May 28 Thursday – Sam’s notebook: “Dr. Ferrar [sic Farrar] / 1271 Bway / 11 am. / [Horiz. Line separator] / Plasmon meeting 1.30 / [Horiz. Line separator] / 142 E 33d. Robt. Reed. 5. ” [NB 46 TS 17]. Note: Dr. John Nutting Farrar (1839-1913), dentist, “Father of American Orthodontics.”
Robert J. Collier wrote to Sam.
May 29 Friday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Isabel Lyon wrote two letters for Sam to Franklin G. Whitmore.
May 30 Saturday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam replied to Thomas F. Gatts (1863-1915), attorney for the 1904 St. Louis Fair. (Incoming letter from Gatts not extant; see June 3 from Gatts, June 8 to Gatts.)
May 31 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “Bergheim here—lunch. / [Horiz. Line separator] / Take him to Lotos— / [Horiz. Line separator] / Leave him there & go to Mr. Rogers & show him Collier proposal” [NB 46 TS 18].
June 1, before – Sam wrote to Daniel Willard Fiske, asking help in finding a furnished villa near Florence, Italy. He divulged that he was also writing Mrs. Ross , (Janet D. Ross ) and that daughter Clara was also writing Miss Hall and Miss Blood to keep an eye out for a place “during the next 5 or 6 months.” Livy added a PS in the top margin: “Do you know of any very good physicians in Florence?”
June 1 Monday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote again to Daniel Willard Fiske.
June 2 Tuesday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Isabel V. Lyon wrote for Sam to Franklin G. Whitmore, advising that Sam had sent a check for $70 to John O’Neil, the Clemenses old gardener, who was packing up belongings in the Hartford house. Sam didn’t expect O’Neil to do anything for the money beyond completing his work which might take three or four days [MTP].
Sam’s notebook: “Afternoon—here—Col. Harvey & Duneka” [NB 46 TS 17].
June 3 Wednesday – Sam went to Hartford, planning to arrive there just after noon. He stayed at the Whitmore home [June 1 to Whitmore].
Thomas F. Gatts wrote to Sam.
Your esteemed favor of May 30th, received this morning. I assure you that we give due consideration to every word and sentence of your letter.
While we would very much like to develop the National Mark Twain Association into local and State reading clubs; but we humbly bow to the will and desire of the man whose name we all love to honor.
June 4 Thursday – Sam’s notebook: “Hartford. Interview, 4 p.m. with Ward Jacobs” [NB 46 TS 18]. Note: Ward Jacobs was a major stockholders in Am. Publishing Co. Sam sought his support for his buy-out plan. See June 5 NB entry.
In Hartford Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers, probably referring to the tribute he’d written to Rogers, who objected to it being published.
June 5 Friday – Hartford: Sam’s notebook: “Interview with Ward Jacobs, Chas. Clark, & Geo. Gilman” [NB 46 TS 18]. Note: See Sam’s letter to the Company’s stockholders, dated after June 10.
June 6 Saturday – Hartford: Sam’s notebook: “Interview with Jacobs at his bank—noon. Lunch at the Club” [NB 46 TS 18].
From NB entries, it seems that Sam likely returned to Riverdale either this evening or the following day, since he noted Samuel Bergheim’s arrival by train on Sunday.
June 7 Sunday – Riverside, N.Y.: Sam’s notebook: “Bergheim—arr. By 11.17 train?” [NB 46 TS 18].
June 8 Monday – Clara Clemens’ 29th birthday.
Sam’s notebook: “Visit & ask Duneka if he has proof that [Bliss] has transgressed. Show MS to Mr. Rogers. / [Horiz. Line separator] / See Collier & Mr. Rog. / [Horiz. Line separator] / is it 1/2 above cost on all books, old & uniform?” [NB 46 TS 18].
