Tom Bell (outlaw)
Encyclopedia
Tom Bell was a western outlaw and physician known as the "Outlaw Doc". He is the first outlaw
to organize a stagecoach
robbery
in the United States.
he saw action in the Mexican-American War as a surgeon. Following the war he traveled to California during the California Gold Rush
but was unsuccessful as a prospector, later drifting around California as a gambler and as a doctor at times for several years. In 1855 he was serving time in Angel Island
Prison for robbery when he met Bill Gristy and successfully escaped several weeks later. With Gristy, Bell formed an outlaw gang of five men and began robbing stages for several months.
On August 12, 1856, after their spy spotted the Camptonville-Maryville stage carrying $100,000 worth of gold bullion, the gang unsuccessfully attempted to rob it. In an exchange of gunfire a woman passenger was killed and two male passengers were wounded before the gang were driven off by the stagecoach guards.
The robbery and death of the women passenger angered citizens, and both a sheriff's posse
and citzen vigilantes
conducted a massive search for the gang. By late September Gristy was captured. Under threat of being turned over to the irate lynch mob outside the jail, he confessed the location of Bell. The Stockton
Sheriff raced to arrest him. When he found Bell near Firebaugh's Ferry on October 4, 1856, an impromptu posse commanded by Judge George Gordon Belt
, a Merced River
rancher, had already hanged him.
Despite the lack of success Bell had in his attempted stagecoach
robbery, his example was soon followed by other outlaws with more success.
Outlaw
In historical legal systems, an outlaw is declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, this takes the burden of active prosecution of a criminal from the authorities. Instead, the criminal is withdrawn all legal protection, so that anyone is legally empowered to persecute...
to organize a stagecoach
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...
robbery
Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
in the United States.
Biography
Born Thomas J. Hodges in Rome, TennesseeTennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
he saw action in the Mexican-American War as a surgeon. Following the war he traveled to California during the California Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
but was unsuccessful as a prospector, later drifting around California as a gambler and as a doctor at times for several years. In 1855 he was serving time in Angel Island
Angel Island
Angel Island may refer to:* Angel Island , a landmass in San Francisco Bay** United States Immigration Station, Angel Island, a museum and former facility* Angel Island , by Inez Haynes Gillmore...
Prison for robbery when he met Bill Gristy and successfully escaped several weeks later. With Gristy, Bell formed an outlaw gang of five men and began robbing stages for several months.
On August 12, 1856, after their spy spotted the Camptonville-Maryville stage carrying $100,000 worth of gold bullion, the gang unsuccessfully attempted to rob it. In an exchange of gunfire a woman passenger was killed and two male passengers were wounded before the gang were driven off by the stagecoach guards.
The robbery and death of the women passenger angered citizens, and both a sheriff's posse
Posse comitatus (common law)
Posse comitatus or sheriff's posse is the common-law or statute law authority of a county sheriff or other law officer to conscript any able-bodied males to assist him in keeping the peace or to pursue and arrest a felon, similar to the concept of the "hue and cry"...
and citzen vigilantes
Vigilance committee
A vigilance committee was a group formed of private citizens to administer law and order where they considered governmental structures to be inadequate. The term is commonly associated with the frontier areas of the American West in the mid-19th century, where groups attacked cattle rustlers and...
conducted a massive search for the gang. By late September Gristy was captured. Under threat of being turned over to the irate lynch mob outside the jail, he confessed the location of Bell. The Stockton
Stockton, California
Stockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...
Sheriff raced to arrest him. When he found Bell near Firebaugh's Ferry on October 4, 1856, an impromptu posse commanded by Judge George Gordon Belt
George Gordon Belt
George Gordon Belt , soldier, 49er, businessman, judge, Confederate sympathizer who organized the Mason Henry Gang in California during the American Civil War.-Early Life and California:...
, a Merced River
Merced River
The Merced River , in the central part of the U.S. state of California, is a -long tributary of the San Joaquin River flowing from the Sierra Nevada into the Central Valley. It is most well known for its swift and steep course through the southern part of Yosemite National Park, and the...
rancher, had already hanged him.
Despite the lack of success Bell had in his attempted stagecoach
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...
robbery, his example was soon followed by other outlaws with more success.
Resources
- Secrest, William B. California Desperadoes, Quill Driver books, 2000
- Sinclair Drago, Road Agents and Train Robbers: Half a Century of Western Banditry, Dodd, New York, 1973
- Sifakis, Carl. Encyclopedia of American Crime, New York, Facts on File Inc., 1982