Dr. Richard Eells built this home, now within the Quincy Historic District, in 1835, four blocks from the Mississippi River. Quincy was the first UGRR station across the border from the slave state Missouri. In 1842 a free black man Barryman Barnett spotted a slave Charley swimming across the Mississippi River, and brought him to Eells. Eells attempted to deliver Charley to Quincy's Mission Institute, but slave catchers kidnapped Charley. Eells was charged with the crime of harboring a fugitive slave. Judge Stephen Douglas heard the case and fined Eells $400. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Eells's conviction, but, meanwhile, he became president of the Illinois Anti-Slavery Society and was the Liberty Party's candidate for president in 1844. Charley's fate is unknown.
