Los Angeles herald., 1892-01-31
SIDNEY BELLS WIFE.
SHE is NOW LIVING IN THIS
CITY.
She Sells Her Wedding Ring to Raise
Money for Her Convict Husband-He
Deserted Her, but She Stands by Him

There is a little woman down in South
ern California who is toiling early and
late with her needle and sending every
cent she earns over and above the pit
tance on which she lives to Sidney Bell,
the convicted murderer of Samuel M
Jacobson, says the San Francisco Chron-
icle. The murder was committed at
night, and the object was robbery.
The woman is Bells wife, and from
people who knew her as GIRL and 9TH
ers who have known her as a woman,
there comes the story of her love for
Bell, her marriage to him, and his cruel
desertion of the wife who yet loves him.
1t is the one bit of romance in the case
that is free from all faint of perjury or
suspicion.
II formerly resided in Columbus.
Ohio" said William Caller of Los An
geles, Thursday, to Chronicle reporter,
"and knew not only Sidney Bell, as he
is now called, but all his family. I
knew, as we'll, the bright, beautiful girl
whom he married. She was my daugh-
ter's constant companion, and when
moved to Los Angeles / found her there.
deserted and almost penniless, but still
the same pure, true-hearted woman she
was when she mnrried the man who has
wrecked her life.
From his earliest youth up Bell was
a wild, wayward, daring boy" contin-
ued Mr.. Caller. ''His father often talked
to me about him, and finally decided to
send him to sea. Through the inter
vention OF wealthy relatives of Mrs.
Bell, Sidney's mother. berth was found
for the boy on naval vessel, where it
was hoped the discipline would reform
him and that he would come home a
better boy.
"Sidney returned apparently reformed,
and his father placed him at once in a
business college just opposite to his
store, and he also gave the boy place
in the store, where he might work at
odd hours and thus supply himself with
porket money.
"At the time my daughter Lillian
and Edna Moore were school girls, and
Sidney Bell, coming home after cruising
about the world, with his cadets uni
form and his brass buttons and sailors
cap, was lion among the young people
of his acquaintance. An attachment
sprang up between Sidney and Edna
Moore. At first the girls parents and
relatives frowned upon Sidney's atten-
tions to Edna, but finally, he seemingly
having reformed, they withdrew their
opposition and the two were married.
Sidney did not do WE'LL He seemed
unable to fasten himself down to
steady work, but Edna would listen to
nothing against him, and | believe his
love for her did much to keep him an
honest man during the years of their
welded life previous to his coming to
California.
''Along in 1856, when the boom in
California was starting, Sidney Bell
took his wife and went to Los Angeles,
where he started a real estate Office.
Later, in 1886, l, with my family and
Bells sister, emigrated to Los Angeles.
where | have since lived.
sit wasn't long before we who had
known Sidney and his wife at home
began to realize that poor Edna was un-
happy. She kept her own counsel,
however, and refused to say a word
against her husband. AS you know,
the boom burst. Then it was that
Sidney Bell deserted his wife and came
to San Francisco.
Ellis wife disappeared, and we all
thought she had gone back to Ohio to
her relatives. We made some inquiries,
but all we could find out about Bell was
from G Hamilton Griffin, who is now,
am told, doing involuntary service in
British Columbia, and in whose office
Bell had desk room. From Griffin we
learned that Bell had disappeared and
that his wife was not with him.
"The next heard of Bell" continued
Mr.. Caller, "was his arrest for murder,
and then we learned that his wife was
still in Los Angeles. Poor little woman,
she never hesitated as to what she
should do. From her slender purse she
took her last dollar and from her finger
she took her wedding ring and sent them
here to help her husband, the man who
had deserted her.
"She is noble woman and loves Sid
ney Bell with a love that no charges
against him will ever lessen. She is
proud, too, and the trial OF the case has
almost broken her heart. How much
she has done for Bell l do not know. but
firmly believe that every cent she has
earned has been sent to him. His
death, if he should be hanged, will kill
her. Whatever may be said against
Bell, in the minds OF those who know
him, there can be no accusation that
will tell against him 80 much as the de-
sertion of his wife,"