Ohio History Journal

The Black Hand.                  449

 

doubtless be a matter of regret to everyone that the railroad

has recently changed the name of the station, and the brakeman

no longer calls out Black Hand, but Toboso. It is to be hoped

that commercial as well as historic interest will induce the new

electric line to perpetuate the name of Black Hand.

In a beautiful introduction to her legend, among other

things, Mrs. Gebhart says: "The Indian legend pertaining to this

relic of a prehistoric race was told me by Colonel Robert David-

son, who settled in Newark in 1808. There were many Indians

there at that time, and from them he doubtless heard it. They

lingered long in the vicinity. I remember being carried in his

arms, probably about 1835, to see the party who had erected

their wigwams and camped in the public square at Newark. I

remember with especial distinctness, one squaw who carried a

papoose, Indian fashion, on her back.  Its black bead-like

eyes seemed to view me as curiously as I on my part viewed it

from that coign of vantage a father's protecting arm."

Hon. Alfred Kelly was one of the canal commissioners under

whose supervision the canals of Ohio were made. He probably

heard the legend while engaged in this work. His rendering

has never been published. A manuscript copy is in the pos-

session of his daughter, Mrs. Francis Collins, of Columbus, who

has kindly consented to its publication here.

 

THE BLACK HAND.

 

R. E. CHAMBERS, M. D.

Some time during the fifties, articles appeared from time to

time under the nom-de-plume of "Black Hand."  These were

devoted to a history of the "boys and girls of 1826." They were

pleasing and readable, and were very lavish in extolling the at-

tractive traits of character that adorned the developing woman-

hood and manhood of that period.

At the conclusion of his article he asks the question, "Who

put that hand on the rock ?" or who painted the hand on the rock?

- for it had the appearance of having been painted.

Vol. XIII-29.

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450      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.   This rock is near the station on the B. & O. railroad which bears the name, "Black Hand." It is on the canal bank on the borders of Muskingum county and Licking county and was a place of much note as a pleasure resort in my boyhood days. It was a large rock with a face some eight feet high with a pro-

jecting rock of some feet out and even over the canal. This hand was perfect and Mr. Sheward, who had taken much pains to see if he could find its origin, traced its history back to 1816, and the first traveler found this hand on the rock. The Indians did not use the open hand as an insignia to convey or perpetuate events, hence they could not account for the hand.

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The Black Hand.                  451

 

To give what I thought was the best solution to a question

of so much interest, I was disposed to use the find of David Wy-

rick and a friend, who had taken advantage of a removal of a

large mound for the stone and dirt it contained by the B. & 0.

railroad, a work of our prehistoric citizens of a time we know

not of. David Wyrick and his friend, who had been deeply inter-

ested in this mound in the years past, and as to what it might con-

tain, determined to explore to a greater depth than the removal

of the accumulations by the railroad.

They were not long in striking a rock in their descent and

finding it was single and elongated continued their work until

they uncovered it. They found the top was of the character of a

slab, which on removal revealed the skeleton of what was once

a human being. While decomposition had been perfect, the mould

of the covering over the remains gave evidence of fibers as if

the body had been clothed with a woolen garment. They re-

moved the stone coffin and found beneath it a stone of a foot

and a half in length, that gave evidence of having been sharpened

and upon handling it they found that it contained something

in its interior. They, with some trouble, opened it, finding in-

side a stone twelve inches long and four inches wide and an inch

in thickness. It had a neck broken off, in the end was a hole. This

gave evidence of having been worn as if a strap had been inserted

and it was carried in this way.

They were much astonished to find engraved on one side an

outline or profile of a man in the dress of a Hebrew and on the

other side characters which they could not make anything out

of. Living in Newark, and having knowledge of the Episcopal

minister as a man of fine education, they went with it to him,

and he took the stone and was greatly astonished to find that the

characters were Hebrew. He said he would see if he could read

or decipher it. He did so. Calling to his aid his Hebrew works,

he was able to translate nine commandments, one was left off.

Fearing that his translation was not correct, and having

a knowledge of Rev. Matthew Miller, of Monroe township, this

county, who was at that time at his home from New York, where

he had been laboring in his efforts to convert the Jews, and

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452       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.   knowing that he was greatly distinguished as a Hebrew scholar, he wrote to him of the find, asking his assistance. His deep interest in that people caused his immediate trip to Newark. One of the letters or characters was not closed at the top, and for fear that he should be mistaken in view of this character, he went to Cincinnati to a Hebrew rabbi, and pre- sented to him the tablet. His translation was the same as that of the two other ministers. His attention being called to this var-

iation in the letter, he said: "This is ancient Hebrew that you know nothing about." Rev. Matthew Miller said to me that the dating on this tablet ante-dated the birth of Christ eight thousand years. This hand pointed to the mound that contained the last rabbi who ministered at the altar. Doubtless when his work was done his followers gave a burial that went to show their love and esteem, in the mound they raised over his remains and the

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The Black Hand.                  453

 

tablet, that was as a guide to their faith, and then put the hand

on the rock, pointing to the place of his burial.

 

THE MINGO CAPTIVE AND THE WYANDOT MAIDEN AND

THE NEUTRAL GROUND.

 

H. C. COCHRAN.

An Indian sat at the door of a settler's cabin and told this

story: Many years ago the red men in the eastern part of the

state were at war with those in the middle and northwestern part.

Chief among the former were the Mingos, and among the latter,

the Wyandots. In one of the stealthy and bloody incursions

into the Mingo hunting grounds, a young chief of great promise

was captured and carried back by the Wyandots. Instead of kill-

ing the young Mingo chieftain, as was the usual custom, he was

made a serf and compelled to earn the good-esteem and fellow-

ship of his captors, a fate worse than death to the young Indian.

The woes of his captivity, however, were lightened by the kindly

attention of a young Wyandot maiden, the daughter of the chief

of the tribe into which the Mingo had been adopted. Genuine af-

fection knows no condition, or it rises above all environment. The

maiden fell in love with the unfortnate young chief, and though

watched by the crafty tribesmen, they made their affection known

to each other and decided to fly to the Mingo country. One

night they made their escape. At daylight they were missed

and were pursued by a posse of Wyandots. The girl had left

behind a tribesman lover, who burning with the passion of a

disappointed lover, and aching for vengeance traveled faster

than the couple and overtook them at Black Hand rock. They

heard the pursuers behind them, knowing that worse than death

awaited them if captured. With the stoicism of the savage, they

walked to the edge of the precipice and surveyed the flood. Fold-

ing the idol of his heart in his arms, he sprang into the boiling

waters. The pursuers were close enough to see the last chapter

of the drama. The narrator says the disappointed pursuers

marked the spot as the Caucasian found it.

The other legend, one worthy of perpetuity, is born of the

geology of the country and the trade conditions of the aboriginees.

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