Freeny Hanging, and James Washington White. (original) (raw)

James Washington White lost an arm fighting for the South during the Civil War. He could have spent the rest of his life seething with bitterness, but that�s not how it turned out.

Born in Alabama in 1838, White served in the 26th Alabama Infantry Regiment throughout the war, rising to captain. After the war, he came to Texas and settled in Bremond in Robertson County. As was common, folks tended to drop first names, so they just called him Captain White. The captain worked as Bremond�s post master from 1885 to 1889. A year later, he became county sheriff.

How long he held office is unclear. In fact, the most comprehensive listing of Texas sheriffs, Sammy Tise�s �Texas County Sheriffs,� does not include White. But J.W. Baker�s �A History of Robertson County, Texas� shows White as sheriff in 1890.

According to Tise�s book, Lee Barton had been sheriff from 1886 to July 19, 1890 when a district judge removed him from office. County commissioners appointed H.P. Kellog as the new sheriff and voters elected him to a full two-year term that November. If not the county�s head lawman, White must have been a deputy for several years.

No matter White�s official status, most folks remembered him as the sheriff who hanged a tenant farmer named George Freeny for killing his son-in-law.

Captain White oversaw construction of a scaffold on the courthouse lawn and cordially urged the public to attend the upcoming �necktie party.� Evidently the sheriff (whether White or Kellog) saw the hanging as an opportunity to imbue the citizenry with added awe for the majesty of the law.

Years later, Lena Nettles, a young girl at the time of the hanging, remembered the Nov. 25, 1892 event:

�School was dismissed for the children to see the hanging. I shall never forget it. The sheriff and several officers took him up the 13 steps and he proclaimed his innocence at first. His hands and feet were tied and a black cap was on his head and neck�The sheriff pulled the trap door the prisoner was standing on, and he fell dead.�

The people of Franklin and Robertson County hadn�t seen a hanging in nearly a decade. The last time had been during the administration of Sheriff Jack W. Jones, who held office from Nov. 7, 1882 to Nov. 4, 1884.

Jones� predecessor had been W.I. Wyser, who served from Nov. 2, 1880 to Nov. 7, 1882. Nepotism apparently not being much of a concern at the time, the sheriff�s brother, Addison Wyser, worked as a jailer.

In a classic example of flawed thinking, county jail prisoner Fred E. Waite tried to escape by hitting jailer Wyser on the head when he delivered a meal. What Waite had failed to consider was the possibility that the blow might be fatal and second, that the jailer was the sheriff�s brother.

A jury quickly convicted Waite and the judge sentenced him to hang on March 23, 1883.

The victim�s future widow insisted on being on hand for the execution. She showed up in her buggy, remaining in the wagon until the sheriff placed a blindfold over the condemned man�s face. At that point, the distraught woman changed her mind and rode off.

Whether Waite had expressed any last wish has been forgotten, but years later, people still talked about Freeny�s final request. He had not wanted a fine meal, a smoke or even a bracing shot of whiskey. His thoughts concerned his daughter.

Worried that someone might try to harm her, Freeny had asked White to take custody of his 11-year-old daughter, Mary, and care for her. The old rebel soldier honored the request.

Though White died two years later, the girl lived with his family until she was grown. The captain had been maimed in an unsuccessful fight over slavery. Yet Freeny was black. Even a quarter-century after the war, a white family taking in a black child invited ostracism, but as White demonstrated, people can change.