DBD: World Tour

June 23 Tuesday – In Port Elizabeth, S. Africa Sam wrote to his nephew, Samuel Moffett. He referred to a prior cable (not extant) by William Randolph Hearst, publisher of the San Francisco Examiner since 1887. Moffett was an editor on the paper, and no doubt Hearst wanted Sam to write about the political machinations in S. Africa concerning Jameson’s raid and the aftermath. Sam’s letter to his nephew is obviously a response to another letter not extant.

June 24 Monday – The Elmira Advertiser p.5 ran a short interview conducted on June 23 about a famous murder case in Brooklyn: “The Henry Murder: Mark Twain Theorizes on the Bloody Hand Prints Found.” Sam cites the study and book (Finger Prints 1892) of Sir Francis Galton, who introduced the use of fingerprints as a way of identification. Sam had studied Galton’s book and claimed it even changed his manuscript during the writing of PW [Scharnhorst, Interviews 148-50; Gribben 251].

June 24 Wednesday – In the evening in Port Elizabeth, Sam gave his “At Home” (No. 3) performance to a full house at Town Hall. Newspaper reviews were decidedly negative on his three talks in the town.

June 25 Tuesday – At Quarry Farm Sam wrote to George Washington Cable, who had written (not extant) praising the JA installment in Harper’s Monthly.

You make me feel ever so proud & pleased. I wrote the story from love, & one particularly likes to have one’s pets praised.

June 25 Thursday – The Clemens party and agent Smythe left Port Elizabeth on the train at 11:50 a.m. and traveled the 106 miles to Grahamstown, arriving at 7 p.m. Their average speed was but fifteen miles an hour. On the way Sam noted a lot of ostriches in the fields. On their arrival they were “most pleasantly welcomed by the Irish parish priest,” unnamed [Philippon 22; Parsons, “Traveler in S.A.” 29].

Parsons writes,

June 26 Wednesday – At Quarry Farm, Sam was served with a subpoena brought by Thomas Russell & Son, printers and bookbinders, a creditor of Webster & Co. This was published on June 4 in the NY Times (see entry); the debt was $5,046. This was the subject of Sam’s PS finish for his letter to Rogers he began June 25:

June 26 Friday – In Grahamstown, S. Africa, Sam and Carlyle Smythe were admitted to the Grahamstown Club, and entered in the visitor’s book along with their two proposers (sponsors):

1896, June 26 S Clemens (Mark Twain) U.S.A. [proposed and seconded by:] W.A.H. Holland B.L.W. Kitching [Parsons, “Clubman in S.A.” 251]. Note: Holland was the Town Clerk and Treasurer of the Club; Kitching was Rev. [Parsons, “Traveler in S.A.” 30-1].

June 27 Thursday – Livy wrote to H.H. Rogers: “I have been quite distressed today by the paper that was served on Mr. Clemens and I feel that in some way these Webster & Co. matters must be arranged.” She confided that Sam did not know she was writing him [MTP].

June 27 Saturday – In Grahamstown, S. Africa, with a poor night of sleep due to hotel staff, Sam changed his accommodations to the Grahamstown Club. In the evening at the Albany Drill Hall, Sam gave his “At Home” (No. 2) talk. Grocott’s Penny Mail reviewed the performance on June 29 and reported that one man traveled 400 miles to hear Mark Twain [Philippon 22]. 

June 28 Friday – Frank Hall Scott for Century Co. wrote with regret that Sam was unable to submit pieces for the magazine and hoped the trip would prove good medicine [MTP].

June 28 Sunday – In Hartford the Clemenses old neighbor and Nook Farm saint, Harriet Beecher Stowe, died at age 85. Her funeral was held on July 2, at 73 Forest Street (see entry).

At 11: 40 a.m. in Grahamstown, the Clemens group were bound for Kimberley. Parsons writes,

June 29 Saturday – John Horne an autograph seeker in Glasgow, Scotland wrote to Sam, responding to Sam’s June 19 answer. Horne asked if Sam could and would “bless” him with James Russell Lowell’s autograph, since Sam had mentioned getting all those autographs on April Fools’ Day in 1884 [MTP].

Sam also responded to a letter from H.H. Rogers, evidently suggesting Sam simply go on his tour and ignore the subpoenas, or perhaps simply asking the what-if.

