Augusta’s Irish-American community continued its tradition of honoring immigrant hero Dennis Cahill, placing a wreath at his memorial Friday ahead of St. Patrick’s Day.
Jeffrey Ryan, historian for the Ancient Order of Hibernians Richmond 1, reflected on Cahill’s legacy as cars passed rapidly over the Augusta Canal on the Butt Memorial Bridge to which the Cahill memorial is now adjacent.
“I’m sure 95% of the people that drive by this monument every day have no clue it’s here, let alone what it represents,” Ryan said at the ceremony.
Cahill immigrated from northwest County Cork in the late 1880s or very early 1890s and was working at the canal site on July 29, 1902, when tragedy struck, he said.
Nine-year-old Dallas Corine Kitchens, who lived in a nearby mill village, was taking lunch to her aunt at Enterprise Mill. She was crossing the “high bridge,” a metal structure with wooden decking that had to be periodically repaired due to wear and tear, Ryan said.
The girl reportedly became distracted and fell through a hole in the decking into the canal’s swift waters.
“Dennis was with the city working for the work crew that day and he heard her screams for help,” Ryan said.
Cahill “was known as being a very strong swimmer who had rescued people from the canal before,” including a man fleeing police, he said.
The powerful man instantly tried to save the girl.
“He immediately dove into the canal to save her,” Ryan said. “He actually did reach her, but for whatever reason, whether it was the current, the heat that day, a muscle cramp or whatever – we don’t know – they both went under, and of course they both drowned that day.”
Almost immediately, the Augusta community recognized Cahill’s heroism.
“A lot of the well-to-do folks in town immediately started a fund to build a monument in his honor,” Ryan said.
Rough boulders were chosen for the monument, which bears a plaque honoring Cahill.
“They picked all these rough stones here because that represented his character. Apparently, he was a big, strong guy and they wanted to replicate that,” Ryan said.
A dozen years later, the Butt Memorial Bridge was built at the site in honor Archibald Butt, who went down with the Titanic, and today the busy passage whisks thousands of vehicles past the Cahill monument too rapidly for it to be seen.
The order has plans to move the Cahill monument about 100 yards downstream on the canal banks to make it more accessible by the public, said Russ Gambill, a member of the order and society.
The project will take about two years and cost $35,000, he said.
