 The Daily Ardmoreite
Ardmore, Oklahoma Monday, August 7, 1911 pg 2 BODY IDENTIFIED Y.M.C.A. SECRETARY G. C. Freeman of Denison, Proves to Be Man Whose Body Was Found at Durant Denison, Texas, Aug 6. - The dead body of G. C. Freeman, for seventeen years secretary of the Y.M.C.A., was found yesterday on the banks of Blue river near Armstrong, Oklahoma. This information was received by telephone at Y.M.C.A. headquarters here this afternoon. The body was so badly decomposed as to be hardly recognizable, but was identified by papers in his pockets. He left Denison Tuesday morning for Coffeyville, Kansas, to attend a funeral, intending to stop at Armstrong to locate a camp for a junior class of the Denison Y.M.C.A., after which he was to continue his trip to Coffeyville. The last time he was seen alive was Tuesday morning when he left the train at Armstrong, and he probably met death some time Tuesday. When the dead man left Denison he carried considerable cash and it is believed a number of Katy checks that came into his possession through the Y.M.C.A. business. From meager information received here tonight it is not know how he met his death, whether from hemorrhage to which he was subject, or from foul play. He had been prominent in church work in Texas for twenty years. His only known relative is a sister who lives in Coffeyville, Kan.  Muskogee Times-Democrat Muskogee Oklahoma Tuesday, August 8, 1911 pg 2 DENISON MAN FOUND DEAD Durant, Oklahoma, Aug. 8 - (Special) - Deep mystery surrounds the death of G.C. Freeman, secretary of the Y.M.C.A. of Denison, Texas, whose body was found yesterday afternoon on the banks of the Blue river, near Armstrong, Oklahoma. Freeman left Denison Tuesday morning for the Blue river to locate a camping place for the junior class of the Y.M.C.A. He had considerable money with him and some railroad checks. An investigation will be made today to ascertain, if possible, how Freeman met his death. It is said he was subject to hemorrhage, and this may have been the cause. It is possible the man was murdered. Denison Daily Herald TO CAPTURE SLAYER OF G. C. FREEMAN Believing that the citizens of
Denison should make a united effort to apprehend the murderer of G. C. Freeman,
who was found dead in the woods near Armstrong, Oklahoma, last Saturday, a mass
meeting has been called for 8 o'clock tonight at the parlors of the Y.M.C.A.
Denison Daily News REWARD OFFERED IN FREEMAN CASE At Request of E. J. Smith of This City, Governor Colquitt Offers $500 A reward of five hundred dollars
for the arrest and conviction of the murderer of G.C. Freeman was authorized
in Austin this morning by Gov. O.B. Colquitt. Mr. Freeman was murdered and
robbed near Armstrong, Oklahoma, on the Blue River on Tuesday, August 1. The
remains were not found until Saturday, August 5, and were in an advanced stage
of decomposition. E.J. Smith, who has been active in the efforts of
apprehending the murderer, left Denison Sunday afternoon for Austin. The
following telegram was received from him this morning: The Sunday Gazetteer Sunday, August 13, 1911 pg. 2 G.C. FREEMAN MURDERED The Body Was Found In The Woods Near Armstrong, Oklahoma - Had Been There Since Tuesday - Many Theories as to Murder, but All Agree It Was Robbery G.C. Freeman, general secretary of the Y.M.C.A., was murdered just north of Armstrong in the woods and near the lakes where the young people go every year to enjoy an outing. There are 2 lakes, one east and the other west of the Katy tracks a short distance. There is a chain of lakes formed by the overflow of the Blue. The writer has camped there a number of times and it is a beautiful and romantic section to pass a few days. In previous years the chain of lakes were the home of the black bass, crappie, and other game fish. The woods are dense and furnish fine shade from the Caddo prairie to the border of the lakes. The distance from Denison is about 25 miles. The trains stop at Armstrong tank for water and sometimes people get off there to fish and hunt. The place where Mr. Freeman was murdered is about 3 and a half miles north of Durant. When the body was discovered, it was decomposed and in such a frightful condition that it was hardly recognizable. There are a great many theories as to the cause of the murder, but they all agree that the incentive was robbery. Mr. Freeman left Denison last Tuesday morning to attend the funeral of his brother-in-law at Coffeyville, Kansas. He stopped off at Armstrong to examine the country around to locate a summer camp for the junior class of the Y.M.C.A. His intention was to resume his journey to Coffeyville on the afternoon train, which passes Armstrong about 5 o'clock. When he left Denison he had a sum of money believed to be between $200 and $250 on his person and when the undertaker examined the body there was found only 10c. It is the opinion that the murderer or murderers were passengers on the train from Denison. When Mr. Freeman alighted from the train, two men also got off. One is described as thick set, and dark complexion, while the other was very