Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1905-03-14
HER HONOR
AT STAKE
Sonora Ella Bell Co|dner Fight.
ing for Her Own and Her
Mothers Good Name.
INVOLVES BIC ESTATE
The Stsry Deals With New Mexico, the
Plaintiff Claiming Silver City as
Her Birthplace.

In the Superior Court at El Paso, be
fore Judge Wilbur, is now being Tough
legal battle, the result of which will
decide the honor or dishOnor of twt
families. 1t will also decide who is tt
get the fortune left by Nathaniel Bell
who was successful mine owner il
Grant County, thirty years ago. One
of the principal parties to the sui
claims New Mexico as her birthplace
and as the home of her mother before
her. On one side is Sonora Ella Bel
Goldner, of Nueva Grandes, Chihua
hua, Mexico, who claims to be the
daughter of the late Nathaniel Bell. On
the other side is Mrs. Susan
w. Bell, who claims to be the
widow of Nathaniel Bell Bells for
tune was made in mining in the Pinos
Altos mining district, Grant County
He died in Los Angeles, California
leaving an estate of 100000, mostly in
valuable mining properties.
Mrs. Goldner claims that her moth
er, Librada Valencia Bell, was mar
ried to Bell in Silver City, in 1872;
that she and two brothers were born
OF the union and that six years after
her birth Bell deserted her mother
She claims that she was born in Silver
City on August 2S, 1874, and lived
there eight years. She declares that
after her father left her mother that
woman was compelled to go to Mexico
where she died. These are her only
claims and she asks for justification
and her just share of the estate.
Mrs Susan Voolfolk Bell claims
that there was no legal marriage with
Llbrada Valencia, but that Bell a sim
gle man, married her (Susan) at Pinos
Altos, New Mexico, November 5, 1884,
and that she and her two sons, aged
l9 and II, are the only legal heirs to
the fortune. The claims of Judge Dill.
lon, attorney for Mrs. Bell, are not SO
calm as the statements of the other
side He goes back to the war be.
tween the Mexican Republican leaders
and the Emperor Macmillan and
his French allies, and says that Mrs.
Goldner's mother married at that time.
In addressing the court Judge Dillon
reviewed the fact that Nathaniel Bell
died intestate in Los Angeles, May 22,
1893; that his widow, Mrs. Susan w.
Bell, was appointed administrative of
the estate; that some mining claims
were presented which had to be car
ried to the Supreme Court of the Uni
ted States; and that, just prior to the
settlement of these claims, the petition
of Mrs. Ella Bell Goldner was pre-
sented.
The defense will deny that the wom-
an, Librada Valencia Bell, was ever
the wife of Nathaniel Bell, or that the
plaintiff, Ella Bell Goldner, was his
prove story that goes back to the
days before the time of the encroach-
child. They claim that they will
ment Of the French on the Mexican
Republic. They propose to prove on
testimony drawn from the plaintiffs
witnesses that Librada Valencia con.
tracted ceremonial marriage at her
home in Bacerac, Sonora, with man
named Loreto. This man became a
soldier in the war with Macmillan
and then disappeared, so it is claimed.
The defense states that it expects to
show conclusively that Loreto did not
die in the war, but that when his wife
left her home to go to the mining
camps of New Mexico in the late '60s
or early '70s, she knew where he was.
Judge Dillon says that they will show
that this man is alive today. Then
ne proposes to trace the life of the
plaintiffs mother who was first found
living at Ralston, New Mexico, now
Lordsburg. The defense claims that
the woman went from there to Las
Cruces, then to other mining camps
and finally to Silver City. In the win.
ter OF "a or the spring of rs, she vol.
unfairly left Silver City and went to
Georgetown, where for four years she
was known as Mrs. George Lynch, and
that there these children were born.
From there the defense claims to trace
her to Tucson; then back to Silver
City, where they say that either she or
her daughter, the plaintiff in the case.
induced a man named Harris, in 1892,
to go to Bell in Pinos Altos, and make
the first demand for money, claiming
that the children were his. This de-
mand, they say, was repudiated, as
were all subsequent demands OF that
nature. Then the defense will endeaY.
or to show that the woman disap.
peared for time and finally r cap.
peared at Deming. From there she
went to 81 Paso, where she met her
death.
Shortly after the close Of Judge Dill
Ions speech, the attorneys for the
plaintif attempted to put in evidence