“The King last night went gambling”: March 3, 1907, Notebook #4, MTP.
“His wisdom and steadfastness”: Autobiography dictation, MTP.
“a big dish of radishes”: Coley Taylor, “Our Neighbor Mark Twain,” www.twainproject.blogspot.com/; January 2, 1908, 1908 Daily Reminder, MTP.
“very very tired”: November 21, 1908, 1908 Daily Reminder, MTP.
“Will came early”: November 25, 1908, 1908 Daily Reminder, MTP.
But Thanksgiving Day 1908: Wark is no longer mentioned by Isabel in her daily reminder, with the lone exception of her exchange with Mrs. Twichell on January 11, 1909. The last check Wark received for services rendered totaled $400 and had been written seven months earlier. Nichols, Clara’s violinist, would continue to be paid into 1909; the last check to her was for $150 and dated March 1, 1909, for “services prior to February 28th;” SLC Holder No. 1 Accountants’ Statements and Schedules.
Isabel’s only reference to: Twain would later claim that Jean had become dissatisfied with her treatment by Dr. von Reuvers and Dr. Peterson, although there is no mention by Jean or Isabel at the time of any issues concerning her care (see Hill, Mark Twain: God’s Fool, p. 214). In 1909, Jean wrote Bébé that she had contradicted Dr. Peterson in a recent visit when he claimed that he had been the one to make her come back from Berlin: “I laughed, saying but you haven’t made me go home” (Ibid., p. 249).
She was initially placed: Ibid., p. 225.
“Why should there be an age”: Ibid., p. 45.
“his voice rang out”: January 1, 1903, 1903 Daily Reminder, VC.
That same evening: January 19, 1907, 1907 Daily Reminder, MTP.
Over the next three months: February 13, March 27, and April 7, 1907, 1907 Daily Reminder, MTP.
“Such a rich personality,”Isabel effused: December 18, 1908, 1908 Daily Reminder, MTP.
“Miss Clara Clemens”: New York Times, December 21, 1909.
Clara recovered with lightning speed: December 21, 1908, 1908 Daily Reminder, MTP.
“Gabrilowitsch played to us for an hour”: December 21, 1908, 1908 Daily Reminder, MTP.
Two days later: December 23, 1908, 1908 Daily Reminder, MTP.
“Gabrilowitsch & I walked down”: December 29, 1908, 1908 Daily Reminder, MTP.
In fact, Clara would not resurface: January 25, 1909, yellow printed date book, 1908–09 Box, VC.
“the engagement was broken”: Samuel Clemens to Helen K. Blackmer, October 13, 1909, YU. There are several conflicting accounts regarding the nature of Clara and Ossip’s relationship in 1901. Clemens claimed in the letter he wrote to Helen Blackmer that he had “wanted this wedding 8 years ago, when the engagement was broken twice in 6 months.” In a letter Clemens sent to Elizabeth Wallace on November 10, 1909, he claimed that Clara and Ossip “were engaged years ago—twice. Broken both times, to Mrs. Clemens’s great regret” (HL). Hill states that in 1901 Clara was “visiting altogether too much with the young pianist Ossip Gabrilowitsch, in the United States on a tour, to please her parents. … Her father opposed marriage” (Hill, Mark Twain: God’s Fool, p. 44).
In a written statement: “Mark Twain Philosophizes at His Daughter’s Wedding,” New York Herald, October 7, 1909, p. 12.
Twain’s claim regarding Clara’s supposed engagement: Hill, Mark Twain: God’s Fool, p. 44.
“all the Hartford world”: January 11, 1909, torn-out page from date book, 1908–09 Box, VC.
The framework can be found: Mark Twain, Wapping Alice, introduction and afterword by Hamlin Hill (San Francisco: Arion Press, 1981).
“to stay right in this room”: January 9, 1909, torn-out page from date book, 1908–09 Box, VC.
“He knows that we love him”: February 12, 1909, torn-out page from date book, 1908–09 Box, VC.
“His reading of Shakespeare”: February 13, 1909, torn-out page from date book, 1908–09 Box, VC.
This entry, from February 13, 1909: Twain scholars have looked for Isabel’s journal or daily reminder for 1909 without success. There are a few torn pages from a date book in the special collections archive at VC, and that is all that remains of her written record for that year. Clara spent years trying to find Isabel’s personal writings.
“the psychic moment hasn’t come yet”: IL to Harriet Whitmore Enders (Mrs. John Ostrom Enders), February 16, 1909, MTM.
“any engagement announcement”: IL to Harriet Whitmore Enders (Mrs. John Ostrom Enders), February 16, 1909, MTM.
“Plenty of time there is now”: January 21, 1909; yellow printed date book, 1908–09 Box, VC.
“Dear Mr. Clemens”: Undated typescript; “Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript,” Box 48, MTP.
“wants me to but I wouldn’t”: Webster Interview, January 5, 1950, typed transcript, VC.
“wouldn’t hear of it”: Ibid.
“shamefaced, embarrassed, hesitating” “Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript,” Box 48, MTP.
With Isabel absent: Mary Lawton considered CC “the best beloved of all my friends.” Although she acted in stage productions in New York City in the early 1900s, she apparently was unsuccessful as an actress, and promoted herself as a psychic. Lawton wrote a book providing a portrayal of Twain that likely pleased Clara. Twain identifies Lawton as a psychic in the “Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript,” p. 399, Box 48, MTP.
“being driven almost crazy”: Hill, Mark Twain: God’s Fool, pp. 218–19.
“taking various things”: Webster Interview, January 5, 1950, typed transcript, VC.
“before the break came”: Ibid.
“Carnellian beads”: JC to Joseph Twichell, June 14, 1909, MTP.
A few months later, Ashcroft: Hill, Mark Twain: God’s Fool, p. 226; Ralph Ashcroft to John Stanchfield, July 30, 1909, MTP.
“I have no suspicions”: Hill, Mark Twain: God’s Fool, pp. 220–21.
Twain may have thought: Twain used the term “General Clean-Up Day” in the “Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript” to describe the events of March 13, 1909. Box 48, MTP.
“and not to those of any member or members”: “Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript,” Box 48, MTP.
Twain read and signed: For her Christmas gift, Twain had relieved Isabel of $500 of her debt. On “General Clean-Up Day,” Ashcroft offered Twain notes for $1,000, and to Twain’s surprise informed him that Isabel would be returning his $500 Christmas gift. Hill, Mark Twain: God’s Fool, p. 221; “Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript,” Box 48, MTP.
“Cupid has been active”: 1908–09 Box, VC.
Present were friends: “Part of Mark Twain Married While the Humorist Looks On,” newspaper unknown, March 18, 1909, MTM. Names of the wedding guests from the “Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript,” Box 48, MTP.
“The first one of you”: Doris and SW to Henry Nash Smith, July 1, 1960, MTP.
“a pity that a singer”: “Miss CC Sings,” New York Times, April 14, 1909.
“give Miss Lyon her notice”: Hill, Mark Twain: God’s Fool, p. 223.
“she found it was a very kind letter”: Webster Interview, January 5, 1950; typed transcript, VC. On the contract Twain wrote the following entry:
Canceled Apl 15 by written notice to take affact May 15/09 Two months’ salary Paid by check. SLC
“Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript,” Box 48, MTP.
“Remember, whatever I do”: Webster Interview, January 5, 1950; typed transcript, VC.
Ashcroft had purchased: Hill, Mark Twain: God’s Fool, p. 226; in the “Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript,” Twain noted that Ashcroft had purchased the farmhouse and acreage for $7,200 “& saved us $600 thereby”: Box 48, MTP, p. 255. “Mark Twain Adds 150 Acres to Farm,” New York Times, April 9, 1909.
“Wisdom, judgment, penetration”: July 18, 1909, MTP.
“They would not want me”: JC to Nancy Brush, July 29, 1909, MTP.
“I had a call this morning”: “Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript,” p. 165, Box 48, MTP.
He closed by recognizing: Ralph Ashcroft to SLC, April 29, 1909, “Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript,” pp. 171–72, Box 48, MTP.
“a man who had been in his employ”: “Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript,” p. 166, Box 48, MTP.
His fears about Miss Watson: SLC Holder No. 1 Accountants’ Statements and Schedules.
The first lines Twain composed: While the draft to Howells was the first piece he composed, Twain later added two forewords to the manuscript: a letter to Adolph S. Ochs, publisher and owner of The New York Times, and a note to the “Unborn Reader.”
“rotten eggs”: “Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript,” p. 2, Box 48, MTP.
“Man, let me tell you”: “Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript,” pp. 6–7, Box 48, MTP.
After a year of infrequent and unfocused autobiography dictations: Isabel recalled that while Harper’s did not want to publish “Is Shakespeare Dead?,” they were contractually obligated to do so. Colonel Harvey asked Isabel to try to restrain Twain, saying that his public wanted to see “only the humorous side of him. And the comment is that he is slipping intellectually.” February 17, 1909, as transcribed in her notes, NYPL, as quoted in Hill, Mark Twain: God’s Fool, p. 218.
“one great crime”: “Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript,” p. 45, Box 48, MTP.
“She would … stretch herself”: “Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript,” p. 34, Box 48, MTP.
Here Twain borrowed the language: The love triangle of Florence Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White, and Harry K. Thaw culminated in Thaw’s murder of White on November 28, 1905. Constant newspaper coverage contained lurid details about the sex lives of all three individuals.
“Doesn’t it sound like print?”: SLC to WDH, “Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript,” Box 48, MTP.
“This is terrible, terrible”: “H. H. Rogers Dead, Leaving $50,000,000,” New York Times, May 20, 1909.
To his dismay: For his work Weiss was paid $372.05 by check signed by JC on October 4, 1909; cancelled checks dated 1886–1910, MTP.
“Clara finally said”: “Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript,” pp. 421–22, Box 48, MTP.
“I had a burning desire”: Michael Kiskis, ed., Mark Twain’s Own Autobiography (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1990), pp. 81–82.
“most amazing document”: SLC to William R. Coe, June 16, 1909, MTM.
“took large quantities”: JC to Joseph Twichell, June 14, 1909, TC.
“before me personally”: “Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript,” Box 48, MTP.
After Ashcroft’s April meeting: Hill, Mark Twain: God’s Fool, p. 221.
In the audit report: SLC Holder No. 1 Accountants’ Statements and Schedules, MTP.
Naturally Clara excluded mention: June 14, 21, 28, 1909; clippings, newspapers unknown, VC.
“I believe the whole trouble”: “Wants Mark Twain to Explain to Her,” New York Times, July 15, 1909.
This time Clara accompanied Lark: Hill, Mark Twain: God’s Fool, pp. 234–35.
“inveigled into transferring”: Ralph Ashcroft to John B. Stanchfield, July 30, 1909, MTM.
Ashcroft asserted that a total: Ralph Ashcroft to John B. Stanchfield, July 30, 1909, MTM.
His not so very subtle intimation: Ralph Ashcroft to John B. Stanchfield, July 30, 1909, MTM.
“One’s vocal ambitions”: “Ashcroft Accuses Miss Clara Clemens,” New York Times, August 4, 1909.
“It involves an attack”: Connecticut Courant, August 9, 1909.
Noteworthy were two checks: Folder 2, statements of Miss Watson, of Mr. Ashcroft, and letters, etc., of J. B. Stanchfield’s office; Statements and Accounts Ashcroft-Lyon 1907–1909; and “Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript,” Box 48, MTP.
“The differences between Mark Twain and his daughter”: “Mark Twain Suits All Off. All Litigation Between Him and the Ashcrofts Is Finally Dropped,” New York Times, September 13, 1909.
“The facts in my case”: “Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript,” Box 48, MTP.
The officers for the Mark Twain Corporation: Rasmussen, Mark Twain A–Z, p. 304. 223 As for Isabel, her hopes: Notes by Samuel C. & DW on talk with Mrs. Lyon, March 5, 1948; Webster Interview, IL Miscellaneous Mark Twain Notes, MTP.
In keeping with earlier contracts: “Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript,” Box 48, MTP.
Along with fighting with Ashcroft: Katy’s account is succinct: “When he first come out to Redding he was pretty near dying” (Lawton, A Lifetime with Mark Twain, p. 309). In her memoir My Husband Gabrilowitsch (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1938), Clara offers a hyperbolic tale of how a visiting neighbor happened to mention that Gabrilowitsch was ill in a New York City hospital and that she and Katy had immediately rushed to his side. She also claimed that “after a night of prayer,” upon seeing Gabrilowitsch in his hospital bed she knew that “God would work a miracle” and save his life (pp. 47–49).
“a terrible operation”: Lawton, A Lifetime with Mark Twain, p. 306; Hill, Mark Twain: God’s Fool, p. 243; Paine, Biography (vol. 3), described Gabrilowitsch as having been “invalided through severe surgical operations, and for a long time rarely appeared, even at meal-times” (p. 1505).
He was diagnosed: SLC to Mrs. John Paul Jones, October 21, 1909: “G. is pretty well run down. He was here in the house all summer recovering from three operations for the mastoid process” (MTP).
Symptoms include difficulty: According to the online Merck edition, “symptoms appear two or more weeks after acute otitis media develops, as the spreading infection destroys the inner part of the mastoid process. A collection of pus (abscess) may form in the bone. The skin covering the mastoid process may become red, swollen, and tender, and the external ear is pushed sideways and down. Other symptoms are fever, pain around and within the ear, and a creamy, profuse discharge from the ear. The pain tends to be persistent and throbbing. Hearing loss is progressive.” www.merck.com/mmhe/sec19/ch220/ch220h.html.
The operating physician: B. Heine, Operations on the Ear: The Operations for Suppurative Otitis Media and its Intracrania Complications (New York: William Wood and Company, 1908), p. 44.
A large, unsightly scar: McLauchlin, in O.G. the Incomparable, recalled that Gabrilowitsch, “had what is sometimes called ‘wild hair’ and he wore the highest starched collars ever seen. We all wondered where he bought them. There was one theory that his wife made them in her sewing-room.” Gabrilowitsch’s peculiar sartorial excess may have been an attempt to hide the scar from his operations.
“I’ve always heard”: Ibid.
“just as I used to rub”: Lawton, A Lifetime with Mark Twain, p. 309.
The program lasted nearly two hours: Paine, Biography, p. 1522.
A profusion of guests: New York Herald, October 7, 1909, p. 1.
“We shall now hear”: McLauchlin, O.G. the Incomparable, p. 6. Mary Law-ton offered a kinder version of Twain’s statement: “Of course, my daughter Clara is going to sing too. My daughter is not so famous as these gentlemen, but she’s ever so much better looking” (A Lifetime with Mark Twain, p. 308).
“‘Katy, the date is set’”: Clara Clemens, My Husband Gabrilowitsch, pp. 50–51.
“will wed Gabrilowitsch”: Hill, Mark Twain: God’s Fool, p. 243.
“News of the wedding”: “Russian Pianist to Wed Mark Twain’s Daughter,” New York Herald, October 6, 1909, p. 1.
Twain attempted to defend: “Miss Clemens Weds Mr. Gabrilowitsch,” New York Times, October 7, 1909.
“had signed for a concert tour”: Paine, Biography, p. 1523.
On the surface a reasonable explanation: Hill, Mark Twain: God’s Fool, p. 244.
“Gabrilowitsch was leaving for Europe”: Musical America, October 12, 1909, MTP.
“had been nursing her husband”: Mark Twain, “The Death of Jean,” http://www.online-literature.com/twain/1316/.
“argued with him in vain”: Marie Nichols, “Marie Nichols Tells Intimate Stories of Humorist’s Life,” The Campus, Sarah Lawrence College, May 4, 1931.
Before the wedding: Clemens, My Husband Gabrilowitsch, p. 51.
The Associated Press was duly notified: Paine, Biography, p. 1524.
“he wished to”: “Twain Philosophizes at His Daughter’s We
dding,” New York Herald, October 7, 1909, p. 12.
the guest list for his daughter’s nuptials: The Reverend Joseph Twichell presided, Jean was the bridesmaid, and Jervis Langdon served as the groomsman. Also in attendance were Julia Loomis, Susan Crane, Mrs. John B. Stanchfield, Dr. Quintard, Miss Ethel Newcomb, the Richard Watson Gilders, the Charles Hapgoods, Clara Gordon, Dr. Angenette Parry, Marie Nichols, William Dean Howells, Miss Foot, Miss Comstock, Miss Mary Lawton, the Albert Bigelow Paines, Theodore Gaillards, the Frank Spragues, the E. F. Bauers of New York, and the A. M. Wrights of Boston. Paine, Biography, pp. 1523–24; Lawton, A Lifetime with Mark Twain, pp. 311–14; Hill, Mark Twain: God’s Fool, pp. 243–44.
“two or three tragically solemn things”: Post-Standard, October 7, 1909.
“service for which I am most thoroughly grateful”: SLC to Augusta M. D. Ogden, October 13, 1909, United States Library of Congress.
The Associated Press issued a release: “Sensation Promised,” Los Angeles Times, October 14, 1909.
‘No suit that I know of”: “Clara Clemens in a Mysterious Suit,” New York American, October 14, 1909, p. 2.
“willful and malicious interference”: Personal correspondence to the author from Arlene Prater, June 1, 2006. The Chicago Sun-Times ran a front-page news story on July 1, 2007, about a husband who successfully sued his wife’s lover for alienation of affection. The husband was granted monetary damages. As of 2007, eleven states remain where alienation of affection is legally actionable.
“He is an excellent man”: “Mystery in Quest of Pianist’s Wife,” New York Herald, October 14, 1909, p. 7. Campbell was a criminal lawyer and fifty percent of a two-man firm, Pentecost and Campbell. That same month Campbell was mentioned in a brief paragraph in The New York Times as the lawyer representing a yogi and seer from Brooklyn who had been arrested for sending his female clients who had come to him for “spiritual treatment to the offices of Henry T. Rodman & Co., where they were led to invest in some highly unprofitable mining securities” (“$12,000 Bail for Garnett,” New York Times, October 20, 1909).
“who does not feel kindly”: “Pianist’s Bridal Trip Deferred,” New York Herald, October 17, 1909, p. 6.
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