The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1901-07-02
TWO INDIAN LEGENDS
THEY BOTH RELATE TO THE ORIGIN
OF THE "BLACk HAND"

A Historic Relic of Former Days In
a Beautiful Spot In Ohio That Was
Blasted Away In the Ruthless
March of Progress.
As the average tourist, travelling east
ward from Newark, O., dashes through a
rocky cut near the eastern limits of Lick
ing county, he likely does not realize that
this spot was once one of the most pic
turesaue, romantic and historic localities
in Ohio. Such traveller should read the
history and legends of "Black HAND
history that reads like dream of Alad-
din, legend that finds its beginning IN the
dim primeval days, when an immense
lake filed the entire Licking valley and
poured its surplus water over an immense
natural sandstone dam four miles across.
During the ages which rolled away, the
waters by erosion cut through the de-
vonian grit, leaving two parallel walls
which rise about so feet. When civiliza-
ton reached what is now Ohio, it found
a swirling flood in this rock bound ravine.
The faces of the cliffs were crowned with
rare flowers and beautiful laurel gave its
fragrance to the zephyr and its delicate
tints to the landscape.
This is the beautiful spot that after
ward came to be called "Black Hand" In
the early part of the last century the pro-
moters and surveyors of the Ohio canal
took advantage of the rock walled chan
mel to form a storage dam for that early
civilizer. About midway down the canyon
a sharp headland protruded into the riv-
err. Here the first surveyors found. cut
in the face of the rock, gigantic human
hand The carvings had been filed with
a black pigment, which still remains
mute monument of the forgotten race to
whom the carver belonged. Though ma
ture had raised a stone for him, he carved
not a line to tell who he was or why he
carved
Accounts of the size of the black hand
differ. Old men say their parents saw 1t
and that it was eight feet from the tip of
the thumb to the tip of the little finger.
Others say it was larger and some not so
large.
But the rock which bore the hand was
in the way of the canal builder, and in
1928 they drilled into the face of the cliff
and blasted away the historic relic. Not
content with that, they cut it into blocks,
ruthlessly chiseling away the carvings and
tracery, and with the blocks built sus-
tanning wall, over which tow horses might
walk while drawing wealth into the west
ern world The black hand on the rocks
face lived only in the memory Of It's de-
stroyers.
When the Central Ohio Railway COM
pany in the early ffties desired to pierce
the garden spot of Ohio, they took advan-
tage of the grades stablished by nature
from GAINESVILLE and followed the Licking
river. When Black Hand was reached,
the builders encountered a headland on
the opposite side of the river correspond
ing to Black Hand rock and cut sheer
through it. So today the east bound tour
list sees little of Black Hand
Many legends linger about the locality.
An Indian sat at the door of a settlers
cabin and told this story: MANY years
ago the red men in the eastern part of
the state were at war with those in the
middle and northwestern parts. Chief
among the former were the Mingoes and
among the latter the Wyandottes. In
one of the stealthy and boodthirsty in
cursions into the Mingo hunting grounds
a young chief of great promise was cap
tured and carried back by the Wyan-
dottes. Instead of killing the young Min
90 chieftain, as was the usual custom, he
was made a serf and compelled to earn
the good esteem and fellowship of his
captors, a fate worse than death to the
young Indian.
"The woes of his captivity. however,
were lightened by the kindly attention of
a young Wyandotte maiden, the daughter
of the chief of the tribe into which the
Mingo had been adopted. Genuine affec-
ton knows no condition, for it rises above
all environment. The maiden fell in love
with the unfortunate young chief, and,
though watched by the crafty tribesmen,
they made their affection known to each
other and decided to fly to the Mingo
country.
some night they made their escape At
daylight they were missed and were pur-
sued by a posse of Wyandottes. The girl
had left behind a tribesman lover, who,
burning with the passion of disappoint-
ed lover and aching for vengeance, trav-
eled faster than the couple and overlook
them at Black Hand rock.
'They heard the pursuers behind them,
knowing that worse than death awaited
them if captured. With the stoicism of
the savage they walked to the edge of
the precipice and surveyed the flood.
Folding the idol of his heart in his arms,
he sprang into the boiling waters. The
pursuers were close enough to see the last
chapter of the drama"
The narrator says the disappointed pur-
suers marked the spot as the Caucasian
found it.
The other legend-and one worthy of
perpetuity-is born of the geology and
country and the trade conditions of the
aborigines. About five miles southwest
of Black Hand is a great outcropping Of
chalcedony. The place is known now as
Flint ridge, and the flint, rare on this
continent, was much valued by Indians
and mound builders for making imple-
ments of agriculture and war. Like the
pipe stone quarries of the Dakotas, where
the inimical Sioux and Mandan work side
by side in apparent peace, hither the
tribes came up, the place being considered
sacred to the giver of all good and per-
feet gifts. For a radius of FIVE miles
around Flint ridge rested the blessing of
the great spirit, or that of the orb of day,
the divinity worshiped by the mound
builders. None of the tumult of war Is
found within that space. Parties in quest
of the flint coming to the confines of the
charmed circle laid down their arms for
the purpose of mining the necessary
stone, for the time forgetting the tradi-
tionary hatred of foes. They came from
the Mississippi valley, probably by water,
and debarked from their frail craft at the
foot of the rock.
The romancer says the spread hand
carved on the rock was in mute appeal
and forcibly reminded the wayfarer in
a way at once forcible as it was poetical
that thus far and no farther should the
waves of unlighted vengeance roll. The
hand marked the portal of sanctuary
which was sacred to the savage, whose
lust for blood rose above every other con-
sideration in his narrow but intense iso-
olated but eventful life.-Ohio State Jour
nal