Samuel L. Clemens to Charles E. Perkins, 7 July 1877 · Elmira, N.Y

Source: Mark Twain House and Museum, Hartford, Conn. | University of California, Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library, Berkeley ([CtHMTH CU-MARK])

Cue: "I am astounded"

Source format: "MS, correspondence card | MS, annotated tax bill"

Letter type: "correspondence card"

Notes:

Last modified:

Revision History: Paradise, Kate

Published on MTPO: 2022

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This edited text supersedes the previously published text

MTPDocEd

To Charles E. Perkins
7 July 1877 • 1st of 2 • Elmira, N.Y. (MS, correspondence card and annotated tax bill, in pencil:
CtHMTH and CU-MARK, UCCL 01448)

Elmira, July 7

slcDr Sir—I am astounded to learn that the Hartford property, all bought with Livy’s money, still stands in my name. I supposed I had deeded it to her long ago, but she & Mr. Crane say it ain’t so.1explanatory note Therefore please send me 〚 (to St. James Hotel, New York) the necessary documents to sign in order to deed the whole thing to herⒶemendation, complete: —to wit:—not forgetting the low ground b across the stream bought some time ago of Mr. Hall or through him, I forget which.2explanatory note

I shall go to New York Tuesday & remain at St. James some days. I send you check to pay taxes with—but don’t pay it to a collector who will steal it.3explanatory note

Yrs

S L C

enclosure:

verso:

Textual Commentary

Source text(s):

MS, correspondence card, in pencil, CtHMTH, is Source text for the letter; printed tax bill, with SLC note in pencil, CU-MARK, is Source text for the enclosure.

Previous Publication:

MicroPUL, reel 1.

Provenance:

See Perkins Collection in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.

Explanatory Notes

1 On 16 February 1874 Clemens had transferred title to his house to Perkins, who, on the same day, made out a quit claim deed to Olivia Clemens. Nevertheless, in 1877 the Hartford tax rolls still listed the property in Samuel Clemens’s name (personal communication from Walter Schwinn, Sept 1974, CU-MARK; tax bill enclosed with Perkins to SLC, 20 July 1877, CU-MARK; Schwinn 1982, 1:10–11).

2 Hartford attorney Ezra Hall was, like Clemens, a resident of the city’s Nook Farm community. The Clemenses had bought land from him in 1876 “as pasture for their cow” (Schwinn 1982, 1:170).

Clemens’s Hartford property tax was based on an evaluation of $66,650. He sent this bill to Perkins—most likely with the present letter—and wrote the following misdated request on it, in pencil:

Mr. Perkins, please

pay this with en-

closed check

for $1, 110.38.

S. L. Clemens

June 7, 1877

Emendations and Textual Notes

Ⓐ her her ● sic

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