The evening world., 1893-12-27
REV. AND MRS. BEllIN COURT.
Held in $500 Bail for the Result
Of the Coroner's Inquest,
Two OF Their Children Have Died
Under Peculiar Circumstances.

LONG ISLAND CITY. l.. l., Dec. H.
Rev. j. Edward Bell. ex-preacher. and
editor Of the Weekly Flag, in Astoria.
was arraigned, together with his wife,
Jane Bell, before Justice Kavanagh in the
Police Court here this morning n held
In $500 bail to await the result Of a Cor
oner's inquest on the body OF their
daughter Edith, who died under suspi-
cious circumstances last September.
Bell and his wife were arrested by
Herman Meyer. OF the Brooklyn Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Chill
dren, in Astoria, last night. on warrants
charging them with a misdemeanor In
having wllfully neglected to provide med
ical attendance to Arthur Morrison Bell.
aged thirteen years. now in the Astoria
Hospital in a serious condition OF health.
as a result of his parents alleged cru
elites and neglect.
a fourteen-year-old son, last summer,
there was much talk in Astoria about
the apparent unconcern OF the parents
over the mournful event.
But when a few weeks later Edith,
the beautiful sixteen-year-old daughter,
died under practically the same circum-
stances and evidently from the same
much aroused that an official investiga-
ton was demanded.
Coroner Brandon, Of Newtown. ex-
humed the wasted body two days after
1t had been placed in the ground, Thu
stomach OF the child was removed and
submitted to expert chemists for anaiy-
sis upon the suspicion that the result
might expose a terrible crime.
What the analysis has revealed has
not yet been made public. Both the
Coroner and Officer Meyer declare that
ever, intimated to an Evening World''
reporter this morning that the suspicion
of foul play had been well founded. and
had been secured to convict the ex.
preacher OF at least a degree OF man
slaughter.
neglect became known to the n%eighbori
through their frequent applications TO,
food, and stories of persecution and star
walton from their own lips.
Bell acknowledges that he had not pro
vided medical attendance to either of hi
dead children during their fatal Illnesses
and furthermore, that they died alonr
in their rooms and were found long afte
life had been extinct.
Mrs. Bells declaration that the chile
Edith had been prescribed for and givei
medicine by a well-known physician sh,
named has been proven false, which
fact seems to strengthen the suspicion
In the estimation of the ~neighbors tina
the child's death did not result from
natural causes
The couple spent the night in tn
Queens County Jail, being unable to Sc
cure bail, and II is probable that the!
Will occupy a cell there again. as Jus
tice kavanaugh insists that there shal
be W sureties in each case.
Bell is about forty-tive years old AM
has a very shady record, having beef
several times In the tolls of the police
Last summer he was arrested for Grim
inal libel and was in jail for eight days
lie retraction and apology. The com
%plainant was a rival editor.
On hat occasion the Long Island Cit,
newspaper published a statement tina
Bell had no right to the title. and tina
she was the legal wife Of a TELEGRAPH
operator named Hewlett. who had bee
obliged to separate from her.
She is a comely little woman, abou
thirty years, old. and might pass 70
look in her big, gray eyes and the hard
drawn lines on her face. She appeare
more unconcerned over the matter tha
her husband.
asked the officer was concerning the re
suit of the chemical analysis, remari
ing that she supposed they had foun
It,"
the ,pastorship of a church in Astori
tionable character. HIS explanation O
the charge was that he went to tn
place merely to test his moral strength
Both prisoners deny that they neg
guilty of any offense. They do not a
tempt, however, on the advice Of couns
they say, to explain why they above
their children to beg for food, locke
: them alone in a room. and left them I
die without medicine or proper nourisf
ment.