Mark Twain Dies: America's Sharpest Pen Falls Silent
Mark Twain was born when Halley's Comet was visible in 1835 and predicted he would die when it returned. 'It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don't go out with Halley's Comet,' he wrote. He died on April 21, 1910, one day after the comet reached perihelion. He had gone bankrupt in 1894 investing in a typesetting machine and spent five years on a world lecture tour paying back every creditor in full, which he wasn't legally required to do. He lost his daughter Susy to meningitis while he was abroad. His wife died in 1904. His daughter Jean drowned on Christmas Eve, 1909. He died four months later, describing himself as 'the most conspicuously & persistently lied-about man in the world.'
April 21, 1910
116 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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