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I'm ThinlciJohn Bell (concluded)By AN OLD REPORTERJOHN BELL(Concluded), “After being out some time they brought in the following •eport: . . .first, the Committee .ire of an opinion that the church acted correctly in the first charge for aequiting Jno. Bell. Unanimous vole. The second charge: From the evidence before us the Committee are of an opinion that sd. Bell was not reprovable by Majority 17 to 4. The Minority agree to go with the majority. 3rd charge. From all the evidence we have had the Committee are of an opinion that the sd. J. Bell was not guilty of Covetousness, which report the church did not receive. Not being satisfied we agreed to postpone the business ‘till the next Conf.”On February 19, 1820, “The case of John Bell was taken up. The church still refused to receive the Report of the Committee on him. No further reference to John Bell appears in the Minutes of the Red River Baptist Church. From other sources we know that his physical, and perhaps mental, condition was gradually deteriorating, and that he finally expired under the most distressing circumstances on December 20, 1820. In 1817, according to family accounts, there had first appeared in the Bell house the malevolent “spirit” that promised to haunt John Bell to his grave. It disappeared soon after his death, promising to return after a period of seven years. It returned about February of 1828, remain-. ed for about a year, and left ’ again with a promise to make j itself manifest after one hundred seven years to some member of the Bell family. If the , spirit actually did appear in 19-« nr ... .1 .1 ____i • !..f......Gunn, daughter of the Reverend James Gunn; and 3rd Elizabeth Orndorff. He had a number of children.A. James Allen Bell about 1870 represented Robertson County in the Tennesee Legislature.9. Joel Egbert Bell (1813-1890) married twice and was prominent in business and Baptist circles.THE BELL WITCHSome of you may have seen the feature article in “The Wilson Daily Times” on December 31, 1964, front page, entitled Rocky Mount-Wilson Airport Site Once Home of Famed Bell Witch.” This may have whetted your appetite for additional details. Although a number of different versions of the story have appeared in print from time to time, there are two most detailed and reliable accounts: (1)M. V. Ingram, An Authenticated History of The Famous . Bell Witch (Clarksville, Ten- ' nessee, 1894); and (2) Charles Bailey Bell, The Bell Witch-A Mysterious Spirit (Nashville, Tennessee, 1934). Mr. Ingram based his account upon interviews and correspondence with persons or the children of per- -sons who actually Jived in the Bell community at the time of this remarkable phenomenon, and who were likely to provide him with the most accurate possible accounts. Mr. Bell based his narrative upon traditions and manuscripts handed down in the Bell family itself.The Bells were naturally greatly distressed by the notoriety that they unwillingly received because of their connection with the “spirit.” They were a large and well-to-dober 24, 1857. He married 1st Sal-lie Gunn, daughter of the Rev- J erend Thomas Gunn; 2nd Susan
Newspaper Details
Rocky Mount Evening Telegram
Rocky Mount, North Carolina, US
Sun, Mar 07, 1965
Page 52
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
AR, USA 14 Jan 2017
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