It was not for fence cutting Tom Freeman went to the penitentiary, but
on a charge of robbery, called in those days "rolling." He was
charged with robbing a person one Saturday night, about the saloon, of
three gold pieces, and was convicted. Mr. Williams said he doubted
seriously whether he was really guilty.
Freeman was an interesting character. He liked him, but he never told
anyone of his past. He came from Canada, was married here, and lived down
in the Farnash county east of Hamilton. He was a skillful boxer and
on several occasions demonstrated his ability.
Beats Up a Constable
It was about 1890 or a little later when "I was selling whiskey
down there where John Mark (his brother) has the hardware store now, that
Tom Freeman beat up Charlie Terry, a constable. He came to Mr. Williams
and told him, it was on Sunday night, that Terry had been abusing him and
he asked Mr. Williams to slip his gun away from him. Mr. Williams said he
reached right quickly and pulled Terry’s gun from his scabbard and he
hardly ever had seen such a whipping as Freeman gave him. In those days he
said such incidents merely taken as a matter of course. On another
occasion Bill ______, new as Shive, called him a liar and he just hit him
once and knocked him out.
Freeman he said was, however, a bit slow in chipping in his part in
paying the fiddler at dances. On one occasion he held out a red coin and
said, "I have only this five dollar gold piece and no change."
And admitted later that it was only a penny that he held out.
I can remember Freeman myself and recall him as a very large rather
swarthy fellow, who moved rather slowly, and didn’t talk much. In those
days if a man had been in the "pen" he was generally pointed out
and known, and the small boys especially stood in awe.
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CHESLEY'S HAMILTON COUNTY INTERVIEWS
BY
HERVEY EDGAR CHESLEY, JR.
Born: 21 November, 1894
Died: 17 July, 1979