Alexander County IL Archives History - Books .....Chapter XXXII Miscellaneous Papers 1910
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Book Title: A History Of The City Of Cairo Illiniois

CHAPTER XXXII

MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS-JUDGES OF THE SUPREME, CIRCUIT AND COUNTY COURTS-MEMBERS OF

THE LEGISLATURE AND OTHER BODIES-COUNTY, CITY AND OTHER OFFICERS-LISTS OF EARLY

RESIDENTS OF THE CITY, ETC.



   FIRE OF DECEMBER 8, 1858.- On the 8th day of December, 1858, about six months

after the disastrous inundation of 1858, the city hall or court-room and the

office of the register of deeds on Ohio Street, between Sixth and Eighth

Streets, was destroyed by fire; and on the 18th day of the February following,

the legislature passed an act for the restoration of the records as far as

possible, the preamble of which is in these words:



  "Whereas the city hall, court-room and office of the register of deeds, at, in

and for the city of Cairo, was, on the eighth day of December, A. D. 1858,

consumed by fire, with all the records and proceedings of the corporate

authorities of said city, the records of judgments, decrees and files of the

court of common pleas of said city, and the records of deeds registered and

recorded by the said register of deeds therefor, together with all other

documents relating to the offices aforesaid or contained in the archives

thereof; therefore, Section 1, be it enacted, etc."



  This fire accounts largely for the absence of early city records, such as

ordinances and proceedings of the Trustees of the town of Cairo from March,

1855, to March, 1857. No doubt this fire made way with very much that would have

possessed great historic interest.



  THE CEMETERY OF THE LOTUS.- On the 3d day of February, 1853, the legislature

incorporated the Cairo Cemetery Association. The incorporators were Samuel

Staats Taylor, Henry Clay Long, George D. Gordon, Patrick Corcoran, Thomas S.

Taylor and Charles Davis. It was authorized to purchase and hold not exceeding

fifteen acres of land for cemetery purposes.



  A tract of land five hundred feet in width and thirteen hundred and seven feet

in length and amounting to fifteen acres, situated about a quarter of a mile,

more or less, east of the Mobile & Ohio Railroad and about two miles, or a

little less, above the Illinois Central bridge was surveyed and platted into

blocks, lots and avenues, on the 29th day of November, A. D. 1855, for a

cemetery, for the use of the people of the city of Cairo. The tract of land is a

part of the northwest quarter and the southwest quarter of section ten and a

part of section nine, in our township. The cemetery was used for a number of

years; and among Col. Taylor's papers are quite a number relating to it. A very

interesting one is the original certificate of survey made under the hand and

seal of Mr. John Newell, "Deputy County Surveyor in and for Alexander County,

State of Illinois." Mr. Newell afterwards became and was for a number of years

the president of the Illinois Central Railroad Company and was still later the

president of the Lake Shore & Michigan Railway Company. He was one of the very

noted railway officials of the country, long after his residence here in this

county.



   "THE ORPHAN ASYLUM OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS AT CAIRO."- On the 18th day of

August, 1866, the Trustees of the Cairo City Property, Taylor and Parsons,

conveyed to Captain Daniel Hurd, trustee for the Protestant Orphan Asylum of

Cairo, Illinois, for the consideration of one thousand dollars ($1000), lots 14,

32, 33, 34 and 35, in block 42, in the First Addition to the City of Cairo; and

about that time those persons who were associated with him arranged for the

erection of a building upon the lots and the incorporation of the society; and

on the 25th day of February, 1867, the same was incorporated by an act of our

legislature and the above name given to the society. The names of the

incorporators are the following: Mrs. D. Hurd, Mrs. H. W. Wardner, Mrs. A. B.

Fenton, Mrs. G. D. Williamson, Miss Jennie Sloo, Mrs. J. C. Rankin, Mrs. D. T.

Parker, Mrs. A. B. Safford, Mrs. William Stratton, Mrs. Rachel Slack, Mrs. H. W.

Webb, Mrs. J. M. Morrow, James C. Sloo, Daniel Hurd, Henry W. Webb, Henry H.

Candee, Charles Galigher, A. B. Fenton, Samuel R. Hay, Alfred Comings, William

J. Yost, John Olney, and Charles Latimer.



   Some time during the war, the Christian Commission people erected on the

south side of Fourth Street, between Ohio Street and Commercial Avenue, a

building for the prosecution of their army work. This building was purchased by

the Orphan Asylum people and removed to the lots above described, and the

structure stands there now just about as it was placed forty-three years ago. On

the 29th day of January, 1883, they purchased from the Trustees, for the

consideration of four hundred and fifty dollars, lots 15, 16 and 17, immediately

west of said lot 14. The first deed is recorded in Book O on page 360; and the

second deed in the same book, on page 412 1/2. For many years the society was

conducted as originally established; but after a time it was deemed best to

close the institution and rent the property. This was done for quite a length of

time. A few years ago, however, it was thought best to make an effort to open

and conduct the same as was originally intended by the act of incorporation. I

remember very well Mrs. Louise R. Wardner coming here from La Porte many years

ago and severely criticizing many of us for leaving the institution shut up so

long; but those in charge of its interests did not for a year or two, or more,

see their way clear to open it. It is believed that since it has been again

opened it has been fairly well maintained; but the credit thereof is largely due

to the earnest and faithful women of the organization and to a few men.



   THE CAIRO DRAINAGE DISTRICT.- The Cairo Drainage District was established in

1889. It is inclosed by what we may call levee embankments of fourteen or

fifteen miles in length; that is, by the city's cross levee on the south, by the

levee embankment of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway

Company on the east or Ohio side, by the levee embankment of the St. Louis &

Cairo Railroad Company, or its lessee, the Mobile & Ohio Railroad Company, on

the west or Mississippi side; and by a levee or embankment along Cache River on

the north. It contains about 4,000 acres of very fertile and valuable land,

quite a portion of which still belongs to the Trustees of the Cairo Trust

Property. For the reclamation of this extensive track of land from the annual

invasions of the rivers we are indebted chiefly to Col. Samuel Staats Taylor.



   I have before spoken of our great need of local trade. Here is indeed the

creation of a large district which will for all time to come add largely to the

trade and business of the city. It is as a monument to Col. Taylor; for none

could have seen more clearly than he the city's need of adjacent supporting

territory.



                   STEAMBOAT "TENNESSEE VALLEY"

                                    Bureau of Navigation,

                                   Washington, February 3, 1910. 

Mr. John M. Lansden,

      614 Commercial Ave., Cairo, Ill. 

SIR:

   This office has received your letter of the 31st ultimo relative to the

steamboat 'Tennessee Valley.' P. E. 61, granted at New Orleans April 23, 1842,

shows that at that time M. W. Irwin was her master and part owner; that Samuel

G. Patton of Florance was part owner; that she was built at Cairo, Ill., in

1841; that she was measured by Seth W. Nye, Surveyor; that her length was 204

feet and 2 inches; that her breadth was 33 feet and 4 inches; that her depth was

7 feet and 8 inches; that she measured 495 and 41-95 tons, and that she had a

square stern with cabin above. No record is found of the surrender of the

enrolment and the Bureau is unable to state whether she was 'burned or otherwise

destroyed.' The name of her builder is not specified on the record here. It may

be that you will be able to obtain further information regarding her from the

Custom House at New Orleans.

                               Respectfully,

                                     E. G. CHAMBERLAIN, Commissioner.



   Memorandum of Information Obtained at Coast and Geodetic Survey, in Regard to

Cairo.



   The magnetic declination decreases at rate of one minute per annum at Cairo.

At date 1910 4-10, it stands East 4º 35'.



   In regard to the station of the Geodetic Survey at Cairo:



   The station is on the new city levee, between the Illinois Central and the

Mobile and Ohio Ralroad tracks, west of the west end of West 33d Street. This

levee extends northeast from an iron post which was set by the levelling survey

as a bench mark, and which is 250 feet southeast of the Mobile and Ohio signal

station. The magnetic station is about 705 feet northeast along the city levee

from this bench mark and 12 feet north of the center of the levee on the slope.

