Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1910-04-29
MARK TWAIN DEAD.

Mark Twain, the great humorist, died at
Redding, Connecticut, on Thursday of last
week, in the 18th year of his age.
Samuel Langhome Clemens which was
Mark Twain's real name, was considered
the best-known American man Of letters.
He was often referred to as the Dean of
American Literature" and was known far
beyond the boundaries where English is
spoken as the greatest humorist using that
tongue, If not actually the greatest humor-
ist and satirist living His famous tele-
gram to newspaper publishing a report
of his death, when it happily was untrue,
has been quoted and requoted almost
everywhere. THE report of my death"
he wired, lis greatly exaggerated"
Mark Twain was born in Missouri my
parents" he wrote in his burlesque auto
biography. were neither very poor nor
cOnspicuously honest. The earliest ances-
tor the Twains have any record of was a
friend of the family by the name of Hig-
gins" The county chronicles have it that
the elder Clemens failed in business and
died. leaving his son the ample world to
make his fortune in.
Accordingly, Mark Twain's acquaintance
with literature began in putting words into
type, not ideas into words. Educated only
in the public schools. he was apprenticed
to printer at thirteen. and worked at his
trade in St. Louis. Cincinnati, Philadelphia
and New York until at eighteen he could
crafty boyish ambition to become cub
to Mississippi river pilot. Varied and
eventful as his early life was, it might
almost be said that only two things hap
pened-he learned the river and he learned
10 set type.
His knowledge of river life. acquired
when he was a pilot, took form in TON
Sawyer" "Huckleberry Finn" and Life on
the Mississippi" regarded abroad as his
surest title to fame 1t even suggested his
pen name. for MARK Twain" is a lines
mans cry to the pilot in shallow stages.
And his familiarity with printing turned
him naturally first into newspaper work.
then into creative writing, and finally into
the publishing business. wherein. like Sir
Walter Scott. he suffered a bankruptcy dis
astrous to everything but his honor, and
like Sir Walter again, paid off by his pen
debts not Of his own making
In due time Mark Twain became full
fledged pilot. He tells the rest himself in
chapter on Life on the Mississippi"
BY and by the war came. commerce was
suspended, my occupation was gone. had
to seek another livelihood. So became a
silver miner in Nevada; next, gold miner,
IN California; next, a reporter in San Fran
cisco; next. a special correspondent in the
Sandwich Islands next a rowing CORE
spondent in Europe and the East; next. an
Institutional torchbearer on the lecture
platform, and, finally, became scribbler
Of books and an immovable fixture among
the other rocks Of New England"
This was in 1872. year after he had
married Miss Olivia L. Langdon, of Elmira,
NJ Y, who brought him an independent
fortune. At that time his writings were
in growing demand and he had an insured
income. his home. and seemed. indeed, a
fixture. But in 1885 his popularity as an
author and his acquaintance with the
mechanics of the publishing trade drew
him into founding the firm Of C. L. Web
ster & Co.. publishers. The firm brought ou
the memoirs Of Gen. Grant and paid hi,
widow $350.000, but its prosperity wal
.hortlixtad and IL faiiad ,.,;,h lioh;is.;o. .,
$4,000. The failure had already suckec
in SOS. 900 Of Mark Twain's cash, but h,
determined also to shoulder the debts, an,
TO pay them off undertook in lS95-lS96
lecture trip around the world
He had scarcely begun his great tas
when fate struck him another hard blow
This was the death Of his eldest daughter
Miss Olivia S. Clemens, who died in Al
gust. 1896. at the age Of "a. Broken il
spirit, he continued his great task. and Il
two years he had paid off his debts
IL was during this dark period that tn
veteran humorist was reported destitut,
and dying in London. A public appea
was sent out and $4,000 was raised 70
him. But, although pressed for funds h
retained his dignity and refused TO accep
the money.
As IL in sympathy with her husband
misfortunes, his wife health began 10 fai
and he moved to Florence, Italy. in tn
hope that the mild climate would restor
her But IL proved Of no avail. and OF
Nov. 8, 1904, she died in that far-off land