"The Chincoteague Tragedy" - Part 2 - The First Article Shared; And the Permutations Begin...

    Emma Virginia "Jennie" Hill was not quite 13 years and 3 months old when she died after receiving two gunshot wounds on Chincoteague Island on the morning of June 18, 1885.  She was on her way to visit the dressmaker with her mother when a farm hand, 20-year-old Thomas W. Freeman, stopped them both.   He had asked to marry Jennie several times and was denied by her parents with each proffer.  Tom asked Mrs. Hill that morning if she had changed her mind, and she replied, "No."  He pulled a pistol from his pocket, shot Mrs. Hill twice, shot Jennie twice, and, as they ran staggering for aid, he shot himself in the forehead.  Jennie died from her wounds at 11 p.m. that night.  Her mother recovered after 2 weeks of unconsciousness and fever.

   Following is the first news article that appeared in newspapers, appearing in the morning edition of The Philadelphia Times on Saturday, June 20, 1885, on the front page in column 2:

   "FREEMAN'S VICTIMS DEAD.

Mrs. Hill's Desperate Struggle With the Youthful Murderer and Suicide.

- Special Dispatch to The Times  -   Baltimore, June 19.

    Mrs. Timothy Hill and her daughter Jennie, who were shot by William T. Freeman on Chincoteague Island yesterday morning, died this morning.  The youthful murderer and suicide, who was only eighteen years old, was found in the streets of New York ten years ago by Mrs. Hill, who adopted him.  Young Freeman, while very ambitious, had only a night school education.  Jennie Hill, with whom he was infatuated, was educated in Baltimore and when she returned home last summer she seems to have viewed with contempt the love of the youth whose companion she had been since childhood.  When Freeman fired the first shot at his sweetheart Mrs. Hill jumped at him.  He again fired over her shoulder at the girl and then Mrs. Hill seized him.  Freeman was a powerful boy and held her at arm's length with one hand while he sent a bullet into her forehead with the other.  He fired the other shot at her as she tottered backwards and fell.  A laborer named William Dean was working only ten feet from the scene at the time, but the events passed too quickly for him to interfere.

   The grief of the islanders over the sad occurrence is one of the most remarkable features of the case.  The girl was beloved by all, and scarcely a man or woman who knew her could refer to her death without shedding tears.  Mr. Hill, since his wife and child died this morning, has been in a stupor  of grief, which threatens to destroy his reason.  The bodies of the victims and their murderer will be interred on Sunday.

   The rush of visitors to the island from the mainlands of  Virginia and Maryland has been great today.  All available craft are busy carrying people to the scene."

   The exact article above also appeared in the Third Edition of The New Daily Era, on 20 June, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on page 1, column 7.

Thomas W. Freeman - date of photo unknown

   On Sunday, June 21, The Davenport Sunday Democrat of Iowa, ran the following article on page 4, column 7:

    "HE LOVED HER SO.

A Youth Shoots a Mother and Daughter, Fatally Wounding Them, and Kills Himself, Because the Girl Loved Another.

    Baltimore, Md., June 19.  --  When Timothy Hill, a rich oyster-planter of Chincoteague Island, Virginia, returned to his house yesterday, after a trip of inspection over his farm, he was horrified to find his wife and his 15-year-old daughter Jennie with bullet wounds in their heads.  Under a tree in front of the house lay the dead body of William T. Freeman, the double murderer and suicide.  The terrible crime was the outcome of a love affair.  Freeman was a good-looking youth of 18 years, employed as a gardener by Mr. Hill.  The young man fell in love with Miss Jennie Hill; but she did not reciprocate.  Her girlish fancy turned toward Willie Bunting, son of the owner of a large fish factory in the vicinity.  When Freeman asked Jennie's parents if he could not pay her attentions with a view to matrimony they laughed at the youth and told him Jennie was too young.  This made Freeman surly and disagreeable.  Yesterday morning Freeman met Jennie and her mother in the garden. He again asked Jennie if she would not marry him.  Her mother rebuked him.  He cried after them as they walked toward the house: "Jennie, you and I shall die before you marry another."  Jennie turned, and said, "Will, you would not hurt me, would you?"  As he answered "No," Jennie and her mother continued their walk.  As soon as their backs were turned Freeman drew a pistol and fired twice at the girl.  She fell to the ground.  Mrs. Hill threw her arms about the enraged man, but, hurling her away from him, he fired twice at her.  The sound of the shots brought Mrs. Hill's son to the scene.  Freeman also fired at him.  He then hastily reloaded the pistol and placed it to his forehead and blew his brains out.  Mrs. Hill and her daughter are both shot in the head, and are not expected to live."

