Biography
Richard Eells was a Quincy, Illinois physician and abolitionist. In 1842 he was arrested and charged with harboring a fugitive enslaved man named Charley. Convicted and fined $400 by Judge Stephen A. Douglas, he lost his appeals to the Illinois and United States Supreme Courts — a landmark test of the fugitive-slave laws. (Recorded as Dr. Richard Eells)
Death (October 4, 1846) is firmly documented.