June 9 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook : “Mr. Perkins / after 8 p.m. / [Horiz. Line separator] / Arr. Boston 3 pm / leave at 3.54 same station (Terminal) / arr at New Bedford 5.23” [NB 46 TS 18]. Note: Sam was planning the trip to Fairhaven; he would go sometime between June 12 and 14. On June 25 Sam referred to George W. Perkins in a letter to Sue Crane as the man who would provide a tugboat at Riverside to take Livy down river to Hoboken, for the first leg to Dublin, N.H.
June 10 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook: “See Duneka. / [Horiz. Line separator] / Also Doubleday lawyer / Doubleday is writing Bliss (W) about $36.50. / [Horiz. Line separator] / See fly-leaf for lawyer’s address” [NB 46 TS 19].
June 11 Thursday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to Ward Jacobs (in Hartford), one of three major stockholders of the American Publishing Co. arguing for a contract with Collier’s and suggesting again a stockholder’s meeting, which Frank Bliss “does not dare to call” [MTP].
Sam’s notebook: “1271 B’way, dentist. 2 p.m. / [Horiz. Line separator] / Interview with Bliss & Jacobs. No result” [NB 46 TS 19].
June 12 Friday – Sam was in Fairhaven, Mass. to confer with Rogers about business matters relating to Collier’s offers and arranging agreements between Collier’s, Harpers, and the American Publishing Co. Rogers had been recuperating from an appendectomy. Until this date, Livy had not been well enough to allow Sam to leave Riverdale. On June 15 Lyon wrote that Sam “came back this morning from a little visit with Mr.
June 13 Saturday – Sam was in Fairhaven, Mass. staying with the Rogers family.
June 14 Sunday – Sam sent a note and photograph portrait to David A. Munro. “McCracken has been playing sneak & spy in my house, & I have told him so in a letter [not extant] today” [MTP: Stan V. Henkels catalog, Apr. 9, 1931, No. 1452, Item 213]. Note: Sam stuck to his spelling of McCrackan.
Sam’s notebook: “Dinner at Dr. Parry’s to meet ‘Everyman’ / 249 E 32d—7.30” [NB 46 TS 19]. Note: Dr. Parry was a female N.Y.C. doctor who would treat Clara Clemens; see Nov. 7, 1904.
June 15 Monday – In the morning Sam returned from Fairhaven, Mass. where he conferred with H.H. Rogers over business matters (see June 12). Note: there is a seeming conflict here—the Dr. Parry dinner Sam noted was on June 14 while Lyon reported on June 15 he had returned from Fairhaven “this morning” and was tired. Either Sam missed the June 14 dinner; or he went directly to it from Fairhaven and stayed the night in N.Y.C. and then returned the morning of June 15.
June 16 Tuesday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to Annie E. Trumbull.
Livy instructs me to thank you heartily & affectionately for your book, which has just arrived. She has had a chance to read only the two or three opening pages, but she finds them just delicious, & sees you in them & hears you talk. And itI am to send you her unfading & indestructible love.
June 21 Sunday – James Burton Pond (1838-1903), longtime tour manager of Mark Twain and others, died at his home in Jersey City, N.J. after an amputation of his leg on June 17. The New York Times reported his death on page 1, Jan. 22. Funeral services were to be held at Pond’s home on Tuesday evening, June 23 with burial at Woodlawn Cemetery, New York. Sam, who had recently been a pallbearer at the funerals of Charles Dudley Warner, J.D.F.
June 22 Monday – H.D. Rivers wrote from Stonewall, Ind. to Sam for his “advice & assistance in a literary project.” A self-proclaimed humorist, Rivers wanted to send some MS for Sam to evaluate. A self-addressed stamped env. still in the file was not used [MTP].
June 23 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Go & look at Lahn / She sails 23d” [NB 46 TS 19].
June 24 Wednesday – According to his June 25 to Rogers, Sam arranged with Collier’s and Harpers for Collier to publish a set of Mark Twain’s works. Collier was to sell in sets only and only by subscription; Harper was to sell to the trade only, not in sets or by subscription, and no volume was to sell for less than $1.50. See June 25 to Rogers for more details.