May 6 Friday – Sam had initially hired Charles Webster to take charge of the Kaolatype investment, but he soon became a general business manager. Samuel Webster writes: “Mark Twain started at once to unload instructions, plans, and bright ideas onto his new helper.
May 5 Thursday – Charles Webster wrote to Clemens that Dan Slote was “either a knave or a fool” and that he was in cahoots with Sneider to “bleed” Clemens [MTNJ 2: 353]. Note: replied May 6.
Emerson O. Stevens (1865-1900) Wrote from Cleveland, Ohio
Mr. Twain,—Dear Sir:
May 4 Wednesday – Charles Webster wrote a postcard sized note to Sam that his letters came daily but he had been too busy to answer them. “I have a good deal to tell you & will try to write tomorrow. I saw Sneider yesterday, he refuses to show me the experiment.” He also made Slote pay up [MTP].
May 3 Tuesday – Sam wrote a one-liner from Hartford to Charles Webster, asking if there wasn’t a payment to be made on the Watch stock before May 10 [MTP].
May 2 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Webster:
“Let Dan furnish money to pay bills with, just as long as he will” [MTP].
May 1 Sunday – Sam wrote three letters from Hartford to Webster, explaining that he considered the $5,000 loan to Slote, three days before Slote, Woodman & Co. failed, to be a debt of honor, and that “Slote should have antedated the firm’s note to the beginning of 1878 so that Clemens could get full payment of the debt” [MTNJ 2: 392-3n119; MTP].
April 30 Saturday – Mrs. Gilbert of Hartford billed $54 for “36 lessons in German from Mar. 21 to May 1”; paid [MTP]. Note: Four different Mrs. Gilbert’s are listed in the 1875 City Directory.
April 29 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Webster.
April 28 Thursday – Sam wrote a short note from Hartford to the A.V.S. Anthony, that he would:
“…hand that book to Osgood, when he comes, & he can take it to Boston; if it is too bulky, I guess we’ll tear out that particular fac-simile & let him take that” [MTP].
April 27 Wednesday – Hartford and New York Steamboat Co. billed $1.50 for “1 box plants from Elmira; Apr. 25 from NY, Lake Eire & Western RR” [MTP].
Western Union Telegraph Co. bill of Apr. 30 shows telegram sent this date to Brooklyn, recipient not specified (see that entry for others).