Description:

Signed twice! Mark Twain gives his coachman and faithful servant Patrick McAleer a check for $100 to cash for "House Money" _ adding an ANS on his check telling him he wanted the money "in small bills"

Partly Printed Check Signed "Saml. L. Clemens," 8.25" x 2.75". Hartford, Ct., July 1, 1875. Check No. 140. Filled out by Clemens, drawn on the First National Bank of Hartford, payable to "Patrick McAleer" for $100. Clemens has added an Autograph Note Signed "SLC" at left: "House money / bring it in small bills / SLC." Endorsed on verso "Patrick / McAleer." Rough left edge at "H" of "House money" expertly mended. Fine condition.

Patrick McAleer (1844-1906) was Mark Twain's coachman and faithful servant. Born in County Tyrone, Ireland, he emigrated to America when he was 16. He served the Clemens family first in Buffalo, New York, and then at their Hartford home (1870_1891), and made a brief return to the Clemens household in Dublin, N.H., in 1905-1906. Patrick and his wife Mary had nine children. The Clemens had a Carriage House built next to his house in 1874. In the second floor rooms, above where the horses and carriages were kept, Patrick McAleer lived with his wife and family. Patrick McAleer died in 1906.

From the February 28, 1906, edition of the "Hartford Daily Courant." In part, "Samuel L. Clemens, once a resident of this city, returned here yesterday to attend the funeral of his old and faithful servant, Patrick McAleer, which takes place this morning ... Mr. Clemens, when seen yesterday afternoon, paid a high tribute to his former servant as he said: _I have never known a finer human being than Patrick McAleer and I never knew him to be in error but once in my life. That was when, in talking with another of my servants, he said he had been in my employ for thirty-five years. Thirty-five years, he said it was, but in reality it was ten years less. In making his calculation Patrick counted in the ten years we spent abroad without him. He seemed to feel that it was not his fault that we went away and that our absence ought not to count in reckoning up his term of service.

"_In all the time he was with Mrs. Clemens and myself he never ran out. I have had other servants who would say, 'Mr. Clemens, I forgot and there isn't a cigar in the house,' but that never happened with Patrick McAleer, for he never forgot anything and I never had to give him an order. He was just the age of Mrs. Clemens and he entered my employ the day before I was married. He was as full of life as a watch spring and he know everything there was to know about his business. His life ought to rank with that of great soldiers, statesmen and chief justices, for they were no more proficient in their professions than he was in his.

"He was with me last summer in Dublin, N.H., and it did not seem to me that he was a day older than he was when he first entered my employ. His hair was just as black as it ever was and he was just as efficient. I did not give him an order during the summer and he did not need one; he knew just what I wanted. I shall never find a man more faithful, loyal and honest than he was.' The regard which the Clemens family had for Mr. McAleer is evidenced by the appearance of the great humorist in this city. Mr. Clemens and family have sent a large floral wreath to the McAleer home bearing this inscription: _In loving remembrance of Patrick McAleer, faithful and valued friend of our family for 36 years. S. L. Clemens, Clara L. Clemens, Jane Clemens.'"

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