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.
May 20 Sunday – The New York Times, p.10, “Held to Contract,” announced a judgment of $2,382.10 against Charles L. Webster & Co in favor of the Joseph J. Little & Co., printers at 10 Astor-place.
May 19 Saturday – Frederick J. Hall for Webster & Co. wrote Sam a long letter about “certain glaring defects in the organization of our Subscription Department.” He objected to the manners and appearance of W.E. Dibble, hired by Webster, and urged he be replaced. With Webster gone, Hall felt he could not give much time to the subscription department.
May 18 Friday – Charles R. Brown for American Magazine wrote asking Sam his views on the passage of the “Chase International Copy-right Bill” [MTP].
Helen M. Dove wrote a begging letter to Sam asking him not to consider her a beggar! [MTP].
E.J. Hamersley wrote to Sam; most of it is illegible [MTP].
Webster & Co., per Arthur H. Wright wrote a note of the $5,694.05 bank balances to Sam [MTP].
May 17 Thursday – Frederick J. Hall for Webster & Co. wrote to Sam: “Your favor received, also the watch. We will pay the Burton bill, the bill for composition and electrotyping on the Burton book, and also send you invoice for the watch. We have forwarded a copy of ‘The Library of Humor’.” Other finances were discussed [MTP]. Note: Richard E. Burton.
May 16 Wednesday – John Habberton (1842-1921), for 20 years the literary and dramatic critic for the N.Y. Herald, and author of the Sam-detested Helen’s Babies (1876), wrote to Sam offering a 100,000 word war book, “with scarcely a sign of a battle in it, but full of life and incidents over which the old boys of both armies chat most” [MTNJ 3: 390n308]. Sam, no doubt prejudiced by Habberton’s earlier work, declined.