Husband's Insults, Neglect Contributed to Death of 19-Year-Old Wife, September 1920

Word was received here Wednesday morning to the effect that Mrs. Joseph Bell of Weeksville died last night at 7 o'clock at a Norfolk hospital, to which she was taken Tuesday morning for an operation. Mrs. Bell has been in poor health for several weeks, it is reported, and Tuesday her attending physician, Dr. R.B. Davis, decided that an operation would be necessary to save her life. She was nearly 19 years of age, and before her marriage was Miss Mattie Knowles, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. S.S. Knowles of the Weeksville section. She is survived by her husband, whose continued insults and neglect are believed to have strongly contributed toward bringing on the condition which resulted in her untimely death. The funeral was conducted at Newbegun Methodist church, near Weeksville, by Rev. E.L. Stack at 11 o'clock Thursday morning. (From the front page of The Independent, Elizabeth City, N.C., September 24, 1920.)