Day By Day Dates

April 10 Sunday – The Brooklyn Eagle, on Apr. 11, 1887 page 4, ran a notice of the Apr. 10 passing of John T. Raymond. See also the N.Y. Times, Apr. 11, p.1 “COLONEL SELLERS IS DEAD”.

“There’s Millions in It”

April 11 Monday – Alfred P. Burbank wrote Sam, once again interested in a possible production of Colonel Sellers as a Scientist (The American Claimant). With the recent death of John T. Raymond Burbank felt there was an opportunity for him to take on the popular character [MTHL 2: 591n2]. From this footnote in the cited text:

April 12 Tuesday – As reported by the Brooklyn Eagle of Apr. 13, 1887 p.5, Sam and Webster & Co. finally won a court case:

THE PUBLISHERS OF GRANT’S BOOK.

Mark Twain and His Partner Recover Some Heavy Amounts.

PHILADELPHIA, Pa., April 13

Charles L. Webster and Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain), trading as Charles L. Webster & Co., yesterday won three cases before Judge Fell.

April 13 Wednesday – Sam and Livy went to New York, where they attended the 100th performance of Taming of the Shrew, starring John Drew and Ada Rehan (1860-1916), at Daly’s Fifth Avenue Theatre. William Tecumseh Sherman served as toastmaster for a midnight dinner on stage, and introduced Sam who gave a supper speech, a recollection of his difficulty a few years before in getting into the theater and past a door

April 14 Thursday – On this the 22nd anniversary of the assassination of President Lincoln, Walt Whitman gave a lecture at Madison Square Garden, including a reading of his most popular poem, “O Captain! My Captain!” (which he sometimes regretted writing.) Sam was there.

April 16 Saturday – Jackson P. Singleberry, editor and proprietor of the Horse Head county Boom wrote to Sam, the humorous letter cajoling a contribution from Twain being in The Arkansas Traveler of this date [MTP]. Note: This looks suspiciously like a spoof.

April 17 Sunday – In Hartford Sam telegraphed Augustin Daly that he would be there [MTP]. Just where he did not say.

Sam also wrote to Charles Webster. Even after Webster’s “demands” of Apr. 1, Sam was happy with the way things were going:

April 18 Monday – Sam went to New York, where he wrote a brief note to Edmund W. Gosse (1849-1928), English poet, author and critic, who evidently had requested a photograph. Gosse at this time was an important critic of sculpture, writing for the Saturday Review. Sam owned a copy of Gosse’s Thomas Gray, English Men of Letters Series (1882), which was purchased Apr. 28, 1884:

April 19 Tuesday – Sam wrote to Rev. John Davis of the Trinity Rectory, Hannibal, Mo., enclosing a form letter he’d written six weeks prior explaining his experience with the Loisette memory “system.” Sam was still sold on the method, and among the remarks he added to the form letter was this:

April 20 Wednesday – In Boston, William Dean Howells wrote to Sam:

April 21 Thursday – Charles Webster wrote that he now thought the amount due Mrs.Grant would turn out to be about $33,000 instead of $38,000; Fred Grant “seems disposed not to allow legal expenses,” but Webster argued those were clearly an “expense of publication”; McClellan was selling well and the Pope’s book was “picking up”; he would write when the 2-year accounting was ready [MTP].

Check #  Payee  Amount  [Notes]

April 22 Friday – In Hartford “laid up, for a day or two,” Sam answered Webster’s Apr. 21 note.

You asked Fred Grant, before the contract was three months old, & he agreed that legal expenses should be a charge upon all concerned. [¶] You told me this. The amount is small, but we must stick to our position [MTP].

April 23 Saturday – Charles Webster wrote to Sam of the disposition of the Frank M. Scott embezzlement case, and of liquidation of old stock.

Scott was sentenced by Judge Gildersleeve to six years at hard labor in Sing Sing States Prison yesterday.

April 24 Sunday – The Brooklyn Eagle ran a long article on page 6, “COMMON SCHOOL LORE – Vouched for by Twain, But Probably Edited by Spirits.” In response to “English As She Is Taught,” the paper asked, “Is it a Juvenile or an Adult Joke Book?”

April 25 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Augustin Daly, who had sent him “a beautiful book” — probably the “book printed from the prompter’s copy of the play, [Taming of the Shrew] adorned by photogravures of Miss, Rehan, Drew, and the supper scene in the last act” [N.Y. Times, Apr. 14, 1887 p.5 “Shakespeare at Daly’s”]. Sam wanted to be remembered to the actors Miss Ada Rehan and Mrs.

April 26 Tuesday – Charles Webster wrote asking his “Uncle Sam” to “be a little patient in regard to that statement,” (two-year) which he wrote was a “long, laborious task” [MTP].

Check #  Payee  Amount  [Notes]

3668  Mssrs Marks Brothers  10.20  Fruit

3671  Edwin L Turnbull  3.00

April 27 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam telegraphed Augustin Daly to send the two tickets to the Murray Hill Hotel, New York, for the next night’s performance [MTP].

April 28 Thursday – Sam and Livy went to New York, where they checked into the Murray Hill Hotel. In the evening they used the tickets sent there by Augustin Daly, to attend a theater performance. It was farewell week for Taming of the Shrew at Daly’s Theater. Either Daly obtained tickets to another show or Livy and Sam wished to see Shrew again (they’d attended on Apr. 13).

April 29 Friday – The New York Times reported on p.4, under “Personal Intelligence” that Samuel L. Clemens was at the Murray Hill Hotel.

April 30 Saturday – Sam and Livy were at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York. In the afternoon Sam accompanied a reviewing party to review the corps of cadets, and forgot to throw away his cigar before taking his place in the staff line. In the evening Sam gave his promised lecture. From Leon:

May – Correspondence between Clemens and Howells substantially lessened during the year. Sam’s preoccupation with all aspects of business and several speaking engagements, together with Howells’ new duties for “The Editor’s Study” in Harper’s Monthly, and his increasing activism in such matters as the Haymarket fiasco may explain this change.

May 1 Sunday – John Henry Boner wrote to Sam, thanking him for his “kind letter of April the 1st”; Boner had found employement as a proofreader with Theodore L. De Vinne, printer to the Century Co., and Edmund Stedman  “made me feel his house my home.” Sam wrote on the env., “Boner the Southern poet” [MTP].

Check #  Payee  Amount  [Notes]

May 2 Monday – Orion Clemens wrote a note to Sam that his $155 check was received [MTP].

Check #  Payee  Amount  [Notes]

3672  Mssrs McCarty & Cleary  92.68

3673  Mr J.S. Chase, Secy  27.50

3674  Mr. James L. Whitman  7.19

3675  Hartford Silver Plate Co  1.75

May 3 Tuesday –

Check #  Payee  Amount  [Notes]

3676  Western Union Telegraph Co  8.84

3677  Mr Charles Burghorst   80.00

May 4 Wednesday – Vaughn E. Wyman wrote from Perry, Ohio asking how Sam got his pen name, and did he know of Miss Edith Thomas’ works; Wyman had a high regard for Poe’s works but did not think “him equal to Mr. Howells.” Sam wrote on the envelope, “Dam fool. No Answer” [MTP]. Note: Edith Matilda Thomas (1854-1925).