The Legends of Jenny Jump


1. Jenny was a nine year old girl who lived generations ago. The small white house where she lived stood far below a high cliff. One day the child was picking berries or playing on the rocks when an Indian surprised her. In great fear she called to her father for help. He cried, "Jump, Jenny Jump!" The obedient child jumped from the high rocky cliff to her death.

2. One day Jenny and her father took some home-brew on his cart over the mountain to sell near the Great Meadow. Jenny sat on the top of the load and attempted to keep the barrels in place. As the farmer and his daughter neared the mountain crest, they spied several Indians. The men were almost upon them when her father called frantically, "Jump, Jenny Jump!" Instantly the girl leaped from the cart and ran away.

3. Long ago in a small log cottage near the foot of the mountain, Jenny Lee, an attractive young girl, lived with her aging father. Jenny was in love with Dr. Frank Landis, who practiced medicine in the village. Arthur Moreland, who wanted Jenny's attention, offered her half his fortune if she would marry him. She told him not to come see her again
On the day of her wedding to Frank, she visited her favorite spot, a mossy area between steep jagged rocks on a nearby mountain. She unexpectedly met Arthur there. Jenny became upset and frightened when he asked her again to be his wife. She backed toward the edge of the precipice. Arthur called to her to come bacK.
"I'll jump"
"You'll be killed"
"Death would be preferable to dishonor.
If you come one step nearer...."
The young man stepped forward and Jenny Lee jumped from the high cliff.
In the moonlight Frank found her lying below the rocks, bleeding. He refreshed her with water from the stream and a loving kiss. Then he carried her home. She was badly bruised, her shoulder was dislocated and her arm broken. Her life had been saved by a limb of a sapling which broke her fall.

Source:
Backround of the Township of Independence, Warren County, New Jersey.
Independence Township, N.J.: Bicentennial Committee, 1976.



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