March 18 Wednesday – James W. Paige wrote to Sam asking for money and enclosing a bill (not extant) from Pratt & Whitney, asking him “to pay in accordance with your agreement” [MTP]. Note: Sam would pay no more, however. See his Mar. 19 response.
March 17 Tuesday – Frederick J. Hall wrote to Sam concerning how to raise money to pay off Webster & Co.’s bank debts to the Mount Morris Bank. Hall raised $15,000 from personal friends, including the George Barrow family [MTNJ 3: 610n128]. Note: the Barrow debt would prove troublesome during receivership.
March 16 Monday – Frederick J. Hall wrote to Sam about “A Mr. Bruce, an author [who] comes to us introduced by a letter from Colonel Higginson. He has a scheme for writing a Life of Cleveland.” Hall was doubtful the book would pay, though if Cleveland were nominated Hall thought there would be a “demand for a good life of him”; if not, there wouldn’t be [MTP].
March 15 Sunday – In Boston, William Dean Howells wrote to Sam:
March 14 Saturday – Frederick J. Hall came to Hartford to discuss business; he spent the night at the Clemens home. Among other things he and Sam discussed the idea of issuing a cheap edition of Mark Twain books for trade publication, beginning with HF [MTNJ 3: 607&n117].
March 13 Friday – Anna H. Bumstead wrote from Boston to Sam reminding him of his yearly contribution for the Ware children. On the envelope Sam wrote, “$25” [MTP].
March 12 Thursday – In Hartford Sam responded to Hall’s Mar. 11 note confirming that he’d look for him Saturday (Mar. 14) and suggested he stay the night, returning to N.Y. at “7.10 Sunday evening.” Sam believed that in “short interviews we overlook lots of things that ought to be discussed.” By this time some trains ran on Sunday [MTP].
March 11 Wednesday – William Dean Howells and wife Elinor were visiting the Clemenses when T.H. Macdonald arrived from the New England Phonograph Co. with the phonograph Sam had ordered. Macdonald set it up for him [MTNJ 3: 607&n118]. Note: The exact length of their stay is not clear, but in his Mar. 15 Howells wrote it was “too short for the things I wanted to say,” suggesting it was probably not longer than one night.
March 10 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote a short letter to the Chattanooga Republican, which ran in the Mar. 15 edition of that paper:
My Dear Sir — The original of Col. Mulberry Sellers was never in Tennessee. He was a man whom I knew familiarly during several years in Missouri, and some of the most extravagant performances attributed to him in the book were not inventions but facts of his life — the stove with a candle in it, the raw turnip dinner, etc. I did not burlesque him — he shouldn’t have done it himself.
March 9 Monday – In Hartford Franklin G. Whitmore answered Howard P. Taylor’s Mar. 8 letter for Sam, who responded he had “said nothing to any body or considered any offers from any body in relation to the dramatization of the ‘Yankee’.” How long of an extension did Taylor want? [MTP].