Samuel Clemens Samuel L . Clemens was an American author , humorist , and occasional moralist in the late 19th century and early 20th century . He was most noted for his literary works written under the pseudonym ' Mark Twain ' . Life . Among his works was " A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur ' s Court " , a story involving time travel . In 1893 , at the age of 58 , Samuel Clemens was visiting San Francisco . Clemens knew Guinan during this time and they associated with some of the same people . By then he had become disenchanted and , while attending the same party as Guinan , he derided the romantic views that claimed Earth was created for the sole purpose of hosting Human kind . A time - stranded Data crashed the event , believing Guinan had come back in time to find him . Clemens overheard part of their conversation and became convinced that Data had traveled to the past for nefarious reasons . ( ) Clemens tried to relate his theories to a young reporter . He stalked Guinan and followed Data ' s movements , aided by Ches Whitley . He even paid Jack London , the bellboy , to open Data ' s room in the Hotel Brian where he witnessed his temporal transceiver ; during their conversation he urged the bellboy to pursue his dreams and write about them . Not long after , Data and Guinan found him in the closet , and Clemens threatened that he would warn Humanity about the impending invasion . After hearing about two people " vanishing " and some confrontation in a hospital , he traveled to the Presidio and invited the reporter along for the story of his life . Armed with a Colt . 45 , he confronted Captain Picard and his command crew , determined to turn them in to the authorities . But then the Devidian couple arrived from a portal , Data was decapitated , and Clemens followed everyone into the portal , finding himself on Devidia II of 2369 . Clemens eventually ended up being transported to the and took a tour of the ship . He was convinced by Counselor Deanna Troi that the future had many positive merits . When it was learned that the Devidian temporal rift would only allow one person to go through it in either direction one more time , Clemens was returned to his time to rescue Captain Picard trapped in the past . After a briefing , he returned to Market Street and reached the cave where Picard and Guinan remained trapped ; he supplied Picard with the Devidian cane and instructions on how to activate the ophidian and return to the future . As Picard and Clemens parted ways , Picard wished that time had allowed him to know Clemens better , while Clemens assured Picard that he could always read his books . With Picard having departed , Clemens took care of the injured Guinan until help arrived , agreed to pay the bill the Picard had incurred at the boarding house where the away team had briefly lodged while in the city . When medical staff arrived to take Guinan to receive care , Samuel Clemens escorted her away and left his watch with Data ' s head to be found in five hundred years later . . . and for history to repeat itself . ( ) Legacy . A poster containing images of Mark Twain and his works was hanging on the wall of Alexandria Books in 2000 . ( ) Michael Sullivan had some of Twain ' s books . Kathryn Janeway gave him a copy of " A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur ' s Court " to add to his collection . ( ) Clemens was also credited with responding " " Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated " " upon reading his prematurely printed obituary . This quote was paraphrased by Picard after his life - saving heart surgery in 2365 , as " " Any rumors of my brush with death are greatly exaggerated " " , ( ) and also by Picard during a Borg attack in 2373 as " " Reports of my assimilation have been greatly exaggerated " " . ( ) In addition , Kasidy Yates referred to her morning sickness in 2375 as " " Reports of my death have been exaggerated . . . but not by much " " , ( ) and in 2377 The Doctor said " " The reports of my decompilation have been greatly exaggerated . " " ( ) William T . Riker described Clemens as " " one of the most noted literary figures of the 19th century . " " ( ) Appendices . Background information . Clemens was played by actor Jerry Hardin . His makeup for the role involved work by Doug Drexler . ( ) With the encouragement of director Les Landau , Hardin recreated the role for a successful one - man stage show not long after the TNG episodes featuring him . It is interesting to note that in 1893 , Samuel Clemens was traveling on book tours , mostly in Europe . He only returned to the US briefly ( New York City ) and moved his family to Berlin , Germany . It is unlikely that he was in the San Francisco area at all . Coincidentally , both his birth and death coincided with the passing of Halley ' s Comet , which he asked about aboard the " Enterprise . " The books which Clemens completed , or wrote , after his 1893 encounter with the " Enterprise " included , , , and . William Shatner played Mark Twain in " Marked Twain " , an episode of the ninth season of " Murdoch Mysteries " . He has since been nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for his performance . According to the , the birth and death years of Samuel Clemens were 1835 and 1910 , respectively .