The station is marked by a Bedford limestone post 5 x 5 x 30 inches, projecting

six inches above the ground and lettered, U. S. C. and G. S. 1908. The following

true bearings were determined:



   Steeple of St. Joseph's Catholic Church        64° 25' .8 east of south

A cupola                                          65° 06' .8 east of south

Base of flagstaff of Redman & Magee Co. elevator  15° 09' .1 east of north

Bench mark of river survey                        52º 30' .7 west of south



   The following are magnetic observations made June 11 and 12, 1908:

Lat.                Long.           Declination*          Dip**

                                       East

37° oo.8'          89° 11.6'          4° 47.2'          67° 49.6"



   *The angle between the magnetic meridian shown by the compass, and the

geographical meridian.



   **The angle the needle makes with the plane of the horizon.





   COMMERCIAL BODIES, CLUBS, FRATERNAL ORDERS AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.- I have

not had the time to speak of these organizations in detail, and it is quite

impossible to say much of them in any other way. They are as numerous, and I

have no doubt quite as efficient and successful, as are the like societies and

organizations of other cities of the size of Cairo. I have not the means at hand

and am not able to give anything like a satisfactory account of them; and a

partial account would be so unsatisfactory to the members of the various bodies

that they would not excuse me for the errors and omissions which would probably

appear in the several accounts. The commercial bodies, with which so many of our

business men are identified, have been working hard and faithfully for many

years for the advancement of the interests of the city. Every one recognizes

their great usefulness. 1 would like to say here a few words m regard to a

number of the business men who have taken leading parts in the good work of

upbuilding the city; but every one will recognize the difficulty of making just

the right selections and of saying just the right things concerning particular

individuals. I would be glad to have it understood that it is from no oversight

or forgetfulness on my part that this omission occurs. The work I have bestowed

upon this book has been much more than I expected; and more recently I have

found it absolutely necessary to bring it to an end, whatever errors or

omissions may appear therein.



   It would require no little time and work to go over all these matters with

any degree of fullness, and to add thereto accounts of our water works,

established in 1885, and furnishing us an abundant supply of good water, our gas

and electric lighting, our street car and interurban railroad service, our

extensive manufacturing interests and other large and important business

enterprises, our shipping facilities by river and rail, our extensive and fine

street improvements, and our great advancement in the matter of the erection of

better buildings of all kinds, public and private;-    all these matters, and

many others, have been so fully set forth from time to time by our commercial

bodies in illustrated pamphlets and descriptive circulars, that it is quite

unnecessary to present them in a book like this which reaches the hands of

comparatively few persons, and they chiefly residents of the city.



   Besides this, our city directories contain so much relating to very many of

these matters that to give them here would be almost a useless repetition. Our

last city directory, the one for 1908-1909, by Mr. George B. Walker, is a very

useful city book indeed. Besides the general information it contains about our

societies, fraternities, commercial and other organizations, etc., it contains

so many names of persons now resident in the city that it will likely increase

in value the further we get away from the time of its publication. I know of no

one having Harrell's directory of 1864, and all subsequent directories. A

complete set of them would be exceedingly valuable, chiefly for the names of the

people of Cairo resident here about the dates of the respective publications of

the books.



   HISTORICAL PLACES IN THE CITY; SOME DISTINGUISHED PERSONAGES.-  I might cut

the first one of these subjects very short by saying there are no historical

places in the city, and give as a reason that Cairo is but a few years old, not

over fifty-seven. It was started in 1818, but only on paper. It was started

again in 1836, but lived out scarcely ten years. At best, it was in a state of

suspended animation from 1843 to 1853, when in December of the latter year the

first opportunity was given for the purchase of lots or other real estate. The

federal census of 1850 gave the place two hundred and forty-two inhabitants. It

was without any kind of town, village or city government. It was little more

than what Maximilian, Prince of Wied-Neuwied, said it was in March, 1832. He

said it had no other name than the "Mouth of the Ohio." On the 1st day of

October, 1853, the Trustees published their first notice that they were ready to

offer lots for sale; but they offered none until December 23d of that year; and

the first lot sold was lot eight, block twenty, in the city, at the southwest

corner of Third Street and Commercial Avenue. It was sold to Peter Stapleton,

whose family is still well represented here in Cairo.



   This may be said to be the time of the starting of the present city of Cairo.

It will be fifty-seven years ago, December 23, 1910. We have here nothing now

which came over to us from the decade of 1836 to 1846, the Holbrook regime; nor

have we here now any building or structure that was here in December, 1853, save

the little school house building on Eleventh Street. There are a few old houses

now claiming existence along with the Springfield block, the stone depot and one

or two other places, but they have been moved about and so repaired as to be now

past recognition. About all we have are a few sites of old but long since

perished buildings, a few of which merit brief notices. I have elsewhere spoken

of the Halliday Hotel. Let me here mention two or three others. The Rev. Timothy

Flint, who passed here in the year 1816 (1818), recorded the fact that the hotel

then here was kept in a large boat one hundred feet long. I need not repeat what

is elsewhere said by him in Chapter XXX. The old hotel, built and maintained so

long at the point, and a little outside of the point of junction of our present

levees, must have been built as far back as 1830, probably earlier. Before that

time one or two or more houses had been erected in that immediate vicinity. Mr.

Crumb, quoted in the same chapter, gives us an account of what he called the

fine hotel there on the 29th of May, 1836. The same hotel was there during the

whole of the Holbrook administration. Mr. William Harrell speaks of it and tells

how it was crowded with guests in the early forties, and of a large addition

having been built to accommodate the greatly increased custom. The Englishman,

William Oliver, who stopped there three or four days in 1841, tells us of his

experience while here and at the hotel, waiting for the arrival of a steamboat

to take him up the Mississippi. We cannot realize the extent of the travel down

the Ohio and down the Mississippi from here, and up the Mississippi to St. Louis

and other points at that early day. They, the two rivers, were then the great

highways of travel, and it was not until much later times that other courses and

means of travel took the place of the rivers.



   About the last official reference we have to that old hostelry is found in

ordinance No. 65, adopted March 7, 1858, wherein a license was granted for the

erection and operation of a distillery for ten years upon two or more acres of

ground in the southern part of the city outside of the levees and including the

"Old Cairo Hotel site." The old distillery building, seen in the picture of the

point, gave way in 1861 to the construction of Fort Defiance, the successor,

after one hundred and sixty-nine years, of the fort of Sieur Charles Juchereau

de St. Denis. Fort Defiance lived out the war of four years. It defied the

Confederates successfully for that length of time, but had to yield to the

demands of peace and trade and was supplanted by the first station buildings of

the Cairo & St. Louis Railroad Company. These disappeared in a few years, and

there now stands, only a few rods north of the old site, Mr. Henry E. Halliday's

grain elevator, like some tall sentinel guarding faithfully the oldest of the

historic sites our city affords. But older than them all, and adding to their

interest, is the foot of the Third Principal Meridian, planted almost on that

very spot more than a hundred years ago.



   Next to that old hotel was the Taylor House, on four or five lots, at the

southwest corner of Fourth Street and Commercial Avenue, where Mr. Henry

Hasenjaeger now resides. It was completed early in the year 1855, and opened on

the 9th day of May of that year. It was a large building and no doubt took its

name from Col. Samuel Staats Taylor, who at that time owned the lots. A Mr.

Grimes, of Paducah, seems to have been the first proprietor of the hotel; and

the "Cairo City Times" of September 12, 1855, notes the sale of the hotel

business by him to a Mr. Swinney, formerly of the Walnut Street House, of

Cincinnati. About the time of the opening of the hotel, a large number of the

members of the state legislature and other guests of the Illinois Central

Railroad Company, probably three hundred persons, visited Cairo, and most of

them were entertained at the Taylor House. Among them were Governor Joel A.

Matteson, Ex-Governor John Reynolds, Judge Lyman Trumbull, and many other

persons of note. With the mention of these somewhat noted men visiting Cairo in

the bright dawn of its third attempt to become a city, I may here also mention a

number of persons who were here before and since that year, 1855, and all of

them very distinguished indeed. It may be going back somewhat too far, but it is

history, and that is what we are endeavoring to write. As I have already stated,

General Andrew Jackson was here with fifteen hundred soldiers, two or three

days, in January, 1813. Abraham Lincoln no doubt landed his well ladened

flat-boat here on his two trips down the Sangamon, the Illinois and Mississippi

Rivers to New Orleans, in 1831. Zachary Taylor was here in February, 1849, after

his election to the presidency, but before his inauguration. Vice-President John

C. Breckinridge was here in April, 1858. James A. Garfield was here in October,

1868. Ulysses Grant was here in 1861 and 1880. Jefferson Davis was here June 8,

1881. Theodore Roosevelt was here in October, 1907, and William H. Taft was here

in October, 1909. It is to be hoped that some one will prepare a suitable

account of these two last occasions, in which most of the others just mentioned

might also be given their proper places. I have said nothing as to the

distinguished persons here during the Holbrook administration in which so many

Englishmen were interested; nor have I undertaken to refer to the great number

of distinguished persons who were here during the war.



   THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF 1865.- The hopes of the people of Cairo were

perhaps quite high enough when the war began, but they rose much higher during

its continuance. Every one seemed assured of a bright future for the city. One

of the evidences of this is found in the incorporation, February 16, 1865, two

months before the close of the war, of the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, the

incorporators of which were George D. Williamson, D. Hurd, Henry Winter, James

W. Musson, John N. Patton, John M. Cyrus, William P. Halliday, Cornelius

O'Callahan, A. B. Safford, James McKenzie, Ward L. Smith, John Clancy, Dyas T.

Parker, H. H. Johnson, Thomas Wilson, and James S. Rearden.



   Further along will be found a list of the officers and members of the body,

taken from a pamphlet of twenty-five pages, printed early in that year by the

Cairo Democrat Company. The pamphlet contains the charter of the company,

approved by Richard J. Oglesby, governor, and the somewhat extensive rules and

regulations of the association. I have given the list of officers and other

members chiefly because it will recall to many persons now in Cairo so many of

the more prominent men of Cairo of forty-five years ago.



OFFICERS OF THE CAIRO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

From March, 1865, to March, 1866.



President, Wm. P. Halliday.

Vice President, Jno. M. Cyrus.

Secretary, F. G. Chapman.

Treasurer, A. B. Safford.



Directors

S. N. Fullinwider, 

D. T. Parker, 

A. B. Safford, 

J. W. Musson, 

C. R. Woodward,

D. Hurd,

E. D. Trover,

Joseph McKenzie,

G. D. Williamson,

S. S. Homans,

Jno. N. Patton.



Committee of Appeals

D. Hurd, 

J. B. Reed, 

S. N. Fullinwider, 

P. T. Mitchell, 

J. K. Frost,

D. T. Parker,

E. Maxwell,

J. W. Musson,

C. Schultz.



Committee of Arbitration, from March to September, 1865

Samuel Payne, 

A. H. Powers,

Ward L. Smith,

C. R. Woodward,

S. S. Homans.



Committee of Arbitration from September, 1865, to March, 1866

A. B. Safford,

J. Cushing,

A. Comings,

P. Chapman,

G. D. Williamson.



NAMES OF THE OTHER MEMBERS C. M. Osterloh, D. H. Philips, William Lonergan, E.

Hodge, John C. White, J. B. Humphreys, John Walters, L. T. Bonaceua, Isaac

Mooney, J. McDonald, J. D. Huntington, P. G. Schuh, F. Bross, J. S. Rearden, C.

C. Davidson, J. F. Noyes, H. M. Evans, William Stratton, James Kooken, Andreas

Doll, F. M. C. DeVassa, C. Close, A. J. Harrison, A. A. Arrick, Thomas Lewis, T.

G. Lansden, Jewett Wilcox, Wm. G. Priest, R. I. Condiff, O. P. Lyon, Jno.

Wilson, J. G. Haydock, R. G. Furguson, Dan Able, J. P. Prather, J. S. Byington,

James S. Swayne, A. Nuernberger, P. Grossmuck, Peter Neff, Wm. Simpson, A.

Williams, I. Williams, M. D. Picard, B. Smyth, Chas. Galigher, Al. Amiss, S. P.

McGuire, A. R. Whitaker, Thos. Winter, Chas. Scudder, Henrv Johnson, David |.

Baker, Sol. A. Silver, Fred. Foster, W. N. Swayne, H. W. Hubbard, Wm. Truesdail-

   See the "Daily War Eagle" of April 17, 1865, for the names of Irwin Maxwell,

William H. Schutter and others.



   THE JUDGES OF THE SUPREME, CIRCUIT AND COUNTY COURTS, AND MEMBERS OF THE

LEGISLATURE AND OF OTHER BODIES.- Alexander County was part of the third

judicial circuit until 1857, when other circuits were established and the county

included in the nineteenth circuit. In 1873, it became part of the first

judicial circuit, where it still remains. The judges who have held our circuit

court since the organization of the county in 1819, are as follows: Richard M.

Young, Henry Eddy, Alexander F. Grant, Jeptha Hardin, Walter B. Scates, William

A. Denning, William K. Parrish, John H. Mulkey, William H. Green, Monroe C.

Crawford, Wesley Sloan, John Olney, David J. Baker, John Dougherty, Oliver A.

Harker, Daniel M. Browning, Robert W. McCartney, George W. Young, Joseph P.

Robarts, Alonzo K. Vickers, Warren W. Duncan, William N. Butler and A. W. Lewis.

The following are the names of Cairo citizens who have been judges of our courts

here and elsewhere: William A. Denning, judge of the supreme court from January

19, 1847, to December 4, 1848; David J. Baker, judge of the supreme court from

June, 1878, to June, 1879, by appointment of Governor Shelby M. Cullom, to fill

the vacancy occasioned by the death of Judge Breese, which occurred June 28,

1878; John H. Mulkey, judge of the supreme court from; June, 1879, to June,

1888; David J. Baker, from June, 1888, to June, 1897; John H. Mulkey, William H.

Green, John Olney, David J. Baker, Joseph P. Robarts and William N. Butler,

judges of our circuit court; Levi L. Lightner, Alexander C. Hodges, Fredolin

Bross, Reuben S. Yocum, John H. Robinson, and William S. Dewey, judges of our

county court.



   Our county has had but one member of Congress and that is our present member,

the Hon. N. B. Thistlewood. The following are the names of the members of the

legislature from our county in the order given: Daniel W. Munn, Reed Green and

Walter Warder, members of the senate; William M. Alexander, Henry L. Webb,

Wilson Able, William A. Denning, John Hodges, F. M. Rawlins, Henry W. Webb, John

H. Oberly, Claiborne Winston, Alexander H. Irvin, Thomas W. Halliday, Harmon H.

Black, D. T. Linegar, Reuben S. Yocum, Charles F. Nellis, Reed Green, Walter

Warder, William Q. McGee, S. B. Miller and Richard E. Powers, members of the

house. Members of the Constitutional Convention of 1862, William A. Hacker.

Member of the Constitutional Convention of 1870, William J. Allen. Member of the

State Board of Equalization, 1868 to 1872, Thomas Wilson. Presidential elector

on the Republican ticket, 1868, Daniel W. Munn; on that ticket, 1872, David T.

Linegar.



   The names of the present city and county officers are as follows: George

Parsons, mayor; Robert A. Hatcher, city clerk; Frank B. Armstrong, city

treasurer; Hunter Bird, city attorney; Angus Leek, special city counsel; Ernest

Nordman, city comptroller; Andrew Whitcamp, police magistrate; J. G. Cowell,

chief of police or city marshal.



