January 22 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Be at Helmer’s, 5 p.m. & wait for Mr. Rogers / Dr. Rice’s 7.45 Carriage at 7.35” [NB 44 TS 4]. Note: Clemens and H.H. Rogers had an appointment at Osteopath George J. Helmer’s, Madison Ave. and 31st Street [Jan 21 to Rogers].
January 21 Monday – Sam’s notebook: “ ‘Name the greatest of all the inventors. Accident’” [NB 44 TS 4].
Livy and Clara Clemens left New York bound for Washington, where Clara would debut as a singer on Jan. 22 [Jan. 21 to A. Langdon]. Note: They returned back to New York on Jan. 22 at 3 p.m. probably right after Clara’s performance [Jan. 22 to E. Rogers].
January 20 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “Fifth Ave Synagogue About 8.30 o’clock—Meyer / 150 girls—4 type, now 21 in a year. Carriage at 8” [NB 44 TS 4]. Note: Nathaniel Myers (1848-1921), corporate attorney, and President of the Hebrew Technical School for Girls [obit: NY Times, 31 Aug. 1921, p. 9].
The New York Times, p.4 ran this brief announcement:
Mark Twain at Temple Emanu-El.
January 19 Saturday – Sam was in Washington, D.C. where he gave a brief interview reported in a special to the New York Times for Jan. 20, p.1.
MARK TWAIN ON HAZING.
Calls West Point Cadets Who Indulge in it Cowards.
Special to the New York Times.
January 18 Friday – Sam went to Washington, D.C. purpose not known.
January 17 Thursday – The planned date of return from Boston to New York. Sam, however, traveled either this day or Jan. 18 to Washington, D.C., the purpose of his trip not known. Sam’s notebook does not have an entry for either this day or the next.
January 16 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook: “Rogers’s man who had slept in fertilizer & stunk the car. / Junkman, Waterbury, & dial. / Boston Tavern Club / Corpse & guns. / Howells. Time, 7—will go at 9.15” [NB 44 TS 3].
Fatout lists a dinner speech by Sam at Tavern Club in Boston. He does not furnish the text or the subject, however the above NB entry suggests some and gives the standard late time for Sam to arrive [MT Speaking 668]. Note: see entries Vol. I for the Club.
January 15 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Why’dn’t you go to hell? There’s no Irish there. / Corey & portraits of Lincoln & Washington. / Won’t you for Christ’s sake pass the butter / Hit him for pie” [NB 44 TS 3]. Note: William Ellis Corey (1866-1934), capitalist and steel executive, who began his career at age sixteen and in 1903 succeeded Charles M. Schwab as president of U.S. Steel 1903-1911.
January 14 Monday – Sam’s notebook: “Boston, Aldrich ‘Murray Hull [sic Hall]’ has gradually 6 bastards put upon him by the courts—some on no good evidence but his lecherous character” [NB 44 TS 3]. Note: Murray Hall was a woman who masqueraded as a man for over 25 years, married two women, worked tirelessly for Tammany Hall, and generally fooled everyone until her death (at an estimated 70 years of age) on Jan. 16 [NY Times, Jan. 19, 1901, p3. “Murray Hall Fooled Many Shrewd Men.”
January 13 Sunday – At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote to Mary Nash Hubbard in Hannibal, Mo.
“I remember the wedding very well, although it was 50 years ago; & I wish you & your husband joy of this anniversary of it” [MTP]. Note: Mary was the sister to William H.C. Nash of Hannibal (b. 1829), a childhood friend of Sam’s [MTL 1: 246n4].