The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1882-03-03
HOW CAIRO WAS SAVED.

THR STORY INTERESTINGLY TOLD IN THE
pADUcAH NEWS BY LEN FAxoN, WHO
WAS HERE.
CAIRO, SUNDAY NIGHT, Feb. 90, re-
Cairo was jubilant this morning and there
was general hand. shaking and rejoicing
among the citizens in the belief that the
ten-days' fight with the aqueous element
had terminated in glorious victory to the
persistent and undying energy and deter.
mination OF the citizens of Cairo. 1t has
been a desperate struggle between life and
death to the city, and nobly have the PEG.
pie foGrht it out. They deserve the great
est credit for their exertions, and as have,
for two or three days, been an eye witness
OF theii'iabors freely accord TO them the
highest need of praise. They have worked
faithfully, nobly, and exhibited that stick
ativeness" to each other that characterizes
the old citizens Of that burg" They have
promptly and with the greatest alacrity re-
sponded to the call for personal efforts, and,
throwing down everything, they have rush
ed to the breach with the shovel, spade
and wheelbarrow, and continued their Ia
bors night and day till they have fought
back the monster tide of the gigantic Mis-
sissippi and Ohio rivers, and now exult in
glorious triumph.
Nor IS this great victory due to the efforts
OF any one man or set of men. All have
acted like heroes, but they have been led
by gallant men, such as Charley Thrupp,
the engineer; W. P. Halliday, s. S. Tay-
lor, Mayor Thistlewood, with such efficient
aids as Capt. Billy Williams, Major Hukle
(who had command of the Vigilance Com.
mlttee), George Olmsted ,and hundreds of
other men of iron will and determination
and never ending powers Of endurance. In
fact, everybody in Cairo is to be praised.
That the readers Of the News may have
some idea Of the work that had to be per.
formed little history is necessary Cairo
was originally surrounded by levee which
was built by the Illinois Central railway,
the consideration of which is not necessary
to explain. The levee on the Mississippi
side of Cairo abraded at a rapid rate and
finally large portion of it fell into the
river. Tie city then built evee inside of
the one TIN; had disappeared in order to
close up the gap and il is here that all the
trouble occurred. The embankment was
high enough, the water not having reached
within foot its summit, but the soil Of
which it was built was in part LOf a sandy,
loomy description, and it absorbed the wa,
ter so rapidly as to make perfect mush or
lobolly of the base of it. On Friday last
there was slide in the levec, portion of
the inside slope, say fifty or sixty feet long,
suddenly sliding out and sinking vertically.
leaving exposed a perpendicular wall OF
dirt about four feet high. The moment
was a critical one. The future life or the
immediate death of Cairo depended
upon the result, The alarm was sound,
ed from the throttles of II hundred locomo.
tives and other steam whistles and the
cappers of hundred bells, and in mo-
ment the population of Cairo was surging
indiscriminately towards jthe Ohio evee.
But brave hearts were at the breach and
there they remained. Urged by Halliday,
Thistlewood and others as brave as they,
the men redoubled their efforts and in the
course of few hours succeeded lin beating
back the rush of the mighty waters and
saved Cairo from destruction, and inspired
confidence in their ability to protect the
town fit lay in the power Of humans. A
barge load of coal, one Of rock and thous-
ands Of sacks filed with dirt were thrown
in to effect the results, and it was accom-.
plished This morning another slide about
fifty feet long occurred on the same levee,
but the same vigilance, activity and deter
mination prevented catastrophe,
For the past five or six days there have
been from five hundred to one thousand
men at work day and night strengthening
the levecs. Provisions have been sent out
to them and they have barely taken time
to eat and return to their work. The emer.
gency was too great to admit of the losing
of a moment During the night the levec
: is blaze with torches, and everybody
works with q will.
, Imagine, if you can, the strain of such
suspense and anxiety upa those citizens
who live within the levees, They have pass.
8 ed sleepless nights and have listened anxi.
ously for the alarm which was to betoken
I; the expected surge of waters into the city
M any Of the citizens left for high ground
' some days ago, and those who remain arc
: those whose business and other interests
| .t I'LL. al. I..A