September 26 Tuesday – In New York on Webster & Co. letterhead, Sam wrote to daughter Clara.

Benny dear, this is Hulda’s wedding-day. I’ll send a congratulatory cablegram.

Dearheart, I don’t expect to be able to sail before the middle or end of November. I’m in a business fog which every now & then promises to clear, but shuts down next day as thick as ever. So I have come to the conclusion that my release from New York is ‘way off, yet.

September 23 Saturday – In New York on Webster & Co. letterhead, Sam wrote to daughter Clara.

September 21 Thursday – In New York Sam wrote a short note on Webster & Co. letterhead to daughter Clara in Elmira. The letter is a response to Clara’s (not extant) need for a saddle.

Clara dear, why don’t you write Patrick [McAleer]…& tell him to send you your saddle? If he has taken proper care of it, it is in good condition yet.

September 20 Wednesday – At 9:30 a.m., Sam called for Charles and Ida Langdon at the Waldorf Hotel, but after a long search they were not found. Charles was in New York with some sort of ailment where he could not eat, and under the care of Dr. Fuller. After receiving a note later in the day from Ida, Sam returned to the hotel at 5:30 p.m. in his “morning clothes.”

September 19 Tuesday – At Dr. Rice’s in New York, Sam wrote to Livy at 10:30 a.m. after a “full night’s sleep.” He awoke at 8 a.m. and just finished shaving when he wrote, soon to be on his way “to meet a business engagement.”

Yesterday was the crucial day — for the present. We skinned through. We’ve got another reef to cross 5 days hence, & another one 4 days after that. I think we’ll get over — & without the help of any old friend or relative.

September 18 Monday – Russell Hinman sent a copy of his book, Eclectic Physical Geography (1888) to Sam for daughter Jean Clemens, with this note:

My dear Sir: —

September 17 Sunday – At Frank Fuller’s farm In Madison, N.J. Sam wrote to daughter Clara. He wrote that he’d “woke up at 7 this morning entirely rested, refreshed & brisk.”

September 16 Saturday – Sam traveled to Madison, New Jersey and Frank Fuller’s farm, “Chemmiwink,” arriving at 1 p.m. Exhausted from this ordeal to find financial support for Webster & Co., worn down with another cold and bad cough, but knowing that Rogers would provide Fred Hall with the needed $8,000, Sam “went immediately to bed thoroughly tuckered out & drowsy” [Sept 17 to Clara].

September 15 Friday – Sam was up at 7 a.m. and back at the frantic search for a loan with which to save from defaulting on debts due Monday, Sept. 18. From Sam’s Sept. 17 letter to Livy:

September 14 Thursday – In New York, a bad cold and cough again plagued Sam, who “fell asleep as soon as” he “touched the bed” [Sept. 15 to Clara]. Sam discussed publishing an interview with William Webster Ellsworth, secretary of Century Co., and would write him the next day [Sept. 15 to Ellsworth].

In his Sept. 17 letter to Livy, he related how hectic the search for funds had been this day: