The evening light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1881-1883, 1882-03-03
Death of an Old Patriot.

At twenty minutes past six, yesterday after
noon, Mr.. Samuel Bell breathed his last at his
quiet home in this city, thus closing a long,
honorable, useful life.
Mr.. Bell was born in Washington county,
Pennsylvania, on the 18th of July, 1898; at the
age of eight he was apprenticed in arms
mandatory at Pittsburg, and became skill
full workman in making blades; he made
swords for the war of 1872. In 1870, in his
2Ist year, he was seized with the spirit of ad-
venture and made the voyage by water to the
then great southwest, and selected his home at
Knoxville, Tennessee, returning year later
to Pittsburg for the wife of his choice. Mr..
Bell resided at Knoxville until 1851, being en-
gagged in the mandatory of jewelry, silver
ware and fine blades.
In 1851, having met reverses of fortune,
Mr.. Bell removed with his family to this city
and began business as a jeweler and silver
smith. In 1853, the hardest blow of human
sorrow fell upon his head, in the loss of his
estimable wife-whose amiable and courage
Gus character had sustained him under the
most trying circumstances during long and
happy domestic life.
We have thus traced the outline of Mr..
Bells life, but its detail would fill large vol
ume, marked on every page with honor and
usefulness. As workman he was not ex-
celled, his hand was exceedingly cunning in
the execution of intricate and delicate work,
and he conceived the most exquisite designs;
whatever he did, he did we'll. Always setting
an example Of untiring industry to his children
and his fellow men. TO him, life was full Of
duty, with no time for idleness or sloth. But
Mr.. Bell was not simply drudging laborer,
he was man of splendid mind. and was we'll
versed in the history of the country and the
questions of the day. In politics he was OF
the old wing school, and was very firm and
pronounced in his views; he was one of those
men who never sold his liberty of opinion for
the sake of his business; he never fawned, or
Aattered, or deceived; being the soul of honor
and of truth.
WHICH, ICDClllOu DlOhC Oul V4Is DCll was
Union man. His love for the Union was in
tense, and the acts of rebellion, as they trans
pired about him, excited his strongest denun-
citation and protest. In those gloomy days of
the spring of 81, old Mr.. Bell seemed to the
writer to be possessed of the very inspiration
Of patriotism. The first overt act of the war
in cit the arol T,,;~
at the time Ben. Mccullough occupied the
city with confederate troops. After the sur
render General Twigs rode up Commerce
street in an open carriage, and McCullough's
troops blocked the way in front of Mr.. Bells
store and cheered Twigs. Mr.. Bell was
standing in his door, and it was more than
he could bear. He stepped out on the walk
near Twigs' carriage and shouted: "Hurrah
for General Hull" The rabble did not ap-
preciate the historical parallel, but Twigs, no
doubt, did. Events followed each other in
quick succession, and as the Union troops
were marched through the city on their way
out of the state, there was always one figure
that enlivened the gloom and lent heart to the
depressed: an old man carrying aloft the
American flag at the head of the column. The
writer was then in his early manhood, and to
him it seemed strange that treason could exist
in city that had SO patriotic a citizen as old
man Bell.
When the 9Th regiment, that had fought
through the Mexican war, came to surrender,
the Sergeant-Major, Wilson, gave the writer
their storm flag and requested that when they
returned after the rebellion was put down, to
have it ready to raise over the town. But the
fortunes of war soon forced the writer to leave
the county, and it was in the hands of the
old patriot that he left the storm flag of the
9Th infantry, with Sergeant Wilson's request;
and when the glorious restoration came, Mr.
Bell had the old flag intact and presented it
to Gen. Merit, who entered the city with the
first union troops. Mr.. Bell was a true pa
triot, and the only request which he seems to
have made is that the old flag that he carried
in the days of the rebellion, be buried with
him.
or late years the old man had been grad
end came it was simple, easy passage to the
great beyond; life passed away without
struggle, without seemingly pang
replete, so full, so complete, in its end the
grave acquired no victory, death had no sting.
In his domestic qualities MIR. Bell was the
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