March 11 Friday – Frank M. Scott, cashier and bookkeeper for Webster & Co., was arrested for embezzling $20,000. He had been siphoning off funds each month since his hire in July 1885. From the N.Y. Times of Mar. 13, 1887, p.2 (See Mar. 18 entry for more details.)
March 12 Saturday – Henry Ward Beecher was laid to rest at the Greenwood Cemetery after a simple funeral, as per his wishes [Brooklyn Eagle, p.6 “Ashes to Ashes”]. Sam did not attend.
March 13 Sunday – In Hartford Livy wrote to Mary Emily Mantz (1863-1940), betrothed of Samuel Moffett, now in San Francisco (they married on Apr. 13, 1887).
March 14 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Charles E. Deuel (1864-1932), a student at Trinity College in Hartford (he would become a pastor in Wyoming, Idaho, Chicago and Santa Barbara, Calif.) Deuel had some project and wished help from Sam.
March 15 Tuesday – In Boston, William Dean Howells wrote to Sam:
March 16 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam responded to his brother’s letters of Mar. 13 and 14. Orion had evidently expressed concern about reading about the embezzler, Frank M.
March 17 Thursday – In Hartford Sam responded to an invitation by Annie A. Fields to stay with her during his planned Boston visit, to read “English As She Is Taught” at the Longfellow Memorial on Mar. 31. He accepted but warned of “timorous” misgivings:
March 18 Friday – A week after Frank M. Scott was arrested for embezzling from Webster & Co., the New York Times carried a full account:
March 19 Saturday – Susy Clemens’ fifteenth birthday. Sam inscribed two of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s books (under pseudonym “Christopher Crowfield”): The Chimney Corner, and Oldtown Folks to: Susie Clemens, Mch.
March 20 Sunday – The New York Times, p.9 ran a short article, “MARK TWAIN’S MEMORY,”touting Professor Loisette’s “system of memory,” and quoting Sam’s letter (See the beginning of this year.)
March 21 Monday – In Hartford Sam responded to a neighbor’s note, Charles E. Thompson, that he would “report at the Armory at 8 tomorrow evening.” He also gave Thompson permission for his son to tie up his boat on the creek at the rear of Sam’s property.
March 22 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks, now in London, England. Sam’s was an obvious response to her (not extant) letter. He mentioned problems about Mary’s daughter Alice living anywhere but Cleveland and possible separation or divorce, no doubt heavy concerns for Mary.
March 23 Wednesday –
Check # Payee Amount [Notes]
3628 Mr. F.R. Pierson 23.48
March 24 Thursday – Franklin G. Whitmore wrote a letter for Sam to Charles Webster. The formal, business-like letter was essentially Sam’s agreement to the course Webster intended to pursue in recovering assets from the embezzler, Frank M.
March 25 Friday – In Hartford Sam responded to a letter from Mrs. Jenny S. Boardman, once Jenny Stevens, daughter of “the old jeweler of Hannibal, & sister of Ed, John & Dick” [Apr. 2 to Pamela]. Jenny had written about the idyllic Mississippi riverboat days.
March 26 Saturday – Sam inscribed a copy of P&P to Harriet Beecher Stowe:
March 27 Sunday – Robert U. Johnson for Century Magazine sent Sam proofs of “The Private History of A Campaign That Failed” for him to correct and return [MTP]. Note: essay written in 1885.
March 28 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote a short note to Richard Watson Gilder, asking again for the proofs of “English As She Is Taught” — Rush! Sam wrote, as he needed them on Mar. 31 [MTP].
March 29 Tuesday – In Boston, William Dean Howells wrote to Sam:
March 30 Wednesday – Sam either went to Boston as planned in his Mar. 17 to Fields, or left early the next morning. An entry in his notebook implies he wanted to take Susy, but as his Apr. 1 to Annie Fields shows, she was too ill to go.
March 31 Thursday – Sam read “English As She Is Taught” for the Longfellow Memorial, Boston, Mass. Charles E. Norton (1827-1908) presided, and Sam was the third to read, as he recalled 20 years later in an interview [N.Y. Times, Feb. 24, 1907 p.4]. The following Boston Globe article, however, puts him first.
Spring – Profits on Grant’s Memoirs: Sam, $93,481.34; Webster $25,942.37; Mrs. Grant $394,459.53 [MTNJ 3: 316n47].
April 1 Friday – A new contract between Charles Webster, Samuel L. Clemens and Frederick J. Hall was dated April 1, 1887.
April 2 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to his sister, Pamela Moffett, now in San Francisco, awaiting the wedding of her son, Samuel Moffett on Apr. 13 to Mary Emily Mantz. Clemens informed her about the letter from “Mrs.
April 4 Monday – Webster & Co., wrote to Sam about a proposed book on Mexico written by a lady (unnamed) who “has spent a great many years there and lived among the people. Whitmore to Webster & Co. Apr. 4 enclosed, conveyed Sam’s opinion that if they could get the book for a very low royalty, 2&1/2 to 3% they may close the contract [MTP].