Day By Day Dates

September 16 Friday – With Mr. and Mrs. H.H. Rogers, Sam left New York on the Kanawha for Fairhaven, Mass. to “help dedicate that church” (Unitarian Memorial Church), that Rogers built and dedicated to his mother. Sam would return on Sept. 22 [Oct. 23 to Crane; NY Times, Sept. 20, p.1 (below) ]. Ralph W. Ashcroft wrote to Sam. “As I’m to be in jail before sun down (so Wheeler says) I’ve written out my defence to his & Hammond’s charge & enclose it herewith. / Try to digest and assimilate it before Wednesday” [MTP].

September 17 Saturday – In the morning, the Kanawha arrived in Fairhaven, Mass. With Mark Twain, and Mr. and Mrs. H.H. Rogers. The New York Times, Sept. 20, p.1 reported:

H.H. ROGERS IS ILL. ——

Dedication of Fairhaven Church Postponed—Indisposition Slight.

Special to The New York Times.

September 18 Sunday – Sam was in Fairhaven, Mass.

September 19 Monday – Sam was in Fairhaven, Mass. Ralph W. Ashcroft wrote two letters to Sam. “Wheeler went to St. Louis with Hammond. / I enclose amended Second page of my ‘defence’ which please attach to the other pages, & destroy (or return to me Wednesday) the page it supplants.” His second letter discussed The International Spiral Pin Co. and stock which Sam might purchase. “On behalf of my uncle, Capt. W.D. Garside, of Melbourne, Australia, I hereby offer you all or any part of $6,000. of the preferred shares…” [MTP].

September 20 Tuesday – Sam was in Fairhaven, Mass.

September 21 Wednesday – Sam was in Fairhaven, Mass. The dedication of the church was postponed; it finally took place on Oct. 4, 1904, and was reported on Oct. 8 by the Fairhaven Star. The article did not mention either Mark Twain nor Henry Rogers on those dates. However, Sam’s Oct. 7 to Lyon included a note that he’d breen “too busy dedicating churches in Fairhaven” to write Jean, which reveals Sam did attend the Oct. 4 event. Note: thanks to Carolyn Longworth, Millicent Library.

September 22 Thursday – Sam returned to N.Y.C. and wrote to Senator Odoardo Luchini in Florence.

Your kind letter of the 5th has just reached me from Lee, Mass., where Jean & Katy & Miss Lyon are occupying the cottage in the hills; Clara is in a rest-cure in a village in Connecticut, where she sees no one but the nurse & the doctor & neither writes letters nor reads them; I am kept constantly in New York.

I am very sorry Mr. Traverso has had an accident, & I hope he is well again by this time. Jean had one, but is well again. She & her horse… [etc.]

September 24 Saturday – William Evarts Benjamin wrote to Sam, enclosing a bill from C.H. Curtiss Co. for repairs to the Tarrytown house, which Sam offered to continue leasing, but turned down the tenant’s offer to purchase the house for what Sam paid, $45,000 [MTP].

September 25 Sunday – Cesare Bellucci wrote a short note to Sam in Italian from Florence [MTP].

September 28 Wednesday – Sam inscribed his photograph to an unidentified person: “Truly Yours / Mark Twain / Sept. 28/04” [MTP]. \

Sam wrote to Cécile Freese, letter not extant but referred to in Freese’s Oct. 18 [MTP].

September 29 Thursday – Gustavo Donati, Florence attorney, wrote Sam a letter in Italianabout the Dr. Kirch dispute [MTP]

September 30 Friday – Watch Tower Society sent one of their religious tracts to Sam, who wrote on the envelope: “Biblical trash” [MTP].

October – In N.Y.C. Sam inscribed a copy of HF to Mr. Holden: “To Mr. Holden / With the compliments of   Mark Twain / October /04” [MTP: Park-Burnet Catalogs, 3 March 1938, Item 26].

Sam also inscribed a copy of Extracts from Adam’s Diary to an unidentified person: “With the kindest regards of / The Author / October /04” [MTP].

Sam inscribed one of the Gessford photos of himself taken at Lee, Mass in July to Ralph W. Ashcroft:

October 4 Tuesday – The postponed dedication of the Fairhaven church ( Unitarian Memorial ) that Rogers built and dedicated to his mother. (See Sept. 21) was carried out this day; in his Oct. 7 to Lyon, Sam claimed he’d been “too busy dedicating churches in Fairhaven” to write Jean. It’s not known just when he went to Fairhaven, nor how long he stayed, but the Oct. 7 note suggested he was at least there the day of dedication, which was Oct. 4. The lack of any outgoing letters for the prior weekend suggests perhaps he spent several days in Fairhaven.

