September 26 Saturday – Charles J. Langdon wrote that he hadn’t “a cent to put into” the typesetting co. stock as he was “about ‘busted’” [MTP].
Webster & Co. per Frank M. Scott listed the drafts drawn by Gerhardt totaling $1,031 from July 30 to Sept. 21 [MTP].
September 26 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: the Tribune contains a page of leaded minion done on a machine. So they’ve at least 2 sizes of matrices, whether they’ve 2 machines or not [MTNJ 3: 259].
September 26 Monday – Frederick J. Hall for Webster & Co. Wrote to Sam, forwarding information on three books they’d been approached about publishing: a revision of the Bible from Dr. Philip Schaff, head of the Board of the American Revision of the Bible; William Desmond O’Brien with an encyclopedia of Ireland; and Dr. Chalfant of San Francisco, who had stopped in to show a manuscript of a history of convict life [MTP].
September 26 Wednesday – In New York City Sam wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore, enclosing a check for $4,004 that he wished put in the U.S. Bank with “the other typesetter ammunition.” Sam’s plans had not changed — he announced they would “reach home Friday afternoon or evening” [MTP].
September 26 Thursday – According to Sam’s Sept. 29 letter to Clara Spaulding Stanchfield, William J. Hamersley recorded papers for the Paige typesetter in the patent office on this date.
“…on 26 September Clemens obtained from Paige the right to a five hundred dollar royalty on each machine which was sold. Clemens promptly sold a number of shares in his royalty to friends and family in order to relive the immediate financial burden of the typesetter” [MTNJ 3: 479].
September 27 Monday – The Clemens family left Quarry Farm and Elmira and took the special “hotel car” for the ten hour ride to New York City, where they stayed three days at the Gilsey House. Invoiced by Arnold, Constable & Co., N.Y., blankets and a shawl, for $7.75 [MTP].
September 27 Wednesday – Charles Webster wrote: “In regard to Ogilvie we are getting out an injunction, bringing a civil suit against them for damages for using your trade mark and signing it to ‘stuff’ you never wrote. Then, we are trying to get a criminal indictment against them before the grand jury” [MTP].
September 27 Saturday – Sam wrote on a Hotel Brunswick postcard from New York City to Karl Gerhardt.
“My Dear K—I may want a clay medallion of Cable & myself made from a photograph by Sarony. Drop a line to Maj. J. B. Pond, Everett House, New York City & ask him if you had better run up here & get his ideas as to size, style, &c. I talked with him. He is my agent. He is out of town but returns in a day or two” [MTP].
September 27 Sunday – From Livy’s diary:
September 27 Monday – By this day the Clemens family were back in Hartford after a ten-day stay in New York. Sam responded to James Redpath, who wrote Sept 23-5 offering Donn Piatt’s book for publication. Redpath was now editor of the North American Review.
September 27 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote a two-line letter to his sister, Pamela Moffett, now in Oakland, Calif:
I think Sam [Moffett] was right. A body must take his promotion when it offers — it won’t do to wait [MTP].
September 27 Thursday – In New York City Sam wrote to an unidentified person to decline an invitation of some kind. The original of the letter is in Portland, Maine, so it’s likely the function was in that region as well [MTP].
September 27 Friday – Orion Clemens wrote that the monthly $200 check was received. Orion loved the sample of the book (CY) and was eager to see the rest. He included a page and a half of his historical research, and more of the same delusional sufferings about Ma [MTP].
September 27 Saturday – Back home in Hartford Sam wrote to Senator John P. Jones, enclosing more clarification on the “expert’s report on the Mergenthaler machine,” which Sam noted was a “private document,” of which he had a copy.
These facts, added to the fact that those machines will prove wholly unendurable in a daily newspaper office, make the coast clear [MTP].
Sam also wrote to Ladies of the Onteora Club, thanking them for their gift of a picture, “Mort de Léandre” [MTP].
September 28 Tuesday – Elisha Bliss died [MTNJ 2: 353]. Twichell would speak at his funeral; Twichell’s message would be printed in 1882 [MTP].
T.A. Wales, M.D., Elmira billed the Clemens family for 39 visits from July 5 to Sept. 27; bill marked paid [MTP].
September 28 Wednesday – Thomas Bailey Aldrich for Atlantic Monthly wrote to Sam: “I have just rec’d a telegram message from that girl in Chattanooga. She says it was a shame to inflict the death penalty on [illegible word], as he only outraged her in the ‘second degree.’…Did the typhoon and the maelstrom hit you the other day?” [MTP].
September 28 Thursday – The Clemens family left Elmira and traveled to New York for their eventual return to Hartford. The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western depot was in Hoboken, New Jersey; passengers had to ferry from Hoboken to New York. Sam registered the family at the Brunswick Hotel in New York.
September 28 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Orion. Sam had hired his brother to supply lists of dates for English kings for the memory board game.
My Dear Bro – Kings rec’d. Quite satisfactory. Send balance soon as you can.
O, yes!—go right along with the former labor the minute you get the skeletons done—but don’t print till I say.
The news from Ma is first rate. All well here & send love. Sam [MTP].
September 28 Sunday – The Clemens family arrived back in Hartford either this day or the day before. Sam wrote from Hartford to Karl Gerhardt, reminding him to:
“…thank Mr. Childs & Mr. Gowen cordially for me for the kindnesses which they have shown you. I shall be in Philadelphia within a month or two, & shall go to them & make my personal acknowledgments” [MTP].
September 28 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Frank Fuller.
“ want you to run up here & stop over night & let me tell you how I think you can make a considerable stack of money”[MTP].
Sam’s notebook contains an entry about Fuller putting Paige’s telegraphic invention on the market. Sam wrote on Nov. 11 that he’d dropped the scheme. (See MTNJ 3: 181n12.)
September 28 Tuesday – Samuel Sidney McClure (1857-1949) wrote from New York to Sam asking for “such facts as you would be willing to have published in the syndicate” relating to his early literary career. McClure was writing a paper showing how “a number of well known writers earned their first money by their pens.” Sam wrote on the envelope, “Puh!”[MTP].
September 28 Wednesday – Sam wrote to Richard Watson Gilder of Century Magazine, submitting Meisterschaft, a 3-act bilingual play he wrote in 1886-7 for family entertainment to. It ran in Jan. 1888’s issue with a few changes [MTNJ 3: 333n95].
I had a hell of a time reading this proof, which was set up by an Americanized Finn [MTP].
September 28 Friday – In the afternoon or evening (if as intended) the Clemens family finally returned home to Hartford [Sept. 26 to Whitmore].
September 28 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to John C. Kinney, editor of the Hartford Courant:
Dear Kinney — Thou knowest I am a shirk. Never never shall reform, I do believe. But I thank you heartily all the same for thinking of me [MTP].
September 29 Monday – John Wentworth Sanborn wrote to Clemens, thanking him for help in getting “unstuck” with the Scrap Book [MTP]. Note: letter exists in Sanborn’s 1920 book, Distinguished Authors Whom I have known, etc; See Jan. 24, 1878 from Sanborn.
Rev. Nathaniel J. Burton wrote from Hartford to Clemens recommending a “colored man” to take the place of George Griffin [MTP].