Vol 3 Section 0391

Sam also wrote to Caspar Whitney (1864-1929), American author, editor, explorer and war correspondent, who at this time was editor-in-chief of the monthly The Outing Magazine, which covered outdoor and sporting subjects as well as adventure fiction. Sam declined to submit a piece of writing as everything he might “write for a year or two is already engaged & the price arranged…Two months ago I was free, but now I am become a chattel” [MTP]. Note: Whitney first came up with the idea of an “All-American” team in college football when working for Harper’s in 1889.

March 10 Saturday – At 30 Wellington Court in London, England Sam wrote to John Y. MacAlister.

I will ask you to send Mr. Heinberg to Lord George Hamilton’s nearest friend with this proposition:

That we deliver in Calcutta or Bombay, carriage free, 2,500,000 pounds of Plasmon per month to end of

the famine for £50,000.

The which will furnish to each individual, big & little, of the famine stricken, the equivalent of ½ pound of best beefsteak per day at cost of one shilling per month of 31 days [MTP].

Note: Sam wrote on the left margin of the first page: “I think of calling to-morrow afternoon.” Lord George Hamilton (1845-1927), British Conservative Party politician at this time member of Parliament for Ealing. Heinberg has not been further identified.

March 11 Sunday – In London, England Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers:

And Charley Langdon has recently blown life into some coal-stock of my wife’s which has lain dead for 13 years, & it is now worth—$100,000. In addition, old 5 per cent stocks in Langdon’s hands—75,000.

In view of these facts it has seemed to me that it was about time for me to look around & buy something. So I looked around & bought. Therefore please send me $12,500, so that it will reach me by mid-April. Pretty soon I will tell you what it is I have bought; then you will see that I am thoughtful & wise.

Mind—don’t you sacrifice nay good securities. No, keep them as security & lend me the money if you can’t get it without making sacrifices. This conduct will please God, & He will not allow the interest to default, nor the principal. (No, it will be better for you to take care of those details yourself; it is not well to trust too much to strangers whom you have had no dealings with.)

I’ve accepted the Lotos complimentary dinner, & shall hope to get home in time—before the dinner season is over. I don’t know, though—I suppose it is doubtful. I was not able to say to Mr. Lord when we were coming, but I said you would know, some weeks beforehand & would telephone him. / Ys Ever [MTHHR 436-7]. Note: Sam’s investment was in Plasmon; he would become a director on Apr. 19. The Lotos Club dinner in Mark Twain’s honor would be held in N.Y. on Nov. 10, 1900; Chester Sanders Lord, managing editor of the N.Y. Sun, was secretary of the Lotos Club. See Mar. 14 NB entry, when this letter was mailed.

March 12 Monday – In London, England Sam wrote to Pamela A. Moffett [MTP].

March 13 Tuesday – In London, England Sam replied to the Mar. 2 of Rev. F.W. Mortimer:

SLC used mourning border for most letters from Susy’s death on, then from Livy’s death on.