Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1879-06-01
POCASSEF.
Freeman SIN Convinced Ih God
Babe Him XIII Edith-Mrs. Free
man PIninE Away.
Correspondence New York Sun.

| Correspondence New ork Sun.
BARNsTABLE, Mass May 24-Dr.
| MunseII, the Medical Examiner of
Barnstable county, has been watch
ing Charles +. Freeman very closely,
especially since Freeman's removal
from the barnlike Jail to the new
structure, but he has been unable to
detect any of the usual physical symp-
toms of insanity, either developed or
incipent. Freeman was greatly
| pleased when he was put into the new
| jail, and even his wife, whom nothing
| has aroused from her melancholy, was
glad to get away from the loft in
! which she had been confined. Free
man has been especially inter
ested in the religious discussion which
the killing of his little daughter
has provoked. He still holds with per-
tinacity TO his belief that he was called
by God to do the act, and that some
great good is to come of it yet. To
DR.. Munsell be ia reported as having
said day or two ago that it was pUs-
sible that what God intended was a
great religious awakening. He pro-
fesses TO prefer to be convicted, and
even hanged, rather than to be acquit-
ted on the ground of insanity. He is
said to have affirmed repeatedly that
and realizes just as well now, the re-
spOnsibility that he was taking, but
adds that as faithful Christian he
was constrained to sacrifice his child.
Freeman was told, it is said, that
the account OF his act, printed in the
Sun, had been telegrapbed to the
newspapers in England and France,
and he seemed to view this as only
the working out of the mysterious
purpose that compelled him to kill lit
tie Edith. He sleeps soundly, eats
ordinary affairs of life. Since his i'm
prisoument, he has Above his full
beard to grow.
But Mrs. Freeman still sorrows, and
is apparently pining away. She has
admitted that she believed that the
act was the result of a mistaken faith;
but she insists that neither she nor her
husband was guilty of any crime.
The recent letter to sister, which has
been published, has been commented
on by number of clergymen as not
the least remarkable manifestation of
this mysterious tragedy. She speaks
of Elijah, Elisha, and Christ raising
the dead, and still insists that after the
deed was done she and her husband
had perfect faith that the child would
passed and there were no manifesto
tions, her heart failed, and now she
knows they did wrong.
Mrs. Freeman found comfort in re.
cent conversation she had with Mrs.
Fisk, who has charge of the eldest
child. Mrs. Fisk suggested that she
might have been tempted as Christ
was by Satan, and this made strong
impression upon Mrs. Freeman. She
asked Mrs. Fisk pleadingly, and with
tears streaming down her cheeks,
whether she supposed God would for
give them for having yielded to temp
tation, and Mrs. Fisk replied that God
always forgave where there was true
repentance.
"Then He will forgive u.s." and
with that remark Mrs. Freeman
seemed to give up all consideration of
the religious aspect of the act, and to
allow her maternal sorrow for her
child to be unrestrained. Her hus-
bands condition and the life of her
living child are the only matters that
now concern her. She does not want
little B essie brought to see her. She
thought the surroundings would terri
fly the child. But she gave minute
directions regarding Bessie, her school
life, her dres1es, her companions, and
her religious instruction. Bessie does
not yet know that her sister Edith 10
dead.
The Second Adventists in Pocasset
have not yet recovered from the be-
wilderment which the widespread hor-
rOr OF Freeman's act has created. They
are as meek and passive now as chill
dren. All that they say is, " We can't
understand it," The feeble Foster
Howard, one of the Elders of the Po-
casset Church, the man whom Free
man first told OF the act, sits day after
day in his kitchen, often with his
faith was so strong that Edith, would
be raised that he has not yet recovered
from the shock that the undisturbed
grave has given him.
81 don't understand ii /" he ecsntlv
said. "Here is the promise, that if we
have faith sufficient we may say to a
mountain be removed and it is done.
Our faith was equal to that, and vet
our faith does not avail"
1t is possible that the Second Adj
ventists may hold the camp-meeting,
beginning June Is, as they intended,
because public indignation has gone,
and sympathy, or rather pity, has tax.
en- it's place. But they cannot have the
grove on Buzzard's Bay shore, and
Mrs. Swift, Mrs. Freeman's mother,
has offered them a grove on her farm.
Throughout New England the atten-
ton of the clergy has been generally
called to the tragedy, and many ser
mons have been preached upon it in
Providence, Boston, Lawrence, Lynn,
Springfield, Worcester, and other
cities. In Hartford three clergymen
the Rev. DIR. Sage, Baptist, the Rev.
DR.. Parker, and the Rev. Mr.. Gage,
iOnalists-preached upon it
on Sunday of last week. DIR. Parker
boldly said that he doubted whether
the Abrahamic stOry ought to be ac-
cepted literally, and DIR. Sage argued |
as strongly that il should be so read