June 20, 1861
Page 1
HON. JOHN BELL—This stern old patriot of Tennessee made a succession of stirring speeches on the eve of the late election. He told them that now he was “a traitor to the United States,” that if they wanted to hang anybody his neck was ready for the noose, and that old as he was he was prepared to shoulder the musket. What a contrast to the false and pusillanimous course of their Etheridges, Johnsons, etc., the vindictive little brood, whose only ambition seems to be to wear the cast off clothes of Benedict Arnold!
--Richmond Dispatch—
[Transcribed by: Sharon Strout]