October 7 Friday – In N.Y.C. at the Grosvenor Hotel, Sam dictated a letter to Ralph W. Ashcroft for Isabel V. Lyon about the purchase of stock from Ashcroft.

Dear Miss Lyon: / Please fill up stub of check No. 68 in the Guaranty Trust Co. with the amount: “$4000,” the name: “R. W. Ashcroft,” and the explanation: “first payment completing purchase of International Spirit Pen [sic Spiral Pin] Co. stock.”

Please also send me another numbered Guaranty check, (in blank,) to the Grosvenor.

October 8 Saturday – George W. Hobbs of Hobbs Bros. Carriage Builders, Ninevah, NY, wrote a letter of condolence and admiration to Sam [MTP].

An unidentified person from Freemantle, Western Australia sent Sam a picture pamphlet of aborigines; no note enclosed [MTP].

October 9 Sunday – Muriel M. Pears wrote to Sam. She planned to sail for New York early in December and divide her “three short months” between NY and Washington. She thought it would be disloyal to pass through without seeing him [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Put this in the tin box. SLC”

October 10 Monday – Edmund Dene Morel, co-founder of the English Congo Reform Assoc. first wrote to Sam. Morel announced that he was sending by express messenger a packet of Congo literature: “…it includes …a special copy of the Memorial, which I would like you to keep and show to any friends as a document of perhaps unique historical interest…” [Gribben 472: MTP].

October 12 Wednesday – At the Grosvenor Hotel in N.Y.C. Sam wrote to Isabel V. Lyon in Lee, Mass. to address all Harper letters to “Col. Harvey, Personal”, and never to send them to another.

October 13 Thursday – At the Grosvenor Hotel in N.Y.C. Sam wrote to Charles J. Langdon.

Dear Charley— / Will you attend to this? It is Livy’s Texas land. I think you took the papers & kindly offered to look after it for her.

I dined with Julie & Edward last night, & had a delightful time. Julie profoundly touched me (even to moisture in the eyes) with her charming tale of “Mark Twains Rule.”

I send my love to you all, & welcome-home to the Idas.

October 14 Friday – Ralph W. Ashcroft wrote two letters on Koy-Lo Co. letterhead to Sam. The company was connected with The International Spiral Pin Co. “In accordance with our conversation over the ‘phone yesterday, while you were in Mr. Rogers’ office, I have offered the $2,000. of shares in International Sprial Pin co. to Mr. Stanchfield, and he has accepted them. / This, therefore, cancels the option extended to you on them.”

October 15 Saturday – At the Grosvenor Hotel in N.Y.C. Sam began a reply to Edmund Dene Morel’s Oct. 10 letter (originally Georges Eduard Pierre Achille Morel de Ville) (1873-1924) British journalist, author and socialist politician. He collaborated with Roger Casement, the English Congo Reform Associaton and others and in newspapers such as the West African Mail, campaigned against slavery in the Congo Free State. Sam would add a P.S. to this note on Oct. 16.

October 16 Sunday – At the Grosvenor Hotel in N.Y.C. Sam finished his Oct. 15 letter to Edmund Dene Morel. “The Senate Memorial reached me early this a.m., & I remained in bed to read it./ If anything can be done—but come & let us talk about it.” Sam wanted another copy of the Senate Memorial “& some terrible illustrations” [MTP]. Note: Gribben identifies this as Memorial Concerning Conditions in the Independent State of the Kongo. April 19, 1904. Committee on Foreign Relations. U. S. Senate. 58th Congress, 2d Session. Document No. 282 [462].

October 17 Monday – Edumund D. Morel, head of the English Congo Reform Assoc. wrote to Sam. “I send you by an express messenger a packet of Congo literature.” He closed by asking for Sam’s photograph [MTP]. Hawkins writes that Morel visited Sam in his N.Y. house on this day [148].

October 18 Tuesday – Sam wrote at least three letters which survive and carry this date’s postmark. The first, to daughter Jean and Isabel V. Lyon in Lee Mass.: “All right, Jean, you shall bring the mongrel cat” [MTP].

The second letter to Mary H. Hitchcock (Mrs. Roswell D. Hitchcock), President Entertainment Club, N.Y.C. declining an invitation to read [MTP].

The third to Isabel V. Lyon, enclosing Dr. G.W. Kirch’s bill and letter from the doctor’s attorney [MTP].