The evening times., 1896-04-16
Alexander Freeman Was Present
When Wash ngton Spoke.
STORY OF A oENTENARIAN
He Remembers That the Father of the
Country Was Very Big Man With
Wonderful VOice-The President
Looked Like the Pict ures Seen
Nowada 70.

| years old then; he is in his one hundred
and tenth year now, but the incident sc
impressed itself upon him that he recalls
| the scenes and incidents of the memorable
occasion as though they had occurred but
yesterday. The old fellow has che wed and
smoked since he was nine years Old, aud
| has never been temperance man.
This centenarian is Alexander Freeman.
! colored man, and he is the oldest in.
mate of Sailors Snug Harbor on Staten
Island. He was born on Murray street
| New York, December %, 1856, His father
| was Henry Freeman, who died when Alex
| ander was seven years old. a nd his mother
| died when he was fourteen years old. He
| had thirteen brothers and sisters. and had
one daughter and five sons by his wife,
| Cecilia Freeman. but he survived brothers,
sisters, and children alike. His wife has
been dead forty years.
Freeman is remarkable man in many
respects. He is a man of great Intelligence,
although self-educated. and has u com.
mand OF language that is surprising. His
mental powers seem almost perfect. and his
memory is marvellous. Although he has
long since passed the century mark his face
shows scarcely a trace OF wrinkle.
HE LIKES COMPANY.
The old man gave the reporter hearty
greeting. Now, I'm glad to see ye,' he
said. I'm allus glad TO see everybody.
Ike company and ] like to talk and be
talked 10.
You want to know about Gen. WASH
ington? Well, sir, can tell you suthin'
bout him that no other man in York State
can. l saw him only once, but I'll never
forget 1t. / was seven or eight years old
then. or course, the facts that Washing
ton was to make a speech was talked OF
for weeks, and when the time came there
was an immense crowd. Where the spc ech
was made ! can't Just remember exactly,
but it was either in City Hall Park or on
the old parade ground, or Potter's Field,
which is nov Washington Park. Orcourse,
l was too young then to understand what
Washington said or what it was all about,
but remember lot of us boys got pretty
close TO the place he stood on and we
watched him with our mouths open till he
finished.
Il remember he was a great big man,
and ii seemed to me he had a te rrible big
voice, a voice you could hear most n mile
away. He looked a good deal like his
pictures show him. / know OF lots of peo-
pie that were there, but they are all dead
and gone long ago, and / think I'm the
only man in York State, and perhaps / can
safely say in the United States, that ever
heard George Washington make n speech.
I'm proud OF it, cause l think its suthin'
to be proud of
MORE THAN A CENTURY OLD. -
old in
The year was 1TS6, and l came just three
days before Christmas of that year.
The house / lived in on Murray street
was in a lonesome spot, because there
wasn't many others there. We boys used
TO go fishin' at James Slip, and there
wasn't anything but woods and water
around there. Times were very hard then,
and there wasn't any gold or silver, at
least never saw any, and most everybody
paid for things in 'shinpiasters' or Conti-
mental money.
II remember once some of US caught a
big turtle at James Slip, and the man at
the old City Hotel at the Battery gave us
So for it. We were so rich that we wanted
to buy the City Hotel outright. That So
would have paid my wages as stone
picker then for nearly two years. Boys
who picked stones for the roads in those
days got 6 cents week, and 1 worked
for cents week for a long time. When
was nine years old worked in tobacco
factory, stripping tobacco, for 6 cents a
day, and afterward got a big raise to
75 cents a week. That was durin' the
flush times.
when 1 began to work strippin' to-
bacco 1 took to chewin' and smokin', and
have kept 1t up ever since, although I
haven't smoked for some time. 1t never
hurt me, but that's not sayin' it's good
for everybody. little spirits does ME
good sometimes, but whisky never got the
better ONE. When 1 was lad went to
Sunday school, and one thing learned was
that too much whisky was curse
EVERYBODY WAS HAPPY.
Freeman was a strapping young man at
wenty, and he became steward of the old
wh2leslip Ontario, Capt. Fordham, and
sal Cd with him for two years. After tba:
he served as sic ward and cook on many
vessels about New York. He was nearly
thirty years when the war OF 1925
closed. and OF the celebra tion in New York
when the news that peace was declared
came he says:
''Loriy, but everybody was happy, and
I'm afraid some people got drunk. That
hight there were fireworks everywhere,
and ca anon kept shootin' all night. Mighty
'e w people went to sleep that night. There
seemed 10 be a feelin' that every house in
10 wn ought to be lit up, and gangs OF young
patriots went around to see if every house.
holder was celebratin'. When they
came across n house that didn't have q lot
)f lights in it they smashed every window
in the place. Seems to me there was more
patriotism in those days than there is
1ow.'
Freeman was at the hanging OF Ishmael
Frazer one OF gang of firebugs .hat ter
-orized New Yorkers in the early days.
Frazer was colored and was the first negro
hanged in New York. Frazer was hanged
n 1911, at a spot near the old parade
ground, now Washington Park.
''There was big crowd there" said
Freeman, land went along with the rest.
ae was cool and smilin', and when he got
Up on the scaffold he threw a handker-
,hief at n yong colored woman who came
o see him hanged, and who was engaged
o be married to him. She didn't faint or
cream. and afterward married a better
man," !
Trouble in the Family.
Eliza Buchannon and Stephan Morris |
lad trOuble Yesterday afte rnOOn at their |