THE OBSCURED MOON

     I’m ironed in the wagon, right hand is of no use, jolting down that bumpy road back through Syracuse. To the lake we travel to the waiting crowd, they say I killed a little boy but I just don’t see how. Sat at the widow’s table, ate a piece of cake washed it down with good strong tea, we all can make mistakes. Why don’t we just start over? Wipe another slate, clean the blood off all the knives, lick the gravy plate. Now that I’ve been paid, it’s time to celebrate!  

“I recollect finding the horse. I lived at the foot of Owasco Lake at the time. I came down towards Auburn and found Mrs. Wyckoff’s horse near New Guinea. He was just getting up. I looked at him and then came to Auburn and I went back and took him home. There was blood on the halter. There was mud on the horse. Horse was old and seemed to be tired. I think he fell near the sluice way, from the appearance of the ground.”- Harrison Mastin The Report of the Trial of William Freeman

On June 1, 1846 Auburn Judge Whiting gaveled the proceedings to order in the trial of the People vs. William Hannibal Freeman .

Dr. David Dimon sworn

By WH Seward:

Q. What is the degree of the prisoner’s [William Freeman] intelligence?

1. It is small even for a negro. It is difficult to tell the degree of his intellect, he is so very ignorant.  

    A year earlier, after James Gordon was murdered, when asked by one of Auburn’s keepers, “How came you to commit this crime? You promised to behave yourself like a man.” Henry Wyatt’s reply was: “You needn’t all think I am a fool here. I know what I am about. This will be a warning to you all. None of you know when you are safe here. It will learn people to mind their own business, and not tell things that isn’t asked of them. I have done just what I have meant to have done……” Henry Wyatt’s prophetic words had been born out by William Freeman. “None of you know when you are safe here.” The bloody border war had burst out from prison walls. Now the collateral damage in the 200 years war would increase. 

     

“I reside in Fleming.” testified a neighbor of the Van Nest’s, Mr. Williamson. “I was at the house of John Van Nest from five or six o’clock until half past nine on the evening of Thursday, the 12^th day of March, being the night the murders were committed. When I left all had retired for the night except Mr. Van Nest and Mrs. Van Nest, who had gone through the back kitchen out the door. About a hundred rods from the house I heard a dog bark, and someone halloo, or shriek. When I got a little north of the Sand Beach meeting house, I heard someone coming behind me on horseback. When he passed me his left leg brushed my right arm. It was a negro on horseback. When he got a rod or two past me I recognized the horse by his gait, as belonging to Mrs. Wyckoff. I saw something hanging from his left side, which I supposed to be a club. There was bright moonlight, but at the moment he passed a cloud obscured the moon.”

Theron Green (keeper) sworn

By Hon. WH Seward:

Q. Did he [Freeman] work steadily, although slowly, when in the shop?

A. Generally he did. I often found him sleeping in his cell on Sundays, and would wake him up. Sleeping in the cell in the day-time was against prison rules.

Q. Do not colored men frequently violate that rule in the state Prison?

1. They are more likely to violate this rule than others, I think.

      Stepping over Peter Van Nest’s body, Bill Freeman picked up a lit heavy candlestick, and proceeded into the parlor—by its flickering light. Now alarmed by Helen Holmes’ screams, the guest, Mr. Van Ardsdale sat up in his bed with a start. Bill silently slipped into the sitting room where the half-asleep baby George stood up in his crib, rubbing his eyes in the dim candle light.  According to forensic evidence the baby was killed instantly, with a single thrust of Freeman’s “pig sticker” spear.

      Turning the corner, William Freeman met John Van Nest’s hysterical mother-in-law, Mrs. Wyckoff flying down the stairwell towards the front door. Bill wheeled, slashing his blade across her body, hoping to stop her. Her momentum propelled her forward, as she twisted free of the spear, and crashed through the front door.

      Leaving Mrs. Wyckoff, Freeman continued up the stairs where he encountered the house guest, Mr. Van Ardsdale. Confronting Van Ardsdale, Bill lunged forward, attempting to plunge his spear into the man’s chest with one hand. Luckily the blade glanced off Van Ardsdale’s breastplate and the severely wounded man, was able to wrest loose the candle stick from Bill, hit him in the head, knocking the assailant back down the stairs. 

    With that, Bill retreated; but not before being confronted by Mrs. Wyckoff again, who was now armed with her own butcher knife. She slashed deeply into William Freeman’s wrist, cutting his tendons and screaming as loudly as she could muster. Through her instinctive, offensive efforts she was able to alarm the neighbors, disable  Bill’s right arm, and stop him from continuing his senseless rampage. That’s why William Freeman’s arm is in the sling in the newspaper engraving. Sarah Van Nest’s severely wounded mother had stopped the bloodshed with her bravery.