The Bell Witch: The Full Account (42 page)

and the book’s 1894 publication date reflect Ingram’s

honoring the Bell family’s request that the account

not be published until after all of John Bell’s

immediate family had died. “Our Family Trouble”

was also published by Mini-Histories in 1985.

72
Route Guide – The Sunset Limited
, Amtrak, 2000.

312 P A T

F I T Z H U G H

The second youngest child of John and Lucy Bell,

Richard Williams Bell was born at the Bell farm in

Robertson County, Tennessee. He spent his entire

life as a successful farmer in the Red River area and

was married three times – to Sallie Gunn, Susan

Gunn, and Elizabeth Orndorf. Among his three

wives, two of whom were daughters of the Reverends

Thomas and James Gunn, he had two children.

He purchased a tract of land atop the hill at

Brown’s Ford Bluff from his brother, Joel Egbert Bell,

in 1855, where he remained until his death two years

later. His son, Allen Bell, then inherited the land.

This land is not far from where the original Bell home

stood, and is directly above the Bell Witch Cave.

Many strange things have happened on this land and

in the house that once stood there.

Richard Williams Bell died in 1857 at the young

age of 46 years, and is buried along with his parents

and several siblings in the old Bell cemetery near

Adams, Tennessee.

Joel Egbert Bell (1813-1890)

Although too young at the time of the disturbances

to remember many details, Joel Bell later became

very knowledgeable about Kate by listening to his

mother and siblings tell of their remarkable

encounters with her.

After the original Bell house was razed, Joel Bell

used some of the logs and stones to build his house

on Brown’s Ford Bluff, a hill overlooking the Red

River about a half-mile from where the original Bell

house stood and directly above the Bell Witch Cave.

A number of strange things happened in this house.

During the winter of 1852, Dr. Henry Sugg

experienced an incident where Kate shook and

rattled the vials in his medicine bag as he tended to a

THE BELL WITCH: THE FULL ACCOUNT

313

sick child at this house. Three years later, Joel Bell

moved to nearby Springfield and sold the land and

house to Richard Williams Bell, who in turn left it to

his son, Allen Bell, when he died in 1857. About

1861, Allen Bell was discharged from the

Confederate Army due to illness. While recuperating

at his home, he was visited one night by Reynolds

Powell, son of Elizabeth and Richard Powell. The two

men reported being harassed by Kate up until the

wee hours of the next morning.

Over the course of many years, Joel Bell cultivated

a good friendship with Martin Ingram, author of the

book, “Authenticated History of the Bell Witch,” and

shared many stories about Kate with him.

The youngest child of John and Lucy Bell, Joel

Egbert Bell was born at the Bell farm in Robertson

County, Tennessee and spent his childhood and

many of his adult years in the area. He married

twice and had fourteen children.

Bell moved his family to nearby Springfield in

1855, where he spent the remainder of his life as a

successful farmer and well-respected citizen. Joel

Egbert Bell died in 1890, and is buried in a rural

area just outside Springfield, Tennessee.

Joshua Gardner (1800-1884)

One of nine children,

Joshua Gardner was

born in Robertson

County and spent his

childhood on a farm

situated along present-

day State Route 256.

Although he had very

few direct encounters

with Kate, Gardner

314 P A T

F I T Z H U G H

figures prominently into the legend by virtue of

having been Elizabeth “Betsy” Bell’s suitor and fiancé

during the terrifying period of Kate’s disturbances.

Kate strongly disapproved of Elizabeth and Joshua’s

engagement, and voiced her disapproval to Elizabeth

every time she got the chance.

Kate, despite never having said anything bad

about Gardner himself, provided Elizabeth no reason

for her disapproval of their engagement other than,

“You will not have happiness with Joshua Gardner,

and future generations will see it true.” After giving

the matter much thought and enduring considerable

agony, Elizabeth finally broke off the engagement.

Not long after that fateful day in 1821, Joshua

Gardner wrapped up his affairs and left the area,

settling in Henry County, Tennessee where in 1829

he married Sarah Donelson and had two children.

Joshua became a successful farmer and served as a

magistrate for several years.

Joshua Gardner’s younger brother, John, became

the first president of the Nashville and North Western

Railroad, which is now part of the CSX Railroad.

John Gardner had a successful political career,

serving as a state Senator for several years and later

attending the 1870 Tennessee Constitutional

Convention.

Joshua Gardner left Henry County, Tennessee in

1840 and settled in Weakley County near Gardner’s

Station, a small town named for his younger brother.

He purchased 228 acres of land and began farming

it, using his profits to purchase additional land that

was once estimated to have been more than 1,800

acres.

Although Easter Monday of 1821 was the last time

Joshua Gardner and Elizabeth Bell ever saw each

other, he became friends with Richard Powell and

even signed a petition to the Tennessee State

THE BELL WITCH: THE FULL ACCOUNT

315

Legislature requesting financial assistance for

Powell’s family after a series of misfortunate events.

The author feels that it was not Richard Powell whom

Gardner was concerned about, but the well-being of

his lost love, Elizabeth.