June 29 Monday – The Clemens party spent the day in Cradock. Parsons writes that the town was the “home off and on of ‘the best-known woman in Africa’,” Olive Schreiner. The lady’s book, Story of an African Farm was more successful in the U.S. and greatly influenced Sam’s idea of the Boer. Parsons claims, “In some measure Mark Twain saw South Africa through her eyes as he had seen India through Rudyard Kipling’s” [“Traveler in S.A.” 32]. Note: Sam wrote the name of this book in his notebook on Nov.

June 3 Monday – At Quarry Farm, Dr. Theron Augustus Wales lanced Sam’s thigh carbuncle [June 4 to Rogers; MTHHR 165n1 identifies the doctor].

June 3 Wednesday – In Bloemfontein, S. Africa Sam wrote on Free State Hotel stationery to Livy:

Well, sweetheart, I have been 3 hours packing & shaving — 7.30 to 10.30; & now I haven’t anything left to do but do up two suits of clothes & some soiled linen & cigars & things in the shawl-strap, & I’ll be ready for the train. I never open the large valise. It is nicely & compactly packed, & I leave it just as you left it. If I should take anything out, I couldn’t get it back again.

June 30 Sunday – In Elmira at Quarry Farm Sam wrote again to H.H. Rogers on the matter of a meeting with his creditors. Charles Langdon had taken Sam’s last letter and was intending to go to New York where he would deliver it to Rogers. (Langdon was taking medical treatments in the City during this period.)

June 30 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook:

June 30, Tuesday. Left Cradock 7 p.m. [June 29] Cold night. 10 hours without a urinal. Damnation! [Parsons, “Travelers in S.A.” 32].

June 4 Tuesday – At Quarry Farm Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers.

Well, I am a pretty versatile fool, when it comes to contracts, and business and such things. I’ve signed a lot of contracts in my time; and at signing-time I probably knew what the contracts meant — but 6 months later everything had grown dim and I could be certain of only two things, to-wit: 1. I didn’t sign any contract; 2. The contract means the opposite of what it says.

June 4 Thursday – Sam and Carlyle Smythe arrived at Queenstown, Cape Colony (pop. 4,000+) at 7 a.m. They took rooms at Joplin’s Commercial Hotel, where Sam slept six hours. Later in the day the pair were admitted to the Queenstown Club, where their names were entered in the Club Visitors Book by W. Wainright, and A.D. Webb, a prominent attorney. They would return in two days for wine and speeches [Philippon 20; Parsons, “Clubman in S.A.” 249].

June 5 Friday – In Queenstown Sam had lunch at the home of A.D. Webb, the noted attorney who had sponsored Carlyle G. Smythe at the Queenstown Club. In the evening Sam gave his 90-minute “At Home” (No.1) lecture to a packed audience at the Town Hall. The Queenstown Representative reviewed the talk on June 8, an article signed by “Autocycus,” who Parsons suggests may have been F.C.T. von Lisigen.

June 6 Saturday – In Durban, S. Africa, Livy and Clara took a tug and boarded the Athenian, captained by W. Martin of the Union Steam Ship Co. The ship left Durban at about 4 p.m., headed for Port Elizabeth with a stop on June 7 at East London.

Sam spent some time at the Queenstown Club enjoying wine and sharing speeches [Philippon 20; Parsons, “Clubman in S.A.” 249].

June 7 Sunday – Sam was up at 6 a.m. and left Queenstown with Carlyle Smythe at 7 a.m., arriving in King Williams Town, Cape Colony in the late afternoon; they took rooms at the Central Hotel [Philippon 20]. Sam wrote to Livy:

June 8 Saturday – Clara Clemens’ 21st birthday.

June 8 Monday – Clara Clemens’ 22nd birthday. Sam wrote her a short note at nearly midnight, that he’d almost forgotten the date, and if it weren’t so late he’d send a “telegraphic word of condolence.” Sam sent the note to the Grand Hotel in Port Elizabeth, where the ladies would arrive the following day, June 9 [MTP].

June 9 Sunday – At Quarry Farm Sam wrote to James B. Pond, listing many, but not all, of the stops for the American leg of the reading tour. He didn’t think they needed a circular (one was made anyway, see Lorch, p.189) and saw it as an unnecessary expense [MTP].

Sam also wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore, glad that the William Wander “piano business is settled — & so well settled, too.” He also addressed the water bill paid up and supposed John Day had paid his share.