August 16 Wednesday – In Krankenheil-Tölz, Germany, Sam finished his Aug. 14 to Frederick J. Hall:
Aug. 16. I have thought, and thought, but I don’t seem to arrive at any very definite place. Of course you will not have an instant’s safety until the bank debts are paid….I am coming over, just as soon as I can get the family moved and settled. SLC.
August 18 Friday – In Krankenheil-Tölz, Germany Sam wrote to Chatto & Windus, who had sent money. After praising them he advised of his travel plans.
I sail from Bremen in the “Spree” Aug. 29, & shall expect to be gone some little time; but I take one of the daughters [Clara] along for company.
I mailed the new book [PW] to New York Aug. 9, & shall expect it to appear serially. I hope you will admire it when you come to put a back on it in your London bindery [MTP].
August 20 Sunday – In Krankenheil-Tölz, Germany Sam wrote to Susan Crane.
Sue, dear, we are packing, to leave here tomorrow (Monday), leave Munich Wednesday [Aug 23] morning & arrive at Franzensbad in afternoon.
Clara & I will leave there for Bremen Saturday or Sunday next [Aug. 26 or 27]. We sail Tuesday 29th. We ought to arrive in New York about the 7th September, as the Spree is a good boat.
August 21 Monday – The Clemens family left Krankenheil-Tölz, for Munich [Aug. 20 to Crane]. Sam’s notebook:
We leave Kurhotel, Krankenheil-Tölz, Bavaria, Monday Aug 21, ’93 via Munich for Franzensbad, Bohemia, (Unberufen) after 37 days Aufenthalt [NB 33 TS 29].
August 22 Tuesday – The Clemens family was in Munich, Germany [Aug. 20 to Crane].
August 23 Wednesday – The Clemens family left Munich and arrived in Franzensbad, where Susy had been taking therapy and gorging herself, trying to build herself up to meet her voice instructor’s commands. The family stayed at the Kaiserhaus Hotel in Franzensbad [Aug. 20 to Crane; Aug. 28 to Livy].
August 26 Saturday – † Sam and daughter Clara left Franzensbad and traveled by train to Leipzig, taking rooms at the Palmbaum Hotel [Aug. 28 to Livy]. Note: date is calculated.
August 27 Sunday – In Leipzig, Sam wrote to Orion, letter not extant but cited in Orion’s Sept.10 [MTP].
August 28 Monday – In Leipzig, Germany shortly before breakfast and catching a train for Bremen, Sam wrote to Livy, still in Franzensbad with Susy.
August 29 Tuesday – Sam and daughter Clara sailed from Bremen for New York in the Spree, Captain Meissel [NB 33 TS 30].
August 30 Wednesday – The Spree stopped in Southampton, on the south coast of England for more passengers [Sept. 2 Times article]. Sam’s notebook:
At Southampton 2.30 p.m. Aug 29 [Aug. 30] about 25 hours out from Bremen. / Consul Kelly, General Agent of the N.D.L. / The widow lady & her sons got off here. Ask for her at Hillman’s Hotel, Bremen, they will find her for us. / Clothes to come by next ship — probably Wm. II [NB 33 TS 30].
August 31 Thursday – Sam and daughter Clara were at sea on the Spree.
September – Cosmopolitan published Sam’s story, “Is He Living or Is He Dead?”
The Brooklyn Eagle, Sept. 4, 1893, p.4, “Cosmopolitan Magazine” reported on the Sept. issue of the magazine:
The September Cosmopolitan boasts modestly of $6,066 paid by it for papers by ex-President Harrison, William D. Howells and Mark Twain. This is about the average money value probably of 8,000 words, the number in the papers taken together, when so furnished by persons sufficiently famous. …
September 1 Friday – Sam and daughter Clara were at sea on the Spree.
September 2 Saturday – In prior trips alone to New York, Sam made efforts to stay anonymous, mostly without success. He was a celebrity and his returns to the States were usually reported in the newspapers. The New York Times, p.5, “New-York and Round About” carried this notice:
— A cablegram received by the North German Lloyd Steamship Company states that among the cabin passengers on the Spree, sailing from Bremen Aug. 29 and Southampton Aug. 30, are Mr. S.L. Clemens. (Mark Twain.)
September 3 Sunday – Sam and daughter Clara were at sea on the Spree. From the Boston Daily Globe, p.27:
September 4 Monday – Sam and daughter Clara were at sea on the Spree.
Wolkow & Cornelson, a Hamburg, Germany commercial firm sent a post card to Livy that they’d received a package of tooth powder from New York for her — would she accept it? [MTP].
September 5 Tuesday – Sam and daughter Clara were at sea on the Spree.
September 6 Wednesday – Sam and daughter Clara were at sea on the Spree. Sam wrote on Sept. 13 to daughter Jean, about Clara’s last night on board:
She had good times on the ship & wasn’t sick, & learned to play a very creditable game of horse-billiards [deck shuffleboard]. She danced till 11 the last night, but took a long afternoon sleep the next afternoon at the Murray Hill to make up for it [MTP].
September 7 Thursday – The Brooklyn Eagle, Sept. 8, 1893, p.4, “Personal Mention” noted Sam and Clara’s arrival:
Mark Twain and his daughter, Miss Clara L. Clemens, arrived yesterday from Bremen on the Spree.
September 9 Saturday – Sam sent daughter Clara and cousin Jervis Langdon to Elmira. He had written Livy he’d take board and lodging at the Lotos Club, “for economy’s sake,” but first actually moved into “temporary bachelor quarters with his physician and friend Dr. Clarence C. Rice, on East 19th Street.” (Rice’s family was away; by the end of the month Sam took “a cheap room” at The Players Club) [Sept. 7 to Livy; LLMT 268].
September 10 Sunday – At Clarence C. Rice’s home, Sam woke up feeling “perfectly well this morning,” after having gone to bed early the night before and drinking a “whole bottle of whisky.” Sam wrote on Rice’s New York Medical School letterhead to daughter Clara in Elmira.
September 12 Tuesday – In New York Sam wrote Livy on Sept. 13 about seeing Frank Fuller:
September 13 Wednesday – Sam wrote two letters to Livy, in care of Drexel Harjes & Co. Bankers, Paris., one at 10 a.m. in Hartford, and another upon returning to New York. He described his contact with Frank Fuller, taking in a play with Dr. Clarence C. Rice, his Hartford visit, and prospects:
September 14 Thursday – In New York, a bad cold and cough again plagued Sam, who “fell asleep as soon as” he “touched the bed” [Sept. 15 to Clara]. Sam discussed publishing an interview with William Webster Ellsworth, secretary of Century Co., and would write him the next day [Sept. 15 to Ellsworth].
In his Sept. 17 letter to Livy, he related how hectic the search for funds had been this day: