"His [Horace Bell's] adventures in the role of an overlander to California during the gold rush...; a filibusterer with William Walker in Nicaragua; a participant in abolitionist activities in Kentucky...spy in Cuba...compose a tale of a life that is as strange as fiction." [Source]
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| 29 Oct 1858 Chicago Tribune |
There is a story of how the Bells were distressed over the slave trade just across the border line of their state [Indiana], and that they won the ill will of the slave-traders by their denunciation of the Dred Scott decision and fugitive slave law.
A letter was sent to Horace Bell that he would be shot the moment he set foot on Kentucky soil. This message, however, had little effect on tho young man... .
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| Harrison County, Indiana, Map - LOC Also See Brandenburgh |
The authorities of Kentucky knew something of the man who had made this threat, and they took the precaution of ordering to Brandenburg a battalion of militia. The commander of that battalion, however, had served under Horace Bell at Nicaragua, and was not anxious to take up arms against his former commander, so he was not over-vigilant in watching for any outbreak that might be expected. [Source]
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