After Sarah Donelson’s death, Gardner remarried

and continued farming successfully up until his

death in 1884. Joshua Gardner is buried in Weakley

County, Tennessee near the present-day town of

Dresden. 73

Reverend Sugg Fort (1776-1829)

Reverend Sugg Fort was Pastor of Red River

Baptist Church during the time of the Bell

disturbances, and with other clergymen in the area,

tried to determine Kate’s identity and purpose while

comforting the Bell family as much as possible.

The youngest of nine children born to Elias and

Sarah Sugg Fort, Reverend Fort was born in

Edgecombe County, North Carolina and moved to

Tennessee with his family in 1788, settling between

the Red River and Elk Fork Creek in what would

later become the northwestern end of Robertson

County. His father, Elias Fort, was actively involved

in the Tar River Association, a religious advocacy

group in North Carolina whose membership included

the church John and Lucy Bell attended, Union

Baptist Church, before they moved to Tennessee.

Reverend Sugg Fort married Elizabeth Diggs in

December of 1801, and they had two children before

her death in February of 1805. He never remarried.

During this time, Elias Fort was the Pastor of Red

River Baptist Church while two of his sons, Sugg and

Josiah, served as clerks of the church. Around

73 Joshua Gardner’s photo from
Authenticated History of the Bell Witch
, M.V. Ingram, 1894.

316 P A T

F I T Z H U G H

1816, Sugg Fort became the Pastor of Red River

Baptist Church.

Over the years, mainly as a result of his father’s

having known the Bells in North Carolina before they

moved to Tennessee, Reverend Fort developed a good

friendship with John Bell and his family, often

visiting and holding prayer meetings in their home.

The same could not be said about Reverend Fort’s

older brother, Josiah, however.

At a church service in August of 1815, a deacon

was unable to distribute communion because John

Bell had privately expressed to him his

dissatisfaction with Josiah Fort. 74 Because both men

were at the table and prepared to partake of the

elements, the deacon refused to proceed because not

all present were in fellowship with one another.

Confusion arose among those prepared for

communion and several, including John Bell, got up

and went home.

The church conducted a private hearing some

weeks later to determine why “Brethren Bell & Fort

do not appear to be in fellowship.” 75 The outcome of

this hearing is not documented in the church

minutes; however, at the church’s next meeting,

Josiah Fort requested and received a letter of

dismission from the church and joined nearby

Drake’s Pond Baptist Church. He would eventually

return to Red River Baptist Church, but not until

after John Bell’s death.

Despite the issue of John Bell’s excommunication

from the church in 1818, Reverend Fort continued to

maintain the good relationship with Bell and his

family that they cultivated and enjoyed over the

years. Reverend Sugg Fort died in 1829, and is

74
Red River Baptist Church Minutes (1791-1826)
, pp. 165-166.

75
Red River Baptist Church Minutes (1791-1826)
, pp. 167-169.

THE BELL WITCH: THE FULL ACCOUNT

317

buried in one of the three Fort cemeteries in

Robertson County, Tennessee.

Reverend James R. Gunn (1772-1845)

It was Reverend James R. Gunn who asked Kate

the question, “Who are you and what do you want?”

in such a manner that a truthful answer was the

only option. Kate’s answer to his question, “I am

nothing but old Kate Batts’ witch, here to torment Ol’

Jack Bell to his death,” is what earned the Spirit the

nickname, “Kate.”

Reverend James Gunn was the younger of the two

Gunn brothers who pioneered Methodism in the Red

River area during the early Nineteenth Century. He

was born and spent his childhood in Virginia, where

he and his brother, Thomas, were licensed to preach

in May of 1789. He moved to Caswell County, North

Carolina in 1791.

The son of Episcopalians, Reverend James Gunn

was married twice and had a total of seventeen

children, three of who (Joseph, E.W., and William)

followed in his footsteps and became Methodist

ministers. He moved to Robertson County,

Tennessee in 1811, settling in the Red River area

near the Bell farm. He helped establish and then

began preaching at nearby Bethel Methodist Church,

which was in addition to riding the “circuit” and

preaching at other Methodist churches in Tennessee

and southern Kentucky. Along with his brother,

Thomas, Reverend James Gunn founded Ebenezer

Methodist Church (now known as Cedar Hill

Methodist Church) in 1833. Many of the churches

he helped to establish still exist today.

Reverend James R. Gunn died of a probable stroke

in 1849 after spending the last eight months of his

life confined to a bed.

318 P A T

F I T Z H U G H

Reverend Thomas Gunn (1770-1859)

Along with his brother, Reverend Thomas Gunn

pioneered Methodism in the Red River area during

the early Nineteenth Century. He was born and

spent his childhood in Virginia, where was licensed

to preach in May of 1789. 76 He moved to Caswell

County, North Carolina in 1791.

In the spring of 1812, Reverend Gunn moved to

the Red River area and settled in Logan County,

Kentucky where he remained four years before

moving to Robertson County, Tennessee. He
was

married twice, and three of his five children married

into the Bell family.

Despite having a dislocated hip from being thrown

by a horse in 1840, Reverend Thomas Gunn

continued preaching fervently in his trademark,

“hellfire and brimstone” manner – often traveling

long distances and suffering great pain to deliver the

word. Four years later, he was stricken with palsy

and suffered a serious head injury that rendered him