William Steinway’s diary: “The Judges have great Dispute especially over Chickering Report At 11½ A.M. Geo. Cook of Schoninger Organ Comp. New Haven calls at our stand hints that money has been handed to some of the Judges and that he can be of great advantage to us &c. Make appointment with him for Tuesday at 12 o’clock. Then meet Schiedmayer at Trois Frères, tells me that Chickering has been sitting all day in front of Judges Hall. I decide to leave with H. Steinway at 2.50 P.M. We arrive at my house at 6.45 P.M. Tretbar & Theodore there at Seven, when a despatch arrives from Julius Schiedmayer saying that all was settled and signed. I am greatly pleased.” The Schoninger Organ Company, mentioned in this entry, has served as a distributor of Weber pianos through their store in New Haven, Connecticut; at the same time, Shoninger-made organs have been sold through Chicago dealership of William Wallace Kimball, also selling Joseph P. Hale’s bogus pianos. It’s therefore reasonable to suppose, that this entry in William Steinway’s diary is the first documented evidence of Joseph P. Hale’s preparing a stratagem whose purpose is to destroy the reputation of William Steinway and Steinway & Sons. (Joseph P. Hale will make a lot more obvious attempts next year, nearly succeeding in William Steinway’s arrest by the police.)