Ohio History Journal

WHERE DID ELIZA CROSS THE OHIO?

 

 

BY FELIX J. KOCH.

 

Obviously, each side in the controversy has good grounds

upon which to rest its claim, Cincinnati and Ripley both claim

the site.

With the one,--it cannot be denied that a fugitive slave

woman did cross the stream on the ice at the very heart of the

city's water-front. At the other, - the place was a "village" at

the time when Mrs. Stowe wrote her book, as it states; and

there lived a man who made a point of helping run-away slaves

cross the stream, even as the story describes.

Where-for, on the one hand, Cincinnati, where the then

Harriet Beecher resided, is claiming to herself the site of the all

but miraculous river crossing;-and little Ripley, suburban to

the Queen City, is advancing a counter-claim.

All of which leads to the telling of an interesting story:

Not so very long since, - Ripley, Ohio, - in connection

with a centennial of the town, -arranged for a giant home-

coming celebration. Folk returned to Ripley from all parts of

the land, - but, among others, there came one man who desired

to leave his birthplace with suitable memento of his visit. Rip-

ley has long been noted for its many interesting sites and scenes

connected with the Underground Railway - and it was sug-

gested that the well-meaning son of the town mark these in ap-

propriate ways.

This was done and Ripley possesses more tablets to the

square mile than perhaps any one town in the land.

Come to the river-front, however,--and framing inscrip-

tion for the monument set there, to tell of this assistance to the

fugitive slave from across the river, - and, at once Ripley found

that she was not alone in her desire for the honor here.

(588)

• 1
 

Where Did Eliza Cross the Ohio?         589   Ripley might have the Rankin home on the bluffs,- whence old man Rankin and his stalwart sons sallied forth, and came down to help the slaves who crossed the stream, - often using logs to hide and to guide by. Ripley, without a doubt, was a very great deal nearer Washington, Ky., where Mrs. Stowe secured her other material, than is Cincinnati. At Ripley they might have had many won- derful experiences with run-away slaves, but, to repeat, at Ripley no slave ever crossed the floating ice, as there did one such slave at Cincinnati. This woman, - Margaret Garner by name, - made the crossing and arrived at the mouth of Mill Creek, now in the heart of the Queen City of the West, within the memory of

many folk still living. Out of which there comes a mass of conflicting argument, with none to prove or disprove. In the light of it all, one can only read the version in Uncle Tom's Cabin itself,- and   interpolate  with  the claims and counter-claims,- made as follows:-- (Chapter vii - The Mother's Strug- gle:-

"In consequence of the various delays, it was about three- quarters of an hour after Eliza had laid her child to sleep in the village tavern";-- (Cincinnati, even then, was no village, -Ripley is still) "that the party," (come in pursuit of the fugitives, and so from Washington,-nearer Ripley than it is Cincinnati), "came riding into the same place. Eliza was stand- ing by the window, looking out in another direction, -when Sam's quick eye caught a glimpse of her. Haley and Andy were two yards behind. At this crisis, Sam contrived to have his hat blown off and uttered a loud and characteristic ejacula- tion, - which startled her at once; - she drew suddenly back, - the whole train swept by the window 'round to the front door.

• 2
 

590      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. "A thousand lives seemed to be concentrated in that one moment to Eliza. Her room opened by a side door to the river. She caught her child and sprang down the steps toward it. The trader caught a full glimpse of her, just as she was disappearing down the bank, - and, throwing himself from his horse and calling loudly on Sam and Andy, he was after her like a hound after a deer. In that dizzy moment her feet, to her, scarce seemed to touch the ground and a moment brought her to the water's edge. Right on behind they came, -and, nerved with strength such as God gives only to the desperate, with one wild cry and flying leap, she vaulted sheer over the turbid current by the shore, on the raft of ice beyond. It was a desperate leap, - impossible to anything but madness and despair;- and Haley, Sam and Andy instinctively cried out and lifted up their hands as she did it.

"The huge green fragment of ice on which she alighted pitched  and  creaked, - as her weight came on it, but she stayed there not a mo- ment. With wild cries and desperate energy she leaped to another, -and still a other  cake, - stumbling, - leaping, - slipping, - spring- ing upward again. Her shoes were gone, - her stockings

cut from her feet, - while blood had marked every step; - but she saw nothing, -felt nothing, - till, dimly, as in a dream, she saw the Ohio side, - and a man helping her up the bank." And that is all the detail there is left us. The scene does not fit Cincinnati, -it hits Ripley off at once. The incident is one connected indisputably with Cincinnati history, - and does not find any parallel in the annals of Ripley. Where - for the historians are left to ponder, - and are pondering still, as we write! Cincinnati, Ohio.

• 3