Private General Bell

General Bell

The Texas State Police were formed during the administration of Texas Governor Edmund J. Davis on July 22, 1870, to combat crime statewide in Texas. It was dissolved on April 22, 1873. Private General Bell arrested a freed man named Drew. Both Bell and Drew were African Americans. Drew was charged with stealing horses in Falls County. Bell was bringing the prisoner to town when he was killed. Joseph Miller, a freed man, had furnished Drew with a pistol with which he killed Bell while riding along the road. The shot took effect in the small of the back, passing through the region of the kidneys, producing death in about fifteen hours.

Bell was a private in the First District of the Texas State Police from July 27, 1870 until his death. He was not married in the 1870 census.