May 2 Friday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to Poultney Bigelow, who evidently had asked what road to take to get to Riverdale. Sam replied: “Land!—I don’t know any road except the railroad, & it doesn’t turn off at all. I think you stick to Broadway all the way, but I do not know” [MTP]. Note: Bigelow was likely coming to Sam’s dinner party this evening, and was a fan of the bicycle. “Dinner party at home” [NB 45 TS 11].
May 1 Thursday – Fatout lists a reading by Sam of unspecified works at Mrs. Bartholomew’s in N.Y.C. [MT Speaking 670]. Note: Fatout likely saw this NB entry, but discounted the last sentence:
Sam’s article, “A Defence of General Funston,” ran in the May 1902 issue of the North American Review.
April 29 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Pay the $42,500. Take $25,000 from Guarantee Trust & $17,500 from Lincoln National Bank” [NB 45 TS 11]. Note: $42,500 was the balance owed on the Tarrytown house, after a $2,500 down payment.
Thomas B. Reed wrote a short note to Sam: “My duty to the Community is very clear. / I will rescue you if possible. / It is so seldom that a man gets a chance to be a patriot and a friend in ‘one time and one motion’!” [MTP].
April 28 Monday – H.H. Rogers wrote to Sam.
April 27 Sunday – Livy’s diary: “Julie & Mr Loomis here Mrs Virginia Fraser Boyle for luncheon, for tea Miss Dike & Mr Brisbin Walker” [MTP: DV161].
April 26 Saturday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to Katharine I. Harrison asking her to put $5,000 to his credit in the Guaranty Trust Co. on Monday as he wanted to draw it out on Tuesday, Apr. 29 [MTP].
April 25 Friday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote a postcard to The American Plasmon Co. giving them the times he was due to be in three places in N.Y.C. on the following day: Hoyt & Co., 15 W. 42nd at 10:45 a.m.; the Plasmon Co. at 11:15 a.m., and William Dean Howells’ at noon [MTP]. Note: The William H. Hoyt Co. at that address had advertised “Mark Twain’s Home for Sale” on Apr. 19 in the Hartford Courant [Meltzer 243].
April 24 Thursday – Sam traveled to Philadelphia, to attend the funeral for Frank R. Stockton the following day. Sam’s notebook gives evidence: “Stockton’s funeral. Phila. Gilder goes at 10 a.m., the others at 11. I the latter” [NB 45 TS 11].
April 23 Wednesday – Sam wrote to E.E. Olcott of the Hudson River Day Line, accepting dinner on board the new steamer Albany, date sometime in late May to be arranged. Sam’s is not extant but referred to in Olcott’s Apr. 26 acceptance.