Rush R. Sloane (1828-1908)

Sloane was a prominent abolitionist who used his home as a safe house for fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad. As a lawyer, he defended fugitive slaves and in 1852 he was fined $4,330 for "interfering with the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850". As a token of gratitude, local African-Americans presented him with a silver-headed cane. Sloane later became a probate judge in Erie County and President of the Sandusky, Dayton, and Cincinnati Railroad. In 1879, he was elected Mayor of Sandusky.