The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1886-03-18

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he worked at his trade in St. Louis, Gin
cinnati, Philadelphia and New York city.
In 1855 he became pilot on q Mississippi
steamboat. Six years later he acted as
private secretary to his brother. secretary
of he territory of Nevada. After this
he tried mining for while, and, in 1862,
became editor of a newspaper published
in Virginia City, Nevada. While thus en-
gagged his sharp pen put a man named
Willis, connected with another paper in
the town, to hunting up his Mississippi
river record, and the publication of
some unpleasant facts pertaining
to the war. For this Mark
challenged Willis to mortal combat, which
was declined, and from the complication
that followed two other challenges ensued.
The three challenges all passed the same
day and for time it looked as though Six
Mile Canon was to be deluged with blood.
but no meeting occurred. Soon after this
Mark went to San Francisco in the capa-
city of'reporte= on the Morning Gail.
| With his subsequent career as a lecturer,
and the author of "The Innocents Abroad"
and other books the public is better &C
quainted. After he had acquired fame at
home, he went to England to lecture, be-
cause, as he explained in one of his lee
| lures there, lin view of the liberality of
England, who had sent to America all the
lecturers she could spare, he had felt it no
more than right that the United States
should reciprocate the compliment" In
introducing himself to his first London
audience he said he should ask permission
to introduce to them "Mr. Mark Twain, a
| uJhnca Ooria6 1aorninrr hiefDr
ical accuracy, veneration for the truth and
devotion to science were only equalled by
his personnel comeliness, his graceful gran
deur of character and native sweetness of
disposition" Mr. Clemens is laborious
writer, and produces book after book with
acceptance by readers on both sides of the
Atlantic. His home, an elegant one, is at
Hartford, Conn. Mr.. Clemens Is in de-
mand as an after-dinner speaker, upon
which occasions he is invariably happy in
his efforts.
Eugene Field and Bob" Burdette are
both well known to newspaper readers of
le time. The former has earned fame
both as humOrist and poet while en-
p!oyed on the daily press of Chicago
st. Louis. Kansas City, Denver and other
parts of the west. In eccentric and gro
tesque verse he has few equals. The
peculiar genius of Bob Burdette which
touches every key of the human heart,
from jollity to pathos, came into vogue
ten or twelve years ago. His lecture on
"The Rise and Fall of the Mustache" has
also furnished anu ement for audiences
in various parts of the country. Most of
the writings of Geo. W. Peck, another fun
maker of the present day, have originally
appeared in his own newspaper, Peck's
Sun, and from them several popular books
have been compiled. OF these volumes
"Pecks Bad Boy is at once the best and
worst known. Its comic situations formed
material for play that met with great
success. From the village of Henderson
, Jefferson county, N. Y, when he was only
two years old, Geo. W. Peck followed his
parents to Cold Spring, Wis. At the lat
ter place he outgrew his loundabouts ant
, boyish pranks. When he was sixteer
years old somewhere about 1856 and 1856
he became country printer at White
water, Wis. The year 1868 found Ser
. geant Peck in cavalry boots and army
Y clothes on horse branded "U. S." Hi
e patriotic service, mainly in Louisiana, i
S the history OF many thousands, earnes
/ of enlistment had run through and out h
| returned to newspaper toll in Wisconsin
/ He is a ready writer in exaggerative
t facetious vein, and has made considerable
i money. At home they call him a ricl
i man. His reputation as a grotesqu
v writer is no barnacle ON our nationa
+ literature, although the critics hav
j. severely handled those books which wer
most profitable to the author.
o Colonel PA" DOMAIN whose name is S,
e often seen in the newspapers these day
G is native of Mississippi and is not al
S Irishman as the cognomen would indicate
e His real front name is said to be Pete
d and not "Pat." He has lived liz Florida
:. Mississippi, Louisiana, Missouri and sew
d eral other states, and has lately beel
e brought into special prominenoe thrOug
his championship of the coming state o
e Dakota. His imaginary farm at Devil
r Lake is the subject of some tall storie
+ anent the wonderful soil and climate o
v that region. 81 was standing ozle day,
v he relates, looking upon the placid water
Y of Devils Lake from the 250-foot observa
: tory ON my farm. AS nearly as I coul
+ count, there were 1,l03,2l0 frogs sportin
a about ON the surface. The thermomete
It suddenly dropped to the ground, $50 fee
a below. The frogs, that a twinkl1ng of
o star previously we're singing selection
e from Wagner's Der Meistersinger, wer
It caught by the necks in the ice, and froze
V with their mouths open. This was in,July
a A few inmates later the thermomete
J. arose of its own accord and hung itsel
7 on its nail at the top of the observatory
d and the frogs went on with the next not
v of their song" Colonel Donan began hi
IS journalistic career in 1866, as correspon
n dent of New York journal now defunc
IS He was a violent champion of the south
ern people and bitter against carpetbag
ism. Later he established the Caucasian
at Lexington, Mo-, which his biographel
Mr.. VIM. Hosea Ballou, says, was quote
all over the world and attained "a circula
latlon of $4,000 copies weekly" Colone
Donan, since 1871, has edited numerou
papers in North Carolina, Virginia, Da
kota and Minnesota. He lifted the Dead
wood Pioneer and Fargo Argus int
worldwide prominence. For severe
years he has retired from editorit
K ~