7 June 1875 • Hartford, Conn. (MS: OKeU, UCCL 01238)
Dr Sir:
We have canvassed it a good deal, & it is decided to beg you to come up here, at the time you specified.1explanatory note I state the result, without inflicting all the long string of reasons upon you.
A physician here, Dr Starr, a friend of ours, has always assisted Dr Bowen (by applying the ether, I believe,) when he operated upon this patient’s eyes. Had I better have him on the spot, in case you might need his help?2explanatory note
Please give me notice of your coming, so that I can go toⒶemendation the depot & bring you out.
Cornelius Rea Agnew (1830–88) was a leading New York specialist in diseases of the eye and ear. He received his medical degree from the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1852, then did further study in Europe, later practicing medicine privately and at the Eye and Ear Infirmary of New York. In 1858 he was appointed surgeon-general of New York State, and during the Civil War worked zealously for the United States Sanitary Commission. In 1868 and 1869 he founded eye and ear hospitals in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Clemens probably consulted him in New York on 3 June, when he made a brief trip to the city “on business” (William Wright to Lou W. Benjamin, 2 and 3 June 75, CU-BANC).
The Clemenses were arranging treatment for a neighbor, Nell Kinearney. W. S. Bowen was a Hartford eye and ear doctor; Pierre S. Starr was a homeopathic physician, in practice with Cincinnatus A. Taft, the Clemenses’ doctor (Geer 1875, 36, 141; L4 , 333 n. 3). In a letter of 17 June, Lilly Warner, a close friend of the patient’s, told her husband, George, that Agnew was
a lovely man, quiet, & fine in every way, such a contrast to the bluster of Dr. B. as his manner is! He impresses you at once as a noble man—with a heart so kind & true that it shows in his eyes & whole face. He is not a personal friend at all of Dr. Bowen—that is, he appears to have simply known him. (CU-MARK)
MS, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio (OKeU).
L6 , 490.
Purchased in 1968 from the Gilman Bookstore in Crompond, New York.