JOHN B. DOWNING
Feb. 13, 1834 - March 4, 1914
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Known as Major Jack Downing and sometimes "Alligator Jack," Downing was born in Rutland, Meigs County, Ohio. He was a pilot for twenty-seven years on the Mississippi. Downing, an accomplished violinist, toured with a minstrel company when the Civil War disrupted river traffic. Norwegian violinist "Ole Bull" (Bornemann Bull) claimed Downing was the best amateur violinist he had ever heard. Several letters were exchanged between Downing and Clemens after they both left the Mississippi River. |
Downing's comments about Clemens: He had a reputation then, though
the boy of the crowd, for telling good stories, and he always had one ready
to fill in. One of the best stories which I ever remember of Sam telling was
when we were on the EDWARD J. GAY crossing
from Goose Island to the Missouri shore, a very shoal place. A number of pilots
were in the pilothouse. They were on a surveying tour to Cairo. Squire Bell
was at the wheel, and ran the boat out of the channel 25 or 30 yards and grounded
her. She was aground for 30 minutes, and Bell made the air blue with all the
swear words in his vocabulary in declaring that, if it hadn't been for Sam
Clemens's story, he would have kept the boat in good water. I could repeat
the story, but it's entirely too long. However, we were all convulsed with
laughter, particularly as we did not see the point nor the real gist of it
until it had been told for quite a few minutes.
- from an interview in Cincinnati Enquirer, 12 September 1909
Also see comments by Downing in The New York Times, June 28, 1903