slim and dressed in a light suit. That is the statement of some campers who were on the west side of the Katy track. Freeman left the track and had been gone only a few minutes when 2 shots in rapid succession were heard. The campers paid no attention to the incident, thinking it was a party of hunters who frequent the woods quite often. Another statement is that the portly man was seen on the track walking very rapidly in the direction of Durant. Another statement is that 2 young men who had been camping in the woods near the west lake had disappeared, but this statement is denied by Mr. Blain of Durant, who was here Monday and was present on the ground when the murder was committed. He had hunted in the woods at the lake and saw no such camp. The trainmen's stories are conflicting, and they are not certain as to whether one or two men got off the train when Freeman did. The Gazetteer has a theory which is this: A great many hard characters (strangers) frequent the reading rooms of the Y.M.C.A., as an officer declared Monday; they get out of box cars and go there to clean up. Freeman was so tender-hearted that he would refuse no poor man or hobo a bath. The going away of Mr. Freeman was discussed, and some person in the room overheard the frequent conversation, and followed and murdered him, knowing that he was to get off at Armstrong and that he had money on his person. That is our theory. Mr. Freeman was shot twice, each shot being deadly. At Durant, Oklahoma, where the coroner's inquest was held, 2 bullet holes were discovered. One hole was near the right nipple, the bullet ranging downward and coming out under the shoulder blade. The other bullet entered the body just below the navel and traveled straight through the body. Sheriff Lee McAfee went to the scene of the murder last Sunday. In a case of this kind McAfee cannot be surpassed, and we have strong hopes at this writing that the murderer or murderers will be brought to justice. No man who has ever lived in Denison was more highly esteemed than G.C. Freeman. For the past 20 years his life has been spent in doing good. He has been the directing factor of the Y.M.C.A. for a number of years. He came here about 25 years ago; for 18 years he had been associated with the Y.M.C.A. As in life the people loved him because he was loving and true, they now cherish his memory because he maintained unbroken every thread in the line of doing good. His career illustrates that he was always faithful to every Christian duty. Thousands will mourn his sad death and pay tribute to his memory. At the time of death he was 59 years of age and unmarried. Since the above was written, additional facts have come to light. There were a party of campers from Tishomingo in camp near where Freeman was killed, and they complained of a bad smell that pervaded the woods. The campers are relatives of Mr. Swan of the firm of Boldrick & Swan. After the killing the body had evidently been dragged a short distance. A very singular thing is the fact that a gold watch and chain and umbrella were not disturbed, and his eye glasses were on his face. The attaches of the Y.M.C.A. do not know how much money he had on his person. The sheriff holds to the Gazetteer theory that he was murdered by some person who was a visitor to the Y.M.C.A. rooms. The object was purely robbery and the murderer had sense enough to leave the watch and chain which might have resulted in his capture. Mr. Freeman had one brother and several married sisters. O.G. Freeman of Coffeeville, Kansas, a nephew of the dead man, arrived in Denison Sunday afternoon and accompanied the remains north. He was appointed temporary administrator by County Judge J.Q. Adamson of Sherman and has taken charge of the estate, which is rather extensive, consisting of several hundred acres of land in Red River and Bowie counties. At one time Mr. Freeman was engaged in the photograph business, the firm name being Freeman & Swartz. Before Denison was on the map he was engaged in missionary work among the Indians. The funeral took place from the Presbyterian church of which the deceased was a member. He was very prominent in the recent controversy in regard to the retention or dismissal of the pastor. He told the writer that the ambition of his life was to see the erection of a new Y.M.C.A. edifice on the property acquired on Main street. When the funeral was in progress, the business houses on Main street closed. Mayor Acheson thinks nobody went from Denison and killed Freeman. It has since developed that the dense woods is frequented by bootleggers who visit Armstrong and receive their goods from Denison. It was probably one of that class that murdered him. Denison hunters have frequently met strange men in these woods. Another supposition is that some bootleggers thought Freeman a spy. The Evening News Ada, Oklahoma Monday, August 14, 1911 NEGRO BURNED AT DURANT Assaulted White Woman - Pursued and Shot to Death. Body Burned Durant, Oklahoma, August 13 - A Negro whose identity has not yet been ascertained, was shot and killed near