Perry's Den

By Henry Howe...

In the early settlement of the West the borders were infested by desperadoes flying from justice, suspected or convicted felons escaped from the grasp of law, who sought safety in the depths of the wilderness. The counterfeiter and robber found there a secure retreat and a new theatre for crime.

During the early settlement of the wild hill country of Southeastern Ohio the scattered, struggling, honest pioneers suffered much from the depredations of this class who found hiding-places among the caves and rocks and thick tangled undergrowth of the ravines. Much loss was inflicted by horse-thieves and counterfeiting of coin was carried on at times quite extensively. In some instances the early settlers executed summary justice upon the depredators and hung or shot them without ceremony. The outside public learned not of these events, as they took place before the advent of newspapers and communication with the older settled communities infrequent; we now learn of them mainly by tradition.

For several years prior to 1834 a large number of horses had been stolen from Guernsey and the surrounding counties, and so completely were all traces of the thieves covered up that the settlers were forced to the conclusion that an organized band of horse thieves must have been formed in their midst. From the scant evidence at hand, it appeared that these marauders had a line of communication from the Muskingum Valley to Lake Erie. So that horses stolen in Guernsey county would be passed along the line and disposed of at a point far distance from the place of theft. All efforts toward the discovery of the thieves were without avail, until finally suspicion fastened upon one Walter G. PERRY, who resided some five miles east of Cumberland, in Guernsey county, near what is now called Blue Bell.

On the night of October 15, 1833, a horse had been stolen from Wm. KNAPPENBURGER, of Tuscarawas county, who offered a reward for the capture of the thief, and described him as “a short stout-made man, with black piercing eyes and of a rather quiet disposition.” PERRY answered to this description and measures were taken for his arrest, but he could not be found.

At this time a school-teacher in the McELROY district, named Adonijah PARRISH, was boarding with Anthony JONES, and during the night, January 5, 1834, he heard some one cautiously admitted to the JONES dwelling; his suspicions were aroused and still further excited when, toward morning, he heard the stealthy departure of the person admitted during the night. By questioning the young son of JONES, Parrish learned that the cautious guest of the night was “uncle Perry.” Instead of attending to his school that day he hastened to an adjoining district, now called Harmony, and securing the assistance of Robert MARSHALL, Thomas RANNELS, James C. BAY, E. BURT and Robert KELLS, started in pursuit of PERRY. Armed with rifles, they proceeded to the dwelling of JONES and from there took up the trail, which was easily followed, owing to a light snow having fallen during the night. After following it for some distance, they perceived that an effort had been made to cover the tracks and baffle pursuit.

About a mile and a half from JONES’S the trail led into a deep ravine, on either side of which were high projecting rocks and deep, dark recesses, causing the pursuers some trepidation through fear that they might fall victims to an ambushed enemy. They moved cautiously forward, speaking only in whispers, every faculty on the alert. Suddenly one of the party called out, “There he is, by the rocks.” Seeing that he was discovered, PERRY assumed a defiant attitude, and pistol in hand, cried out with an oath that he would shoot the first one who came near. His pursuers having satisfied themselves that he was alone, began closing in on him, when he started to run. MARSHALL and RANNELS threw up their rifles, firing simultaneously, and PERRY fell, wounded in the right leg. His captors carried him to the cabin of Clark WILLIAMS, where his wound was dressed, and on the evening of the same day he was taken to Cambridge.

PERRY was tried and convicted at the April term of court in Tuscarawas county, and on the 19^th of April was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in the penitentiary. His wound refused to heal and near the end of the first year’s imprisonment he was pardoned by the governor and set at liberty. He returned to his family, who still resided in Guernsey county, but, after a short time, they all left and were heard of no more. PERRY had preserved the rifle-ball which had shattered his leg, swearing he would be glad to “plant it in each of his captors.”

After PERRY’S departure evidences came to light of his having been connected with a gang of counterfeiters. For several months preceding his arrest, numerous spurious notes and coins were put in circulation, and PERRY on one occasion had remarked to Martin ROBBINS that he had a lot of coins that would “go just as well as any.” About two hundred yards east of his dwelling, in a ravine, was discovered a slot cut in a tree, and near it a long lever, which was used to make imprints of coins in short blocks of seasoned wood; from these primitive molds casts were made in the same manner that the early pioneers cast their rifle-balls.

These discoveries furnished an explanation of the stealthy visits of strangers to the cabin of Perry during all hours of the night. In 1883, in a field near this spot, Newton HICKLE plowed up some 130 or more counterfeit coins, evidently made in this manner.

The place of his capture has ever since been called PERRY’S Den, and is a resort for picnic parties and lovers of the romantic in nature. It is in Spencer township, three miles east of Cumberland, in a deep glen in the highlands, dividing the waters of Wills and Duck creeks.

In its native wildness it afforded remarkable facilities for secreting stolen property. Its distance from roads and the difficulties of access, together with the dense underbrush and its peculiar openings in the rocks, made its discovery extremely unlikely.

Two waterfalls of from twenty to thirty feet descent and about one hundred yards apart add to the romantic beauty of the glen. Horse Shoe Falls, with its ledge of rock projecting out over the depths below, forms a cavern in which twenty horses could be stabled at one time, undiscoverable except by the closest inspection, and early settlers say that unmistakable evidences that it had been put to such uses were plainly discernible. The second waterfall is a gem of beauty; in summer it is bordered with ferns and flowers, intermingled with laurels and evergreens, and in winter, stately columns of glittering ice and fantastic shapes and forms of filagree and frosted work arrest and please the eye.