Home at Hartford: Day By Day

July 8 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to John C. Black, Commissioner of Pensions, Washington, D.C. Sam received a June 29, 1885 letter from Black that a pension application had been denied on June 23 [Brooklyn Eagle, July 17, p6]. Sam responded:

July 8 Thursday – The Clemens family and Rosa Hay stayed in Chicago for two days at the Richelieu Hotel. This is probably the day Sam was interviewed by the Chicago Tribune. On July 15 Sam would write his sister, Pamela Moffett, about seeing the Moffetts in Chicago, probably nieces of the late William A. Moffett:

July 8 Friday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore about bills and orders. Sam was also keeping close notice on the Mergenthaler linotype machine on trial at the N.Y. Tribune:

July 8 Sunday – Ira Bell wrote from Southville, N.Y. asking for $15,000. Sam wrote on the envelope, “Prohibitionist crank” [MTP].

S.A. Heckethorne wrote from Los Angeles to Sam of a “financial proposition” based on an idea he had for publishing houses to realize “a few cool millions.” He wanted Sam’s promise he wouldn’t be “out in the rain” should he disclose his secret [MTP].

July 8 Monday – Likely on this day Sam left Quarry Farm for New York, where he may have spent the night. He was in Hartford by July 11, and on July 12 wrote he’d left Elmira “a few days ago.” Theodore Crane’s death on July 3 delayed his departure since he received Paige’s telegram on July 2, so this day, the first he might have reasonably traveled, seems likely.

July 8 Tuesday – Franklin G. Whitmore wrote to Sam that he’d arranged for James G. Batterson, president of Travelers Insurance Co. and also head of New England Granite Works, to see the Paige typesetter [MTNJ 3: 561n250]. Note: Sam felt if Batterson or some other wealthy investor put in a substantial sum, that Senator John P. Jones would then be more likely to invest. See Sept. 24 entry.

July 9 Saturday – Sam wrote from the Montowese House, Branford, Conn. to Charles Webster:

“So it appears that the scrap book sales have fallen off one half in the past six months; —i.e., from 50,000 copies a year to 28,000. I return to you Slote’s ck, for use in the K[oalatype] eng. Co business. Send Perkins a note for it” [MTBus 161].

July 9 Sunday – In Toronto, Canada, Howells wrote to Sam asking for a line about the health of the Clemens family while he still had a week left visiting his father [MTHL 1: 410].

July 9 Monday – An unsigned favorable review to LM ran on page 3 of the New York Times.

Charles A. Dana, editor of the New York Sun, wrote to Sam on a mysterious opportunity. The letter implies a recent answer by Sam to an invitation to come to New York to confer with Dana:

Dear Mr Clemens:

I’m sorry you can’t come sooner; but don’t make any new contracts in the mean time.

I think I can put you in the way of making more money out of your brains than you have ever made.

July 9 Wednesday – James B. Pond wrote to Clemens about what he thought it would take to get Cable on the lecture circuit with Sam [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Tell him yes, offer him $450 a week & expenses”

W. Schmidt wrote from Phila. a letter all in German [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “German letter / Answer it”

July 9 Thursday – In Elmira Clemens wrote to Henry M. Stanley.

July 9 Friday † – The Clemens party boarded an eastbound train from Chicago. In his July 15 to his sister, Sam wrote of the accommodations:

July 9 Saturday – In Elmira Sam answered Samuel S. Cox’s inquiries about publishing:

If I had any doubts as to the readableness of your book it would be in order to send me the MS. — but I haven’t. I should only require to know the amount of matter in it; & you’ve told me that.

July 9 Monday – Sam’s notebook check #: 4307 — July 9. Schoenhof, $2.80 [See July 25 entry]. Under this entry for July 9 was dittoed a check #: 4308 for Cowles, secy. 25.00. [MTNJ 3: 392]. Note: James L. Cowles was secretary of a tariff “Reform Club” newly formed in New Haven. See July 1 from Cowles.

July 9 Tuesday – Sam would have been in New York. He might have left for Hartford this day or either of the next two, but wrote from Hartford on July 11. He probably did not go to Hartford until the latter date, as he wrote Howells on July 13 that he “came on from Elmira a day or two ago.”

July 9 Wednesday – In Onteora Park, Tannersville, N.Y., Sam wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore about a supposed gift by Connor of a new font for the Paige typesetter. Sam was concerned the gift aspect might have been forgotten and a bill would be presented [MTP]. Note: Connor is not further identified.

Hartford Post Office per John C. Kinney notified Sam that his June 23 to Mrs. Joseph T. Goodman, Hoffman House, N.Y. had been sent to the dead letter office [MTP]. The Goodmans may not have arrived in New York by this time; Joe would write from N.Y. to Sam on July 18.

June 1 Tuesday – Sam wrote to Orion in Keokuk. Only the envelope survives [MTLE 5: 118].

June 1 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to J.S. Wood replying to a request for some unidentified materials. “…my slips will arrive ‘the day after the Fair’ ” [MTP]. This may possibly be John Seymour Wood (1853-1934), Author.

Orion Clemens wrote to his brother that he now had 1776 MS. pages on his autobiography [MTP].

Mrs. John Olmstead wrote from Boston to Clemens:

June 1 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to the son of the late Dr. John Brown, John Jr., nicknamed “Jock.” The Clemens family offered condolences. Sam asked for a picture of Dr. Brown.

“I was three thousand miles from home, at breakfast in New Orleans, when the damp morning paper revealed the sorrowful news among the cable dispatches” [MTNJ 2: 500n223]

June 1 Friday – The New York Times reported on p.4 under “GENERAL NOTES” the following:

An Ottowa telegram says that although Mark Twain has obtained a Canadian copyright for his new book, “Life on the Mississippi,” the same difficulty as regards residency which arose when he last applied for a Canadian copyright will likely crop up again. A few weeks’ stay in Canada, even at Rideau Hall, it is suggested, will hardly constitute a permanent residence in the Dominion within the meaning of the Copyright act.

June 1 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells asking how much the New York Sun and other papers paid him for a story. Charles Dana, editor/owner of the Sun, wrote on May 8 asking for “two or three short pieces not exceeding ten or twenty thousand words apiece” [MTHL 2: 490].

June 1 Monday – In Hartford, Sam wrote to the Art Society of Hartford, accepting an invitation from the ladies there to give a reading in Unity Hall on the evening of Friday, June 5, and also the afternoon of June 6 [MTP].

June 1 Wednesday – Charles Webster wrote to Sam about W.L. Alden’s offer of a Garibaldi autobiography. He thought it impossible to gain a copyright on such works:

I think we had better let foreign publications alone until we get international copyright [MTLTP 218n1 (top)].

June 1 Friday – Joe Twichell wrote to Sam (Dr. Wilson of the Smithsonian to Twichell May 26 enclosed). “That prehistoric man romance in Puck, I wouldn’t have missed seeing for a good deal. Much obliged to you for for it. How bright it is!” Dr. Wilson’s letter invited both men to the museum [MTP].

Clarence L. Palmer & Co, dealers in Meats, Poultry and Vegetables, Hartford, billed $99.02, “Amt Bill per pass book” (no detail) [MTP].