He became friends with John Brown and supported his raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859. He helped identify men who would assist Brown, and helped raise funds for the raid. He was the secretary of the Chatham Vigilance Committee, a group that included Oberlin College graduates, who rescued Sylvanus Demerest who was kidnapped with the intention of selling him into slavery. Bell stayed in Canada until 1860, when he moved to California; His family stayed in Ontario until the end of the Civil War, after which Bell brought them to Toledo.