Micah Bell III (1860-1907) was an American outlaw of the Wild West. He was affiliated with the Van der Linde Gang for nearly a year, and the devious Bell came to be one of Dutch van der Linde's most trusted lieutenants while the gang was on the run throughout the American West and the American South. He later became a Pinkerton informant, helping to take down the gang in exchange for clemency; Arthur Morgan was one of his victims. In 1907, John Marston avenged Morgan's death by killing Bell in a shootout at Mount Hagen in the Rockies.
Biography[]
Micah in jail, 1899
Micah Bell was born in Texas in 1860, the son and grandson of men named Micah. He came from a long line of criminals, and, at one point, his father was wanted for murder in five counties. Bell was wild, unpredictable, and a nihilist, and he even despised his own brother Amos, who was living in California. At the age of 17, he and his father took part in the double murder of Roscoe and Jean Briggs, who were hung upside-down from their rafters with their throats slit.
Micah Bell in Arkansas, 1899
During the late 19th century, Bell took part in several robberies and murders, and, in 1898, he joined Dutch van der Linde's gang when Micah supposedly saved Dutch's life during a bar fight over stolen gold. Bell, a psychopathic murderer, was disliked by many of his fellow gang members, especially Arthur Morgan, but he came to influence Dutch's actions as Dutch descended into insanity following the Blackwater massacre. He later ended up in jail in Strawberry, Oklahoma after killing two members of the O'Driscoll Boys in a bar fight, and he was rescued by a reluctant Morgan on Dutch's orders; the two then killed dozens of local lawmen during their escape, and Micah even killed a former associate of his and his wife in a home invasion while escaping. Morgan came to despise him even more due to the death of Sean MacGuire, which was caused by Bell's carelessness.
After a failed bank robbery in New Orleans, the gang attempted to escape to the Pacific, only to be shipwrecked on Guarma, and they intervened in a revolution there before returning to the United States. After the return from Guarma, Bell secretly became an informant for the Pinkertons, whose Agent Andrew Milton was in charge of hunting down the gang. As Arthur's health declined due to his contracting of tuberculosis from debtor Thomas Downes, Bell became Dutch's main enforcer, and Dutch allowed for Bell to recruit new gang members as the original gang members began to leave the gang due to Dutch's descent into insanity, Micah's rise to power, Morgan's sickness, and the many deaths that the gang had experienced. Later, Morgan and John Marston discovered from Milton that Bell was an informant, and they confronted him in front of Dutch and accused him of treason. However, Dutch, Bill Williamson, and Javier Escuella took Micah's side, and the standoff was interrupted by a Pinkerton attack. Morgan attempted to kill Bell after the attack was repelled, but Dutch prevented either man from killing the other, and Bell was forced to leave with Dutch to collect the Blackwater heist money as Morgan died of his tuberculosis.
After the Van der Linde Gang broke up, Bell formed his own gang and personally killed two dozen people between 1899 and 1907, using Mount Hagen in the Rockies as his base. In 1907, John Marston, Sadie Adler, and Charles Smith teamed up and tracked Bell down. Charles and Sadie were wounded during the gunfight with Bell and his gang at Mount Hagen, and Dutch suddenly appeared and initiated a Mexican standoff with Micah and John; Micah held a wounded Sadie at gunpoint. Dutch appeared to take Micah's side at first, but he shocked Micah by shooting him, forcing him to free Sadie. A wounded Micah drew his guns in an attempt to shoot Dutch and John, but John quickly shot Bell dead. Dutch then left in silence, ignoring John's attempts to thank him, and John, Sadie, and Charles then left the mountain. No one ever cared enough about Bell to bury him, and his body was left to freeze on the mountaintop.