OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: Tidbits of Ohio -- Part 100A

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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Darlene E. Kelley
http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374
September 5, 2006

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Historical Collections of Ohio
And Then They Went West
Know Your Ohio
Tid Bits - Part 100 A
by Darlene E. Kelley
notes by 
S. Kelly

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Tid Bits part 100 A

              The Black Hand

The Licking river, the Pataskala of the Indians, as it draws near the
eastern boundary of Licking County, Ohio, flows in a winding course for
a distance of about two mles through a narrow and pictureseque sandstone
gorge, known as the Lickng Narrows. High hills border upon both banks,
their rocky sides exposed in many places to a height of fifty to sixty
feet, almost continuously on the north bank, and often rising out of the
bed of the stream. Just at the eastern end of the Narrows the river
flows in its northwest channel between twin cliffs. That on the south
side has been quarried and boated away, so that it no langer shows the
extent of the face originally presented to the stream, though eough
remains to give an idea of its former height. That on the north side is
isolated, with a surface area on its summit of perhaps the third of an
acre covered principally with pines, laurel and moss. It is circular in
form except on the south, where it presents to the river a face about
two hundred feet in length, rises to a height of fifty feet, and,
arching from a point some distance above its base, overhangs the stream
about fifteen feet, This is Black Hand rock.

At some period in the distant past these cliffs, united formed an
impassible barrier to the stream, for an old channel turns abruptly to
the north on the west side of the Black Hand rock, makes a circuit, and
returning cuts straight acros the present channel at a distance from its
point of departure of only the width of the rock itself, and bears away
southward in a narrow, rock-bound course. This old channel resembles in
shape a horseshoe, bounded continuously on its outer side by a rocky
ledge, and holding between its points the Black Hand rock. This outer
rim of rock reaches the present channel of the river with a face of
about two hundred and fifty feet, with a height slightly greater than
that of the Black hand rock, and form the final barrier to the entrance
of the stream in its present course to the valley beyond. It has been
named by present day visitors, the Red Rock. At some more recent dates
the stream must have been diverted from this old channel into its presnt
course. The peculiarity of formation adds greatly to the interest of the
place, and from the standpoint of the geologist has been convincingly
treated by Professor Wm. M. Tight, president of the University of New
Mexico, in Bulletins of the Scientific Laboratory of Dennison
University.

When the Central Ohio railroad was built, it followed the natural grade
along the south bank of the Licking. When the twin cliff opposite the
Black Hand rock was reached, a cut was made through it, so that the
traveler by the Baltimore & Ohio is hindered by this from a distant view
of the Black Hand rock. An electric line from Newark to Zanesville now
passes along the north bank of the river within a few feet back of the
Black Hand rock, and tunnels through the Red Rock. By such a pleasant
and convenient mode of access it is probable that the Black Hand will be
visited more frequently by pleasure seekers than before. 

On the face of this isolated cliff the earliest settlers found engraved
the figure of a large human hand. Authorities differ as the the size of
the hand and the direction in which it pointed. The weight of evidence
supports the statement that it was twice the normal size, with thumb and
fingers distended and pointing to the east. It appeared  to have been
cut into the face of the rock with some sharp tool, and is probable that
the form became dark in time through natural agencies. In 1828, when the
Ohio canal was under construction, the river throughout the extent of
the narrows was converted into slack water and made a part of the canal
by constructing a dam a few hundred yards east of the Black Hand. It was
necessary to blast away part of the Black hand rock in order to make the
towing-path. In doing so the Black Hand was removed. From the earliest
settlement to the present, the origin and purpose of the Black hand have
been subjects of interesting conjecture, and effort to account for them
has given rise to many legends.

Following I will present some of the legends and the poem by the
Honerable Alfred Kelley of Columbus, Ohio. 

The Hon. Alfred Kelley was one of the canal commissioners under whose
supervision the canals of Ohio were made. He probably heard the legend
while engaged in this work. His rendering has never been published. A
manuscript copy was in the presence of his daughter, Mrs. Francis
Collins, of Columbus, who has kindly consented to its publication.

           The Black Hand.     
               by Hon Alfred Kelley.

Have you ever seen the place where the murderer's hand
Had instamped on the rock its indelible brand, 
A stain which nor water nor time could efface ?
'Tis a deep lonely glen, ' tis a wild gloomy place, 
Where the waters of Licking so silently lave, 
Where the huge frowning rock high impends o'er the wave,
On whose pine-covered summit we hear the deep sigh
When the zephyrs of evening so gently pass by.
Here a generous savage was onced doomed to bleed, 
'Twas the treacherous white man committed the deed.
The hand of the murderer fixed the imprint,
'Twas the blood of the victim that gave the black tint.
A captive in battle the white man was made,
And deep in the wilds is the victim conveyed, 
Here far from his kindred the youth must be slain, 
His prayers, his entreaties, his stuggles are vain. 
The war dance is treading, his death song is singing, 
And the wild savage yell in his ears is a-ringing.
The fire for the torture is blazing on high,
His death doomed is sealed, here the white man must die.
The hatchet is raised, the weapon descends, 
But quick an old chief o'er the victim now bends. 
The hatchet he seizes and hurls to the ground. 
He raises the youth and his limbs are unbound.
" My son fell in battle." exclaims the old chief,
" But ye saw not my sorrow, tho' deep was my grief,
And now shall the white man to me be a son,
'Tis your chief that has said it - his will shall be done.
A friend and a father to him will I prove, 
And me as a father and friend shall he love."
Long years had passed by, and peace had again
Spread her soft balmy wings over mountain and plain,
The red and white man in friendship now meet,
For the hatchet is buried deep under their feet.
Long years had rolled on, while the chief and his son
Rich spoils from the forest together had won. 
Now loaded with furs from the far distant lake,
The path to the traders together they take,
Through the Narrows of Licink their pathway extends,
Around the huge rock on its margin it bends,
Where the shelf on its face scarce admits them to creep
Along the dark front that impends o'er the deep.
The chief, with fatigue and with age now oppressed, 
In the shade of the rock seeks a moment of rest;
Here lulled by the waters, he closes his eyes, 
While his spirit communes with his friends in the skies,
By his side the false white man now silently knelt,
And carefully drawing his knife from the belt, 
With one deadly plunge of the murderous steel
Reached the heart full of kindness- a heart that could feel.
Then quick in the river the Indian was thrown
Lest the tale should be told, lest the deed should be known,
Oh! the shreik that he gave as he sank in the flood,
As the waves eddied round him, deep stained with his blood.
Oh! the glare of his eye as they closed o'er his head,
While the hoarse sullen murmur they welcomed the dead. 
Rock told it to rock, oft repeating the sound,
While shore answering shore still prolonged it around,
The look and that sound touched the murder's heart,
With phrenzy he reeled , with a shuddering start,
His hand while still reeking, with maddess he placed 
On the rock, and the blood-stain could ne'er be effaced.
' Twas avarice prompted the horrible deed, 
" Twas avarice doomed the kind Chieftain to bleed.
To form the safe towing-path, long since that day
The face of the rock had been blasted away.
Now the gay painted boat glides so smoothly along
Its deck crowned with beauty and cheerful with song.
And the print of the Black Hand no longer is seen,
But the pine-covered summit is still evergreen,
And still through the branches we hear the deep sigh
Of the spirits of air as they sadly pass by,
While in mournful procession they move one by one
Still thinking with grief on the deed that was done.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  Tid Bits

con't in 100 B " Legends"