where Townsend E. Gidley transferred them to Jackson. Abel F. Fitch was the agent at Michigan Center. Fitch was one of a group of farmers who figured in the railroad conspiracy of 1850. He was charged with conspiracy and malicious destruction of property, but died while awaiting trial. There were stations at Leoni and Grass Lake. A Mr. Francisco. was the agent at Francisco and Samuel W. Dexter and his sons at Dexter. There the flight sometimes shifted to Scio, in charge of Theodore Foster. Guy Beckley co-operated with Foster at Ann Arbor, where the two published the Signal of Liberty, the organ of the Liberty Party. John Geddes was agent at Geddes and the next stations in order were Ypsilanti and Plymouth. From Plymouth the route followed River Rouge to Swartsburg and thence to Detroit, where slaves were commonly taken across the river by night in rowboats. When this route to Detroit River was too closely watched by agents of the slave owners, the route was shifted northward via Northville, Farmington, Birmingham, Pontiac, Rochester, Utica, Romeo and Richmond or New Haven, from which points the fugitives were piloted to the St. Clair River. One of the famous stations was located on Spring Hill Farm in Shelby township, Macomb County, and a detailed account of it has been written by Mrs. Liberetta Green, who was born in 1845 and whose name indicates her father's loyal adherence to the Liberty Party when the abolitionists were regarded as disreputable. In the side of a hill on this farm belonging to Peter Lerrich, Mrs. Green's father, was a fine natural spring and into the side of the hill a spring house was excavated to serve as a family refrigerator. When the Underground Railway route turned in that direction this spring house was enlarged so as to form a cave capable of giving concealment to several persons. The entrance to the spring house was carefully concealed by the planting of vines, which had to be lifted aside before the door could be opened. On the top of the hill Mr. Lerrich, assisted by several neighbors, transplanted a large fir balsam tree which made a conspicuous landmark visible against the sky from a long distance. This tree was termed "the beacon tree' and fugitive slaves made it their guiding point as they traveled by night, it being located about 40 rods away from the road. There scores of fugitives found shelter while the slavehunters traveled the roads and visited barns and outhouses in search of them. The Lerrich family kept the place stored with food and there was a signal agreed upon by which the slaves would notify the family that they were hiding in the cave. When that signal was displayed the family avoided the spring house during daylight hours and made preparations for passing the fugitives on to the St. Clair River and to Canada. All this is unknown history to the present generation, but steps are now being taken to mark the spring house at Spring Hill with a memorial tablet. As a result of this Underground Railway service one can still pick out the way stations along the route because of the unusual number of colored people in certain towns like Indianapolis, Cassopolis, Ypsilanti, etc. After the Civil War was well under way slave-hunting became decadent and the proclamation of emancipation put an end to it. The fugitives, instead of hurrying to Canada, stopped at towns along the way and settled about them. Indianapolis thus acquired a large colored population. On the Canadian side Windsor and Chatham acquired numerous colored residents, but many of them drifted back to the United States after the end of the war. The Underground Railway was in active operation for more than 20 years. G CHAPTER LXII THE TOLEDO BOUNDARY WAR. ROVER CLEVELAND, when President of the United States, once declared that we are a self-willed and sometimes violent people." This is perfectly true, as has been proven in many a historic incident. As a rule the American people are slow to wrath, but once thoroughly aroused we are apt to go far in our contentions. There have been several historic episodes which came near culminating in war between states. Michigan was once on the verge of war and made an armed invasion into the territory which is now a part of the State of Ohio, but which then rightfully belonged to Michigan. The ordinance creating the Northwest Territory was drawn in 1787. It prepared for the subsequent division of the Territory into states with a prescribed geographical line for the divisional boundary between the states of the southern and the northern tier. The framers of the ordinance had no definite idea as to the exact latitude of any given point in the vast territory, so they "lumped" their estimate by declaring that the boundary between the two tiers of states should be a line beginning at the most southern extremity of Lake Michigan and running due east to Lake Erie. It was afterward discovered that such a line would run some distance south of Maumee Bay and that besides cutting off the State of Indiana from access to Lake Michigan, except through Michigan territory, it would give to Michigan, Maumee Bay and the city of Toledo. Toledo is a city which has existed under several names. The first settlement was known as Swan Creek. A little later it was termed Port Lawrence. Then for some reason unknown it was renamed Vistula and finally the present name, Toledo, was adopted. Ohio was raised to statehood in 1802 and admitted to the Union of states in 1803. This gave the people of that state a decided advantage over the rest of the Territory, for now they had representatives in Congress and opportunity to form favorable combinations of political advantage with representatives of other states. In 1816 Indiana was admitted to the Union and then the first discovery was made regarding that previously defined boundary line. Indiana pleaded her right to a port on Lake Michigan, and got it, together with a strip of territory that had been regarded as belonging to Michigan. The people of Michigan grumbled, but protest went to no serious lengths. The advantages of ownership of Maumee Bay were plainly apparent to the people of Ohio and they employed their inside pull in Congress to get it. When the people of Ohio drew up their constitution they inserted a "joker" which was destined to make trouble. It agreed to the prescribed line between Ohio and Michigan: Provided, that if the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan should extend so far south that a line drawn due east from it would not intersect Lake Erie, or if it should intersect Lake Erie east of the mouth of the Maumee River, then and in that case, with the assent of Congress, the northern boundary of this state shall be established by extending it to a direct line running from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan to the most northerly cape of Maumee Bay, after intersecting the due north line from the mouth of the Maumee River.” In 1816 Gov. Cass of Michigan authorized a survey of the line and William Harris, a surveyor of the Government Land Office, was engaged to make it. But it was found that, through the influence of interested Ohioans, the Land Office of the United States, instead of furnishing Harris with a copy of the terms of the Northwest Territory ordinance, had given him a copy of the boundary provisions of the Ohio constitution. Gov. Cass made a strong protest to President Monroe, who then directed that the line be run again in conformity with the Ordinance of 1787. That second survey was made by John A. Fulton. Thereafter the contention between the states was over the conflicting terms of the Harris line and the Fulton line. |