Imperial Valley press., 1936-12-27
Thomas Frederick Bell,
Who Two Years After
Receiving a Substantial
Settlement Was Penniless
and Sold Apples on San
Francisco Street Corners.

nockets was found a note the message of which
was in one handwriting, and the signature,
IN E. p" in another. The message read, THE
ak is laid at the root of the tree. When the
first blow is struck. there Will be more money
to help"
Dislusioned with her efforts to reform, this
ended so far as is known Mammys anti
slavery activities Eventually, she returned to
San Francisco to resume management of her
houses.
Soon Nanny had dozens of then powerful
financial and political barons dancing at the end
of a string They were her puppets and when
she pulled the strings they moved as she di-
rected Such network of interlapping evidence
did she have against the political powers OF the
State that she could indirectly influence dozens
of men whom she had never met She figured
prominently in many police cases in which she
invariably came out victorious.
There one case in which Negro hench-
man of hers was hailed into court for perjury.
When the case seemed to be going against him,
Nanny jumped from her seat in the courtroom
and openly announced to the court that he
could not be sent to prison She warned the
Judge that if convicted, the man not only would
never serve day in prison, but that the judges
own career on the bench would be at an end.
The frightened judge, of course, had no alterna-
tive after this outbreak and with the evidence
as it was The man convicted and SEN
fenced But NANNY was right! Before he even
entered the gates of the prison, he received
pardon The judge dropped into oblivion
Such was Mamnys power.
Mammy's house of i'll repute at 92O Wash
ington Street was favorite rendezvous for the
political and socially prominent men of the time
Nanny cared for and educated an illegltimate
daughter of one-time California governor. fol-
lowing the mothers death. The Negress saw to
it that the girls father contributed so gener-
ously that there enough to promote other
l,;. far,c In tic will
ernor then retired to private life left his daugh
ter without acknowledging her as such, share
of his estate. Feeling that she had not been
left her just due, the girl at the instigation of
Nanny contested the will, won her case and
obtained a handsome settlement There were
other cases-many of them-but Nanny is
more closely identified with the Bell family
than any other.
TOR years, a frequent visitor to Nanny S
houses was a Scotchman, Thomas Bell who,
previous to his arrival in San Francisco in
his early thirties. had held banking positions in
London and South America. shrewd and
canny financier he organized the brokerage firm
of Bell and Baron, which the agent for the
Rothschilds of London and Paris Later. ne be-
came the power behind Ralston in the Bank of
California in the Comstock days. 1t was he, too,
who promoted and built the Guatemala or Cen
trail American Railway. His fortune was es-
timated to run between 15 and 20 million dol
lars.
Thomas Bell had never married. He enjoyed
the free and easy life he had led without the
hampering bonds of matrmony. An nveterate
gambler he made and lost fortunes at one sit
ting without batting an eye. AS he reached so,
he attracted to a protegee of Mammys, a
girl employed in of Mammys houses, whose
beauty brought down the most devoted atten-
tions from many of the wealthy men of the
city. Nanny quick to see that Thomas
Bell was interested in this girl, and as result
engineered her plans successfully that he
moved Teresa Clingan- Harris-Percy into his
home and permitted her to add his name to
the long list already hers.
Not long after, Nanny herself moved in
with them, and straightway took firm hand
in ruling the domain She planned an elaborate
home for the couple at 1861 Octavia Street.
Every detail of Mammy's plans was carried out,
from the mansard roof to the circular stair