogers built and dedicated to his mother. Sam would return on Sept. 22 [Oct. 23 to Crane; NY Times, Sept. 20, p.1 (below) ]. Ralph W. Ashcroft wrote to Sam. “As I’m to be in jail before sun down (so Wheeler says) I’ve written out my defence to his & Hammond’s charge & enclose it herewith. / Try to digest and assimilate it before Wednesday” [MTP].

September 15 Thursday – Sam, who was staying at the Hotel Wolcott in New York, accompanied by Ralph W. Ashcroft, went to see John Hays Hammond at his hotel, but discovered he was in Gloucester, Mass. Sam then sent the following telegram to Hammond:

NEW YORK, Sept. 15, 1904.

JOHN HAYS HAMMOND: