Green’s Dictionary of Slang

to undertake something dangerous.

1762		J. Man Buchanan’s Hist. of Scotland 349: note: Earl Archibald hearing the parable answered sadly, I shall bell the cat, meaning Cochrane, the great and terrible minion.
1791		Disraeli Curiosities of Lit. (1858 ) 169/2: He would be glad to see who would bell the cat, alluding to the fable.
1871		Waterford Standard 29 Mar. 4/3: No one seems inclined to ‘bell the cat’ and the National Guards allow the scum of belleville [in Paris] [...] to invade.
1893		in W.S. Walsh Literary Curiosities 141: Great applause greeted the suggestion, until an old mouse put the pertinent question, ‘Who will bell the cat?’.