May 9 Sunday — Sam recorded learning on May 9 or 10 of Lyon’s use of his funds to renovate her house, before his $1,500 loan:
About the 9th or 10th Paine & I started to New York on business, & Lounsbury drove us to the railway station. On the way, reference was made to the cost of the rehabilitation of Miss Lyon’s house—$1500, Lounsbury said—
“Fifteen hundred? Why, it cost thirty-five hundred!”
November 1 Sunday – In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to Margaret Blackmer.
You sweet Margaret, I have been trying to get Ashcroft shot & I went to Police Commissioner General Bingham about it, but he was full of objections & lame excuses & said it would make too much talk. I have known Bingham ever since he was our military attache at the German Court 18 years ago, & yet the very first time I ask a little favor of him he hunts up excuses.
November 10 Tuesday – Sam attended the Danbury, Conn. trial of the two burglars, Charles Hoffman and Henry Williams. The New York Times, Nov. 11, 1908, p. 5 reported on the trial:
TWAIN’S BURGLARS ON TRIAL.
———
Author on Witness Stand Identifies Silverware They Stole from Him.
November 10 Wednesday — In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to an unidentified person.
What went with about $10,000,
It now appears that I had 3 enemies on the Milk Products Board, whereas I supposed 2 of them were my friends. They pretended to be. They bought-in the dead Plasmon Co. & paid $7,000 of my money for it when they knew that its only valuable asset-—the patents—had reverted to the London Company.
They sold me $5,000 M. P. stock for $2,500 cash, without asking me whether I wanted it or not.
November 11 Wednesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “More trial—a weary day in court. Benar stayed to go with me, and be with me. Paine came for billiards with the King. At dinner I went to pieces” [MTP: IVL TS 79].
The New York Times, p. 4, reported on the sentencing of Mark Twain’s burglars:
TWAIN BURGLARS SENTENCED.
———
Men Who Broke Into Samuel L. Clemens’s Home Get Prison Terms.
November 11 Thursday — In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to Miss Lillian I. Stivers, Niles, Calif.
Dear Miss Lillian: / Surprises are frequent, & I am used to them, but a granddaughter of Denis McCarthy is a new kind, & away out of the common order. Pleasant, too. He was entitled to all good things, & a granddaughter is the top-stone of the pyramid, I judge. I should rank her there if I had one.
November 12 Thursday – Sam’s A.D. for this date focused again on the two burglars at Stormfield [Hill 209]. Note: Sam also dictated on the burglary on Oct. 6 and Dec. 8.
Isabel Lyon’s journal: “In bed all day, worn out. Paine came and dined with the King” [MTP: IVL TS 79].
Frank N. Doubleday wrote to Lyon (though catalogued to Clemens) [MTP].
November 12 Friday —- W.H. Fletcher for the Robert Fulton Monument wrote to Sam. “It has been my intention to acknowledge your letter about the Miller controversy....Mr. Vanderbilt, Mr. Cutting, Mr. Guggenheim and others were very glad to see you assert your rights against others in signing themselves as Acting-President.” He conveyed notice about a dinner to be held on Nov.18 at the Hotel Plaza for the sailing to the Philippines by Colonel H.O.S.
November 13 Friday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Benar came back to us, but still I am ill. My forces are very much scattered” [MTP: IVL TS 79].
American Geographical Soc., NYC Per Chandler Robbins sent Sam a printed list of officers with dues of ten dollars [MTP]. Note: IVL: “Many thanks but he is resigning from clubs & societies rather than joining them. And has retired to the country to reside”; and “Ans. Nov. 25 MLH”
November 13 Saturday — In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to Elizabeth Wallace.
November 14 Saturday – In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote a poem and a note to Margaret Blackmer.
BE GOOD, BE GOOD. A Poem.
November 14 Sunday — Sam’s new guestbook:
| Name | Address | Date | Remarks |
| Mr. Dearborn | New York | Nov. 14 | |
| Miss Gordon | " " | [date unclear; could be Christmas day] |
November 15 Sunday – In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to Champ Clark (James Beauchamp Clark) (1850-1921), prominent democrat politician, speaker of the House of Representatives (1911-1919), at this time a Congressman from Missouri.
When you come East won’t you run up here (an hour & a half from New York), & stay a day or two with me & talk copyright extension?
I’ve got a new scheme. This time there ought to be no objectors, for my plan advantages
Private.
Dear Mr. Clark:
November 15 Monday — In Redding, Conn. Albert B. Paine wrote for Sam to prof. Archibald Henderson at Univ. N. Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Dear Professor Henderson, / Your article in the Deutsch'e Revue pleases Mr. Clemens very much indeed, and with his favorable opinion all in this house concur. Miss Jean Clemens who is very proficient in the German, is especially delighted with your facility in that language.
Very sincerely yours, / Albert Bigelow Paine [MTP].
November 16 Monday – In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to Zoheth S. Freeman, who had just been chosen as vice president of Liberty National Bank, N.Y.C.
Dear Freeman:
I thank you ever so much for accepting that trust. There is no one in the world I would prefer to you for that friendly office.
November 17 Tuesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Benares came back” [MTP: IVL TS 79].
Frank Bohrer, “a poor boy afflicted with locomotor ataxia which caused blindness” wrote from Sherrill, NY to ask Sam for a signed picture postcard [MTP]. Note: “Autogr. Sent Dec 7. 08. MLH”
Elva Fernald wrote from Topeka, Kans. to Sam, about to give a talk on Mark Twain, and thinking “a few words directly from” his pen “would add greatly to the enjoyment…” [MTP]. Note: IVL: “Unable to grant request”
November 17 Wednesday — In Redding, Conn, Sam wrote to Margery H. Clinton in Toronto, Canada, enclosing her envelope sent on Nov. 15.
Dear Plumber: / Then we’ll postpone until your return.
To-day I have been condemned by the doctor to go away for two or three weeks—I can’t stand the idea! Still, it can’t be helped, I suppose. I haven’t been in quite satisfactory shape for several months, /
Affectionately Yours / ... [MTP].
November 18 Wednesday – Sam’s new guestbook (and Lyon’s journal TS 80):
Name Address Date Remarks
Frank Nelson Doubleday )
Neltje D.G. Doubleday ) 11 East 16th st. New York Nov. 18-19 -> The perfect pair [D.G. = De Graff]
Note: Neltje de Graff Doubleday (Mrs. Frank N. Doubleday) (1865-1918)
November 18 Thursday — In Redding, Conn. Albert B, Paine wrote for Sam to the American Civic Alliance, 507 5" ave. N.Y.C. Paine requested that Clemens wished to withdraw his membership in the Alliance [MTP].
Sam also wrote to Margaret Blackmer.
November 19 Thursday – Sam’s new guestbook:
Name Address Date Remarks
Judge Wm Scoville Case ) Danbury Nov. 19 Judge & state’s attorney
Stiles Judson ) who tried the burglars
Note: in the original guestbook one additional name is listed, Bettye D.G. Doubleday, Mill Neck, L.I.
November 1908 [not defined by Fears as November]
November — Paine writes of what Clemens had been reading this month, including Chivalry (1909) by James Branch Cabell. “He cannot say enough of the subtle poetic art with which Cabell has flung the light of romance about dark and sordid chapters of history” [MTB 1535; Gribben 122].
Atlantic Monthly for November issue ran “Atlantic Dinners and Diners” by Arthur Gilman, p. 646-57. Tenney: “A brief account of his Whittier Birthday-Dinner speech, with no indication that it gave offense” [47].
November 2 Monday – Gribben gives us a nugget from Sam’s A.D. for the day regarding George Bernard Shaw: “Mark Twain was aghast that Shaw’s biographer ‘wildly imagined a lot of resemblances’ between Shaw’s philosophy and Twain’s ‘What is Man?’ (2 November 1908 AD, MTP)” [638].
November 2 Tuesday — Janet Duff Gordon Ross wrote from Florence to congratulate Sam on Clara’s marriage and to ask if he was ever going to return to Italy [MTP].
November 20 Friday – Sam’s new guestbook:
Name Address Date Remarks
Lord Northcliffe ) London ) Nov. 20-21
Col. George Harvey ) New York
Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Very bad headache. / Lord Northcliffe and Col. Harvey came up for the night” [MTP: IVL TS 80].