Mark Twain at 15.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, later known as Mark Twain,
was born in Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835.

Clemens was apprenticed to a printer at age 13 and later
worked for his older brother, who established the Hannibal
Journal. In 1857, the Keokuk Daily Post commissioned him
to write a series of comic travel letters, but after writing five
he decided to become a steamboat captain instead.

Twenty-five-year-old Norman Mailer’s first novel, The Naked and
the Dead, was published on May 4, 1948. The book is critically
acclaimed and widely considered one of the best novels to
come out of World War II.

Norman Kingsley Mailer (1923 – 20007)

TIM MAGUIRE

Rescuers prepare to lower a volunteer into a well parallel to the one
18-month-old Jessica McClure fell into.     
    
    
     
   


On this day in 1887, rescuers freed Jessica McClure from the abandoned well
that she had fallen into in Midland, TX. She was trapped for 58 hours.

Jessica McClure Morales became 33 years young in March.

Following McClure’s rescue on October 16, 1987, surgeons had to
amputate a toe due to gangrene from loss of circulation while she
was in the well. She also has a scar on her forehead where her
head rubbed against the well casing. She had 15 surgeries over
the years and has no first-hand memory of the event.

SANDY KOZEL

Elzire Dionne with her quintuplets shortly after their birth.

The Dionne quintuplets (above) were born on this day in 1934 near Callender, Ontario, to Olivia and Elzire Dionne. They were the first quintuplets to survive infancy.

The two surviving sisters, Annette and Cécile.

TIM MAGUIRE

On this day in 1859, Abolitionist John Brown led a raid on the federal
arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, VA (now located in West Virginia). He was
hoping to instigate a wider slave rebellion.

"John Brown’s Fort" at Harpers Ferry.

John Brown (May 9, 1800 – December 2, 1859)

On this day in 1987, Rescuers freed Jessica McClure from the
abandoned well that she had fallen into in Midland, TX. She
was trapped for 58 hours.

Jessica McClure Morales turned 32 on March 26.