Wilmington, April 1—Richard Rising, a sheet metal worker, was today in the New Hanover County Jail held for the death of J.W. Bell, whiskey still raider who died yesterday afternoon at 3:30 o’clock at the James Walker Memorial Hospital from wounds received when he was shot Monday afternoon in a savannah south of Oleander and Audubon.
Rising was placed under arrest yesterday afternoon following clues which Sheriff Jackson deputies and police officers obtained. He is said to have made a partial confession but authorities would not divulge the information which they have. They were today in search of other witnesses in the case but it was said that they already have sufficient evidence if they are not successful in securing any additional.
The Results
Sheriff Jackson today expressed satisfaction with the results obtained in what has been one of the most gruesome slayings in the history of New Hanover County law enforcement. The trails which were followed were described as at “first very dim.” But the trails led on and became warmer as the sheriff and his assistants tightly bound the net around Rising and his activities immediately before and after the shooting of Bell.
Rising is said to have admitted ownership of a still which was found nearby and which the authorities took in charge yesterday afternoon.
Coroner Asa Allen has selected a jury and the body was observed by this jury today. The jury was to convene this afternoon at 3 o’clock for the purpose of hearing a report of the autopsy by Dr. Elliott, assistant county health officer.
The Autopsy
Although nothing official as given out to the effect, it was generally believed that the evidence of Dr. Elliott would be all which would be heard this afternoon. The jury was expected to convene again tomorrow morning. Funeral services for the deceased raider will be held this afternoon at 3 o’clock from the Bell home at Fourth and Castle streets. Interment will be made in the old burial ground at Wrightsville sound.
Bell was shot some time Monday afternoon when he was entering a savannah in which he believed to be a whiskey still. He was almost face to face with the person who shot him, and the two were believed to have been within 15 feet of one another at the time. Gunwadding was found in the wounded man’s mouth and number six gun shot pierced his face and head two of these having been taken from a section of his head near the brain. Both eyes were shot out.
Laid in Blood
Bell was laid at this point in his own blood from that time until about 3 o’clock the following Tuesday, afternoon, when Sheriff Jackson and his party, with the assistance of a youth named John Reeves, found him. Bell was then unconscious and remained so until his death. He was said never to have spoken an audible word from the time he was recovered util his death at the hospital yesterday.
It was described as one of the most horrible attacks ever to occur in this county or section, and the authorities exerted every effort and every energy in attempt to take into custody the person guilty of the shooting. Sheriff Jackson and his deputies have spent practically every hour in an effort to locate Bell and upon finding him, turning their efforts to perfect an arrest. They were given the assistance of the police plainclothes squad.
The shooting, death and subsequent activities of the sheriff’s forces have created perhaps more interest in the city than any other case in New Hanover County enforcement annals with the possible exception of the shooting of officers Lilly and George some months ago. The latter two officers were killed in much the same way as was Bell.
Rising, who is now held in the county jail, is a sheet metal worker by trade, although the authorities say that he has not engaged in his occupation recently. He was said to be well known in the southern section of the city.
From the front page of the Goldsboro News, Friday morning, April 2, 1926
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn93064755/1926-04-02/ed-1/seq-1/
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