   You will note that the first and last article here states that a laborer named William Dean was within ten feet of the shooting, but did nothing to interfere because everything happened so fast.  I have checked the Census, voting lists, church member lists, and birth marriage and death records between 1880 and 1900 for the surname of Dean, with any first name.  Checking in Accomack County, and all surrounding counties in Virginia and Maryland, I have found not a single one.  There is a family named Deans near Norfolk on the mainland, and a family named Din - without a William, Bill, or Will - who lived on the Chesapeake Bay.  Since no one else mentions this laborer named Dean, I have the feeling he was a figment of someone's imagination.  There were also no listings of any man with the first name of Dean in the area.

   On Monday, June 22, 1885, The Atlanta Constitution of Georgia ran the following article one page one of their newspaper:

      "SIDE BY SIDE.  THE END OF THE TRAGEDY OF CHINCOTEAGUE.

William T. Freeman an Orphan, Foster Son, Playmate, Lover and Murderer  -  How the Girl's Heart Was Weaned Away From Her Country Suitor  -  Other Notes.

   STOCKTON, Md., June 21.  -  To-day the bodies of Mrs. Timothy Hill, her daughter Miss Jennie and William T. Freeman, by whom they were murdered, were buried side by side on Chincoteague island.  The tragedy in which they lost their lives has sent a thrill of horror through the community, which will pass into a legend.

   Ten years ago Mr. Timothy Hill, proprietor of a large fish factory on Chincoteague island, had his sympathies aroused by a street gamin, whom he met on Broadway, New York.  The boy seemed bright and active and Mr. Hill decided to bring him to Chincoteague.  He said that his named was William T. Freeman and that his father had been murdered by an Italian about two years before Mr. Hill found him.  Bill, as he was generally known, was very industrious, and by going to school as [sic] night acquired a fair education.  Jennie Hill, the young daughter of Mr. Hill, was about the same age as the boy, and during the first few years of his residence upon the island they were almost constantly together.  Their favorite amusement was to take a small canoe and navigate the many inlets and explore the small islands along the rock-clad coast north and south of Chincoteague.  The boy was of a daring disposition and gained quite a local reputation for bravery.  The girl naturally looked upon him as a young hero, and the sturdy lad seemed proud of her admiration.

   In 1879 a great change was effected in the lives of both by the girl being sent away to school in Snow Hill.  She came to the island at rare intervals only during that year.  In 1880, the father being determined that she should have a full education, with all modern accomplishments, sent her to a fashionable boarding school in Baltimore.  Here she grew to be a brilliant society woman, graduating with high honors in the summer of 1884.  When she returned to Chincoteague, she was a tall, fully developed young woman of eighteen, well versed in the usages of society.  She found young Freeman a roughly clad, handsome boy of the same age, intelligent and aspiring, but of course lacking in much of that refinement and polish common to the sphere of life in which she had moved in recent years.

