The Strange Story of Harper's Ferry, with Legends of the Surrounding CountryBarry, Joseph
History
The Strange Story of Harper's Ferry, with Legends of the Surrounding Country
Barry, Joseph
Harpers Ferry (W. Va.) -- History; Harpers Ferry (W. Va.) -- History -- John Brown's Raid, 1859
About 4 o'clock, p.m., on Saturday, Mr. Williams and his fellow
prisoners were rescued by the same process that was used in saving the
Kane and Furtney families. Great difficulty was experienced in passing
to them a rope, as the distance was very great from the house of Mr.
Matthew Quinn, but through the ingenuity of a Mr. Crosby, of Ashtabula
county, Ohio, who was temporarily residing at the place, constructing
agricultural machines, a rope was cast after many trials to Williams'
house and the inmates were taken out, one by one, in a basket. Charles
King, before mentioned, was very active on this occasion, as was also
the Reverend Daniel Ames, who on the previous evening had distinguished
himself in rescuing the Furtney family. Mr. Ames ventured across in the
basket on its first trip to Williams' house, remained there encouraging
the women and children and securing the passengers with ropes in their
frail and unsteady carriage, and was the last to leave the tottering
building. When he arrived back he was received with rounds of applause
from the spectators, and the surrounding hills echoed with the cheers
sent up for his brave and self-sacrificing man. Mr. Ames was a man of
very mild and unassuming manners and the great courage manifested by him
on this terrible occasion was a matter of surprise to many who regarded
bluster as the only indication of bravery. Too much credit cannot be
given to him or Mr. King for their conduct at this time. They were both
New Englanders who came to reside at Harper's Ferry during the war,
where their upright and courteous behavior had gained for them many
friends long before this trying period, and where their heroic courage
on this occasion covered them with glory. Mr. Ames, as before stated, is
now dead, but Mr. King moved to New Haven, Connecticut, many years ago
and his subsequent career is unknown to us.
Mrs. Fitzpatrick and family were rescued on Saturday about 9 o'clock,
a.m., by some young men who floated to their house on pieces of drift
and succeeded in bridging the gulf between the Fitzpatrick house and
that of Mr. Matthew Quinn. They did so by stopping and securing in some
way floating fragments of timber--enough to allow of walking from the
one house to the other.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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