    City aldermen: First Ward, Patrick C. Scullin and Calvin V. Neff; Second

Ward, George G. Koehler and Tom L. Faudree; Third Ward, Thomas W. Williams and

Edward A. Burke; Fourth Ward, Leo McDaniel and Frank Ferguson; Fifth Ward, Fred

D. Nellis and Dr. John T. Walsh; Sixth Ward, Daniel E. Kelly and Frank E.

Cannon; Seventh Ward, William M. Magner and William P. Greaney.



   County officers. Board of County Commissioners: Dr. John J. Jennelle,

chairman; Dr. Edwin Gause and Calvin V. Neff; Jesse E. Miller, county clerk;

Alfred Brown, circuit clerk; Fred D. Nellis, sheriff; Alexander Wilson, state's

attorney; Professor S. E. Gott, county superintendent of schools; William D.

Lippitt, assessor and treasurer; Dr. James McManus, coroner.



   The present judges of the first judicial circuit are William N. Butler,

Cairo; Warren W. Duncan, Marion; and Albert W. Lewis, Harrisburg. The present

judge of our county court is William S. Dewey.



   POSTMASTERS OF THE "MOUTH OF THE OHIO" AND OF THE CITY OF CAIRO.- The records

of the postoffice department at Washington show the following named persons to

have been postmasters here at this place, with the dates of their appointments:

Thomas I. Jones, "Mouth of the Ohio," November 8, 1837; James D. Allen, "Mouth

of the Ohio," February 9, 1839; James M. Ingraham, "Cairo, late Mouth of the

Ohio," June 11, 1839; John D. Marsh, November 27> 1839; Thomas L. Mackoy,

November 30, 1841; Bryan Shannessey, April 14, 1842; Addison H. Sanders, July

10, 1847; Moses B. Harrell, September 26, 1849; Bailey S. Harrell, March 14,

1850; Henry Simmons, February 18, 1852; Bryan Shannessey, June 16, 1853; Samuel

S. Brooks, August 23, 1853; Leonard G. Faxon, June 14, 1858; Alexander G.

Holden, January 10, 1860; David T. Linegar, March 27, 1861; James C. Sloo,

November 7, 1863; William A. Looney, June 6, 1865; John M. Graham, July 23,

1866; George W. McKeaig, July 9, 1870, held until February 12, 1883, when

William M. Murphy was appointed; Thomas Wilson, August 9, 1885; Alexander H.

Irvin, January 7, 1889; John Wood, June 27, 1889; Michael J. Howley, December

12, 1893; John F. Rector, January 21, 1898, and Sidney B. Miller, the present

postmaster, December 12, 1901.



   Although this list was said to be complete, yet it seems that Walter Falls

was postmaster here at a very early day.



   The following are the names of the lawyers, physicians, and dentists now

resident in the city:



   LAWYERS: Hunter Bird, Wm. N. Butler, Wm. S. Dewey, Miles Frederick Gilbert,

William B. Gilbert, Miles S. Gilbert, Reed Green, Harry Hood, John M. Lansden,

David S. Lansden, Angus Leek, Frank Moore, Michael J. O'Shea, Walter Warder,

Walter B. Warder, and Alexander Wilson.



   PHYSICIANS: A. A. Bondurant, S. B. Carey, R. E. Clancy, W. C. Clarke, H. A.

Davis, Samuel Dodds, James W. Dunn, E. E. Gordon, W. F. Grinstead, J. B.

Hibbitts, James McManus, G. H. McNemer, J. J. Rendleman, D. A. Stevens, J. E.

Strong, John T. Walsh, Charles Weber and J. E. Woelfle.



   Doctors E. S. Dickerson and W. H. Fields are worthy representatives of the

colored people of the city.



   DENTISTS: N. W. COX, J. H. Davis, F. M. Harrell, Bert Harris, J. J. Jennelle,

T. D. Morrison, and E. D. Morrow.



   THE ARAB FIRE COMPANY OF CAIRO was incorporated by a special act of the

legislature February 16, 1865, and the names of the incorporators were as

follows: Henry Winter, H. Watson Webb, George Cushing, James Capritz, A. G.

Holden, John H. Robinson, George W. Weldon, David J. Baker, Jr., George Winter,

Wm. Smith, D. Webster Baumgard, Charles D. Arter, Wm. Sandusky, Joseph Meigler,

Henry Lattner, C. H. Wentz, John Hayward, Van R. Hall, Edward Mansford, John H.

Gossman, Wm. Tell, John Major, Wm. J. Yost, John Myers, Casper Hock, Fred

Keiler, Henry Franken, Henry Messner, John Hodges, Jr., E. F. Davis, A. H.

Irvin, Wood Rittenhouse, John Jaquish, David T. Linegar, Henry Harris, Wm. B.

Miller, James Gordon, George Stormer, Jerry Cantrell, Wm. Alba, Philip Theobold,

John C. White, George W. Burrows, L. D. Jones, August Kramer, Chas. W.

Henderson, Jacob G. Lynch, Charles Bromback, Edward Koblatz, Fred Whitcamp,

Joseph K. Frick, Charles Pfifferling, Joseph Kosminski, W. W. Villito, A.

Wittig, Edward Wittig, George Van Brocklin, Frederick Theobold, Cornelius

Cafferty, and J. Parker Timmony.



   THE ROUGH AND READY FIRE COMPANY was incorporated by a special act of the

legislature March 7, 1867, and the names of the incorporators were as follows:

B. M. Munn, Fredolin Bross, William T. Beerwort, John Scheel, Joseph B. Taylor,

Ferdinand Amon, Henry Sigfried, Charles Eble, John Harst, Charles Frank, Henry

F. Goodyear, Joseph Helen, Sr., August Bieland, James Kinnear, John Maxey,

Philip Schmitt, R. G. Jameson, Andrew Dentinger, Michael Ruggaber, John Ritter,

John Schmitt, Martin Strauhal, Hiram Walker, Peter Zimmerman, James S. Swayne,

Niles Swayne, Peter Ehs, William Seifried, John Sackberger, Adam Neff, August

Veirun, Joseph Farquar, John Royaker, Christian Orth, Peter Kuhn, Sr., J. G.

Steinhouse, Joseph Lehmes, Charles Mehner, Joseph M. Veirun, James Axley,

Charles Feuchter, F. M. Stockfleth, Henry Brown, John Koag, Fred Sheeler, George

G. Smith, Frank Swoboda, Philip Howard, Louis Blattau, Joseph Steagala,

Alexander Wittig, August Homann, and John Goetgen.



   THE HIBERNIAN FIRE COMPANY NO. 4 was incorporated January 5, 1877, under the

general act for the incorporation of such companies, approved April 18, 1872,

and the names of the incorporators were as follows: Henry Stout, Patrick

O'Loughlin, Smith Torrence, Michael J. Howley, William McHale, James F. Miller,

Albert Susanka, Harmon Able, Patrick Fitzgerald, Frank Gazzola, Patrick H.

Corcoran, Thomas R. Shook, Martin Gannon, James Greaney, James Garland, Thomas

Stack, Richard Murphy, Benj. F. Blue, James Powers, Phil K. Howard, Stephen T.

McBride, Phillip J. Thistlewood, Wm. M. Williams, Jesse Mahaffie, Michael

Stapleton, Robert Smyth, Patrick Burke, James Ross, Richard Fitzgerald, John A.

Powers, Martin Coffey, Thomas Boyle, John M. Hogan, Felix Cross, and Richard R.

Hurd.



   After these there were one or two other fire companies but all of them were

practically discontinued when, under the lead of Mayor Charles O. Patier, the

council established the paid fire department of the city. All of the three

companies above named were in existence for some considerable time before their

incorporation. Before their time there was a fire company called the Relief Fire

Co. No. One (1), whose engine house was on the north side of Seventh Street

between the two avenues. It was the first fire company of the city.



