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THE WELLSBORO AGITATOR 1879
April 8th 1879
The Enchanted Pot of Gold: a story
of Brookfield, Mar 18th 1879, The highway known here as the Calif. Road
is a very busy one, as on it are located a feed mill, 2 shingle mills,
and a steam mill. 1849 when the area was mostly woods an old man
by name of John D. Richardson moved into the neighborhood, he was a poor
man, but built a mill, a dam to hold water for power and a business, but
not satisfied he thought he would look for minerals in the hills.
In his search he claimed he found gold and showed to his neighbors and
kept talking about his find until one night an old lady had a vision.
She dreamed that in a certain hill at a certain spot there was a pot of
money. The woman, her husband and 2 other men went out one morning
to get the gold. She told them as they dug they must not talk or
utter a sound or the treasure would slip away. After digging 3 days
the man using the pick struck the pot that held the money, so great was
their joy that one yelled, there we've found it and the kettle of gold
moved away and altho they dug on they could not find it. Since that
time the road and brook have been known as the California road and creek.
Richardson moved away 1859 back to his early home in Springwater, NY.,
Wellsboro Agitator, September 29, 1885 Snakes in a Man's Stomach The Remarkable Experience of Mr. John Longwell, of Charleston
Mr. John Longwell, of Charleston, has experienced
strange sensations in his stomach for two years past, and he says that
sometimes he noticed singular motions and a cold feeling as if an icicle
was rising in his throat. For many months he has been subject to spasms
and terrible pains in his stomach.
Mr. Longwell consulted Dr. C.W. Webb, of this borough,
and after describing his symptoms declared that he believed his stomach
was inhabited by some living thing. This was believed to be more imagination
than reality, but at Mr. Longwell's earnest solicitation the doctor finally
gave him a strong emetic. Mr. Longwell went home, took the dose, and after
great suffering and retching vomited up two snakes, both alive. One was
about fourteen inches long, and the other about a foot in length, one being
pink and the other brown in color. There was a yellow stripe around the
neck of one and two yellow spots on the neck of the other. They were about
the size of an ordinary lead pencil.
Mr. Longwell confined the stomachic monsters, and
after feeding them some milk they increased in diameter considerably. He
showed them to numerous persons in this borough last week.
Mr. Longwell thinks that he swallowed the eggs which
produced these snakes some years ago while carelessly drinking water from
a spring.
He is a man of veracity, and his recital of his
symptoms, his violent illness, and the expulsion of the snakes from his
mouth is confirmed by others who were about the house. Another fact which
is confirmatory is the statement of Dr. Webb, who says that the eyes of
the snakes seem to be film like and apparently sightless.
The experience of Mr. Longwell should be a warning
to those persons who are in the habit of drinking carelessly.
