By PATRICK MCGINLEY On Aug. 21, 1842, Dr. Richard Eells heard
another knock at his back door. This time it was Charley
standing there, his clothes still wet from his swim across the
Mississippi River. A few days earlier, the slave had run away
from his owner, Chauncey Durkey of Monticello, Mo. Dr. Eells had
to act quickly, for he knew the slave catchers would be coming
soon. Eells told Charley to wait for him in the carriage house.
Eells then ran upstairs to his bedroom to get dry clothes for
Charley. Quincy was Stop Number One on the northern route of the
Underground Railroad out of Missouri. From Quincy, slaves were
quickly and secretly moved from one "station" (hiding place) to
another, heading north and east to Chicago and eventually
Canada, where slavery was no longer permitted. All "conductors"
who helped the slaves go from one station to the next risked
their own freedom and fortune, for aiding an escaped slave was
breaking federal law. Eells knew he could not hide Charley in
his home at 415 Jersey. Ju