   We have given the names of the incorporators of these companies for the

reason that among them are so many names which many of the present residents of

Cairo will be glad to recognize. Of the Arab Fire Company, Mr. Henry Winter was

from the beginning to the end the leading spirit. Of the Rough and Ready

Company, Mr. William Beerwort was in many respects the most prominent member. Of

the Hibernian Fire Company, almost every one would speak of Mr. William McHale

as probably its chief and most prominent representative. It is indeed

interesting to look over the names of these members of the old but no longer

existing companies, and recall their lives in our community. Those companies

were favorites of our citizens, much above, I am inclined to think, what was

generally noticed elsewhere. They were well supported during their entire

existence, and nothing they asked at the hands of the public was probably ever

denied to them.



   THE OLD CAIRO VETERAN CLUB WAS ORGANIZED FEBRUARY 13, 1891.- We quote from

its small pamphlet containing a statement of its object, together with its

by-laws, list of members, etc.:



   "The Old Cairo Veteran Club, citizens of Cairo, in the year 1857, was

organized at the hall of the Arab Fire Company, in the City of Cairo, Ill., on

the night of February 13, 1891, by the following named gentlemen to wit: Hon.

David J. Baker, Judge F. Bross, John Howley, John McNulty, John Antrim, Joseph

Brankle, R. H. Baird, Captain William M. Williams, F. Vincent, Henry Winter,

Jacob Lehning, John Clancy, Hank Goodyear, John O'Shea, William Lonergan, James

Summerwell, Nat Prouty, John Sackberger, William M. Downs, Andrew Lohr, James

Quinn, William Garren, Richard Murphy, Martin O'Shea, John Barry, Edward Jones,

Pat Cahill, Martin Driscoll, Thomas Mehan, C. Osterloh, R. H. Cunningham,

Charles Thrupp, Michael Glynn, August Marqued, Joseph McKenzie, Isaac Farnbaker,

Charles Frank, Albert Susanka, Henry Loflin, Dennis Stapelton, H. H. Candee, W.

F. Raefesnider and James Mehan.



   "There are forty-three in number, the object being for a yearly fraternal

gathering of not only the present resident citizens of Cairo, who were here in

1857, but all those non-residents, who were here then and who are living now, to

meet and mingle with us at our yearly banquets and talk over old times, one with

another, and drink a toast to the departed ones, and a toast to the living ones,

for soon we all must go; the main object being to keep up the memories of

by-gone days."



   "Officers: President, Robert H. Baird; vice-president, John Howley;

treasurer, F. Bross; secretary, Henry Winter; sentinel, James Summerwell.



   "CAIRO CITIZENS ELIGIBLE FOR MEMBERSHIP.- S. S. Taylor, John Kelly, George

Zeller, Matt Walsh, Bat Cashman, Henry Drake, Doct. Wm. Wood, John Sullivan, Con

Sheehan, Michael Horrigan, Michael Galvin, John Pollock, J. Y. Turner, F.

Malinski, Peter Neff, C. W. Henderson, Thomas Sullivan, Peter Ehs, John Dillon,

M. Kobler, Pat Coladine, Charles Gayer, Frank Cocheran, Nicholas Williams, Peter

Donnelly, L. S. Marshall, Dennis Coleman, and Geo. Staedtler.



   "NON-RESIDENTS ELIGIBLE FOR MEMBERSHIP.- Christopher Ledwidge, Hickman, Ky.;

Capt. Wm. H. Sandusky, Central City, Ky.; Capt. W. J. Stephens, Springfield,

Mass.; Isaac Clarke, Nashville, Ill.; Henry Rudolph, Evansville, Ind.; Paul W.

Allen, Chicago, Ill.; Joseph Fellenbaugh, Beech Ridge, Ill.; Prest. Ex. Norton,

L. & N. R. R., Brooklyn, N. Y.; E. F. Davis, Birmingham, Ala.; David Wright,

DuQuoin, Ill.; H. Watson Webb, San Diego, Cal.; Solomon Fairinbach, Unity, Ill.;

Bailey S. Harrell, Cleves, O.; Moses B. Harrell, Chicago, Ill.; N. W. Graham,

Carbondale, Ill.; Moses Foss, Los Angeles, Cal.; Thomas Leary, Kansas City, Mo.;

George W. Kendrick, Charleston, Mo.; James Morris, Ullin, Ill.; George McKenzie,

Dyersburg, Tenn.; Julius Shessler, Niagara Falls, N. Y.; L. G. Faxon, Paducah,

Ky.; Isaac Adler, Cincinnati, O.; Thomas Wilson, Villa Ridge, Ill.; John O'Neil,

Odin, Ill.; John H. Mulkey, Metropolis, Ill.; John W. Trover, Birmingham, Ala.;

J. B. Humphreys, Chicago, Ill.; Wm. Lyerley, America, Ill.; Geo. W. Reardon,

Denver, Col.; John Myers, Birds Point, Mo.; James Ross, Kansas City, Mo.; Edward

Gray, Cape Girardeau, Mo.; W. P. Timmons, Springfield, Mo.; Isaac W. Timmons,

Winona, Minn.; Wm. Thomas, Chicago, Ill.; Gid. Phillips, Louisville, Ky.; Henry

To. Aspin, Champaign, 111.; Wm. Hunt, St. Paul, Tex.; Samuel Tilden, Kinmundy,

Ill.; Harry Ketchum, New York City; Robert J. Hunt, Louisville, Ky.; Henry

Brown, St. Louis, Mo.; James Powers, Villa Ridge, Ill.; Joseph Lufkin, Villa

Ridge, Ill.; Richard Noyes, San Francisco, Cal.; Capt. Ned Kearney, Natchez,

Miss.; George Bellows, Olmstead, Ill.; John Henry, Topeka, Kan.; John Moley,

Kansas City, Mo.; J. H. Knickerbocker, Springfield, Ill.; W. S. Lane, Mounds,

Ill.; B. F. Parker, Chicago, Ill.; Mat P. Tilden, Centralia, Ill.; Gotlieb

Kobler, Grand Tower, Ill.; Andrew Dole, Grand Tower, Ill.; Andrew Ritter,

Murphysboro, Ill.; Fred Koehler, Murphysboro, Ill.; Peter Zimmerman, Kansas

City, Mo.; Charles Clarke, St. Louis, Mo.; Frank Bedard, St. Louis, Mo.; John

Devine, Chester, Ill.; John Newell, Pres't N. Y. Central; Cornelius Willett,

Washington, D. C.; and Capt. P. S. Drown, St. Louis, Mo.



