The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1878-05-23
Twelve Years in Mems Clothes.

~ Penltentiary for one year and siX
months, having pleaded guilty to a
charge of burglary and larceny
Freeman was duly received into the
peni'entiary, was put to work in the
shop at polishing buckles, and con-
tinued quietly and with uniform good
behavior to pursue tEo dreary roa-
tine prison life until yesterday morn.
hg, when "a surprising discovery
was made. It1hecame known to the
prison authorities, and later to police
officials and a few others, that the
supposed William Freeman was a
woman. 1t seems that some friends
in AllegI any county had applied to
Governor Robinson for a pardon for
the supposed VIM Freeman. In
such cases it is usual for the Gov
ernor Or his authorized agent to
write to the keeper OF he prison in
which the person for whom the par
don ID asked is confined for a state-
ment of the copdition of the pris-
oner's health. To ascertain the phys
ical condition of til, convict, a me-
dical examination was requisite. DR..
L. Sonnick, the physician to the
penltennary, was accordingly re-
quesed to invest gate the case, and
at o'clock yesterday morning pro-
ceedcd 10 perform that duty. 1t was
nor very long bef.re lie hurried to
Deputy Superintendent Wander with
the startling Information, "thal's a
woman The prisoner, who for the
past six months had tOiled in tue
shop with rs hard a lot OF men as
co"Id easily be got her, was in,
deed u woman, and the astonish-
ment Of the keepers was incl eased
by her statement that she bad worn
the clothes first OF boy, then of a
man, from the time she was eleven
years old.
AS soon as the startling discovery
of her sex was made MARY Ann
Schafer, as size confessed his true
name to be, was removed to another
and secluded part of the prison, pro
vided with the costume prescribed
for female State prisoners, and by
Superintendent Barker's orders was
made as comsol table as the rules
would permit. She had utterly
broken down, and begged the ST.,
pei intendent to keep her there for
life rather than to allow her secret
and her name to be published.
Mary is % gears Of age, about five
feet seven or eight inches in height,
with dark hair and dark eyes, but
pale complexion, and weighs proba--
bly, 40 pounds. Her wris's and
ankles ale small, but her hands and
feet, from the roughest kind OF labor,
are large and coarse, and her waist
has never known the grip of a cor
set. AS William Freeman, she was
as good looking as the average men,
as Mary Schatcr she is not a homely
woman. Her story, told with All
abundant OF tears and with much
apparent feeling, was to this effect:
She was born in New York city, Or
ON shipboard. Her early home was
III Allegheny county, with her moth
or and a stepfather, whom she left
when she was l1& years Of age. 10
make living was at best hard
task tor one Of her age, and believ-
ing that as boy she could do best
and earn ni"st, che dressed herself
III boys clothes and hired out to do
farm work. This she has done all
her life since--plowing, cboppng
wood, taking care Of horses, and all
the rough work of a farmland al
tbougba the time in the vicinity oi
her home, she AYERS that not soul
except her mother until yesterday
knew her or knew the secret 80 care
fully preBer. ed. The crime for
| tuI,ioh uhn rao oonfnnoa1 ,Lo olo $500