Life in Exile: Day By Day

September 20 Monday – The Clemens party arrived in Innsbruck and took rooms at the Hotel Tirolerhof, where they stayed two days [Dolmetsch 23].

September 20 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook entry of Sept. 21 related a dinner tale of this evening:

September 20 Thursday – At Dollis Hill House in London, England Sam wrote to W.R. Dunn, District Councilor and father of Arthur Dunn, photographer. “I have received your letter & Mr. Ball’s, & you & your son will be welcome.” Sam wrote he would be “up & at leisure” after 9:45 a.m. [MTP: Sotheby’s London catalog, Dec. 17, 1998, Item 128].

September 21 Monday – Sam’s notebook for this day:

September 21 Tuesday – The Clemens party spent the day resting in Innsbruck, Austria.

September 21 Wednesday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers that he was “finishing an article about the assassination of the Empress” Elisabeth of Austria (see Sept. 17 entry for long excerpt from “The Memorable Assassination.”) If Edward Bok rejected and returned “My Platonic Sweetheart” Sam would like for Katharine I. Harrison to offer Bok the assassination piece, which would be shorter and cheaper. Life was less stressful now in Vienna:

September 21 Thursday – The New York Times, p.5 reported that Mark Twain had canceled arrangements to stay in Princeton, N.J., and would spend the winter in London.

September 22 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook for this day:

September 22 Wednesday – The Clemens party left Innsbruck and traveled about 100 miles by rail to Salzburg, Austria, where they would say for three days.

September 22 Thursday – Lt. Colonel F.B. Bowyer-Lane of the Nimrod Club wrote to Sam, letter not extant but referred to in Sam’s Sept. 25 notebook entry [NB 40 TS 46].

September 22 Friday – H.H. Rogers wrote to Sam, the letter not extant but referred to in Sam’s Oct. 4 reply.

September 22 Saturday – Homer Bassford’s article, “The Friends of Mark Twain’s Boyhood,” ran in Saturday Evening Post. Tenney: “Charley Curts remembers school and exploring the cave with Sam Clemens, and describes him as not lazy, but helpful to others; a good story-teller, Sam used to tell the Arabian Nights stories to groups of his friends: Curts, Ed Pierce, Bill Nash, Ben Coontz, ‘Gene Freeman, Ruel Gridley, Tom Blankenship, and John Meredith.

September 23 Wednesday – In London Sam wrote a PS note to Franklin G. Whitmore reminding him to keep the Farmington Ave. house insured.

September 23 Thursday – The Clemens party spent the day in Salzburg, Austria.

September 23 Saturday – In Sanna, Sweden Sam added a PS to his Sept. 15 to H.F. Gordon Forbes: “P.S.—8 days later—Sept. 23.

I learn this morning from London, in answer to my inquiries, that you are still at Boulogne—so I need not have waited” [MTP].

September 23 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “La Roche Francis 6 pm./ Mr. & Mrs. Lart 5 pm.” [NB 43 TS 26]. Note:  Claude de La Roche Francis, author of the 1902 London Historic and Social.

At Dollis Hill House in London, England Sam finished his Aug. 20 letter to John Tatlock, which he perhaps mislaid since:

September 24 Thursday – In London Sam wrote to William Dean Howells, responding to his Sept. 13 letter of condolence.

September 24 Friday – The Clemens party spent the day in Salzburg, Austria. Sam’s notebook:

“From the din of unpleasant church-bells it would seem that this village of 27,600 people is made up mainly of churches. Money represents labor, sweat, weariness. And that is what these useless churches have cost these people & are still costing them to support the useless priests & monks” [Dolmetsch 23: NB 42 TS 38].

Dolmetsch writes,

September 24 Sunday– In Sanna, Sweden Sam wrote to Andrew Chatto, asking him to reach Madame Dreyfus, suggesting she see Kellgren to “bring back health & strength to her husband.” Sam claimed to have spent 20 minutes each morning for the past ten weeks in Dr. Jonas Henrick Kellgren’s “work-room watching him perform upon his patients,” and that he made some 7,000 words of notes. He told of Nathaniel Rothshchild, the daughter of Mr.

September 24 Monday – At Dollis Hill House in London, England Sam replied to John Y. MacAlister.

It is too bad, & we are as sorry as we can be, but next Saturday we shall be crowding the final packing through, & all hands employed, & too tired to be any use; but don’t you think you can come out to 8 o’clock dinner to-morrow night? We hope you can, & you will tell me to-morrow, when we meet at Plasmon House, Duke street.

September 25 Saturday – Orion Clemens wrote to Sam thanking for the $50 rec’d on Sept. 22. “Billy Claggett was here last week. He is thin and old and almost beyond recognition. His unsmiling sadness may be caused by the continued alienation from his wife and the loss of his fortune.—the latter a guess.” Orion added to the letter on Sept. 27 [MTP]. Note: William H. Claggett (1838-1901), old mining buddy of Sam’s; see Vol. I.

September 25 Sunday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote to Bram Stoker in London.

“Mr. Bowyer-Lane thinks that possibly he can place the ‘Bartel Turaser.’ What do you advise? Will you communicate with him? Or will you tell me what to say? Do you know him?” [MTP]. Note: “Lane-Bowen of the Nimrod Club” was the name Sam used in his July 6 to Chatto & Windus. He remains unidentified. “Bartel” is the play Sam had translated. See Mar. 15, Sept. 10 entries.

September 25 Tuesday – At Dollis Hill House in London, England Sam wrote to Charles L. Atchison.

I do not know how to thank you enough for sending me Mr. Archer’s compact & virile article. A compliment from him is gold, 98 fine.

September 26 Saturday – Sam’s notebook for this day:

September 26 Sunday –The Clemens party spent the last of three days in Salzburg, Austria.