The Cairo bulletin. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1872-1878, 1875-03-30

drawn here to supply the demand for
labor, only score or more remained. A
few betook themselves to the surrounding
country and settled upon little farms--a
number sleep in the old grave yard;
where the balance are.who can determine!
The failure was rendered complete in
the year 1871; and for more than twelve
months thereafter, the company, rs if
overpowered by the disaster that had be-
fallen them, seemed utterly careless of the
wreck they had left behind. Creditors
seized upon all movable property; houses
were entered and occupied without per-
mission, the land was plowed and plant
ed without let or hindrance, and the rule
among the remaining Cairoites seemed to
be that possession carried with it an in
defeasible title.
might pass over the interval Of Calro's
torpidity--the thirteen years that inter-
vened between the downfall Of the Hal
brook dynasty and the creation Of the
Trust that is now shaping our destiny;
but, as during that period, "Cairo's bad
reputation was won, may not, while
consulting my own inclination, pass II by
In silence.
What you naturally inquire, "gaye
Cairo, during this interval, the disreputa-
BILE name, which, in great degree, clings
to her to the present hour Z" The qucs-
ton may be answered thus: The town,
the dirtest and most God-iorsaken place
on either river. The wharf was covered
with drift and rubbish. the buildings were
undergoing the process of rapid decay;
there was, there couid be no evidence OF
thrift or enterprise among the inhabitants,
and not one stranger Of the hundreds who
halted here every week for change
of boats, left the town satisfied
with the hotels. 1t is rather unpleasant
pastimc to wait for n steamboat anytchere
and, in those days, the stranger who left all
the comforts and surroundings of luxu-
rlous home, or the not less enjoyable con-
vcniences and attentions of a first-class
steamer, TO be set down waiting traveller
in forlorn and dcsolate Cairo; to receive
his common grub in the cabin of n
dismantled steamboat (Which constituted
our chief hotel) to fight mosquitoes and
be bitten by ileas and chinches. invariably
left the town in a frame of mind anything
but amiable.
From this fact we may draw the valu.
able moral that nothing more decidedly
shapes the character Ola town than il,
hotcls-schools and churches not except.
ed. Cairo had then 10 some extent OF
necessity bad hotels. The traveller was
coarsely fed and indifferently bedded
there was nothing in the way of amuse.
mcnts or the aspect Of the town to en-.
gage his attention for an hour or mo.
ment, and. as consequence, there are
thousands of persons who, even now, re.
call brief sojourn in Cairo, at the period
to which refer as among the most har.
rowing and trying periods of their lives.
And furthermore. the town had no mu.
nicipal strength 10 resent or prevent out.
RACES. As consequence Of this condi
ton the steamboat that could not thrust
ashore its smallpox cases, its dead and
dying, its thieves, paupers and gambler.
at Paducah, Memphis or Cape Girardcau
because of the obstacles intcrposed By
law, simply waited until Cairo WA
reached. and then their obnoxious pas
sengers were put ashore, aoieas roi-ns
The sick, the pauper or the dead thu.
imposed upon us were placed upon OF
naturally sought the public landing.
There they remained the objects of re.
mark or pity for thousands of passing
strangers, until disposed of through the
charity of our citizens. They formed
sights at Cairo" to be talked OF abroad
while the gambler and thief, thrown upon
the town in the same manner, remained
here with impunity. defying the moral
sentiment of the little community, and
fleeing all who fell within their tolls,
whether citizen or stranger.
Through these and other causes TO
which might refer, Cairo became widely
known as the abode Of Death and Dem
ons-"tlie hardest hole I'm creation''-a
very hell on earth, and what wonder.
had intended, for the OBLIGATION Of
our county jailer, with whom | specially
desire to maintain feelings Of comfy and
good will-to indulge in certain laugh
able episodes that distinguished the Pc
Rod of which speak, but the brief inter
val remaining, admonishes me to pass on
to the last, and partially successful effort
to build here an Egyptian metropolis.
kindred in its commercial prominence to
that which has grown into being ON
the shores of Lake Michigan.
Douglas, BreeSe and others were active
and able advocates of the Illinois Central
Railroad bill, but it had not, for years at
least, passed our national assembly but
for the united influence and persistent eff
forts of the parties in the interest of the
Cairo City property company. The
mpa SIRE bppnmp n lau I'm 1870 o,,I Al