1847 & the Rutherford Family:

Dr. William Wilson Rutherford, Dr. Hiram Rutherford's brother

William Lloyd Garrison

Frederick Douglass

Antislavery Isn't Welcome in 1847
Below is a story about Dr William Wilson Rutherford meeting Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison at the train station in 1847. What it fails to mention is that they were met with egg and rock throwers as well. Douglass was hit by a rock and Garrison was hit by an egg. In the article that I found, it doesn't mention if Dr WW Rutherford was hit.Dr. William Wilson Rutherford was born November 23 1805 in Swatara Township, Dauphin County. He died in Harrisburg on March 13, 1873. Dr. Rutherford graduated in 1832 from Jefferson Medical College [now Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia]. Dr. Rutherford lived at 11 South Front Street next door to Rudolf Kelker. It is said that Dr. Rutherford "helped convey many a slave to safety. He would convey them to Samuel S. Rutherford [known by his friends as 'Little Sam'], at Paxtang, where they were secreted in the old barn which stood near the spring near to the present Paxtang Park." Dr. Rutherford was a vice president of the Harrisburg Antislavery Society. In 1847, he arranged for the abolitionists William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass to speak in Harrisburg. In a letter to his wife dated 9 August 1847, Garrison states:Arriving at 3 o'clock, we found at the depot, awaiting our coming, Dr. Rutherford, an old subscriber to the Liberator, and his sister-in-law, Agnes Crane, both of them true and faithful to the anti-slavery cause in the midst of a perverse and prejudiced people; and also several of our colored friends, with one of whom (Mr. Wolf, an intelligent and worthy man] Douglass went home, having previously engaged to do so; while I went with Dr. Rutherford, and received a cordial welcome from his estimable lady.