William H. Bell

Pictured above is the newspaper story from the April 29, 1865, National Police Gazette of Bell picking Lewis Powell (also known as Lewis Payne) out of a police line up at General Augur's headquarters shortly after Powell was apprehended. William H. Bell was an African-American servant of William Seward, who is best known for being the doorman who greeted William Seward's would-be assassin Lewis Powell the night of April 14, 1865, and for giving testimony against him during the Abraham Lincoln military tribunal. William H. Bell was born around 1845, probably enslaved, and had ~4-5 years of schooling. Bell worked as a waiter at the time of the assault. He later went on to practice law.

Early life William H. Bell was an African American man likely born a slave around 1845. He did not know his actual age. He estimated himself to be 19–21 years old at the time of the military tribunal that followed the Lincoln assassination. At sometime in his early life, he received four or five years of education. As he grew older, he eventually became a servant in William Seward's Washington home and served for only nine months prior to the attack. After a long conversation, Powell insisted that only he could bring the medicine to Seward and would not tell Bell why. Bell refused admission, so Powell pushed past Bell and tried to go directly to Seward's room upstairs. However, Bell then ran ahead of Powell as they climbed the stairs to Seward's bedroom.

Upon hearing the commotion on the steps, Seward's son Frederick came out of his room to see what the commotion was all about. Frederick asked Powell to leave. When his sister Fanny shows up, Bell witnessed Powell attack Frederick Seward with a gun. Powell originally tried to shoot Frederick but his gun misfired, and he decided to hit Frederick repeatedly in the back of the head with the pistol, causing Fred's skull to split. After reaching General Augur's headquarters, hoping to get the soldiers' attention, Bell ran back to the Seward house in time to witness Powell exiting the house. Bell watched Powell slowly ride off on a horse. Bell chased after Powell all the way to I Street and Fifteen but could not catch up to him.

Identifying Lewis Powell After the events of the night of April 14, 1865, at about 2:30 in the morning, Bell was questioned about the assassination attempt inside the Seward home. He had not slept since the attack. Bell played a large role in identifying Powell to be tried. He was called to the police station to look at suspects and identified Powell out of the line-up. He noticed his hair, boots and pantaloons. Detective Sampson who was leading the investigation said afterwards "I had never seen a more positive identification in my life."

Modern portrayal Bell has been rarely recognized for his actions during the attack. An example of this can be seen in later depictions of the act like the 2010 film The Conspirator. In this film, Bell's character simply lets Lewis Powell into the Seward home without a struggle. Furthermore, Bell's role in finding help, getting a make on Powell's horse, picking Powell out of the police line up, and courtroom testimony is not included.

In Philip Van Doren Stern's 1939 novel The Man Who Killed Lincoln, Powell said to Bell: "Get out of my way now, Nigger! I'm going up". This comment never happened. Nonetheless, this quote later appeared in books such as Jim Bishop's 1954's study The Day Lincoln got Shot and again in Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard's book Killing Lincoln.