The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-10-13

1 With her death stilled hand ex- | tended in vain effort to reach a water spigot, to quench the parching thirst 1 following alcoholic excesses, Mrs Ed gar Bixley, once famous vaudeville | actress of the family of Corrette sis l ters, and the wife of the famo us tramp comedian of Bixley 6 Fink, 1 vaudeville players, was found face 1 downward dead on the floor of a l houseboat at the dock of the Bridge port Motor Go. this morning. Medi- 1 cal Examiner Downs said death was 1 due to odena of the lungs, brought on by exposure She was clad only l in steamer coat and a par of stock- 1 ings, and the coat only partially pro 1 tected her from the cold damp air ] of the harbor.
 i girl, attractive brunette with a wealth of raven hair. Dissipation had not entirely effaced the relics of her former beauty. For several weeks | boatmen who had seen her aboard the heuseboat had admired her and specuiated as to why she was living l aboard the boat here in a season when house boats are usually aban- doned.
 l Main street, was called from his of | fee by Harold Elliott, a lad of IS, employed aboard the houseboat this morning. Elliott said he thought the
 
 was i'll. Dr. Gaffney found the wo- man lying in a bed in a neatly fur nished room forward of the main cabin. RigOr mortiS had already 1 seized upon the remains. Dr. Gaff- ] ney was satisfied she had been dead for several hours. He promptly noti- 1 fled Medical Examiner F. B. Downs, who despatched Rourke & Rourke to l secure the remains.
 Rourke & Rourke's men went to the dock of the Motor company fol- l lowing instructions of the medical examiner. When the undertaking wagon backed down to the dock and the men went to the boat to in quire for the body, Elliott said he l knew nothing about any death They saw the body of the woman lying in the bed as they glanced through the open door.
 She's only sIeeping;,'' was Elliott's afterwards explained, and did not want the details of the woman's death to get out.
 who had been talking with Elliott before the arrival of the undertakers, admitted that the woman's body was that seen in the bed by the under takers. Then they returned, placed the body in basket and with much difficulty got it ashore. It was at 1 once removed to the morgue.
 For a time the strange attitude of i the youth aboard the boat led to sus-
 picion that all, was not right, but the I l anniner Downs, coupled with the sub 1 sequent statement of the lad, cleared | up the mystery.
 | Young Elliott, who says he has been ] working on the boat all summer said
 that he went ashore and returned late l last evening. He found the woman 1 intoxicated. She called to him to get 1 her a drink of water. He got the wa | ter and left the woman still sitting | up, supposfng she was about to retire. l His bunk was in the engine room, l fnrI6yard ni1Ot house. while her
 room was directly back of the pilot | house and opening upon the main 1 cabin.
 | Arising this morning, not as easly as usual because he had been up 1 rather late, young Elliott said he had begun to get breakfast for himself, | he started for the cupboard, he gIanc- l ed through and saw Mrs B1xley lying
 on the floor face downward.
 1 He called her by name, and re- 1ceived no response. Thinking she
 was merely supplied from drink, El-
 ifott seized her, carried her through l clothes over her and hurried out to l find a physician. pr. Gaffney's home l in East Main street is put step
 from the offices of the Motor Com l pany. The doctor found his services 1 were useless, and because of the un- 1 usual aspect of the woman's death he 1 reported it to the medical examiner. It was learned that Mrs Bixley had l been addicted to the use of 1ntox1cants 1 to excess for some time. Her nus l band thought the life aboard the 1 house boat would prove beneficial, l and whenever his engagements were 1 such as allowed him to join her he | too enjoyed life aboard the boat. With 1 the approach of cold weather, he planned upon bringing the boat to 1 this city for a general oVefnau1lilg' 1 and about a month ago it reached the 1 local harbor.
 Mrs. BixIey and young Elliott had l lived aboard ever since, with no Hls5 | itors, said Elliott. Bixley had wired the motor company to haul the boat 1 out today and all arrangements had been made for it's inspection ana the 1 beginning of repairs there today when the discovery was made that MrS. 1 Bixiey was dead.
 Young Elliott pointed out the tank i where the drinking water was earned | and showed that the woman had ap-
 parently tried to make her way across
 the cabin when she fell. Unable to 1 arise, perhaps stunned by her fall or l overcome with alcoholic Stupor, She | lay exposed to the cool air of the l unprotected and unheated cabin, with i nothing but the half buttoned steamer coat and her stockings. Her
 lungs quickly filled and death must i have followed shortly after her fall'
 Bixley is playing this week at the
 Grand Opera house, Pittsburg. From
 the office of the Bridgeport Motor Go a message was sent to him, but 10 | response had been received up to
 noon. At noon time Herbert Ashley | and Robert Matthews, of the well
 known vaudeville team of Matthews &z A sh1ev- hOth friends of Bix1ev. hI1r-