April 15 Wednesday, before – In Hartford, Sam sent a note to James B. Pond asking him to send James Redpath $200, that he would refund it later [MTP]. Note: from the Apr. 15 note repaying this amount, which Sam wrote he “was forgetting about,” it stands to reason this request was most likely made at least a couple of weeks prior to Apr. 15, and should more properly be entered earlier.
April 14 Tuesday – Orion Clemens wrote: “I humbly apologize. / I did not expect you to write a letter, but merely send the photograph and autograph. I will send to Charley for the book for Fitzgerald.” [MTP].
George P. Lathrop for Am. Copyright League wrote “I happened to be in the Century office to-day, just after you had left. Now look here: this won’t do. If you can come down here just to attend to your sordid private interests, you can read twice for the Cause” [MTP].
April 11 Saturday – Sam wrote a one liner from Hartford to S.L. Caldwell, accepting for Susy and himself the invitation sent. Caldwell’s identity and the event referred to are unknown.
April 10 Friday – Before leaving for New York, Sam wrote from Philadelphia to Karl Gerhardt, recommending Erastus Brainerd, who had inquired after Gerhardt “with great interest” [MTP]. Note: Brainerd (1855-1922) a Connecticut native and Harvard graduate was a journalist. He would later move to the Northwest and become editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
April 9 Thursday – In Philadelphia Clemens inscribed a drawing to the Clover Club, where he was to speak in the evening. “Ys Truly / Mark Twain” [MTP].
Sam read “The Tragic Tale of the Fishwife” at the Actors Fund Fair, Academy of Music, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Fatout’s introduction in Mark Twain Speaking, p.194:
April 8 Wednesday – Sam went to New York on his way to Philadelphia, a trip which he’d expected to take Livy. She had a bad cold and a headache, so she did not go. Sam wrote late from New York to Livy of his disappointment on leaving her home. He went to General Grant’s in the evening.
April 7 Tuesday – Sam presented and signed a copy of his “Burlesque Autobiography” to Wellington Evarts Parkhurst: “Hartford, Apl 7/85. W.E. Parkhurst, Esq.” [MTP]. Note: Wellington Evarts Parkhurst of the Framingham, Mass. Parkhursts, brother to Dr. Parkhurst of New York, famous for his fight against Tammany Hall. If so, (1835–1897?).
April 6 Monday – Sam added a PS to his letter of Apr. 4 to Webster. He noted that the man made two errors in an enclosed galley proof, but the Paige machine made “not a single error” [MTP].
Karl Gerhardt wrote “I carried bronze bust to Col Fred Grant this afternoon and he gives it to his mother. I give the other members of the family terra cotta busts” [MTP].
April 5 Sunday – In Hartford, Sam wrote to Charles Webster.
“Livy forbids the ‘Prefatory Remark’—therefore, put it in the fire.”
Sam also discussed the son, age 34, of brilliant criminal lawyer Samuel F. Jones, who was looking for a position. Sam referred him to Webster to evaluate as a state agent for book sales. Sam also vowed to raise the money for Hamersley necessary for the “type-writer speculation” [MTP]. Note: Paige typsetter.
April 4 Saturday – From Sam’s notebook:
“General Grant is still alive to-day, & the nation holds its breath & awaits the blow” [MTNJ 3:127].
The Hartford Courant ran Sam’s Mar. 28 letter to Nichols, prefaced by these remarks about the Concord Library and the Boston Advertiser: