per Telegraph Operator
26 February 1872 • Hartford Conn. (MS, copy received: OrPR UCCL 00727)
the rules of this company require that all messages received for transmission, shall be written on the message blanks of the company, under and subject to the conditions printed thereon, which conditions have been agreed to by the sender of the following message.
thos. t. eckert, gen’l sup’t,1explanatory note william orton, pres’t,
new york. o. h. palmer, sec’y, new york.
dated Hartford Conn 187 2
received at Feb 26
to Redpath & Fall
36 Bromfield st
Am not going to Boston.2explanatory note How in the name of God does a man
find his way from here to Amherst & when must he start give
me full
particulars or send a man with me.Ⓐemendation If I had another engagement
I would rot before I would fill it.3explanatory note
S. L. Clements
from branch office, basement old state house
49 paid
HdxⒶemendation
telegram docketed: G.L.F. and Clemens S. L. | Hartford Conn | Feb. 26 | ’72 and by Fall: Leave Hartford at 2 two afternoon Reach Springfield at three ten minutes past three. Leave Springfield at four. Reach Palmer at half past four. change cars. Leave Palmer at five fifty five. Reach Amherst at seven.
Thomas Thompson Eckert (1825–1910) supervised the organization of the Union military telegraph system during the Civil War, rising to the rank of brigadier-general. Appointed assistant secretary of war in July 1866, he resigned in February 1867 to become general superintendent of the eastern division of Western Union.
The purpose of Clemens’s canceled trip to Boston is not known (see also 3 Mar 72 to Redpathclick to open link).
Clemens was scheduled to deliver his last lecture of the season, at Amherst College, the next day. Fall’s instructions (presumably telegraphed to Clemens) show that it would take him five hours to reach his destination, even though it was only about forty miles north of Hartford. The Amherst Student reported, “We do not know whether the audience had expected too much of the funny Mark Twain from reading his funny book, or whether two hours of nonsense is more than people care for at once, or not, but true it is that they had heard enough of him when he was done” (5 9 Mar 72: 38). The Amherst Record concurred, calling the lecture “a first-class failure,” despite “some good hits . . . nearly all of it we had already read, and it seemed rather stale to us” (“Mark Twain’s Lecture,” 28 Feb 72, 4). In a separate report, the Record noted:
After the lecture last evening a choice collation consisting of oysters, tongue, cold meats, and the like, was served at the Amherst House for recuperating the bodily vigor of Mark Twain, the numerous ushers, and other officials, together with a few invited guests. The occasion was very enjoyable to all parties, and, in the opinion of some, Mark appears to better advantage at the festive board than upon the platform. He kept the company in the best of humor by narrating some of his experiences in piloting on the Mississippi and with spirit mediums in New York. (“A Collation,” 28 Feb 72, 4)
Clemens’s experience with “spirit mediums” may have been as recent as the last three or four weeks (see pp. 41–43).
MS, copy received, telegram blank filled out by the receiving telegraph operator, Reed College, Portland (OrPR).
L5 , 48–49; Will M. Clemens, 29, with omission; MTB , 1:452, with omission; MTL , 1:194, brief quotation; brief excerpts in the following: John Anderson, Jr., lot 49; Anderson Auction Company 1910, lot 180; AAA 1925, lot 109 (also erroneously quoted as part of lot 108 in the same sale).
The MS, which may have been owned (or merely borrowed) by Will Clemens before he published it in 1900, was offered for sale at least three times: in 1903 by John Anderson, Jr., from an unidentified collection; in 1910 as part of the collection of George Bentham; and in 1925 as part of the collection of businessman William F. Gable (1856–1921). It was eventually acquired by Portland banker Charles Francis Adams (1862–1943), who donated it to Reed College in 1940 or 1941 (Reed College Notes 7 Apr 1945: 1).
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.