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)
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 |
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"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. |
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. |
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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. |