440

LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI.

I was told that one of my pilot friends fell dead at the wheel, from
heart disease, in 1869, The captain, was on the roof at the time.
He saw the boat breaking for the shore ; shouted, and got no answer;
ran up, and found the pilot lying dead on the floor.

Mr. Bixby had been blown up, in Madrid bend; was not injured,
but the other pilot was lost.

THOBHBUBGH'S CUB.

George Ritchie had been blown iip near Memphis—blown into
the river from tbe wheel, and disabled. The water was very cold j
he citing to a cotton bale—mainly with his teeth—and floated until
nearly exhausted, when he was rescued by some deck hands who w«r0
cm a piece of the wreck. They tore open the bale and packed him k
t&e cotton, and warmed the life back into him, and got him safe W!
Memphis. He is one of Bixby's pilots on the * Baton Eouge * now*