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Captain Francis McHarry

Francis (Frank) McHarry, born in 1805, was a wealthy and well-known steamboat captain who ran ferry boats from Portland to New Albany. Born to Andrew McHarry, an Irish immigrant in the southern Indiana area, McHarry's love of the river seemed only natural. “The steamboat masters were not patsies by any means,” says historian Jack Custer. “It was a dog-eat-dog business.” The eccentric McHarry was right in the middle of it, Custer said, describing him as “a rather fiery-tempered Irishman.” McHarry had a volatile relationship with other river captains jealous of his success.

In the 1820’s the future captain began working construction on various river sites. In the early 1840’s he worked as a toll operator. Later he became a partner in J. Hume and Co. one of the area's leading producers of cement, flour and lime. In the 1850’s McHarry entered a new trade, the ferry business, by purchasing the Portland - New Albany Ferry. Due to his company’s dependence on the river it was said that as the new burgeoning steamboat trade grew so did McHarry’s anger and hostility. He felt that the wakes from the steam boats rocked his ferries and frightened the animals and people aboard.

Before his death in 1857, the captain built a burial vault on the river. This is also when McHarry’s "anger" achieved legendary status. The tomb in which he was laid to rest was to be vertical. Some say it was so that McHarry could look out over his beloved Ohio River. Others say is was done so the captain could curse the passing riverboats as well as the bridges crossing the river.  His curse stated the "anyone who sees my grave will not make it back to the shore and the river would be their home". Although no documentation exists to support the Captains legendary "anger", steamer cruise directors of the 1920's and 30's traveling the Ohio, took pleasure in relating and often "embellishing" the tale of Captain Francis McHarry and his cursed tomb. Soon passing captains began blowing their whistle to ward off the Captain McHarry’s curse

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