Fred Bell, Eastern Mystic

Today I want to introduce you to a remarkable man called Frederick Bell - also known, from the late 1870s on, as the Singing Preacher.

Bell was a British ex-pugilist, ladies' man and fortune-telling psychic as well as a Methodist minister. He was wanted in several states (and in England) for various reasons (which we'll be taking a look at next time). He got into physical altercations with other ministers. He was thrown out of his Brooklyn church for his relationship with a parishioner named Mrs. Morris. Bell was also involved in a possible murder case in Ohio in 1895. He didn't get charged with anything in Ohio though, because two years later he was back in Brooklyn and up to something else.

An Eagle reporter wrote of Bell: "There has been a scandal in connection with his name wherever he has been."

I have plenty of my own detective work to do in order to tell you all about him. But today we're going to go along with a young detective named Hilda Almgren, who in 1897 worked for the police and the District Attorney's office in Brooklyn, New York. She was very good at catching shoplifters and quack doctors and "had ambitions to be a great detective." Her mission on this particular day in mid-June 1897 was to catch Mr. Bell in an illegal fortune-telling business that he was running out of his home at 166 State Street.

Miss Almgren arrived at 166 State Street, where a sign above the door read "Fred Bell, Eastern Mystic." He greeted Almgren and said that he could tell her fortune either through palmistry or "by the planets," only he needed three dollars first. She handed over the money and was given a letter that he said came from "Fred Bell's Spirit Band" - though "the writing was remarkably like that of Bell, which is bold and angular."

The letter was addressed to a Miss Ida Smith (no explanation given for this by anyone) and tells her that she will be very happy in her future marriage, though her gentleman friend had another lady on the side. The Spirit Band said that Fred, "our medium," could tell her how to oust the rival (possibly through a boxing match, given Bell's past record). Oh, and her mother would get that money that was owed to her. And a dark-haired young man would be coming into Ida/Hilda's life in Spetember. Also, she would be sick in 1907 but she'd pull through and live to be 81 years old - exactly.

Bell then added that if Hilda gave him $20 more he could get her some property. He said he usually charged $50-100 for people "in better social circumstances," which sounds insulting. Hilda Almgren went off with her Spirit Band letter and promptly turned it (and Bell) over to the police.

Bell was arrested on June 15, 1897 on a charge of being "a disorderly person." He was released the next day on a $1000 bond provided by one of his admirers, a man named Warren Treadwell. Bell pleaded not guilty. He was not a fortune-teller, he said; he was "a lecturer of occultism and an electric medical healer." He lectured on Sundays and the rest of the week he taught occultism and "gave scientific psychic sessions." Had he ever been arrested? Well, yes - but never imprisoned. Judge Brenner was unimpressed, and fined him $200 and warned him to stay out of trouble for a year. Bell said he was leaving Brooklyn anyway as he no longer "found the atmosphere of the city congenial."

Next week, the amazing life of Frederick Bell - and believe me, from what I've been reading this morning, amazing doesn't even begin to describe his story. In between then and now, I'll post a few interesting ads and oddities - just to keep things going.

"Ex-Pastor Bell Arrested," Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 15, 1897, p. 1.
"Bell's Case Goes Over," Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 16, 1897, p. 1.
"Bell Talks Of Occultism," Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 18, 1897, p. 16.

Palmistry cartoon (1887) from the New York Public Library Digital Collection.