James E. Brooks, 83 years old and a resident of Council Bluffs for fifty-two years, died at his home, 257 Vine Street, early Wednesday morning of heart trouble. Surviving him is a widow aged 74 years and four children: Mrs. Addie Kane now in Michigan, Mrs. Fred Petersen, Thomas and Harry Brooks of this city.

The aged pioneer had been feeling bad for two months prior to his death but at no time found it necessary to remain in bed. That he was expecting and was prepared for his death was shown, however, in remarks he had often made recently to his wife about preparing a biography that would remain as a narration of his life after he was dead. His death Wednesday morning was unexpected. He had gone out as he did every morning but failed to return. His wife became concerned over his absence and inquired of Sergeant Nicoll at the police station if he had seen anything of her husband. A few moments later his wife found him sitting in an outhouse, dead. Undertaker Cutler took charge of the body. Funeral arrangements have not been arranged, pending word from Mrs. Addie Kane, a daughter, who is in Michigan.

Mr. Brooks was born in Hillsburrough, Ohio on May 25, 1828. One June 1, 1854, he married Lucy Heath of Little Falls, New York, at Washington, Indiana. After five years at Central City they left for this place on August 4. After forty-three days traveling they arrived here. He immediately began working on the stage line, driving from here to the old Hardin place, sixteen miles east. For two years he drove a stage and then became superintendent of the line. A bus line was then installed and he was superintendent of that for ten years. He was then appointed on the police force, where he served four years as constable and deputy marshal until his leg was permanently injured when he fell from a tree and cut it with an axe. After being foreman of the Dohany stables on Bryant Street for four years he retired and he and his wife ran a boarding house. For fifteen years Mrs. Brooks has fed the prisoners of the city jail by contract from the city.

According to his wife, Mr. Brooks has been a loyal reader of The Nonpareil since coming to this city. In that time he has seen it grow from a small paper of miniature dimensions. In anticipation of his death he wrote in the large bible, which contains the history of his family and of which he has always been proud, this paragraph: "James Brooks left Central City, Marion County, Illinois, on August 4, 1859 and arrived in Council Bluffs, September 16, 1859. He remained here until the spring of 1860 then went from here to Sedalia, Missouri where he remained until 1861. On the seventeenth day of June 1861, I left Sedalia, Missouri for Council Bluffs where I have resided ever since.