Omaha daily bee., 1910-04-22
Only a Few Hours Before Patient
Had Written Letters in Bed.
END, HOWEVER, NOT UNEXPECTED
Old Age of Writer and Failing Health
Made Demise Certain,
NOTABI CAREER as AN AUTHOR
Real Name Was samuel l.. Clemens,
but Rs Mark Twain He won DIs-
tinctiOn for Humor Tales
and witty Speeches.

REDDING, Conn, Aprn n.-samuel 1.
Clemens Mark. Twain, probably the
worlds premier humorist and writer OF
human interest stories, died at his home
in Redding this evening at ESQ O'clock
The end came az a surprise, for his con-
iiton earlier in the day indicated I'M
provement. He was conscious up to
within a short time before the summons
came AT noon physicians in attendance
at the authors bedside pronounced his
case as satisfactory, but stated that his
illness was critical. They would make no
promises as to the outcome
Yesterday the author took a decided
turn for the better and insisted on sitting
up In bed to write a few letters His
condition then was better than 1t had
been any time since his return from Ber-
muda, where he went in quest Of health.
The direct cause of death was angina
pectorls. His daughter, Clara, was among
those present at the bedside when he
breathed his last.
Born In Missouri,
II one were to ask OF the first dozen
persons one met on the street, who is the
greatest of American humoristsY' probably
no one would answer Samuel L. Clemens"
but not one intelligent American would fail
to allot that distinction to Mark Twain.
Samuel Longhorne Clemens was born in
the town Of Florida, Monroe cunty, Mis-
souri, November 80, 1885. His father had
been a stakeholder and had met with re-
verses, he died a bankrupt, and when the
boy had scarcely reached his 18th year His
mother was a superior and handsome wo-
man, and it is from her that Mark Twain
inherited some OF his most admirable quail
tiles She was intelligent, extremely 80,
and could write well. She was also given to
dreamy speculations. One of the boys
kinsfolk once SAID of him, HE is perfect
little human kaleidoscope" Yes" spoke
up another, ''and he gets that from his
mother Mrs Clemens was looked up to in
Florida and I'M HannibRl,-las a very OBJ
servant woman who was interested IN all
that was going on around her, and who
kept posted on the news of the day, so far
as one could in Missouri sixty years ago.
The boy had had little schooling in the
hamlet of his birth, and his good mother
had aided him to learn, and in Hannibal
his studies were continued in a little
weather beaten frame schoolhouse. 2Ox40
feet in dimensions, where Miss Lucy
Davis taught the young idea how to shoot
There it was, while under the administra-
tlon of Miss Lucy, that the budding hum
orist made his first acquaintance with the
persuasive power of the hickory switch.
and he is on record as saying that he dis
tinctly remembers that the dressing
downs" he got were no Jokes.
Gets idea for Pen Name.
Mark began his serious work in life
shortly after his fathers death as an ap-
prentice in the local printing office that
OF the Hannibal Courier. Three years he
served as devil and typo, and at odd
times wrote something for publication At
the end of his apprenticeship he considered
himself a competent printer reporter and
editor. without compass or cash he set
, out on foot for the eastern country and
did odd jobs at the case and press as he
journeyed along. At length he reached
Philadelphia, but finding tho town too slow
for his ideal he tarried but while. and
continued his journey to New York.
! But the east did not hit his fancy and he
longed for the old friends and scenes OF
the wild and woolly west" At II he
turned up again in Hannibal, out of work
and out Of means.
! The Father of Waters" had a fascina-
ton for him about that time, and he Won
dered If he were not cut out for a pilot
/ He did not ponder this new idea long, but
forthwith looked for a job, and quickly
found it, as roustabout on a steamboat
plying between ST. Louis and New Orleans.
In due time he became a pilot. and for
seven years he stuck to his new calling.
He has told how he liked 1t and all about
It in his "Pioting on the Mississippi" His
( picturesque life, and the strange and inter-
esting people and things he came in con-
/ -
airy faculties and all the while he was
steering those pine and rosin fed craft up
and down the great river he scribbled for
the papers. Busy as he was, exacting as
were his dutes-and he was one OF the
best pilots the old Mississippi ever knew
he found time to cultivate the art Of writ
ing.
And It was while plotting that he got the
pen name by which he has ever since been
known to the world OF letters and to the
word at large. This is how It happened
He had been signing his sketches 'Iosh," a
name which came 10 him he knows not
how, but which he never cared for. one day
while in the pilot house pondering as to
what name he could substitute for 'Iosh''
he heard a "bg buck niger" who was
taking soundinss OF the river call out
mark twainl" The phrase caught the
young writer's fancy, and he determined
then and there that heneeforth he would
sign his stories" with the pen name Mark
Twain"
IL was not, however, until 1883, while act-
ing as city editor OF the Virginia City En-
terprise, that the humorist made use Of his
new tile
Mark Twain got his first step I'm Rough
IN IT, about this time Besides editing a
lively paper in rapid town, he acted as
clerk 10 his brother whom President Lin
oln had applnted secretary OF the territory
OF Nevada.
ater he worked for days wages In q
quartz mill, passed through many strange
experiences and helped others 10 get rich