August 19 Tuesday – Olivia Lewis Langdon’s 80th birthday. Mrs. Langdon’s health was failing and Livy was now with her in Elmira. A small gift card in Livy’s hand with this date “from her loving children Samuel & Livy” has been preserved [MTP].

Franklin G. Whitmore wrote to Sam, concerned about the new contract with Paige. Frank thought Sam was “deceived with promises,” and unprotected by the agreement, which called for $250,000 payment to Paige within six months. Increasingly, Sam would rely on the backing of Senator John P. Jones [MTHL 3: 571].

August 18 Monday – While in Keokuk, Sam received a telegram from Franklin G. Whitmore, a message Sam referred to in his Aug. 21 to Mollie & Orion as “that idiotic & nerve-stretching dispatch,” which caused Sam to leave Keokuk early. He may have left this day or the next, for he wrote from Elmira on Aug. 21.

August 17 Sunday – Sam was in Keokuk, Iowa at Orion and Mollie Clemens’ home, at his mother’s bedside.

John Brusnahan foreman for N.Y. Herald compositors was anxious to see his newspaper install a Paige typesetter, and wrote Sam an “anxious” letter to “make a move” after learning the paper was considering installing a Mergenthaler Linotype on trial [MTNJ 3: 575n3]. Whitmore no doubt received this letter, as he then telegraphed Sam with unnecessary urgency the next day, Aug. 18.

August 16 Saturday – Sam arrived in Keokuk, Iowa. Sam spent a few days at his mother’s bedside. She seemed to rally [MTNJ 3: 572].

August 15 Friday – Sam left Washington for Keokuk and his ailing mother. The entire day would be spent on the train. (A letter from Sam in Tannersville, N.Y. to the Rogers Peet Clothing Store assigned this date is probably mis-dated.)

August 14 Thursday – In Washington, D.C. [MTHL 3: 572] Sam wrote to Whitmore, probably still in Branford Conn. Word had arrived of 87-year-old Jane Clemens’ stroke. Sam abruptly prepared to leave for Keokuk:

Dear Brer:

Better fix up the Bk ac/ with this $1000. I leave for Keokuk in the morning. Mother very ill [MTP]. Note: Jane would die on Oct. 27, 1890.

Meanwhile, Livy left Onteora to spend a week with her ailing mother [MTNJ 3: 575n2].

August 13 Wednesday – In New York on this date, Sam signed a new contract drawn up by James W. Paige, who sold all rights in his typesetter for $250,000. Sam was to pay Paige this amount within six months, which put him behind the gun to acquire major financing [MTHL 3: 571].

At the Murray Hill Hotel, Sam wrote again to Franklin G. Whitmore, who was vacationing at Montewest House in Branford, Conn.

August 12 Tuesday – As disclosed in his Aug. 11 telegram to Franklin G. Whitmore, Sam went by train (two and a half hours) in the evening to New York City, where he checked into the Murray Hill Hotel [MTP].

Orion Clemens wrote to Sam that he’d received his letter this day and was “glad you all are so pleasantly situated” (at Onteora). Ma wasn’t walking now and was “very sick.” [MTP].

August 11 Monday – In Onteora Park near Tannersville, N.Y. Sam telegraphed to Franklin G. Whitmore:

I go to New York tomorrow night & ultimately to Washington ship the contract immediately to Webster & Co and ask Hall by telegraph to put it in his safe telegraph me here before night that this has been attended to [MTP].

D.C. Lyle wrote from Baltimore County, Md. to ask Sam to write on an enclosed postal card the title of the publication in which the Twain genealogy appeared. Lyle had inquired of Chatto and Windus but they didn’t know [MTP].

August 10 Sunday – Sydney Scrope wrote from New Brighton, N.Y. to ask Sam how he “first came to adopt the ‘nom de plume’ which had become a household word”[MTP].