POLL BOOK OF THE FIRST CITY ELECTION, HELD MARCH 7, 1857



POLL LIST CITY ELECTION



F. B. Dicken 

James Martin 

Richard Ives 

P. Smith 

Patrick Green 

T. N. Gaffney 

Pat Calahan 

Jno. Mitton 

Thos. Sullivan 

N. C. Bridges 

Andrew Gary 

John Conner 

James Riley 

D. Mahanny 

Mike Fitzpatrick 

James Mahony 

Thos. Roach 

Mike Gallaghan 

Wm. H. Scott 

Andr. Gray 

John Foley 

M. O'Brien 

Thos. Handy 

Levi Stancill 

B. Shannessy 

Henry Devlin 

Thos. Smith 

Martin Egan 

Pat Conner 

James Degear 

Mike Gary 

James O'Conner 

Richard Dugan 

George Sloan 

R. H. Cunningham 

Mike Fitzgerald 

F. C. Huber 

John Stewart 

Pat Burke

John O'Calahan 

James Garland 

R. Garland 

David Warner 

T. Hibbard 

William Brown 

John Lance 

Chas. Dotton 

Rich'd Nann 

David Wright 

John McDonald 

Moses Foss 

James Summerwell 

E. Wood 

Thos. Mehan 

C. Buckley 

James Dinan 

Robt. Fisher

E. Hay

F. Cowhan

John Ryan

T. Calahan

Mike Gannon

Mike Sullivan

Pat Galvin

T. Roach

J. Sullivan 

I. Walls 

W. Crownan 

Geo. Maguire 

Ed. Conner 

C. Manly 

Grundy Bryant 

John McGhee 

Thos. Ryan 

Dan Connelly 

Thos. Devin 

John Fitzpatrick 

Thomas Green

B. Golden

D. Lahanahan

W. Clavin

I. A. Kooken 

W. I. Morgan 

Jos. Brankel 

Pat. Fitzsimmons 

L. G. Faxon

E. Willett

S. Guthrie

James Quinn

M. Fitzgerald

I. M. Moore

James Todd

H. Walker

Wm. Lee

John Powell

J. Twohig

James Crowley

B. Mooney

C. Brice

John Cahil

W. B. Clark

R. Murphy

N. Devore

G. W. McKenzie 

C. Morningstar 

E. Burns 

J. Hogan 

John Kelly 

J. Johnson 

Thos. Lane 

I. Callett 

James Egan 

W. Banks 

P. McMannanry 

W. Cashman 

R. Motherway 

W. Newell

P. Fay

C. Boyle

P. Clevin

J. Dunseith

P. Griffin

J. Cain

P. H. Wheeler 

W. R. Burke 

J. Connell 

R. Pyburn 

P. C. Cossey 

J. Haden 

B. Cashman 

J. B. Dean 

J. Cothnie 

M. Norris 

J. Sullivan

D. McKinney

John Lane

P. Egan 

T. Calahan 

John Dailey 

H. Derick 

T. Mulroy 

John Cullen 

P. Doud 

P. Dolan 

J. Sullivan 

P. Sweney 

W. M. Williams 

Charles Johnson 

T. J. Wood 

John Kahler 

A. W. McKay 

J. G. Cormick 

James Handlin 

F. Seavery 

John Broderick 

Wm. Hank

P. Cope 

A. McTigue 

Con Conners 

Wm. Hunt 

Wm. Elliott 

T. Manley

C. Shunhge

T. Murphy

Jos. Smith

M. Long

Wm. Shea

D. Roach

J. Calleghan 

James Caton 

J. Lyons 

John Sullivan 

John Whaley 

I. L. Harrell 

Wm. Lonergan 

J. W. O'Neal 

I. Adler 

P. W. Allen 

M. McKay 

P. Neff 

P. Doud 

Pat O'Brien 

Mike Welsh 

Thos. Flynn 

A. Krawinkel 

S. F. Rand 

Jonathan Peck 

H. Barringer 

J. D. Plause 

Peter Stapleton 

W. Farnnur

C. Egeny

J. D. G. Pettijohn 

M. Ryan 

R. B. Rollf 

P. McCabe

D. Burke

I. H. Viney 

C. Petras 

C. Knitz 

I. Farnbaker 

Wm. Carroll 

P. Mcllvay 

P. Egan 

Chas. Coons

C. D. Finch

M. Dignan

M. Thornton

D. Cochoran

James Moore

D. Manahan

B. Leifler

Thos. White

D. Stapleton

M. Fitzgerald

G. W. Rearden 

Wm. Simpson 

Thos. McDeviney 

Henry Riccord 

D. McMurtry 

I. L. Smith 

John McNulty 

C. Schmitzdorff 

F. Osterloh 

J. Farrell 

M. Welsh 

S. Crow 

James Welsh 

H. Bourgraff 

A. Mulcott 

J. E. Lynch 

John Cotter 

Thos. Mulroney 

M. Towers 

J. White 

M. Mahanny 

C. C. Willitt

F. Whitcamp

J. Wilkins

J. Antrim

J. W. Strawhaul

M. Shea

A. Towers

Jno. T. O'Shea

W. Crum

G. L. Rattlemiller

M. P. Tilden

M. Grime

F. Eble

J. White

S. J. Littlefield 

Wm. Garen 

W. A. Jonte 

S. Fahrenbach 

M. R. Hopper 

J. Kennedy 

Jno. Q. Harmon 

W. T. Finch 

J. J. Miles 

Jno. Myers 

L. W. Young 

Thos. M. Keagny

C. M. Osteloh

M. Reagen

P. Smidt

G. D. Gorden

L. Lockeryear

W. Stratton

D. Hurd

M. Leftcovitch 

F. Malinski 

T. McCarthy 

R. J. Yost 

Jno. Potts

Arthur James 

Benj. Smith 

John Greenwood 

M. Kobbler 

Peter Mayo 

J. Manahan 

M. Galvin 

E. Burrows 

J. W. Green 

John Gill 

V. R. Hall 

M. W. Parker 

H. Gilo 

John Maxey 

D. C. Stewart 

J. H. Kitchill 

J. W. Henry 

Frank Wall 

G. Cable 

T. Standing 

A. Kelly 

A. Phelps 

M. C. Learey 

John Rady 

M. McCarty 

M. Hunt 

H. H. M. Butts 

Jos. Lattinker 

W. D. Finch 

James Mullitt 

Jacob Witchett 

I. Maxwell 

Dan McLaughlin 

Chas. Gayer

D. B. Powers

Robert Miller

M. Ruggaber

Fiddle Fry

John Petercumber 

M. G. Stokes 

A. H. Fletcher 

H. Doyle 

K. Brophey 

Julius Schusler 

Henry Myers 

Jacob Fry 

J. H. Lufkin 

C. F. Watson 

C. Steigler 

Jno. Howley 

Jno. Reed 

Jno. Costin 

A. Pickman 

T. Radigan 

C. A. Whaley 

T. Smith 

W. C. Lewis 

A. Ritter

E. Babbs

G. R. Hunt 

Roger Finn 

J. W. Ritter 

H. Rodoff 

N. Yocum 

M. Hogan 

H. H. Davis 

W. Pinkston

F. Knowles

O. P. Carnahan

I. Lee

J. C. White 

John King 

A. Slick 

R. J. Billington 

R. D. Campbell 

John Cannon 

James Eightman 

D. Divine 

M. Phillips 

R. C. Kieley 

W. C. Sanders 

A. T. Smith

G. A. Phillips

W. Drumer

Mike Quinn

I. Lehning 

John Hendricks 

H. Whitcamp 

C. Benjamin 

O. Sullivan 

S. Rhino 

A. Mann 

A. Williams 

Henry Harris 

Fred Tobener 

J. F. Aubry 

J. Wehn 

Wm. Little 

G. Gattin 

P. Broderick 

John Billings 

Jno. W. Stewart 

Jno. Scheel 

J. Rigney 

R. T. Napoleon 

W. J. Stephens 

F. Bross 

C. Kobler 

S. O'Conner 

Geo. Poor 

C. Henderson 

A. D. Finch 

Jacob Grunder 

P. Corcoran 

S. Tilden 

Thos Wilson 

H. H. Candee



   At an election held in the City of Cairo, in the County of Alexander and

State of Illinois, on the Seventh day of March, in the year one thousand eight

hundred and fifty-seven the following named persons received the number of votes

annexed to their respective names, for the following described offices to-wit:

For mayor S. S. Taylor received 211 votes, W. J. Stephens 159 votes, and I. N.

Haynie 1 vote. For alderman for first ward, John Howley received 121 votes, P.

Stapleton 75 votes, P. Burke 65 votes, C. M. Osterloh 64 votes, T. Wilson 63

votes, J. Cotter 61 votes, G. W. McKenzie 50 votes, J. Greenwood 31 votes, H. H.

Candee 70 votes, J. Littlefield 9 votes, W. D. Finch 3 votes, A. Williams 2

votes, D. Burke 1 vote, W. M. Williams 1 vote, S. S. Taylor 1 vote, H. F. Aspen

1 vote, H. Barringer 1 vote, Jas. Stewart 1 vote, and Pat. Smith 1 vote. For

alderman for second ward H. Whitcamp received 49 votes, P. Neff 51 votes, H. H.

Cunningham 44 votes, R. Frim 44 votes, J. Antrim 41 votes, and G. W. Rearden 39

votes. For alderman for third ward C. A. Whaley received 65 votes, C. Manley 43

votes, M. Egan 43 votes, L. G. Faxon 31 votes, Jas. Summerwell 27 votes, and M.

