Mary Rankin Typed Biographical Sketch of John Rankin to Lucien V. Rule, [after 1886]

6.

"The lord gave me a sympathetic heart so that I
could not help sympathizing with innocent suffers.
Hense early in life I set myself against slave holding.
Some of the keenest sensations of mental anguish I
ever felt were occasioned by contemplating the
cruelties inflicted upon slaves." Among the stories
he told of "runaway slaves" is the one around which Mrs.
Stowe built her character of Eliza in "Uncle Tom's
Cabin". "A Kentucky slave mother having been harshly
treated by her mistress, took her child in her arms and
in the night started for Canada. She came to the house
of an old Scotchman who lived on the Ohio river. She
asked him what was best for
her to do. My house being on the top of a hill, he
pointed to it and said. "A good man lives in that
house. Go to it and you will be safe." The river was
frozen over and a thaw had come so the water was run-
ning over the ice which was just ready to break up. She
waded across and went to my house, went into the kitchen
made a fire and dried herself, then she waked two of my
boys, and they conveyed her to another depot the same
night."

Mr Rankin used this and smiliar stories to illustrate
points in the tracts he was publishing, and this story
fell into the hands of Mrs. Stowe who then lived in
Cincinnati: A correspondence followed and Mrs. Stowe
was invited to visit in Mr. Rankin's home and interview
fugitives as they came through. She availed herself
of this invitation and spent some time there. Though
neither Mrs. Stowe nor Mr. Rankin mentions this incident,
Mr. Rankin's children all remembered it and pointed
out the window, the west one, up stairs, where she sat
writing. The village of Ripley has many added legendary
details not confirmed by the memories of Mr. Rankin's
family.

Mr. Rankin says - "There was a band of benevolent
young men who attended to all such cases and were ever
ready to spend a night in behalf of fugitive slaves."
And Ripley was the scene of so many such acts that it
was often threatened with burning. Among these "bene-
volent young men" were Mr. Rankin's nine sons as
they grew old enough to be of service. The daughters
too were often called upon to aid by carrying
colored children through the streets on their horses,
and by lending their clothing and horses to disguise
refugee women who were being escorted through the town
in daylight. Sunbonnets were as useful to conceal
dark faces as to protect the beauty of the fair. No
fugitive in the hands of this band of men was ever cap-
tured.