July 6 Wednesday – The following four local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Shirt Stealing,” “Fourth of July,” “The Racing Stock in the Procession,” and “Banner Presentation” [Branch, C of Call 290].
July 2 Saturday – The following four local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Policeman Suspended,” “The Swindle Case,” “Chance for the Hotels,” and “Stole a Shirt” [Branch, C of Call 289].
June 21 Tuesday – A local item in the Call, “Short-Hand Law Reporter” is attributed to Sam [Branch, C of Call 289].
June 17–23 Thursday – The article “‘Mark Twain’ in the Metropolis” was probably first printed sometime between these dates in the Territorial Enterprise, copies of which were lost [ET&S 2: 9]. (See June 26 entry)
The Morning Call
June 11 Saturday – A local item in the Call, “Another Chapter in the Marks Family History” is attributed to Sam [Branch, C of Call 289].
June 6 Monday – Sam secured employment as a local reporter for the San Francisco Morning Call at forty dollars a week [Branch, C of Call 16]. His duties included local news, public meetings, and local theater productions. His hours were long and irregular. He wrote candidly about the racial and social injustices he saw, particularly about the Chinese. These articles were censored or discarded by the paper’s conservative editor, but many were printed by the Enterprise.
June–July – In a few weeks Sam and Steve would move from the more expensive Occidental to cheaper rooms, but they continued to take meals at the Occidental, where the food was great and the company stimulating. There Sam met and enjoyed Martha Hunter Hitchcock, wife of Dr. Charles McPhail Hitchcock (1813?-1885), medical director for the Army of the Pacific. Martha was a regular contributor to the Alta California and active in local literary circles. She introduced Sam to her literary circle, which included: Ina Coolbrith (1841-1928), Bret (Francis) Harte (1836-1902), Ambrose G.
May 30 Monday – Sam and Steve Gillis settled at the Occidental Hotel.
May 29 Sunday – Sam, Joe Goodman, and Steve Gillis left Virginia City for San Francisco. Goodman wrote to Paine in 1911 that he’d intended to ride only a short way with the pair, but that the company was “too good and I kept clear on to San Francisco” [MTL 1: 302].
May 18 Wednesday – Sam’s EDITORIAL “How Is It?” ran in the Enterprise:
How is it that The Union outbid us for the flour Monday night and now repudiate their bid? How it is that Union employees refused to pay their subscriptions when they fell due? Did they pledge themselves for a big amount solely to make a bigger display than The Enterprise? Had they any other idea than to splurge? [Schmidt: reprinted in The Saga of the Comstock Lode, George D. Lyman, (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1957), p. 294, quoting Virginia City Daily Union, May 19, 1864].