Show LJ ald K PILOT U I 1 IS DIE KM JL A 11 hero of life on the mississippi on dd duty ty to end famous character resented notor ety DiB disliked liked use uee of his name by mark twain who was under his 1119 1 tutelage st louis mo horace E bixby the best beat known 0 of the mississippi river pilots who taught the art to mark twain Is dead captain bixby died suddenly Bud denly at his home dr holla dracy bracy coroner ot 0 st louis county who held an inquest eald death was caused by apoplexy captain bixby was eighty six alx years old and was still in the river service at ih tho time ot of hta his death ile he dally daily ex pecked a call to take out the government towboat nokomis lie ho arose early arly and dressed A little later his vire we nl room lind found him clug dead on his bed ile he died as he often had saideie said lia wished to die in the harness captain fame rests upon the writing of a cub pilot one of the many youths lie taught samuel clemens mark twain I iia he ia made an epic of the days he spent with bixby and the pilots name was known throughout the world captain bixby received hundreds of letters from strangers who know knew him solely through mark twains kwains books this became distasteful to him and during late years he be had avoided all mention hofmark of mark twains kwains name the tha sixty sli six years captain baxby spent in the pilot house marked tho the growth and gradual decline of steamboat days on the mississippi arid and ohio rivers while pilot on the missouri river in 1856 68 58 his boat would be ba stopped br bf buffalo herds cro crossing sang the river one day and by sioux warriors the next in the civil war he was chief pilot for the union fleet besieging vicks burg and memphis ile he always held the union victory at memphis due to the information he gave commodore foote foot later as a principal stock holder bolder and commander of the finest steamboats team boata in the anchor ner bervice vice captain bixby was known tho the length of the mississippi lie he ran the city of alton when it made the single trip record of clear on the decline of river commerce he entered government service captain bixby was pilot of the paul jones about 1858 1856 when samuel clemena ena became his pupil clemens clemena then gathered material later used for his life on the mississippi years later after he won literary fame he made a trip from st louis to new orleans with captain bixby and only a few ew years yeara ago was his guest in st bt louis captain bixby was of small physique nervous and wiry ile iio had a tremendous energy throughout hla his river service he bo kept a diary recording dally daily the tha events and the shifting of the river pur current rent this record the united states government Is anxious to get and it probably will be embodied in a book which will further perpetuate captain fame mark twain in hla his writing made captain bixby out a profane man this was incorrect his other friends say eay ile ho was by reputation gentle in speech and courteous to all men he net met |