Foss 18 votes. For alderman for fourth ward Wm. Standing received 47 votes, T.

N. Gaffney 44 votes, and L. B. Perkins 3 votes.



   Certified by P. Corcoran, Thos. Wilson and Samuel Tilden, Judges of the

Election.   Attested by H. H. Candee and Geo. Killogg, Clerks of the Election.



   CITIZENS OF CAIRO, BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF WHOM ARE CONTAINED IN THE

FOLLOWING BOOKS:



   In "Biographical Encyclopedia of Illinois," 1875.-    Judge William J. Allen,

Judge David J. Baker, Judge Fredolin Bross, George Fisher, Judge William H.

Green, David T. Linegar, Daniel W. Munn, Alfred B. Safford and Horace Wardner.



   In the "United States Biographical Dictionary for Illinois," 1876.- Judge

David J. Baker, Judge Fredolin Bross, Robert H. Cunningham, George Fisher,

Charles Galigher, Judge William H. Green, William B. Gilbert, Miles F. Gilbert,

John D. Gillham, James Johnson, George E. Lounsbury, John H. Oberly, Charles O.

Patier, Joe M. Phillips, Horace Wardner, Samuel P. Wheeler and Henry Winter.



   In General John M. Palmer's "Bench and Bar of Illinois," 1899.- Judge William

N. Butler, Judge William S. Dewey, Miles F. Gilbert, Judge William H. Green,

John M. Lansden, Judge John H. Mulkey and Judge Joseph P. Robarts.



   In "Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois," 1900.- Judge William J. Allen,

Judge William H. Green, Judge Isham N. Haynie and Daniel W. Munn.



   In "Memoirs of the Lower Ohio Valley," 1905.- Belfield B. Bradley, George J.

Becker, Edward A. Buder, Eberhard Bucher, Christopher Beck, Judge William N.

Butler, Lee B. Davis, Edmund S. Dewey, Anthony P. Ehs, Charles Feuchter, Mrs. M.

E. Feith, James H. Galligan, William B. Gilbert, Miles F. Gilbert, Miles S.

Gilbert, William C. Gilbert, Barry Gilbert, Reed Green, William P. Greaney, John

B. Greaney, Charles E. Gregory, Major Edwin W. Halliday, Henry L. Halliday,

Henry E. Halliday, Douglas Halliday, John Hodges, Samuel Hastings, John J.

Jennelle, William Kluge, John M. Lansden, John A. Miller, L. P. Parker, George

H. Pendleton, Joseph B. Reed, John T. Rennie, Ernest H. Riggle, James S. Roach,

H. T. Stephens, Elmer Smith, Joseph Steagala, Joseph W. Wenger and Benjamin F.

Woodward.



   NAMES OF CITIZENS OF CAIRO, BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF WHOM ARE FOUND IN THE

LARGE COUNTY HISTORY. A FEW OF THEM ARE IN PART I, AND THE REMAINDER IN PART V,

IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER AS GIVEN THEREIN:



   Willliam Alba, Conrad Alba, George M. Alden, Judge William J. Allen, John

Antrim, Dr. Daniel Arter, Robert H. Baird, Sanford P. Bennett, Adolph Black,

Byron F. Blake, Henry Block, Herman Bloms, Walter L. Bristol, Edward A. Buder,

Henry Hinsdale Candee, Andrew J. Carle, William G. Cary, Benjamin E. Clark,

Jefferson M. Clark, Albert C. Coleman, William M. Davidson, Gideon Desrocher,

Charles W. Dunning, William Eichhoff, Eugene E. Ellis, Isaac Farnbaker, George

Fisher, Nicholas Feith, Judge Miles A. Gilbert, Hon. William B. Gilbert, Hon.

Miles F. Gilbert, Jacob A. Goldstine, J. J. Gordon, Judge Wiliam H. Green,

Horace A. Hannon, A. Halley, Edgar C. Harrell, George W. Henricks, Jesse Hinkle,

John Hodges, John Howley, Cicero N. Hughes, Jacob Klein, Francis Kline, William

Kluge, Michael Kobler, Christian Koch, John Koehler, John A. Koehler, Frederick

Korsmeyer, Frank Kratky, Charles Lame, Charles Lancaster, Thomas Lewis, Hon.

David T. Linegar, Andrew Lohr, William Lonergan, William Ludwig, Jacob Martin,

James S. McGahey, James W. McKinney, Herman Meyers, Judge John A. Mulkey,

William M. Murphy, Peter Neff, Judge H. K. S. O'Melveny, George F. Ort,

Christopher M. Osterloh, Miles W. Parker, Charles O. Patier, Alamanzer O.

Phelps, George B. Poor, Thomas Porter, Nathaniel Prouty, John T. Rennie, Wood

Rittenhouse, Joseph H. Ritlenhouse, John H. Robinson, Samuel Rosenwater, James

Ross, Alfred Boardman Safford, Herman Sander, William G. Sandusky, Peter Saup,

Sol. A. Silver, Paul G. Schuh, James R. Smith, Robert Smyth, George W. Strode,

Frank W. Stophlet, Simpson H. Taber, James M. Totten, Francis Vincent, Harry

Walker, Judge George W. Wall, Jacob Walter, Henry Wells, Samuel P. Wheeler,

Charles W. Wheeler, Scott White, Dr. E. W. Whitlock, William M. Williams, George

D. Williamson, Thomas Wilson, Henry Winter, Maj. William Wolfe, William Wood,

John Wood, C. R. Woodward, Judge Reuben S. Yocum.



PERSONS RESIDENT IN CAIRO JANUARY FIRST, 1910, WHO WERE RESIDENTS PRIOR TO 1861 

Mrs. Mary Axley, Mrs. Elizabeth Arter, Charles F. Arter, John M. Antrim, Mrs.

Marie Bouchet, Jean Bouchet, Mrs. Mary A. Byrne, Mrs. Fransina Baird, Henry

Baird, Mrs. Mary Barry, Herman F. Brinkmeyer, Frank Bemis, Chris Bemis, Mrs.

George Clark, Mrs. Mary Cannon, Mrs. Mary Cuhl, Mrs. M. Cahill, Pat Cahill, Mrs.

Lizzie Collins, Dan. Callahan, John Clancy, John C. Crowley, Frank Carle, Mrs.

Julia Davis, Mrs. Peter Donnelly, Michael Driscoll, Mrs. Mary Ehlman, Charles

Eichhoff, Mrs. Angeline Fry, Frank Fry, George M. Fry, John W. C. Fry, Mrs. Anna

Feuchter, Mrs. Wilhelmina Frank, Maurice J. Farnbaker, Sol. Farnbaker, Mrs.

Annie M. Guion, Mrs. John Glade, Mrs. Anastasia Gayer, Mrs. Josephine Gilhofer,

Mrs. Ann Gorman, Charles Galigher, John P. Glynn, William B. Gilbert, Mrs. Henry

Hixon, Henry Hixon, Mrs. Mary A. Howley, Mrs. A. Halley, Mrs. Fred Hofheinz,

Mrs. Lizzie Hubbard, Horace A. Hannon, Charles W. Henderson, Daniel Hartman,

John Hogan, John P. Hogan, John S. Hacker, James Higlen, John Haffley, Mrs. A.

M. Koch, Mrs. Louisa Kleb, Mrs. Mary Kline, William Kluge, George G. Koehler,

Louis H. Kaha, Mrs. Catherine Lincoln, Mrs. Margaret Lampert, Mrs. Mary A.