Platter, southeast of Durant, about 1 o'clock this morning after a running fight of more than 2 hours' duration, with a posse led by Deputy Sheriff W.M. McFatridge and Constable Jeff Easley, both of this city. The Negro's body was literally riddled with bullets. None of the posse was injured. The body was brought to this city, and after being identified by Mrs. L.R. Campbell as the body of the Negro who yesterday outraged and shot at her home north of this city, it was taken by a mob of angry citizens and burned on a vacant lot near the business center of this city. The officers were powerless to do anything with the mob, and it was only after considerable persuasion that they were induced to refrain from burning the body as soon as it had been viewed by Mrs. Campbell and others who saw the Negro who assaulted the woman. An automobile bearing the body and officers arrived here about...o'clock this morning. The body was immediately taken from the officers by the mob, which had thronged the streets all night with the avowed intention of burning the Negro as soon as he was brought to the jail in this city. Feeling was almost equally as intense at Caddo and other places in the county. After the mob had been persuaded to not immediately dispose of the body it was taken to the jail yard and there remained until about 9 o'clock when it was taken before the stricken woman, who readily identified it. Then the mob took up the cry, "burn him, burn him" and with a rush made off for the nearest vacant lot, where the fire was quickly kindled. The burning was witnessed by several thousand people, but after the first rush all seemed to be orderly and quiet. The assault upon Mrs. Campbell stirred the county as nothing of the kind has ever aroused it before. It is estimated that fully 1,000 men joined in the chase after the black brute and from the start his escape was regarded as almost an impossibility. As far north as Wapanucka posses were on the lookout, while men from Denison, Texas advanced as far north as Red River and guarded ever passage. Small parties scoured every section of the county. Officers report that scarcely a family within a radius of 15 miles of the scene of the crime slept until the Negro was run down, the men and boys all joining in the hunt. Several hundred went out from the city. The Negro seems to have been crime-crazed. Previous to the assault upon Mrs. Campbell, he held up and threatened to shoot a Negro laborer, who was doing flag duty for a construction crew on the Missouri, Oklahoma and Gulf railroad north of Durant. He robbed this Negro of his dinner, beat him over the head with his revolver, knocked him down an embankment and compelled him to go with him nearly a mile through the woods. The railroad Negro escaped when he was about a mile from the Campbell home. This occurrence took place less than an hour previous to the assault on Mrs. Campbell. After leaving the Campbell home, the unidentified Negro went southwest and at Barwick's store he held up the son and daughter of the proprietor, who were in charge of the store, demanding money. When told by them the proprietor had just departed for home, taking with him the day's receipts, the Negro with an oath declared he would go there for the money. The son by a short cut beat the Negro to the home and confronted him with a shotgun when he arrived but allowed the man to escape. Near Platter the Negro entered a farm house while the occupants were at church and ransacked the place before being driven away. It was near this place the posse first gained sight of him. He was pursued for more than a mile through the timber, all the while keeping up a running fire with the posse. He was finally surrounded in the head of a ravine and allowed to remain there until the moon rose high enough for him to be located. In a rapid exchange of shots with the posse, he was killed. A 41-caliber revolver and some cartridges and a bar of soap were the only things found on his person. He had thrown away his coat and hat before being overtaken by the posse, and there garments are now being sought with the hope of thus establishing some clew to his identity. The Negro is said to have been around Caddo for the last week or 10 days, and came from that direction Saturday morning. He appeared in Caddo one week ago Tuesday, the day on which G.C. Freeman, secretary of the Denison, Texas Y.M.C.A., was killed near Armstrong, 7 miles south of Caddo. As the Negro appeared to be well supplied with money it is thought that he was the man who shot Freeman, who was known to have considerable money on his person just previous to the time he disappeared. When Freeman's body was found the following Saturday only 10c was found in his pockets. Soon after the mob formed in the streets of Durant last night a crowd of more than 100 men and boys visited the various residences in the city where Negro domestics are employed and warned them to leave the city. A general exodus of Negroes followed this morning. Demonstrations were made this morning at several residences where Negroes remained.
The Evening News VICTIM OF DURANT ASSAULT DIES AT SHERMAN HOSPITAL Sherman,
Tex., Aug 14 - Mrs. Fannie Campbell, wife of L. R. Campbell, the lady
who was assaulted and shot by a negro near Durant, Oklahoma, was brought to
the city yesterday afternoon and placed in St. Vincent's Sanitarium.
She never recovered from the shock and died at 6:10 o'clock this
morning. The remains were shipped to Commerce, Hunt county, at 10:35
o'clock today and from there will be taken to Peerless, Texas, where
burial will be made tomorrow. The deceased was 24 years of age, and is
survived by her husband and four children, Paul, Brice, Vera and Velma. The Evening News SECOND GRAND JURY CONVENED AT DURANT Durant,
Oklahoma Aug. 19 - Durant's second grand jury in the last two days was
empaneled Friday afternoon by District Judge Ferguson, and Saturday an
investigation of the recent burning of a Negro's body will be started.
The first jury, which was empaneled Thursday morning, failed to report
soon enough to suit Judge Ferguson, and he dismissed thirteen of its
members.
Gamaliel C. Freeman It was one of the
biggest stories in the history of Denison: the murder of Gamaliel C. Freeman in
Indian Territory on August G.C. Freeman had been born on
March 11, 1852, in Ohio. His father was Job Tarlton Freeman (1810–1891), a
farmer born in Virginia; and his mother was Eveline Barnes Freeman, born in Ohio (1820–1896). He was the eighth of nine
children. By the time the boy was eight years old, in 1860, the family was
living at Charlotte, Roxand Township, Eaton County, Michigan. He would still be
on the farm at age eighteen, in 1870. According to the 1860 Census, the
eldest child in the large household was a married sister, Charlotte E. (born in
1835). Also there was her husband, Lorenzo K. Showman (born in Maryland in
January 1829 of parents from Virginia), an "artist." In those days, a
photographer often was called "artist." Charlotte and Lorenzo had
married on March 19, 1857. Lorenzo shortly would leave the Michigan farm to
serve in the Union Army in the Civil War. As a survivor, in 1875, he would be
listed in the Michigan State Gazetteer
and Business Directory as a photographer
in Portland, Michigan,
with a studio at the corner of James and Kent. His wife would be there, too,
listed as a milliner on Bridge. The 1900 Census would find Showman, at age 69,
married 44 years, working as a photographer in Waverly, Humphries County,
Tennessee. It seems likely that
Gamaliel learned photography from Lorenzo Showman. In any case, he left the
farm in Michigan and next surfaced in 1882–1883
in Columbus, Colorado County, Texas, as a partner with David H. Swartz in the
photographic firm of Swartz & Freeman. David H. Swartz was part of a family
of photographers treated elsewhere in this volume. According to Haynes, the Colorado Citizen of February 14, 1884,
reported that Swartz sold out to Freeman in February 1884. Four years later, on December 23,
1888, the Sunday Gazetteer of
Denison, Texas, reported, "Swartz & Freeman, the photographers, have
hung out a large new sign at the First National Bank corner." This partner
in Swartz & Freeman was not David H. Swartz, but rather his brother John E.
Swartz. The two photographers took over the space of Perry F. Goben above the
First National Bank at 229–231 West Main Street. The Rusk Avenue entrance was
around the corner at the rear of the elegant building, where the two
photographers also lived. According to the 1989-1890 Denison City Directory,
they took their meals at the Thompson House, 400 West Main Street, owned by H.
Thompson. This may have been Harve Thompson, a "dealer in ivory." At the end of February 1889, the Sunday Gazetteer observed, "Some fine specimens of fine photography were on
exhibition today by Messrs. Swartz & Freeman, in the show window of [Julian
P.] Marsh's shoe store [at 314 West Main Street], and in front of the First
National Bank." A day later, another notice
appeared: "Messrs. Swartz & Freeman, with their customary enterprise,
have made photographs of upwards of forty of the ladies who took part in the
trades carnival display. These pictures have been taken in the costumes in
which the ladies appeared, and are mementos which no doubt many of our
citizens, particularly the business firms represented, would like to have.
These remembrances of this suspicious [sic]
event have been secured by Messrs. Swartz & Freeman, at a large cost of
time and money, but it will no doubt prove, as it deserves to, a large source
of revenue in the end." Swartz & Freeman were no
longer listed in the Denison City Directory of 1893–1894. John E. Swartz was
moving toward his future in Fort Worth, and G. C. Freeman was no longer listed
as a photographer. Instead, he had become secretary of Denison's Young Men's
Christian Association (YMCA). According to the 1896-1897 City
Directory, the YMCA Parlors offered "rooms for Christian young men on the
second floor of 307-309 West Woodard Street." The YMCA, located in the
Munson Block, was sponsored in part by the Missouri,
Kansas and Texas Railway,
as "the Y" offered wholesome, economical lodging for railroad
employees as well as other young men. Industrial
Denison, a photographic book compiled by local real estate promoter Frank
M. Robinson and published around 1909, contains four photographs of the YMCA's
fine reading room, parlor, gymnasium, and "bath and game rooms."
Perhaps Freeman himself took these photos. As general secretary of the YMCA,
Gamaliel had his office over 309 West Woodard Street and lived there, too. He
occupied this position for eighteen years, until his death in 1911. He never
married. However, he did have ambitious ideas for expanding the programs of the
local YMCA. The "Y" purchased a property at 531 West Main Street
(northeast corner of Late in July 1911, Freeman went
to Bryan County, Oklahoma, to survey for a boys' camp. Near the small town of
Armstrong, he was found dead in the woods, murdered by gunshot. Armstrong was located approximately five miles north of
Durant, on the banks of the Blue River. The town grew on the tracks of the
MK&T Railway, after the company constructed a line through the area,
heading south toward Denison in 1872. In 1911, Armstrong had a population of 46
and one grocery store operated by M. W. Maupin, who also served as the
postmaster. Gamaliel's body was brought to
Denison, and a funeral was held at the First Presbyterian Church. Then he was
buried in Coffeyville, Kansas. Freeman's many friends contributed to a
fund to support the search for his assailant, who was never discovered. The
money eventually was used to build a cement sidewalk on the YMCA's Main Street
property. In July
1913, According to information posted
on Ancestry.com by a family member, Gamaliel's estate was probated in Kansas. It consisted of hundreds of shares
of mining stock; equity in some public school lands in Red River and Bowie
counties, Texas; some mining land in Arkansas; and some land in Michigan (old
home in Roxand Township). As late as 1921, the YMCA was
still quartered above 309 West Woodard Street, and the property at 531 West
Main Street By 1925, a new YMCA building had
been erected at 531 West Main. The 1925 Denison City Directory lists the Young
Men's Christian Association at that address. W. S. Hibbard was president;
George Morgan, vice president; A. Loret, recording secretary; H. G. Howe,
treasurer; and J.E. Morris, general secretary. The Christian Science Reading
Room succeeded the "Y" at 311 West Woodard in 1925. On December 18, 1926,
boilermakers repaired a boiler in the YMCA building, declared it ready for
service, and fired it up. Later the YMCA secretary, J.E. Morris; his son James
Morris Jr., age 18, a student at Austin College; and a Negro porter went to
examine the boiler. At that time, the boiler exploded. The blast rocked the
building and was heard for several blocks. Young James later died of his
injuries, on December 20. The explosion was attributed to a safety valve on the
boiler being stuck. The YMCA on Main Street closed in
the 1930s. The building was sold in 1937 to Kraft-Phoenix Cheese, which used it
as its regional headquarters. This moved to Garland, Texas, in 1949.   FELONY Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson CountyTXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |