The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-09

life as sailor he had seen it's rough side. He was small, compact, distressingly quiet, and made few friends, but those who were admitted to his companionship were as true and devoted to him as were the soldiers of Napoleon to their chief. In early life he was not a Christian-n this the very opposite of his most worthy brother, William, who one of the stoutest pillars of the old Bee Hive Methodist church of Mobile. But the Deity did not create Bob Otis to be num- bered among the lost ships. About 1858
 he was married to d most estima ble young woman-Miss Booth--and under her gentle influence he became a converted man, and when he laid down his captain S baton he was as good man as his elder brother which is saying all that could be said.
 Captain Cox named a daughter for
 him-Otis Cox. MT Thomas Duggan, the business man of the firm of l.. Brewer & Co.,, of Mobile, named his daughter Otis
 (now Mrs. B. M. Miller of our town) in compliment to this true and brave man, thus showing the esteem in which he was
 held by his comrades and the mercantile interests of Mobile. I do not suppose Bob
 Otis ever told lie or deceived a friend and, like his co-laborer above mentioned
 he died poor-having lost his all in the wreck of small stern-wheel steamer called The Hale.'
 My attention was first drawn to Cap tain Otis in an encounter with Captain Allen of a rival boat. at the Dauphin street wharf Captain Allen was very
 much battered and bruised by contact with this little fohting machine. Captain
 Bob afterward cut one of his own pilots
 down and sent him back by passinng steamer for the surgeons attention
 Pearce was the pilots name-a man of | n nh md Rnl,f fighters town Pearce limped from a
 bloody encounter with Captain Bill Meaher, who commanded the Lowndes
 Jr., and who lost his life in a hotly con tested scrimage with Pearce-the affair beginning on the upper and ending on the
 lower deck, at which time Pearce was in- jured for life.
 But the most unfortunate episode of Captain Bob's life was when he shot Wal ter Tuggle from the wheel of rival boat, both boats under headway and both crowded with passengers This occurred
 just below Claiborne, Captain Otis in com
 mand of the handsome St. Charles and
 Captain James F. Greer in command of | the F. P. Kimball.
 Bad blood was the order of the day as through passengers were carried from Mobile to Montgomery for $250 which meant loss to each boat and it was only question of time when the Kimball would be forced out of the business. The
 two boats had left Mobile the evening be- fore, and should have passed Claiborne before daylight, as the time of the St. Charles was 10 hours from Mobile to that
 point, and this boat being the faster, was in the act of passing when the nose of the Kimball bore suddenly against her after part, causing her to swing heavily toward the bank. Captain Otis claiming it was in order to protect his passengers and save his boat, rushed to his room and soon after emerging leveed shot and fired at the pilot in charge of the Kimbalrs wheel, the man falling at the crack of the gun. Walter Tuggle was the victim-a resolute and very dangerous man. He was badly
 wounded by a bullet entering just beneath the eye. Captain Greer, seeing the dan ger to his craft by the loss of his helms man, rushed into his pilot-house, seized the, wheel and rescued his passengers from peril
 Captain Otis returned by first goat to Mobile, going thence to Monroeville, where he made bond for assault with in- tent to commit murder, stood his trial, and the jury returned verdict of as- sault with weapon. A heavy fine was imposed, and there ended the unfortunate occurrences but for eear thereafter not only were the rivermen excited, but Mo- bile also felt the effects of the trouble"