NOTES AND FRAGMENTS.

Governor Bell's Record—A Correction.—The following extracts from letters of recent date will serve to correct certain statements concerning Governor P. H. Bell which were published in The Quarterly some years ago. ¹⁵⁰

Z. T. Fulmore.  Raleigh, N. C., November 30, 1909.  Hon. Z. T. Fulmore, Austin; Texas.

My Dear Sir: . . . I knew him [Governor Bell] from the year 1867, until he died and . . . I was his legal adviser for many years. He lived in the past almost entirely. His heart was always with his adopted State, Texas . . . He often told me how he left home and came down to Petersburg, from which place he went to join the patriot army of Texas. . . . He married Ella Eaton Dickens, a daughter of William Eaton, a wealthy planter, who lived in the Roanoke River section in Warren County, N. C., and the widow of Benjamin Dickens. Mr. Eaton was a gentleman of large property in lands and negroes, but there was no distribution of his property until his death in 1869. . . . I never heard him [Governor Bell] allude to the war between the States, and therefore I always thought he was not a secessionist. He took no part in that war and lived through the four years in retirement on the plantation of Mrs. Bell in Granville County, N. C. . . . No greater error could be made in reference to that period of his life than the statement that he acquired through his wife a large number of slaves and that he enlisted, equipped, and commanded a regiment of troops in the Confederate service. . . .

Yours very Respectfully.  Walter A. Montgomery, ¹⁵¹  Raleigh, N. C.”

Littleton College  Office of the President  J. M. Rhodes, Littleton, N. C.  January 14, 1910.  Mr. Z. T. Fulmore, Austin, Texas.

My Dear Sir: I trust you will excuse my delay in replying to your favor of November 13th. I saw much of ex-Governor Bell, both while he was living in Warrenton and since his removal to Littleton. ... Replying to your inquiries, I beg to say that Governor Bell was born in Culpepper County, Virginia, near Fredericksburg; and that, so far as I have been able to learn, he was educated in the schools of his county. It is not known by me that he went to college. He had no profession prior to going to Texas. He did not raise and equip at his own expense a regiment for the Confederate War. He was offered the place of colonel of a regiment by President Davis, but declined, sharing the feeling of many in Warren County of small faith in the Confederacy. He rendered no conspicuous service after his marriage. ... He and his wife sleep in the same grave in our cemetery, which is very much neglected, and is in serious need of attention. ... I saw him often ... for several years before his death and admired him greatly. ...

Yours very truly,  J. M. Rhodes.

Littleton College  Office of the President.  J. M. Rhodes, Littleton, N. C.  January 22, 1910.  Mr. Z. T. Fulmore, Att'y at Law, Austin, Texas:

... I have just sent one of my stenographers over to the cemetery to copy the inscription on Governor Bell's tomb, which I herewith enclose. The grave is in the Littleton cemetery, inside the corporation of the town, located immediately on the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, opposite a portion of the College campus. The grave is about one hundred yards from the railroad. Governor and Mrs. Bell are both buried in the same grave, over which there is a hollow brick wall, or a wall about eight inches thick and about three feet high. On top of this lies a marble slab, long enough and wide enough to cover both graves. On the slab is the inscription, a copy of which I enclose. ...

Yours very truly,  J. M. Rhodes.  The inscription above mentioned is as follows:  Peter H. Bell.  Ex-Governor of Texas.  Died March 8, 1898.  Age 90 years.  Died July 16, 1897.  Ella Rives Bell  Wife of  Ex-Governor Bell  In her Sixty-second Year.  `Rock of ages, cleft for me,'  `Let me hide myself in thee.'  `And that thou bidst me come to thee.'  `Oh Lamb of God, I come.'  `From my mother, from my boyhood,  Truth, Justice, Mercy.'