A few hundred yards west of the old Adams stand, and near the foot of the river hill, on the river side, an old stone house was kept as a tavern when the road was first opened, and for a number of years thereafter. The first man who catered to the wants of the traveling public at this old tavern was Vincent Owens, who had been a faithful soldier in Washington's army in the war of the Revolution. The property belonged to the old Krepps family of the vicinity, and the old tavern stood at the northwest landing of the old Krepps ferry. Owens was succeeded at this old tavern by Samuel Acklin, and Acklin by John Krepps, a brother of Samuel J. Krepps. Morris Purcell succeeded Krepps, and went from here to the old Adams House, before mentioned. The Krepps ferry was operated in connection with the management of this old tavern, and the ferry was continued down to the year 1845. The tavern was closed here long before the decline of travel on the road. The father of Vincent Owens was murdered in this old tavern while his son was conducting it. The crime was an atrocious one, causing great excitement and indignation in the neighborhood at the time, and the manner and motives of the act seem to be shrouded in mystery. Two persons who lodged in the house over night were suspected of the crime, but they fled before the light of the morning and were never apprehended. About two and one-half miles west of Krepps' Ferry an ancient hamlet called by old pike boys Malden is reached. Here on the north side of the road stands an old stone tavern, which in the palmy days of the road was a popular stopping point. It belonged originally to the old Krepps family, of Brownsville, and was designed and erected for a tavern. It was evidently the belief of the old owners that a town would grow up on this site, as they caused a stone in the front wall of the old tavern, near the top, to be dressed and inscribed in cut letters with the name Kreppsville. This name, however, was not adopted by the public, but the place was, and continues to be known as Malden. The origin of this name is not positively known, but tradition has it that a party of emigrants encamping on the ground one night, fancying that it resembled the place of their nativity, Malden, probably in the State of Massachusetts, gave it that name. Be this as it may, Malden is the popular name of the locality. The old tavern here was built in two sections and at different dates. The original, which is now the western section, was built in 1822, and a dressed stone in its front wall bears that date. The second, or eastern section, was built in 1830. It is the second section that bears the name Kreppsville, above mentioned; and, in addition, the stone slab disclosing this name shows the date 1830, also the word "Liberty," and the figure of a plow and sheaf of wheat. Bry Taylor was the first person who kept the old tavern at Malden, and he was constantly busy