Son of West Pennard, Somerset and Reeth, Yorkshire delivers
a thunderclap to Chinatown
The witness to the prosecturion of 'Big Jim' (Chew Wing Gow) was born at Abersychan, Monmouthshire in 1874
the eldest child of the mythical 'third sister' of my great-grandpa Bert
Creed's father William, that I had hitherto not known about. The Creeds were tall, and this man being a
short-arse, is surely testimony to his Yorkshire father?
"It was after 4 oclock when the name of Percy Hammond-Bell
was called by the attorneys for the prosecution, and a short, slender young
Englishman, wearing eyeglasses and having a very decided accent took the stand.
Mr. Hammond-Bell said that he had come to Southern California from England last
January, and is at present stopping with an English family named Sheldon, at
616 West Sixth street. He is not employed at any profession or calling, but is
a medical student and journalist. In this city he was devoting his time to
acquiring the Chinese language and studying their customs and life, with a view
to writing a series of magazine articles when he went back to England. He had
been employing a Chinese tutor at No. 220 Marchessault street, and was often in
and about Chinatown. On the night of the shooting of Wong Chee he left his
residence about 8 oclock and walked to Chinatown, stopping at one or two places
on the way. He was on his way to the Marchessault street store and was crossing
Alameda on the former thoronghfare when Chee was shot, not thirty feet from
him. The witness said he had not yet reached the railroad tracks in crossing
the street, when he heard the report of the revolver and immediately turned to
see whence it had come. He saw the murderers run away, three men in all, and
followed two of them with his eyes. They both ran across Alameda street
diagonally to the; corner of Marchessault, one to one side of the street and
the second to the other.
"Asked as to the size of the three men, Mr. Hammond-Bell said
they were all different, that is, three heights. One was very large, one medium
and one small. He did not see what became of the third man, but noticed the
other two particularly. Confronted with Big Jim. the witness unhesitatingly
pronounced him to be one of the men—the big one —whom he had seen running away from
Chee's body, and the one who did the shooting. When the three murderers had
escaped from sight, Mr. Hammond-Bell ran to where Chee had fallen, being the
first one to reach his side. He bent down and placed his hand to Chee's face
and felt the terrible wounds made by the ball. Having a considerable knowledge
of medicine and being desirous of rendering such assistance as possible, Mr. Bell
made a quick examination of Chee's wound, but saw that he could do nothing.
Just as he laid the wounded man's head down. Officer Lennon came running up,
and immediately a crowd closed in upon the body. He asked Lennon If he could do
anything to assist him, but the officer said no, to wait for the arrival of the
patrol wagon. When it came he saw the body placed in it and then mingled with
the crowd for a time, finally going home. The testimony given by the witness
came like a thunderclap to the defense, as they had no intimation that such a
person existed, much less had seen the whole affair. Messrs. Appel and Phibbs,
for the prosecution, were almost equally surprised, as the witness had been
found by Detective Bradish and been served with a subpoena, being merely called
in the regular routine, They knew nothing of what he would testify to before he
took his place in the chair. For the defense Mr. Ling took the crossexamination
of the witness, and began with a snap. He had not proceeded far, however, when
the hour for adjournment arrived and the hearing was continued, to be taken up
again Monday morning at 9:30."
(Los Angeles Herald, 1896)
I had to make a cranial leap to conclude that Percy H Bell (shown
in the US censuses) was the Percy Creed Bell on my tree. His sister I'd found was known as Alys
Hammond Bell, so when I substituted 'Hammond' for 'H', I got the full story.
(Whilst Percy was pretending to be a doctor, his brother Lee was pretending to be a Methodist minister in Edgewater, Denver among the Rockies. That didn't last long. Their sister Alys was a Baptist missionary and nurse from age 27 in Gombe Lutete, at the foot of the Congo's Livingstone Falls, living out a boring retirement in Worthing).
.PNG)
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