While Mr. Bell lived and was buried in Milam Co., TX, his actual murder occurred in McLennan Co., TX ...

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1. Death - Do you know the exact date of death?

Check of Milam County Death Certificate Index for 1903 through 1935

No Death Certificate found

2) Do you know where he is buried?

In the book - 170 Years of Burial Records for Milam Co., TX - indicates there is a J. A. Bell buried in the Little River Cemetery w/ dates of birth & death listed as 1866 - 1920

In the book - Milam County, Texas Records - Vol. 1 - indicates there is a J. A. Bell (Father), Aug. 1, 1866 - Nov. 4, 1920 and Sarah C. (Mother), Nov. 19, 1867 - Jan. 15, 1948

3) Working on the presumed date of death: 11/04/1920, checking the Texas Death Index at Ancestry.com, found the following:

J. A. Bell
DOD: 4 Nov 1920
County of Death: McLennan
Death Cert # 25597

You can get a copy of this death cert at the Dallas Public Library for 25-cents ... if memory serves me right, you go to the Downtown Library, 6th or 7th floor ... to the Genealogy Section ....

4) If the above death certificate is for him, you will need to go to first go to the Waco-McLennan County Public Library and look for a newspaper article ... the article will hopefully state who killed him / was arrested, etc.

5) After you find the name of the killer, you can then go to the McLennan County District Clerk's Office ... the cases are styled by the name of the defendant, i.e., killer ... without the name of the killer, you will not be able to find any records for the grand jury, ect ... with J.A.'s name, you might be able to find a record of an inquest but that is very rare ...

The possibility of finding any court records are slim as you stated no one was ever arrested for the crime ...

6) You can also go to the Lucy Hill Patterson Memorial Library in Rockdale, Milam Co., TX, and they have copies of the Cameron & Rockdale newspapers on microfilm ... you have the date of death so you might find newspaper articles about killing as well as obit ...