Loflin, Mrs. Georgia Lippitt, Phil Lehning, Sr., Jacob Lehning, Andrew Lohr,

Mrs. Xavier Martin, Miss Anna Malinski, Mrs. Susan Malinski, Mrs. Isabel

Marston, Thomas Meehan, Patrick Mahoney, A. McTigue, Calvin V. Neff, A. William

Neff, Mrs. John O'Shea, Mrs. Catherine Osterloh, Charles Osterloh, Samuel Orr,

Mrs. Henry C. Partee, Henry C. Partee, Patrick J. Purcell, Nathaniel Prouty,

James Quinn, Mrs. Katherine Smith, Mrs. Frances Stewart, Mrs. Hannah Sullivan,

Mrs. Anna E. Safford, Mrs. Hulda Steagala, Mrs. M. Summerwell, Mrs. Kate

Stapleton, Mrs. Hermine Schulze, Mrs. Margaret Smith, John Sullivan, John

Sheehan, William H. Sexton, Con Sheehan, Peter Saup, Thomas J. Sloo, Egbert A.

Smith, Cyrus Smith, Julius Serbian, Mrs. James Tuttle, Mrs. Kate Thomas, John Y.

Turner, Mrs. Virginia Vincent, Henry Vincent, Minnie Vincent, Mrs. Felitza

Walder, Mrs. Elizabeth Walsh, Miss Josie Winter, Gus Winter, Claude Winter,

William Winter, Mrs. L. E. Williamson, Mrs. Kate Wentworth, Mrs. Nick Williams,

Gus Williams, William M. Williams, George Wilson, William White, Isaac Walder,

George Yocum. Mrs. Elizabeth (Smith) Walsh has the distinction of having resided

in Cairo longer than any other person now here. According to the records of St.

Patrick's Church, she was born July 14, 1843.



   THE LYNCHINGS OF WILLIAM JAMES, A COLORED MAN, AND OF HENRY SALZNER, A WHITE

MAN, ON THE NIGHT OF NOVEMBER 11, 1909, James for assaulting and then murdering

Anna Pelly, a young white woman, on the night of November 8, 1909, and Salzner

for the alleged murder of Mary Salzner, his wife, on the 18th day of August,

1909. This occurrence so revived in the minds of the public everywhere the fact

that Cairo had long borne a hard name that it seems proper for me to speak of it

in this chapter, much as I would like to pass it by. Such an event, adding to

the notoriety of the city and followed so soon by its very natural results,

could not be left unnoticed by any one pretending to write a history of the

city. I cannot do more, however, than to give a very condensed statement of the

facts. James had lived in Cairo a number of years and was at the time engaged in

driving a team for one of the business houses of the city. He was an unusually

muscular and strong man, and above the average in intelligence for one of his

race. He seems to have lain in wait for his victim and to have seized her within

a rod or two of her home and carried her into an unfrequented alley, two or

three hundred feet distant, and there choked her to death by the use of pieces

of a flour sack. She was employed as a saleswoman in a dry-goods store in the

city, and was last seen as she alighted from a street car two or three blocks

from her home. It was early in the evening, but dark and raining. The family

supposed she had gone to spend the night with one of her young lady friends and

the crime was not discovered until the next morning. I cannot give the details

of the search with the aid of blood-hounds nor of the arrest of James and of the

two colored women at whose houses he spent parts of Monday night, nor of the

statements of one of them respecting pieces of flour sacks similar to those

found at the place of the crime and at the undertaker's. For very full

information, see the "Cairo Bulletin" and the "Evening Citizen" of November 9th,

10th, 11th and 12th, 1909. He and the colored women denied knowledge of the

crime. He was held by the police the remainder of Tuesday and until the evening

of Wednesday, when they delivered him into the custody of Sheriff Frank E.

Davis, who, fearing mob violence, at once took him from the city on an Illinois

Central train. He left the train at Dongola, twenty-seven miles north of Cairo,

fearing violence from assemblying people at Anna, where Miss Pelly had formerly

lived. He went eastward with the intention of reaching and taking a train on the

Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway; but before he could do so,

he was intercepted by a mob from Cairo, which had seized a train of the railroad

company and gone up the road to the place they were told he was approaching.

They found the sheriff, his deputy, Thomas A. Fuller, and the prisoner in the

woods near the railroad, and taking the prisoner from them brought him to Cairo

and to the intersection of Commercial Avenue and Eighth Street, and there, after

trying to hang him to the steel arches spanning the intersection of those

streets and finding it slow and difficult work, they shot him to death, and then

dragged the body to the place of the crime, a mile distant, and there burned it.

Proceeding thence to the court-house, on Twentieth Street, where Salzner was

confined on an indictment charging him with the murder of Mrs. Salzner, they

broke down his cell and took him a square or two distant and there hung him to a

telegraph pole, and then after shooting the body many times, they dispersed. It

may be stated here, but of course for no purpose of extenuation, that no one

else was molested, nor was any property injured, save the injury and damage at

the court-house.



   The news of the crime and the search for the criminal spread rapidly over the

adjacent country and brought to Cairo large numbers of people, too many of whom

were quite ready to join the Cairo contingent for purposes of vengeance. The

numbers increased during the long three days, but little was done to counteract

the constantly growing feeling that the severest punishment should be dealt out

to the criminal and in the most summary way. The number of the leaders and

active members of the mob was very large and probably about equally composed of

men of Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri.



   James seems to have confessed to no one but members of the mob, and not fully

to any of them. The most he said seems to have been that he was not the only

guilty person. He may have named Alexander as a partner in his crime. No large

number of people in the city regretted the mob's disposition of James. A like,

but a somewhat modified statement, may be made relative to Salzner. The horror

of James' crime seemed to touch every home in the city. What processes of

reasoning hurried through the minds of the people it is useless to conjecture.

What they thought about the law taking its course, or about the thwarting of the

law, or the slow and uncertain proceedings of the courts and the failures of

justice therein, or of the dangers white women were in from the debased negroes

of the town, is also conjectural. To their one question, what would you do had

she been your daughter they wanted no reply nor did they often get any. Many

persons think themselves able to state the one single cause of an event, when in

fact there may have been many. In this case, there were probably many causes

tending to produce the mob-like feeling in the minds of many people; but the

fact that the victim was a young white woman and the assailant and murderer a

black brute of the city would have put a strain upon any community not

altogether congealed in its own complaisant self-sufficiency.



   After a calamity, it is always easy to tell what should have been done to

prevent it. Had the persons criticized been given the opportunity of viewing the

matter just as their critics had, there would have been little or no room for

criticism. This was the first occurrence of the kind in the city of Cairo. The

Joe Spencer affair of 1855, detailed in Moses B. Harrell's history and the

"History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties," could not be called a

lynching in any sense of the word.



   All that can be justly said in criticism of the city and county officers is

that they should have expected a mob almost from the outstart. They were intent

on finding the criminal but seem to have overlooked the matter of his protection

when found. This should have gone along with every step of their search. They

should have known better than others the state of feeling in the city. James

could not have been gotten away too soon. His arrest and detention here three

days and then his taking from the city convinced the gathering mob that the

officers regarded him as the criminal. The crime was so horrid, so fiendish, so

like the crime of Seay J. Miller, the Springfield negro, who killed the two Ray

daughters down in Kentucky just north of Bard well July 7, 1893, that they

should have known the impossibility of their protecting James when it became

known that he was probably the guilty person. Governor Deneen, it may also be

remarked, might have been called upon much sooner.



   We need not comment upon the evil that comes to communities which tolerate or

connive at mob violence. Salzner, who had been in jail for a long time and whose

crime, whatever it was, was generally and fully known, would not have been

lynched had not the mob lynched James; nor would the attempted lynching of the

negro John Pratt have taken place in February, 1910, and the consequent loss of

life in the attempt, had not the lynchings in November occurred. These

occurrences of November and February, and the divers and sundry results growing

out of them, together with the opprobrium cast upon our city, set before us in

the clearest light the evil that flows from a community taking or allowing

others to take the law into their own hands. The solecism of attempting to

enforce the law by its most flagrant violation is too obvious for comment.



Additional Comments:


Extracted from:



A HISTORY OF THE CITY OF CAIRO ILLINOIS

BY

JOHN M. LANSDEN

WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

CHICAGO

R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY

1910



COPYRIGHTED, 1910

BY JOHN M. LANSDEN



The Lakeside Press

R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY CHICAGO



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