Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1857-01-01
lFrom the Owego Times.l
Soon Repented.


! this village, for drinking and gambling, and
many other vices The gambling room was a
highlv finished bedroom down cellar at the
end of the building The gamblers, or part
of them. would enter this building by the hatch
way or back door Here they might hold
night of revclry and not be heard in the street,
or up in the saloon
On cold, stormy night in De ember there
eutered this gambIing-room, Col Wells and
| Esquire Keeler with two friends, to take sett
at the gambling-tabe This table was always
supplicd with a bottle of Cognac brandy, to
keen ND the betting spirit In the backyard
and about thirty feet from the entrance to
This rambugroom was an old WELL ten feet
deem with four or five feet of water threin.-
The dav previous to the night on which these
men went in to gamble, the proprietor of the
saloon rolled off the old h0gshead that cover
! ed the well to use for an ash-house, and left
/ the we'll uncovered About eleven o'clock on
! the night above mentioned, the Colonel and
Squire had dispute about the game. Soon,
! high words ensued, and a proposition for
| ''free fight" was proposed. The Colonel and
Squire stripped for the purpose, and repaired
to the back yard full of venom, for they had
been taking a little of the fighting "critter.r
The proprietor and two friends followed out
to see the end of the bloody conflict. The
! Colonel, having once been military man, was
| foremost in battle, gnashing his teeth, and
with clenched fists he rushed at the Squire in
great fury The Squire being more of
moderate man, deliberately stepped back two
steps to give the Colonel a ''Sockdolager" on
the nose, but before the blow got "home," the
Sduire went down the well feet foremost and
disappeared from the COlOncl's view.
Here was a dilemma No one knew how
deep the we'll was, and the Colonel soon be,
came badly frightened. He crawled up to
the hole and thrust in his arm the whole length
and cried out
Squire where are you p
There beiug no answer returned it was sup
posed the Squire was dead This guilty party
of four now started in hot haste for light
| At this part of the crisis, there was but one
! light burning about the premises, and this was
large globe lamp hung over the centre Of the
gaming table The Colonel found his way
! back to the room and made a wild grab at
the lamp he broke the SuSpending chain, and
| down came the whole apparatus in mass of
ruin. Here was frightful piece Of work for
| by some means the oil and brandy got united
aud caught fire. The proprietor Of the saloon
| by this time had found a candle and matches,
but seeing the prospect of the fire he was de-
/ termined to save his property in preference to
the Squires life With little careful man
agement on the part of the proprietor the fire
was soon put out, the candle and matches
were again found, and the party went again
to look for the Squire, but on approaching the
old well, nothing was to be seen of him. The
company now returned to the gambling room
hold of council Monv yolapc
proposed to conceal the murder The proprie-
tors plan was to fill up the we'll with stones
| forthwith, and then deny all knowledge of the
Squire's whereabouts but the remainder of
the company objected to this course after the
proprietor had thrown down the well two or
three heavy stones They thought best, finally,
to let the matter rest until morning, and then
assemble and decide what would be best to
do. But when the morning came the first
man to be seen in the streets was the Squire.
Is it necessary to say that while the gam
blers were looking for light the Squire
came out of the well and ran for home, minus
his hat and coat, with no other damage done
to him except little skin knocked off from
each elbow and while the wretched men
were holding council in contemplating how
to secrete his murder, the Squire was snugly
I
Col Perrin Wells became a member Of the
NJ E. Church and died near Montrose the
Squire yet survives and lives near Standing
Stone. DAVID.
The person who wrote the above letter to
the O,cego Times, has been taking unwarran-
table liberties with our local traditions. The
occurrence represented did take place many
years ago, but the persons named were not the
: actors in it.
If the Col WELLS mentioned is intended for
Col. PERRIN WELLS, formerly of this place, we
are pleased to say that he still lives" near
MontroSe, than whom no man is more respec-
ted by his neighbors, as evinced by his cleo
ton last fall to the Office Of Commissioner of
Susquehanna County by some 1900 majority
The saloon mentioned was dismal cellar,
part of hat mandatory where the mystic
res of poke" or bluff" aud kindred games
were indulged in by sundry persons. 1t was
some years since purified by fire, and the site
is now occupied by HALL & RUssELL's Store.
1t does not require the " memory of the oldest
inhabitant" TO go back to the time when it
was in full blast, and there are those yet living
here who could have posted up" the Times
correspondent more correctly in regard to the
incident in question.
We might add, that We believe that this
place is more free from gambling (for which it
was formerly somewhat celebrated) than any
place of its size in the State. The votaries of
this seductive, yet dangerous practice, have
either removed, or have learned the folly of
their course, and are content to earn their mo-
ney in a more lawful and honest manner.