Charley’s Run
On an August night in 1842, Dr. Richard Eells, an active Quincy Abolitionist in the 1830-40’s, was transporting a runaway slave named Charley to
a safer location when his carriage was stopped near this spot by a posse searching for Charley. Charley fled and hid in a nearby cemetery
(Madison Park today), but was found, captured and returned to slavery in Missouri.
Charley did not find his freedom that night but his experience contributed to the growing cause against slavery in the pre-Civil war era.
Dr. Eells’ House, at 415 Jersey, was considered station number one on the
Underground Railroad from Quincy to freedom in Canada. Dr. David Nelson’s
Mission Institute, an abolitionist training school, was also on the Underground
Railroad. The Mission Institute was located just north east of this location at 25th
and Maine and was the likely destination for Charley and Dr. Eells that August
night.
Dr. Eells House at 415 Jersey
Monument located in the North East Corner of
Madison Park
Dr. Richard Eells was convicted of aiding a fugitive slave, and was fined $400 by local judge Stephen Douglas. Although quite a large sum for the
times, it turned out to be a paltry one compared to the effort made taking Dr. Eells’ case to the State and Federal Supreme Courts. Although he
died before his case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, his attorneys, including two who would later be members of President Abraham Lincoln’s
cabinet, William Seward and Salmon Chase, carried this important case through to the end.
Because of the notoriety of the case Eells became president of the Illinois Anti-Slavery Party in 1843. He was a candidate for the Liberty Party for
the presidential election of 1844 and for the gubernatorial election in 1846.
The matter of slavery was a major religious and social issue in Quincy’s early years. The Illinois city’s location, separated only by the Mississippi
River from the slave state of Missouri, made Quincy a hotbed of political controversy. Sixty-five community leaders chartered the Adams County
Anti-Slavery Society, the first in Illinois.
The Plaque provided by:
• The Friends of the Dr. Eells House
• The Quincy Park District