The Saga of William Bell

"William! William! William Bell! Are you here?" The erudite-looking 25 year old walked in and out of the wards, up and down the aisles, calling out for the man he had known all his life. There were over 1,600 vagrants currently lounging on benches in the Kings County Almshouse in Brooklyn, on this January day in 1899. The searcher and his target were both far from home, and Horace Greely Eastburn walked into a 50 x 30 foot room packed with benches. On the benches were sleeping "tramps", and Horace went to each one of them, lifting their hats, checking to see if it was the missing man he sought.

Finally he found a man with eyes he thought he recognized. "William, is that you?", Horace asked, shaking the man awake.

"Hello, Horace!", replied the man on the bench. It was impressive that he was even recognized. The last time that young Horace G. Eastburn had seen William Bell (several years before), the older man had had his long, curly hair styled in the pompadour fashion, and wore a full beard. Now he was clean-shaven with short hair, and his gentlemanly outfit had been replaced by shabby clothes. He looked like a physical wreck.

Eastburn asked Bell a few more questions, to make sure he knew who he was. "Of course I know you, Horace. You're Samuel's nephew -- Oliver's son -- from Pleasant Hill.", replied Bell.

"Alright, William", said Horace, "let's get you some warm clothes and get you back home to Delaware." The two men, who in many ways couldn't be more different, then began their long journey back to the Diamond State, and back to the Eastburn-laden enclave of Pleasant Hill. But, you're probably wondering -- who are these men? How did they end up in Brooklyn? What connection do they have to Mill Creek Hundred, and who are their families? Let's answer those questions by rewinding the clock back from January 11, 1899 (the above account of which was taken from a newspaper report of the time), by meeting each of these men, and by seeing what led each of them to this point.

We'll start with William Bell, who was born in January 1845 to William and Elizabeth Bell in Northern Liberties, PA. (It became part of the City of Philadelphia in 1854, but in every Census prior was in the top 11 largest cities in the US.) In 1856, the family moved from Philadelphia to Mill Creek Hundred, where they had just purchased a farm featured in a blog post from two years ago -- the Eastburn-Bell Farm, located on the south side of Pleasant Hill Road west of Corner Ketch Road. Only the c.1830 stone barn remains today of this farmstead, which the Bells bought from Elizabeth's brother, Joseph Eastburn.

It's impossible and unfair to try to diagnose William 150 years after the fact, but he definitely had some sort of condition. Whether it was mental illness, a learning disability, or (my current guess) possibly being on the autism spectrum (a condition not described until 40+ years after his death) is unclear, but William was variously described in later articles as "slightly demented", "weak-minded", and "feeble-minded". He first lived with his parents in Philadelphia and New Castle Counties, and is listed as not attending school as a 15 year old in 1860, and as unable to read or write in 1870. After his parents died in 1870 and 1871, William may have stayed on the family farm for a few years. However, he soon moved over to live on the farm next door with his sister and brother-in-law, Sarah "Sallie" and William R. Armstrong, after they purchased it from his brother David in 1876 (it had been a part of the larger Bell farm). William remained with the Armstrongs when they later moved to Jersey City, New Jersey.

Samuel Lloyd Eastburn

While he resided with his sister, William's legal guardian was another relative, Samuel Eastburn. There were two Samuel Eastburns around at the time, but I think ours was Samuel Lloyd Eastburn, William's cousin. (Samuel's father Isaac was the brother of Elizabeth Eastburn Bell, William's mother.) Samuel had by this time moved to Wilmington, where he ran a livery stable (think a parking garage, if you also had to feed, clean, and groom the cars). Samuel might have had legal guardianship of William, but it seems like caring for him was a group effort. And to be clear, I could find no other police or court reports about him, so I don't think he was violent, erratic, or dangerous to himself or anyone else. I think he just needed special care.

Almost certainly because of his growing expertise and mental acumen, Samuel (I think, later) granted power of attorney over William to his nephew, Horace Greely Eastburn. Horace was the son of Samuel's brother Oliver Wilson Eastburn, who lived on the property on Doe Run Road also known as the William Morgan Farm. When Horace was growing up, his father Oliver leased it from the other Samuel Eastburn, Oliver' uncle. Got it? The Eastburns are fun. Another fun Eastburn fact -- of the eight children of Oliver Wilson Eastburn, there were three sets of twins (Horace was one). Horace, though, set his sights higher than the quiet Pleasant Hill community dominated by his family.

After attending the local schools as a youth (like the Union School #31, described in this post), Horace attended Delaware College (now UD) where among other things, he was active in the debate team. He graduated in 1895 and took a summer law course at Cornell University. He took a job at a law firm and one at the Wilmington Institute Free Library (now the Wilmington Public Library), which is where he was employed in 1899 at the time of our story. Later that year Horace would enroll in the Yale University Law School, where he would graduate as a valedictorian and give the valedictory speech in 1901. So, you can see why he was entrusted in a crisis with William's power of attorney. Now that we've met all our major players, let's get back to William...

