Happy Birthday Mark Twain!

Today would have been Mark Twain’s 174^th birthday. Born on November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri, Samuel Clemens, known to the world as Mark Twain, is widely considered one of the greatest American authors. Besides his talents as a writer, Mark Twain is also known for his wit. In a letter to Edward Dimmitt written on July 19, 1901,Twain said of aging, “Life should begin with age and its privileges and accumulations, and end with youth and its capacity to splendidly enjoy such advantages.” Mark Twain lived to be 74, passing away on April 21, 1910. For more information on Twain’s life and career, take a look at the Library of Congress site.

To read some of Twain’s works for free, visit Project Guttenberg. The electronic book database has many works available for free download, including many of Twain’s books. (the project offers works with expired copyrights for free)

Twain spent his later years at a home called Stormfield in Redding, Connecticut. Thomas Edison made a silent film of him at his home in Redding in 1909. It’s only a little over a minute long, but its still cool to see Twain walking around in his legendary white suit while smoking cigars.

[Image via bolstablog]

The Great Train Robbery – October 6, 1866

As the Library of Congress site makes note, today marks the anniversary of what some consider to be the first train robbery in the United States. On October 6, 1866, masked thieves boarded a train near Seymour, Indiana, and entered an Adams Express Company car. They pointed guns at an employee named Elem Miller and demanded the keys to the safes on board. He only had keys to a local safe, so they thieves emptied the contents of that safe and threw the other locked safe overboard intending to open it later.

Some believe this train robbery to be the first, but it was preceded by a similar incident nine months before. However costly these robberies were, these crimes did not go unpunished as agents from the Pinkerton National Detective Agency quickly identified the bandits. Train robberies increased in frequency from the 1870s to the 1890s and Pinkerton Security agents were frequently called upon to find those responsible. Famous train robbers from this period included the Reno brothers, the Farringtons, and the Jesse James gang.

With this bit of history in mind, it can come as no surprise that a train robbery served as the plot for one of the earliest motion pictures. Here is the Edison Manufacturing Company’s The Great Train Robbery from 1903. Enjoy!

[Images via Metro-Cincinnati and Silent-Volume]