May 30 Wednesday – John Habberton for the N.Y. Herald wrote to Sam, thanking him for his “kind note of 28th inst.,” and asking if Webster & Co. could handle his “screed” [MTP].
The Hartford Courant, p.8 under “Sheridan’s Memoirs” ran “An Interesting Interview” with Mark Twain.
May 29 Tuesday – The New York Times, p.1, ran a preview announcement of General Philip H. Sheridan’s Memoirs.
THE GENERAL’S MEMOIRS
May 28 Monday – Sam attended a reception honoring Joseph Hopkins Twichell’s 50th birthday. After Mr. Allen (possibly Frederick B. Allen, Joe’s Boston friend) spoke of the world’s progress during Joe’s 50 years, Sam spoke. The Hartford Courant covered the event in an article of May 29:
MR. TWICHELL’S BIRTHDAY
May 27 Sunday – Joe Twichell’s 50th birthday was brightened by the presentation of the deed to his house by the Asylum Hill Congregational Church, which had collected some $10,000 for the purchase and improvement of the house [Strong 94]. The following night a reception was held that Sam attended.
May 26 Saturday – Cordelia Welsh Foote wrote from Cincinnati to thank Sam for the personal letter he sent she read in her performance. The Cincinnati Enquirer gave it favorable review [MTP].
Webster & Co., per Arthur H. Wright wrote to Sam (balance statement for $5,973.93); “We rec’d the proceeds of a $10,000 note but paid Gen. Sheridan a like amt.” [MTP].
May 25 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Thomas A. Edison. His letter illuminates his telegram of May 21 and his quick visit to Edison’s on May 22.
Dear Sir: I had only part of a day at my disposal, but I shall try again, soon, & shall hope to find you on deck & still open to invasion. However, I accomplished part of my mission, anyway: I spent an hour & a half with the phonograph in Dey street, with vast satisfaction.
May 24 Thursday – Thomas A. Edison telegrahed Sam at the Murray Hill about his May 21 telegram.
Will be glad to see you this afternoon or any time to-morrow convenient to yourself. Am here all the time [MTNJ 3: 386n289; MTP]. Note in citation: “Clemens had already returned to Hartford, however, and did not see Edison until the following month.”
May 23 Wednesday – Zadel Barnes Gustafson wrote her third letter to Sam that she was sailing May 26 for England and hoped for a response to her prior pleas for help. Sam wrote, “God damn this tedious woman” on the envelope [MTP].
George C. Thomas wrote to thank Sam for his letter and the return of his MS, and especially for pointing out “some serious faults” in his composition [MTP].
May 22 Tuesday – Sam made a brief stop at the Edison Phonograph Company on Dey Street in New York, but did not find Edison in. He “spent an hour & a half with the phonograph on Dey street, with vast satisfaction” [May 21 and 25 to Edison]. Sam badly wanted to obtain a phonograph to dictate his writing (see May 25).
May 21 Monday – A tribute to the impresario Lester Wallack had been in the planning for some time (See New York Times Apr. 29, p.2 “The Wallack Benefit”), and Sam would have been well aware of it. He probably left Hartford in the morning.
Later in the day, at the Murray Hill Hotel in New York, Sam telegraphed Thomas A. Edison.