Three articles from January 1-7, reporting that William had disappeared,
 erroneously saying he had returned, then correcting that he was still missing. 

In early 1899 he was living at 37 Culver Street in Jersey City, with his sister and brother-in-law, the Armstrongs (the house is long gone, and the site is now on the campus of the New Jersey City University). On Wednesday, January 4, 1899, a New Jersey newspaper reported that a Mrs. Atkinson (honestly, I have no idea how they got the name wrong -- it was definitely Armstrong) had reported to the police the previous day that her brother, William Bell, Jr., had left home on Monday and hadn't been heard from since. She didn't think he had harmed himself -- just wandered off. Oddly, two days later it's reported that William had returned home Thursday evening, but that story was corrected and retracted the following day. William Bell was missing, and no one knew where he might have gone.

On Monday, January 9 (a full week after William left home), Horace, too, left home, headed for the Big Apple (although that nickname was still two decades away). Proven by his schooling and debate experience, Horace G. Eastburn was obviously a very bright, organized, and determined young man. When he arrived in the metropolitan area, he set to work gathering clues and getting the word out. Horace had a flier printed, with William's description and an offer of a $50 reward (equivalent to almost $2000 today). He had it distributed to every police precinct in New York City and northern New Jersey, with no luck. At some point he determined that his cousin had taken the ferry from Jersey City to New York, and fearing for the vulnerable man's safety, began searching for him there.

Horace visited numerous police stations in New York and Brooklyn, combing through reports of anyone even vaguely matching William's description. After several days of this, he discovered a possible match in a man arrested as a vagrant at the 57th Precinct in Brooklyn (the precinct was later closed, but was located near the Brooklyn Navy Yard). The man was sent to the Raymond Street jail, and from there to the Kings County Hospital for evaluation for lunacy. Horace found that the man had then been sent to the Kings County Almshouse as a lunatic. (Both the old hospital and almshouse are long gone, but were located at the site of the present Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn.) Horace dashed there to investigate, bringing us back to where we joined the story at the top of the post.

The three Brooklyn locations where William Bell was sent. Raymond Street jail (upper left),
Kings County Hospital (upper right), and the Kings County Almshouse (bottom).

Horace certainly had his work cut out for him, because when he arrived at the almshouse he was told that the man should be there, but it would be almost impossible to find him. He didn't give up, though, and after searching through the facility, finally found his man. As somewhat of an aside, I find it interesting that several of the newspaper articles refer to Horace Eastburn as a "new" or "up-to-date" Sherlock Holmes. This was only 12 years after the first Holmes novel was published, and towards the end of the eight year gap between Doyle killing off the character in 1893 and resurrecting him due to public pressure in 1901.

When Horace did finally find William Bell, the nice gray suit and black overcoat he had left home wearing were replaced by a "duck blouse and a cotton shirt" -- meager clothing for New York in January. They likely returned first to Culver Street for a few days, getting William cleaned up, warm, and fed -- and deciding what to do with him next. Whether this was the first time something like this happened or whether William had a history of erratic behavior I don't know, but the family decided that he should return home with Horace to Delaware.

March 4, 1899 notice of the passing
of William Bell

Upon returning to Delaware, William was taken to stay at the Doe Run Road home of Horace's father Oliver Wilson Eastburn, to recover. It seems that William's nine day odyssey, in which he obviously spent much or all of it exposed to the elements, had severely affected his health, and I don't think he every really recovered. He was cared for by Horace's twin brother, Oscar L. Eastburn, but on March 2, 1899, only five weeks after returning home, William Bell died at the age of 54. His death certificate lists the cause as "La Grippe", a fancy term for influenza. He was interred a few days later at the Mill Creek Friends Meeting House, where he joined and would be joined by many of his Eastburn relatives.

William's savior that day in Brooklyn, Horace Greely Eastburn, as mentioned, did graduate with his law degree from Yale and was almost immediately accepted into the Delaware Bar. He would practice law in Wilmington for more than a half century, making a name for himself and representing numerous banks and corporations along the way (while later practicing with his son, David A. Eastburn). He was active in Republican politics, twice going against the grain  -- by helping to form the Progressive Party in Delaware in 1912, and by being a "dry crusader" against Prohibition repeal and helping to form the Independent Party in 1932. He was obviously never afraid to stand up and take on daunting tasks. He was also an avid yachtsman.

An older Horace G. Eastburn, probably
not long before his 1954 passing

Horace Greely Eastburn died in May 1954, and was laid to rest at the Mill Creek Friends Meeting House, not far from William Bell, Jr. While the story of Horace's impressive 1899 detective work in finding his lost Eastburn cousin might not be the kind of thing to make its way into history books, it's a fascinating piece of the tapestry of our local history.

P.S. -- Below is the full version of the best account of Horace's adventures in New York. You can click on the image to get a larger version of the whole article, if you so choose.