Explanatory Notes        Apparatus Notes (Ⓐ)

Source: CU-MARK ([CU-MARK])

Cue: "Just been to Hartford. Can't go again till <i>September.</i>"

Source format: "MS"

Letter type: "[standard letter]"

Notes:

Last modified: 2016-12-21T12:47:49

Revision History: AB | RHH 2016-12-21

MTPDocEd
To Frank Fuller
8–10 July 1874 • Elmira, N.Y. (MS: CU-MARK, UCCL 01107)
Elmira.
Dear Frank:

Just been to Hartford. Can’t well go again till September.1explanatory note

I should think you ought to try Hartford. I’d like to be there & help you, & so turn an honest pennyⒶemendation, but couldnt before——O, come to think my wife & I go there for a visit, next month some time.2explanatory note How’s that. Love to you both.3explanatory note

Ys in haste
Mark.
Textual Commentary
Source text(s):

MS, Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley (CU-MARK).

Previous Publication:

L6 , 182–83.

Provenance:

See Appert Collection in Description of Provenance.

Explanatory Notes
1 

Fuller had written (CU-MARK):

UCLC32017
39 W 26th. St. N.Y.

July 7. 1874.

My Dear Mark:—

I got back and hastened to the St. Nicholas to see you. I did not wish to take passage on the Comet, but I did desire to talk with you on several topics. The noble clerk told me you had left for Elmira. Thither, therefore, I send this.

I came loaded down with the First Mortgage Bonds of a railroad in which I am interested. The company have empowered me to sell them, and think they should bring 85%. The total amt. is $300,000.

I will enclose you a slip cut from the Salt Lake Herald of June 16. The article is a good one and tells the truth. I wrote it.

The bonds bear interest at the rate of 8%, gold, payable in N.Y. We provide a sinking fund from the earnings & begin to pay off and cancel the bonds in 1878. George Goss, the Supt. says he will make the road earn $200,000 between July 1, ’74, & July 1, ’75. Of this sum we estimate 60%—or $120,000 as clear profit over running expenses. Deduct $24,000, gold, for the interest on our bonded debt,—say $27,000 currency, & we have $93,000 per year to put away for the payment of the bonds. I verily believe the operation to be a perfectly safe one for all parties.

I wanted to see you to tell you how you could make a pretty sum by aiding me to place the entire lot in Hartford or anywhere else. I have had an idea, all along, that I would give Hartford a chance to buy them.

I ask the closest investigation into the matter of the cost of the road, its condition, present earnings & prospects. If desired by intending purchasers, the Co. will pay the expenses of a man to go out and examine. If all is not exactly as I represent, then it is no sale.

Will you be in N.Y. soon again? I desire to talk this bond business over with you. If I go to Hartford about it, I should like to go this week. If I could see you I incline to the opinion that you would be tempted to go with me. If needed, I believe the principal stock-holders would join in a personal guarantee that the stipulations of the bond shd be carried out. This would render the bond as strong as any in the market, as the stock is owned by some very wealthy men. I will send you a copy of the bond if you think it would interest you.

I trust you are well and happy and that all is well with Mrs. Clemens and the dear little “Modoc.”

Mrs. Fuller begs to be kindly remembered to you all and hopes to hear good accounts of Mrs. Clemens.

When you come to N.Y. tell us about it in advance and do not wander off to any hotel, but come straight to us. We will be charmed to see you & yours at all times.

Sincerely your friend.

Frank Fuller.

P.O. Box 5678.

For the reference to the “Comet,” see 17 July 74 to Albright, n. 3click to open letter. Clemens left the St. Nicholas Hotel in New York on the morning of 7 July. The article Fuller enclosed does not survive with his letter. Entitled “A Visit to Bingham,” it was a lengthy description of a trip from Salt Lake City to the mining town of Bingham, the last leg of which was “upon the elegant new cars of the Bingham Cañon and Camp Floyd” railroad, which had begun operations in December 1873. Fuller gave particulars of the railroad’s costs, equipment, extent, freight traffic, receipts, and expansion plans, and described George Goss, “the superintendent of the road,” as “an old railroad man, careful to a degree, and watchful of the interests committed to his charge” (Fuller). Fuller was a member of the board of directors, as was wealthy Pennsylvania oil financier Charles Lockhart (1818–1905), who in 1874 helped organize the Standard Oil Trust and became president of the Standard Oil Company of Pittsburgh. Clemens neither invested in the railroad himself nor helped Fuller “place” its bonds in Hartford (see the next note).

2 

The Clemenses did not travel to Hartford in August. Although they planned to move into their new home there before the end of that month—after trips to Buffalo and Fredonia—they had to postpone their return until September (11 July 74 to JLCclick to open letter; 15 Aug 74 to JLC and PAMclick to open letter; 22 Aug 74 to Howellsclick to open letter; 20 Sept 74 to Parishclick to open letter). Meanwhile, Fuller went there himself to try to sell his bonds; on 13 August, Twichell wrote Clemens, “Gov. Fuller called on us in Hartford a few days ago, and we had a delightful talk with him” (CU-MARK; Fuller was acting governor of Utah Territory in 1861 and 1862). For Fuller’s account of his trip, see 6 Sept 74 to Fuller, n. 1click to open letter.

3 

That is, also to Fuller’s wife, Annie.

Emendations and Textual Notes
Ⓐ  penny •  ‘ny’ conflated
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