Cairo evening times. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1865-1866, 1865-10-10
THECAIRO THAT WAS.
Dips into Ozd cairo life.
THE PLACE, THE PEOPLE, OC-
CURRENCES NDPAoTIMES.
By NOSE HARRELL.
NUMBER XVIII.

tirely under water, except the hotel at the
point, and that steamboats, landed against and
took passengers from the second story of that
building. He will also tell you that there were
no wharf boats here then, and that deep, dark
woods extended TO the waters edge alike on
the Ohio and the Mississippi. have listened
to such nonsense more than thousand times,
1 presume, and sometimes gave mortal offense
by merely suggesting the possibility of some mis-
take in the premises. I have heard steamboat
men, who knew better, retail such stuff with
a show of earnestness we'll calculated to carry
conviction
No such condition of affairs existed here fif-
time when steamboats, received passengers di-
rectly from the second story Of the old Cairo
Hotel or from any other part Of that building.
And at no time within fifteen years, or within
thirty years. have the woods, unbroken, ex-
tended to the waters edge of the Ohio; nor
has there been day or an hour within the
past fifteen years when Cairo was without one
or more wharf-boats.
During the winter of $40 there great
food in the Ohio during which the wharf
boat, Sam Dale, was moored So near the old
hotel that the first floor could be reached
through the use of a stage plank, but this
is the only shadow Of authority there is for
the ridiculous assertion that steamboats, took
passengers directly from the second story.
within the memory of the oldest !nhabi-
,+cf1 hoc +E,o
shape or outlines Of this delta, but the surface
has undergone no change whatever. Since the
government or congressional survey, about
fifty years ago, section thirty and twenty
five, at the point, have been enlarged by ac
cretion, while sections 81, %, 10 and 8 lying in
succession as given, still above, have been mate
rally diminished by the action ofthe Mississippi
That whole sections of land have thus been
carried away is not sufficiently established.
The loss since the original survey may be sum-
med up as follows: From section 8 about 90
acres, from section 10 about 40 acres, from sec
ton % about l2O acres, and from section q
about 40 acres; In the aggregate about $50
acres. For number of years past, the abra-
sion has been incons;dcrablc, and is now fully
and permanently arrested at all Of those points,
about which there has been any considerable
solcitude.
/ refer to this matter that the reader may
know how much confidence to place in the
wonderful stories still current about Cairo and
high water, the alarming inroads of the rivers,
Cairo and desolation and Cairo and-et cetera.
The greatest "bone of contention'' ever
thrown among the old Cairo people was that
furnished by the Local Mail Agency. The three
wharf boats lying at the landing were the prin-
cipal business institutions Of the city, their
crews forming 4 very considerable portion of
the entire population. That wharf-boat upon
which the mail agency was kept secured the
patronage of all mail boats, which then was
very considerable item. And as each wharf.
boat proprietor considered himself as capable
of attending to the business of the agency, and
fully as deserving his successful cotempo-
rary, there was constant struggle for the pos
session of it. No appointment ever gave ''gen-
eral satisfaction, and no incumbent ever rested
in undisturbed possession of his office for
term of three months in succession. The ef-
forts to ''oust' somebody, or to re-instate
somebody were earnest and almost unceasing.
And throughout so small a circle as the people
Of Cairo then formed, the feeling occasioned by
these efforts soon manifested its effects. No
man could maintain a neutrality. He was
driven to all advocacy Of the claims Of the in
cumbeut or of those of the applicant. Joe
Browns dog fight never more positively divided
the good people of Snipkinsville than the local
mail agency did the people Of Cairo. 1t was
discussed on the street in crowds Of two or
twenty in the family circle and over the wine
cup; and too often engendered personal feuds
and conflicts. What kind of correspondence
between Cairo and the appointing power at
Washington grew out of this state Of feeling
can readily b conjectured. The man who
held Office was either a thief or model Of hon.
esty-this depended altogether upon the stand
point from which he was judged. Every in-
dividual who held, or who applied for the local
mail agency at Cairo prior to the year 1850,
can, by record evidence on file at Washington
prove two positive and well defined characters
that Of a thief, cut throat and consummate
villain generally, and that of gentleman scru-
pulousiy honest and exact, of commendable
habits and Of unimpeachable integrity In such
volume did this kind of praise and detraction
| flow in upon the Hon. Ftz Henry Warren to
whose supervision local mail agencies were
coniided: that that gentleman felt himselfcalled
upon to officially rebuke it, The following is
an exact copy OF a letter from Mr. Warren,
! now in the possession of your correspondent,
| upon this highly interesting subject:
''WAsnlNGTON, D. c., Dec 2l 1901
| SIR:-No fifty points of like Importance, any
where in the country, occasion this department
| half the trouble and vexation that Cairo does
Should we judge of the character of the appli-
| cants for the local mail agency, by the written
| testimony on file here, we should feel that a
i selection from among the number would be an
| attempt to cheat your pententiary. This we
do not choose to do, so you may assure your
| people that no ore of the present applicants is
| even thought of i'll connection with the office.
Very respectfully, &C.,
FITZ HENRY WARREN,
I'd Asst. P. NJ Gen.
| That was "poser.'' 1t hushed wrang-
ling for the tims, relieved the department, and
laid the foundation for the claims of your hum
bile servant, who shortly afterwards received
the appointment, and stalked triumphantly into
| power.
| The Office Of the local mail agent was con-
! timed IN To uhOut the year 1896 yubon tic d,,