09/06/2026
Did you know? This telling of the "Jerry Rescue" comes from the 1916 Old Home Week Souvenir of Mexico, N.Y. booklet. Author unknown. Some extra info has been added in [ ] for clarification.
During the Civil War, Mexico was one of the largest stations of the “underground railroad” for running fugitive slaves to Canada or to some other place of safety. Here was located one of the lodges of that secret organization known as the Anti-Man-Hunting League.
A decade or more before the [Civil] war, Mexico showed its sympathy for the slaves by protecting the fugitive Jerry, after his rescue from the Federal officers in Syracuse. Jerry’s was a test case to prove whether or not the Fugitive Slave Law could be enforced in New York State. While sheriffs and marshals were watching all the lake ports between Buffalo and Ogdensburg, poor Jerry was hiding in this village.
The story goes like this: [Syracusean] Caleb Davis drove out into the country one evening to collect beef, as was his custom. He stopped at the Syracuse House for a cigar and drove on without causing suspicion, but in the bottom of the cart covered with sacks lay Jerry, armed and anxious. The team was group of fast horses furnished by [Syracuse Ex-Mayor] Jason Woodruff. James Davis, on horseback and disguised as a black man, rode out twelve miles to see and instruct the tollgate keepers. The “patriots” (Federal officers) were soon on their trail but when the pursuers reached the tollgates, they had great difficulty in arousing the gate-keepers who consumed a lot of time in making change. At Brewerton Bridge, [abolitionist] Jason Hoyt was left to drive on to Mexico alone with Jerry.
After this the pursuers gained on them and for seven miles they raced with the horses at the utmost speed consistent with safety until Hoyt’s team left them so far behind that they gave up the chase.
Following the route of the “underground railway” Jerry was taken as far as Mexico the first night and was left in the charge of Starr Clark, Orson Ames and Solomon Peck. The first night he was kept at the house of Orson Ames, who then resided in the house still standing opposite the Mexico Academy. Mr. Ames, fearful he could not safely hide Jerry any longer at his place, took him to Asa Beebe’s barn [which stood on Academy Street about where the Mexico Village DPW is now located].
In this barn he was kept for about two weeks. Mrs. Beebe provided his rations, which to avoid suspicion, her son, Windson, carried to him in a bushel basket when he went to care for his horses. In the meantime, a brother of Mr. Ames, who lived in Oswego, planned with a captain of a boat to take Jerry to Canada.
When arrangements were completed Windson Beebe went to Oswego for a load of wheat and having hidden Jerry among the bags and blankets, delivered him before daylight to the “agent” in Oswego who smuggled him on board the schooner that was waiting in the harbor.
Jerry, in due time, reached Kingston, Ontario, in the “land of the free.” [He settled in Kingston where he worked as a cooper and carpenter.] The Canadian climate proved too cold for Jerry and he sickened and died October 8, 1853, and was buried in a cemetery near Kingston.
Much more about the Jerry Rescue and abolitionists in Mexico can be learned by visiting the Starr Clark Tin Shop and Underground Railroad Museum on Main Street.
