Mark Twain - Reporter: Day By Day

January 28 Sunday – The Golden Era printed or reprinted five articles by Sam: “The Kearny Street Ghost Story,” “Captain Montgomery,” “The Chapman Family,” “Busted, and gone Abroad,” and “Miseries of Washoe Men” [Walker 104, 120].

January 29 Friday – “Carl” (Clement T. Rice) reported from Carson City to the Virginia City Union about Sam’s speech (now lost) to the burlesque assembly known as the “Third House.” Last night [Jan. 27] a large and fashionable audience was called out to hear a message delivered by the Mark Two—otherwise called Twain. Indeed, this was the resuscitation of the celebrated Third House, or rip-snorting gymnasium, prepared for the benefit of outsiders who must orate or bust. Hal. Clayton assumed the chair, and the levities spread spontaneously.

January 29 Sunday – From Sam’s notebook:
“The old, old thing [Jim says]. We shall have to stand the weather, but as J says, we won’t stand this dishwater & beans any longer, by G—” [MTNJ 1: 76].

January 3 Tuesday – From Sam’s notebook:
“…returned with Jim Gillis, by way of Angel’s & Robinson’s Ferry, to Jackass Hill” [MTNJ 1: 70].

January 30 Monday – Dick Stoker joined Sam and Jim Gillis at Angels Camp, where heavy rains had shut in the pair since their arrival [MTL 1: 321]. From Sam’s notebook:
“Moved to new hotel, just opened—good fare, & coffee that a Christian may drink without jeopardizing his eternal soul…Dick Stoker came over to-day, from Tuttletown, Tuolumne Co” [MTNJ 1: 76-7].

January 30–31 Wednesday – Sam’s San Francisco Letter dated Jan. 28 ran in the Enterprise: Sections: “Closed Out,” “Bearding the Fenian in his Lair,” “Card from Volunteers,” “Sabbath Reflections,” and “Neodamode” [Schmidt: “Closed Out” reprinted in ET&S 2: 349; “Neadomode” reprinted in Taper 200-1].

January 31 Saturday – Sam was in Carson City to send news back to the Territorial Enterprise. He sent at least three letters back, including the first article known to be signed “Mark Twain” [MTL 1: 245-6]. Throughout his life, Sam stuck to the story that he’d taken the name from Captain Isaiah Sellers, but researchers have never found any use of that name by Sellers. Another story ascribes the name to a barroom handle given to Sam when he ordered two drinks on credit. Of course, the term was a steamboat designation for twelve feet of water, barely enough for passage of a large steamboat.

January 4 Sunday – one item about the Storey Ball, “Election,” “Public School,” “New Years Extension,” “Supreme Court,” “Ball in Carson,” “Mass,” “Fireman’s Meeting,” and “Recorder’s Court.”

January 4 Monday – Sam, urged by Artemus Ward on his visit, wrote an article for the New York Sunday Mercury on this day titled “Doings in Nevada” [MTL 1: 268n1].

January 6 Tuesday – Sam’s Enterprise Local Column: “Free Fight,” “Humbolt Stocks,” “Jno. D. Kinney,” “Milstead,” “Board of Education” [ET&S 1: 399].

January 7 or January 14 Saturday – By eliminating other possible Saturdays, either of these may have been the day William R. Gillis (Billy) referred to in Gold Rush Days with Mark Twain, p.175-6. In the story, Sam supposedly said, “I am going to Sonora and will go to church to-morrow with brother Masons.” The pair left that night: So as soon as we got ready we went over the Hill to Sonora. After looking at the procession we had dinner with the Masonic Fraternity at the Victoria Hotel and I went along as Sam’s guest.

January 7 Wednesday – Sam attended the Odd Fellow’s Ball in Gold Hill. His hat was stolen [ET&S 1: 181]. In his Apr. 6, 1906 Autobiographical Dictation, Clemens likely recalled the ball for this day. Relating being in Washington Square, NYC and running into a woman on the street who recognized him: I had known only one Etta Booth in my lifetime, and that one rose before me in an instant, and vividly.

January 7 Sunday – Sam’s article, “Policemen’s Presents” appeared in the San Francisco Golden Era [Budd, “Collected” 1006].

January 8 Thursday – The Enterprise printed Sam’s article, “Unfortunate Thief,” excoriating the man who stole his hat at the Gold Hill Ball. We have been suffering from the seven years’ itch for many months. It is probably the most aggravating disease in the world. It is contagious.

January 8 Monday – Sam’s San Francisco Letter, dated this day, ran sometime in January in the Enterprise. Sections: “White Man Mighty Onsartain,” “ Mint Defalcation,” “The Opening Night,” and:
THE PORTRAITS

January 9 and 10 Sunday – Sam wrote from Carson City to his mother, and sister Pamela. He told them about the New York Sunday Mercury article, which was printed Feb. 7. Overnight Sam wrote “Those Blasted Children,” the two Mercury articles [MTL 1: 271; ET&S 1: 348]. He also wrote to Clement T. Rice, who discussed Sam’s “joking” letter about threats to move the capital of Nevada [Smith 126].

January and February – Sam’s fourth known notebook, and the first that might be called a “writer’s notebook,” was written during these months. The notebook contained a great amount of literary material that would be immediately useful in the Jumping Frog story, but also material that would later appear in Roughing It, and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and others [MTNJ 1: 66-7].

July–August – “Report on Bullion Production,” attributed to Sam, ran in the Enterprise [Schmidt].

July 1 Friday – The following five local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “The Old Thing,” “House at Large,” “School Children’s Rehearsal,” “Police Commissioners,” and “More Steamship Suits Brewing” [Branch, C of Call 289]

July 1 Saturday – The fifth of Sam’s columns for the Californian, “Answers to Correspondents,” ran with subtitles: Young Actor; Mary, Rincon School; Anxiety, S. F.; Mark Twain; Gold Hill News [ET&S 2: 208].

July 10 Sunday – The following two local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Green-back Theft,” and “The Bigamist” [Branch, C of Call 290].

July 12 Tuesday – The following five local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Police Court Testimony,” “United States Circuit Court,” “Astounding Cheek,” “Chinese Slaves,” and “The Bigamy Case” [Branch, C of Call 290].

July 13 Wednesday – The following four local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Its Opponents,” “Insane,” “New Board Rooms,” and “Board of Education” [Branch, C of Call 290].

July 14 Tuesday – The Virginia City Bulletin ran a headline LOOK OUT MARK! After the drama “East Lynne” was incorrectly announced by Sam in the Enterprise for July 15 instead of July 14 and 16. [The Twainian, Nov.-Dec. 1948 p.3].
Four hundred and ninety-six hundred thousand incorporations have been filed, in the County Clerk’s office up to date. So Sam Clemens says [The Twainian, Nov-Dec 1948, p3].

July 14 Thursday – The following five local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Calaboose Theatricals,” “Not Insane,” “A Wife-Smasher in Limbo,” “Runaway,” and “Inspection of Fortifications” [Branch, C of Call 290].