[36] Duff secured metal from the veins of lead ore on the Saline and, as it contained a little silver, he separated the silver from the lead as best he could and made counterfeit coins. In this connection the author of A History of Union County, Kentucky, further comments:
“The traditions of Duff’s great wealth have acted upon many of the citizens of Caseyville much as the tales of Captain Kidd’s plunder affected the inhabitants of Long Island. Youthful imaginations have been inflamed with thoughts of the fabulous wealth stored away in some cavern along the Caseyville cliffs. Many a ramble has turned into a search for the caves in that vicinity, but so far as the public knows, none of them has ever eventuated in any discoveries.”
[36a] Sturdevant’s stockaded fort stood on the long bluff immediately above what later became the town of Rosiclare, Illinois, and commanded a good view of the Ohio. Dr. Daniel Lawrence, of Golconda, saw the ruins of the Sturdevant house as late as 1876. The place had then been in a dilapidated condition for some time, but enough remained to show that in its day it was a substantial log structure, a story and a half high, with three rooms on the ground floor, including a log L on the north side. Digging into some of the old logs, he discovered many small holes made by bullets. A new stone quarry was in operation at the time of his visit and he was present when a blast blew out of a crevice a set of dies for making counterfeit half dollars. The foreman took the plates home for souvenirs, but their whereabouts is now unknown.
[37] The Chicago Times published an article July 17, 1879, entitled “Hell on the Ohio,” which, in 1888, was republished in The Life of Logan Belt, a book by Shadrack L. Jackson, who then lived in the village of Cave-in-Rock. This distorted account of Ford is here reprinted as an example of one of the many absurd and almost groundless stories that have gained wide circulation:
“Not far from Cave-in-Rock is Ford’s Ferry, which gets its name from a man who was one of the noted criminals of pioneer history. He lived on the Kentucky side about two miles above Cave-in-Rock and was ostensibly a farmer, owning a large tract of land. He also kept a hotel. Ford was always surrounded by a gang of desperate men, highwaymen and murderers, and, while nothing was ever proved on him, he was looked upon as equal to his companions in guilt. He was a robber of flatboats and of emigrants. Dead bodies were found near his house, and isolated and freshly made graves were discovered in that neighborhood. Men were known to start West with a little money, to locate, and were never after heard of. Their friends would inquire, follow them to Ford’s and there lose all traces of them. It was one of his habits to cut down trees and obstruct the road to rival ferries, until the owners would be compelled to quit and leave, thinking retaliation only a means of provoking death. But Ford brought on himself the penalty of his lawlessness.
“An old feud existed between him and the father-in-law of a man named Simpson, and Ford killed his enemy. Simpson gathered a crowd of friends and went armed to Ford’s house for the purpose of killing him. They found him on the Illinois side loading a boat. He knew at once why they had come, begged for his life and appealed for protection to one of their number, Jonathan Brown by name. Brown was touched by the appeal and interceded for the terrified man. The plea was so far successful that the crowd waited two or three hours, but when darkness came, they took him out and shot him dead when he was begging hardest to be spared. It is said that none of the crowd proper did the shooting, but that Simpson compelled his negro to do the deed.”
[38] It may be proper here to record that descendants of James Ford, like the descendants of other crude but strong pioneer stock, rose to deserved prominence in the business and social life of several western cities. The family is scattered, but the respect its members command and the success they have achieved bears testimony to the strain of ability and energy inherent in the blood. It leads also to deeper consideration of one of the theories in the Ford’s Ferry mystery, that James Ford was perhaps a victim of circumstances growing out of his peculiar personality in a dangerous surrounding.
[39] The crime was committed in that part of Gallatin County which in 1839 (when Hardin County was formed out of parts of Gallatin and Pope counties) became the eastern portion of Hardin. Previous to the organization of Hardin, Cave-in-Rock was a “corner” at the southern extremity of the line separating the two original counties.
[40] The fact that the names Murrell and Mason sound somewhat alike is sometimes the cause of confusion. For example, occasionally one hears that Little Harpe cut off the head of Murrell, whereas Harpe was hanged when Murrell was four or five years old.
On a map of the Ohio, compiled 1911–14 under the supervision of the Ohio River Board of Engineers on Locks and Dams, Cave-in-Rock is erroneously designated Merrell’s [sic] Cave.