   It did not take many weeks for the young man to fall in love with the beautiful girl, in whom he found so little trace of the frolicsome tom-boy who had been his early companion.  The girl had learned enough of the world to appreciate her would-be lover's social short comings, and this, added to his youth, caused her to give small heed to his wooing.  Freeman's infatuation grew with time.  The girl soon became the idol of the rough pony-herders and fishermen who make up the greater part of the population of Chincoteague.  The women bowed down to her, and she soon became known as the queen of the island.  Young Freeman had frequent paroxysms of jealousy, and once or twice ventured to up-braid the young lady for disdaining his love.  In May last, he made a formal declaration to his employer, who pretty nearly turned him out of the house for it.  Jennie's intercession only saved him from the old man's indignation.  The girl was unquestionably attached to her old comrade, but she promptly suppressed all declarations of love.

   About a month ago William Bunting, a young man who had been educated in Baltimore, arrived at Chincoteague, where his father had recently begun extensive operations as an oyster planter.  Young Bunting had met Miss Hill in Baltimore on one occasion, and hastened to renew the acquaintance.  He was of a well-to-do family and highly educated.  Freeman and he had several quarrels, in one of which Bunting, who is about twenty-five years old, called Freeman a country clodhopper and other contemptuous names.  On Wednesday Freeman heard at the family dinner table that Miss Jennie was going out sailing with Bunting the following day.  He quietly left the house and went to the Atlantic hotel, where Bunting was boarding.  When he found that his rival was absent the young man's rage seemed unbounded, and, drawing a pistol, he announced his intention of killing Bunting on sight.

   At 10 a.m., as Miss Jennie was feeding some chickens in the front yard Freeman appeared.  Mrs. Hill came out a few moments later and heard the boy pleading with the girl to love him and give him something to live for.  She reproved the boy sharply, and called to her daughter to accompany  her to the house.  Freeman turned away in another direction, but soon returned and confronted the two women.

   "I love you, Jennie," he said.  "Once for all, will you promise to be my wife if I can make myself worthy of you?"

   The girl laughed lightly and said, "Oh, now, Willie, don't talk nonsense.  I will not marry you nor any one else."

   Freeman instantly drew a pistol and fired directly at the girl, who was not more than four feet away.  She staggered back and he fired again, just as Mrs. Hill rushed at him.  The mother threw herself on his chest, and, clasping her arms around his neck, cried:

   "Oh, Bill!  Bill!  For God's sake don't shoot!"

   For an answer Freeman forced her out to arm's length and fired point blank in her face.  She turned away with a scream, and as she fell he fired another shot.  While standing over the two prostrate women he saw a laborer named Dean rushing toward him from one direction, while Daniel Hill, a son of his employer, came rushing from the house.  The crazed youth stepped up to the prostrate body of the girl, and, muttering something to the effect that he would follow her, blew out his own brains.  The two men arrived at the scene just as Freeman's corpse fell across the body of the girl.

   Jennie and her mother were taken into the house, where the five doctors on the island soon assembled.  Mrs. Hill, it was found, had one bullet, the first one fired at her, in the center of her forehead.  The second had penetrated her skull from near the left ear.  Her daughter had received a bullet in the back of her neck while she was stooping forward and running from her assailant, the bullet having taken a slanting direction toward her brain.  The corpse of Freeman was carried into the summer kitchen where it was prepared for burial."

An older photo of Emma Virginia "Jennie" Hill's

gravestone - it has recently been cleaned...

   Tomorrow, more articles that show the inventiveness of newspaper writers regarding a tragic murder and suicide.   I find myself snorting when I read about the "rescue" and "adoption" of Tom Freeman from New York, as well as the description of poor Jennie - not yet 13 and 1/4 years old - as a "tall, fully developed young woman of eighteen"....  

   Timothy Hill did not own a fish factory; however, in 1881, John Bunting opened a "fish factory" on the south end of Chincoteague, where menhaden (aka alewives) were made into industrial products - fish oil and fertilizer.  Bunting enlarged his factory in 1883, and it remained in operation until 1900.  John Bunting had a son named William, who was born in 1865; he was the same age as Tom Freeman.  There is no record of him going away to school.  He worked in many of his father's businesses, was known as Bill, and was considered the richest man - and employer - on the island when he died in 1935.