Arizona sentinel., 1917-02-08
A RELIC OF PAST AGES.

Who knows anything about the old
 Mission bell brought in from Yuma's
 famous orange grove last week and
 presented to the Commercial Club by l Chester Dewey?
 1 The bell has been kicked and cuffed
 about the orange grove for the past twenty years, and yet, strange as it
 may seem, no one ever paid any atten- l tion to it until MT. Dewey became it's owner and proposed to take it to his
 home in California. I happened to
 be in the Commercial Club rooms when MT. Dewey was holding a con- ference with Secretary L. w. Alexan-
 der and G. F. Molina relative to the beel's removal to California It fell to
 my lot to draw up the agreement whereby the bell became the
 property of the city of Yuma, to be
 cared for by the Commercial Club.
 MT. Dewey knew nothing of it's his tory, beyond the fact that he obtained
 it at the orange grove. Those in
 charge of the grove know nothing of it's history, except that some twenty
 odd years ago it was left at the grove
 by some Mexicans whose names have long since been forgotten, if indeed they were ever known. MT. Frank
 Blaisdell, who remembers quite we'll
 the day the bell reached the grove is quite sure that they are dead.
 For many years the old bell was used to call the workmen to their work and to their meals. In recent years, however, it has simply been rolled about the yard as a common nuisance and those in charge of the grove were glad to get rid of it to MT. Dewey, who was recently imported here from Sunny California to give the orange grove a much needed pruning, and he in turn was more than willing to do- nate it to the city.
 But from whence came this old relic of centuries ago? Apparently, it never had a "clapper," for there is no indication on the inside of the bell that a clapper was ever used. But even this may be an error, for if the outline of the date on the body of the bell is correct it had some connection with the year "1735", for these figures are quite distinct, though not carved in the metal, but put there, apparently by some sort of acid which merely stained the metal so that standing at a distance of few yards the figures are perfect ly plain. Many theories have been advanced by the hundreds who have viewed this old relic since the first announcement of it's find" was made, in fact it may be said that every one who views it has a theory of his own. The prevailing idea, however, is that it either came from the Potholes Mis- oAOA oC A@o6uAAcl doL1J OI OlOS w WdO dug up by the men at the orange grove when the grove was being planted. And probably the man in charge at the time could not un- derstand Mexican and simply dismiss ed the matter from his mind.
 One common theory advanced is that it was being transported over the Mesa from the gulf of California | to one of the western missions and | those who had it in charge were kill | ed by rowing Indians, who simply let | the old relic rest where it fell from the pack mule But whatever one may think of it the bell is relic of cen turies long gone by, and in all human probability was cast in Spain and l made of all the precious metals, for there is no question about it continin- ing gold-this can be seen with the naked eye. A gentleman who halls from Spain, who claims to be more or less familiar with the methods of making some of the old mission bells, examined it in my presence and declared that it was the exact coun- terpart of many he had seen in Spain which contained a large proportion of both gold and silver, and he express ed the belief that this old bell, if melted, would produce upwards of five