J. B. Elwell

Joseph Bowne Elwell (February 24, 1873 – June 11, 1920), also known as J. B. Elwell, was an American bridge player, tutor, and writer during the 1900s and 1910s, prior to and during development of the auction bridge version of the card game. He is better known as the victim of an unsolved murder.

Life Joseph Bowne Elwell, the son of Joseph E. Elwell, was a student at Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, and worked as an insurance agent as a teenager. Elwell learned the new card game "bridge"—now called bridge whist or straight bridge to distinguish it from later versions—in the course of establishing a young men's club in church, where its play was a popular activity. His fascination with the card game took over his life.