El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1901-02-25
Curious
Conflict
or TESTIMONY IN THE FREEMAN
YATES CASE, NOW ON HEAR
ING BEFORE A JUSTICE.

Senator Chauncey NJ Depew Has Beer
Dragged Into the Case. and there
are Other Interesting Features.
The arrest of Mrs. w. J. Freeman
as announced in Saturdays Herald ap
pears to have attracted considerable
more than mere local notice, for the
widow. soon after being taken to the
county Jail, announced that she was a
:" niece of Chauncey NJ. Depew, of New
York and sent a telegram to the SEN
ator informing him of her predica-
ment and asking for 5000.
Mrs. Freeman Talks
A Herald reporter called on Mrs
Freeman last night and found her per-
; fectly willing to talk.
Yes. am a niece of Chauncey De-
pew" she said. but am sorry his
name has been brought into my affairs
Il have had all the jewelry for more
than ten years and some of it be-
longed to my little baby who is now
dead. My uncle gave me some of it
and the other pieces / have had for
years.
Senator Depew has wired the money
/ wanted and 1 expect letter from
' him at any time advising me what to
do. H has corresponded with me
nearly I'll my life and has often aided
me when 1 was in need"
Referring to her arrest and all her
recent troubles Mrs. Freeman said:
my mother was Senator Depew's sis
ter We were raised in Kentucky.
When I was thirteen years old 1 mar
ried Mr.. Freeman, who was then over
forty years old. He was railroad
- conductor and afterwards moved west
and worked on the Santa Fe. / learn
ed telegraphy and after he was killed
in wreck twelve years ago l went to
work for the company.
"On the 26th of last December / took
the office at La Tuna. New Mexico. and
the depot burned in few days. I was
asleep in the building and did not wake
up until the fire was in my room. I
had no way to get out except to break
> the window which l had to do with
my hands.
Il was burned and my hands badly
cut. The company sent me to FL PasO
for treatment and on the advice of my
friends l sued the company for $4,000.
After / brought suit DR.. Villas, the
company physician, asked me to go to
the hospital at Las Vegas. I refused
and he ceased treating me. 1 was then
thrown on my own resources.
THE young man Yates, who was ar
rested with me Saturday. assisted me
and ii was the association with him
that led to my arrest. Yates had been |
agent at Earlham and one night left |
without permission leaving friend in
his place.
when he returned the friend was
gone and had taken the cash drawer
with him. This led to the arrest of
Yates and. as he had been assisting
me- they arrested me also The whole
thing was done for spite and to injure
nv case for damages against the COM
pany.
They have absolutely no case
against me for I can prove that every
thing 1 had was my own property and
had been for years.
LAS to the trunk being robbed at my
depot. I cannot believe it was. 1t was
locked and firmly tied up and / was in
the next room. If anyone had touched
it I believe I would have heard them.
Ut looked as if it had not been touch !
ed the next morning and 1 believe yet
that no one had opened il"
Mrs. Freeman thinks that it was
very cruel in the morning paper to
bring Mr.. Depew's name into the AFFAIR
and that it will injure him at his home |
He has always treated her very kindly,
she says, and this notoriety may cause |
him to neglect her, she thinks.
At the Jail.
1t is hard thing to seea woman of /
apparent refinement behind the bars of !,
a prison cell. 1t CRATES on a mans |
nerves.
Mrs. Freeman is a tall, sparely built |
woman of good appearance and is prob
ably thirty years of age. She occupies
the cell directly above the front Office
where Garcia the noted murdered. was
so long held a prisoner. She objected
to remaining over night in a cell and
offered to pay the officers if they would
permit her to occupy a room at no.
tel under strict guard. This request /:
was not granted.
It is said that the Santa Fe railway
would never have caused the arrest of
the woman unless it was believed that
the charges were well founded, for any
sane lawyer knows that she would have
excellent grounds for heavy dam
age suit unless case can be made
out against her. In the past. eSpe-
cially in the south. it has been found
extremely hard to convict a woman of
crime. Jurors as a rule are swayed
more or less by sentiment and have
been known to find murderer not
guilty because the sight of his weep
ing wife and children in the court
room had affected them.
The Freeman case from the circum-
stances surrounding it promises to be
one of the most interesting in the his
tory of the country. Is
Preliminary Hearing.
The preliminary hearing of Mrs. w.
]. Freeman and J. c. Yates, former
2