May 12 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to James R. Osgood, thanking him for some service performed (unidentified):
“Old man, you performed gorgeously. You would make a good highwayman. Yes, sir, for the sake of your character (& mine) I will be very mum to those people.”
May 11 Wednesday – James R. Osgood wrote from Boston to Clemens. “I sold the story to Scribner for $400 with the understanding that if it should exceed 13 1/3 pages you should be paid for such excess at the rate of $30 per page [MTP]. Note: written on the env., “Osgood sells M.T. story to Scribners / A Curious Incident?”
Charles Webster wrote from NYC on Kaolatype Engraving Co. Letterhead to Clemens.
May 10 Tuesday – Arnold, Constable & Co., NYC billed Sam $4.50 for “3 caps”, paid May 13 [MTP].
May 9 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Karl and Hattie Gerhardt. After going on about how he liked the way they kept their finances, Sam admitted, “I am not as business-like, myself, as I ought to be—consequently I peculiarly detest the like thing in others.” Sam told of plans to go to the “Sound-side near New Haven about June 1st” and his hope that Paris would not be as “wintry & hideous as it was at this time in ‘79” [MTP].
May 7 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Webster. His opinion of Slote had, by this time, gone completely dark.
Dear Charley— / The fact that we are into Dan near $900, reconciles me to the other things. He must never have a cent of that while he lives.
Come up here Monday—we can get through our talk before 6 P.M.—I leave then, for South Manchester [Conn.] to be gone till midnight.—or, come Tuesday, if you prefer.
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].