The Washington times., 1937-01-29
STRICKENCAIR0
SITS QUIET TO
AWAIT CREST
BY A. L. SLOAN

do its worst.
The work of building up the so
foot dixie protecting the city, to
a height of SO feet in preparation
for the 63-foot flood crest expected
tomorrow or Sunday, has been
completed after a week Of un-
ceaSing toll.
Now there is nothing more to
do but wait and see whether Cairo
belongs to its citizens or to the
river.
The river is slowly inching its
way upwards as the crest creeps
southwark from the upper Ohio
Valley. Today the water had
passed the 58.1 foot mark.
Blast More Levees
The danger of an overflow Of
the waters diverted into the huge
Birds Point-New Madrid floodway
"a measure which saved Cairo
from inundation early in the week
passed today with the dynamit-
ing of earthen leveeS at the lower
end Of the great lake, allowing the
impounded waters to flow back
into the Mississippi'S main chan.
mel.
The army of levee workers, city
officials, relief workers, and the
few women who stayed to cook
for them, are the only inhabitants
Of Cairo, now cut off from the
outside world by rail and with the
only means of egress single
highway to the north. More than
5000 of Cairo's residents have
been evacuated.
Above and below Cairo dozens
of towns and settlements have
been swept by the flood waters.
U. S. Aids Evacuation
United States Coast Guardsmen
are finishing up the evacuation of
Mound City and Mounds, ILL.,, a
half-dozen miles away.
Orders have been issued that
the so men remaining at Mound
City after evacuation Of the 1000
or more residents, must leave the
scene at once. Many were hold.
ing on with bulldog tenacity
against leaving their domiciles
and possessions.
The Coast Guard cutters with
their purring motors were gliding
over the waters in the heart of
the town like gondolas in Venice,
searching for hideaways.
They found several women with
children still in attics, the only
parts of homes which were not
submerged in the 18 feet of water.
An old Negro nanny, typical
of the old South, was holding on
"for dear life" to three little white
children in the second floor of one
house that was beginning to fall
apart.
Placed Aboard Boat
The guardsmen lifted the
nanny and the children to a
boat, to be placed aboard a packet
steamer awaiting to transport
refugees.
On the dirt levee separating the
river from the equally high water
of the town were motley scenes.
There were little knots Of men,
standing in yellow mud by their
belongings, household effects,
mules, cows, horses, donkeyS, cats,
dogs, birds and what-not, to be
loaded on ship or barge.
For example there was bearded
Robert Galbraith, 66- year old
patriarchal-looking retired farmer,
holding under one arm cage with
two canaries, under the other a
small white dog.
He said:
"You know it wouldn't be
home without these friends.
They're my pals.
"And Pm waiting for Bessie.
Couldn't go without her, either.
No stree. I'd have been out Of
here two days ago if it wasn't
for Bessie. She's my Jersey COW,
and 1 had to stay over to get
her safely here on the levee.
Thar she is (the COW was mOOred
to a lumber pile). Amt she a
beaut?"
There was concern among the
refugees ready to board boats about
two dogs sitting on a floating roof.
A big darkie exclaimed to the Coast
Guard:
BOSS, can't you do sOmethin'
for them dogs over yOnder? They
amt had nothing to eat fO' two
days, and they'll starve to DEATH"
One of the refugees gave a
vivid description of the mad rush
when the waters gushed into
Mound City streets night before
last at the rate Of eight inches an
hour. He said:
ut came so fast that there
was no time to be lost. Before
you knew it the streets and
homes were filling up. Many
Of the women and children, and
men too, had narrow escapes
from drowning. They walked in
water up to their waists, having
turned back to the homes for
keepSakes or personal posses
siOns which they did not want
to leave behind"
The town Of Mounds which Suf-
fered the same fate as Mound City
is to undergo final evacuation at
the hands of the Coast Guard to-