Cherokee County AlArchives News..... Here is a blood-curlding tale  April 9, 1998
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W. Stephens wend901@charter.net May 13, 2005, 5:04 pm

The Cleburne News, Heflin, Al April 9, 1998
   Here is a blood-curlding tale of a murder that took place in or near Borden 
Springs around 1927.  It seems there were two men who were at odds with each 
other.  They were Will Chandler and a “Whiskey-Handler” named (or called) Bell 
Tree Smith.  Bell Tree also handled other commodities.  It was said that the 
Smith man operated on a “Large Scale.”  Old citizens of Cleburne County around 
Edwardsville recalled that WillChandler had incurred the wrath of Bell Tree.  
One day they came upon each other and the fury commenced.  At the point of a 
gun, Bell Tree forced Will Chandler to get down on his hands and knees and eat 
dirt and grass in the manner of an animal.  What Bell Tree overlooked was Will 
Chandler’s brother who stood nearby witnessing the humiliating sight.  Will 
Chandler had been coerced into removing all of his clothes to degrade him even 
further.  
Bell Tree was really lording it over his victim.  He was saying that Chandler’s 
days would be short on the earth and that he would soon depart.  
Simultaneously, Will Chandler picked up a large rock and his brother knocked 
Bell Tree down, and Bell Tree was struck mightily with the rock.  Then Will got 
his hands on Bell Tree’s pistol and fired five bullets into the man’s body.
   On a following Sunday, volunteers were busy digging a grave for the body of 
an officer who had been slain on Saturday night and they were authorities for 
the statement that Will Chandler had been convicted by a jury and given a 
year’s sentence for the killing of Bell Tree Smith.  But they said, when he was 
delivered to the warden in the Alabama penitentiary, he was met with a full 
pardon issued by Governor B. B. Comer and that he never served a minute for 
this dastardly crime of killing “the famous operator” of Borden Springs.
   Bell Tree’s place of operation was near the Borden Springs Hotel.  He is 
said to have obtained his moniker by the use of a bell hanging in a tree when 
someone wanted whiskey.  It was well-known that he kept strong drink for sale 
and a signal was a ring of the bell near his home.  At that time he was 
considered to be a leader in the community and had always been described as a 
man set in his ways about everything.  Even his neighbors were afraid to differ 
from him on any question.  He was said to have lived in a lavish home, 
surrounded by servants. 
 His grand lifestyle impressed all who witnessed it.  His word was law and “woe 
to any man who disputed it.” 
   Well, the newspaper of the time said that it was not certain what had become 
of Will Chandler.  A short time after the killing of Bell Tree Smith he 
(Chandler) was initiated into the Knights of Pythias Lodge at Heflin.  So much 
for that! 
   By the way, Charlie Collins sent me an old newspaper item containing this 
story.  It was messed up and hard to read but I think I got it pretty much 
right.  Charlie said the newspaper had been found on some lady’s wall.

Correction to the April 9th article by Mildred P. Miller
First, allow me to make a correction.  When I said that the Bell Tree Bloodshed 
occurred in 1927, I was mistaken.  That was an approximate date that the story 
appeared in the newspaper.  Actually, it is believed that the killing took 
place about 1908.  The old newspaper clipping which related the story did not 
have a date on it.  


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