Fred Bell blamed Pleasant, and he filed a series of lawsuits directed at gaining control of the estate.
The first lawsuit, filed against Teresa, claimed that she was wasting the family fortune under Pleasant's influence, and demanded that she be removed as head of the household.
Two years later Bell publicly accused Pleasant of murdering his father, and Teresa evicted her from the family home.
Bell, impoverished despite his three-piece suit and cane, came to symbolize the country's reversal of fortune during the Great Depression.
On March 7, 1931, a photographer made a picture of him selling apples on a street corner in San Francisco.