Mark Twain at age 31.

Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens)
(November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910)

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. He signed
on as a pilot’s apprentice in 1857 and received his pilot’s
license in 1859, when he was 23.

Clemens piloted boats for two years, until the Civil War halted
steamboat traffic. During his time as a pilot, he picked up the
term “Mark Twain,” a boatman’s call noting that the river was
only two fathoms deep, the minimum depth for safe navigation.

When Clemens returned to writing in 1861, working for the
Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, he wrote a humorous travel
letter signed by “Mark Twain” and continued to use the
pseudonym for nearly 50 years.

CAMILLE
BOHANNON

In 1904, more than 1,000 people died when fire erupted aboard
the steamboat General Slocum in New York’s East River. In
1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an act making
the National Guard part of the U.S. Army in the event of war
or national emergency.

The excursion boat General Slocum lies beached off Hell
Gate in New York City’s East River, following a fire and
resulting panic. The disaster cost the lives of 1,030
mostly German immigrants, June 15, 1904. (AP)

Samuel Langhorne Clemens
(November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910)

Samuel 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. He signed on as a pilot’s apprentice
in 1857 and received his pilot’s license in 1859, when he was 23.

Clemens piloted boats for two years, until the Civil War halted
steamboat traffic. During his time as a pilot, he picked up the
term “Mark Twain,” a boatman’s call noting that the river was
only two fathoms deep, the minimum depth for safe navigation.

When Clemens returned to writing in 1861, working for the Virginia
City Territorial Enterprise, he wrote a humorous travel letter signed
by “Mark Twain” and continued to use the pseudonym for nearly
50 years.

CAMILLE BOHANNON

Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 – June 15, 1996)

                            
                          Monica Samille Lewinsky turned 45 in July.

On this day in 1896, the Klondike gold rush
was set off by George Carmack (above) 
discovering on Rabbit Creek in Alaska.

Robert Fulton’s "North River Steam Boat" (known as the "Clermont") began heading up New York’s Hudson River on its successful round-
trip to Albany on this day in 1807.

It was on this day in 1987

Rudolf Walter Richard Hess(April 26, 1894 – August 17, 1987)  
                                            
                                             

Actor Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. is 75 today.

Legendary actor Robert De Niro won an Academy Award for
Best Actor for his role as Jake LaMotta in the 1980 boxing film 
Raging Bull and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
for his role as Vito Corleone in the 1974 classic The Godfather
Part II. His many other celebrated films include Taxi Driver
(1976), Cape Fear (1991), and The Deer Hunter (1979).