Jealous Wife Uses Razor to Slay Husband. . . Laughs About Crime Behind Bars of Cell—Head Cut Almost Off
Charlotte Observer, May 22nd
Death ended a family brawl near here last night and a pretty girl, 20, locked in the Mecklenburg county jail, talks freely and laughs a little bit about cutting her husband’s head almost off with a razor.
Alton C. Freeman, 22, the husband, will likely be buried some time today or Monday while his wife, Nellie, of bobbed hair and flashing brown eyes, languishes in her cell. Last night she discussed the homicide frankly and without tears.
The slaying was committed at the home of the pair, located near the Tuckasegee road on the site of Camp Greene, early last night.
The woman remained after severing her husband’s head and was arrested by rural police while crouching near his feet.
Soon after being lodged in her cell, Mrs. Freeman talked glibly of the killing to reporters.
“Women and liquor!” answered the petite slayer, when asked why she and her husband had engaged in a dispute that ended when she slew him.
She said that they were married five months ago and for three months their wedded life was in bliss.
“But for the last two months,” she added, “Alton has neglected me and has been running around with other girls.”
The fatal dispute really began on Independence Square yesterday afternoon,s he said, when he told her of a plan for stealing some liquor.
When she protested, he was describes as going into a rage.
Reaching home, the dispute was renewed when Freeman was accredited with saying that he would leave home.
When he had packed his grip and was in the act of carrying out his threat, Mrs. Freeman said that she spoke affectionately to him but was answered by a hiss and “I hate you.”
“I thought I would just teach him a lesson,” she said, “and having a razor in my pocket, I slipped it into my hand, threw my arms around his neck and cut him.”
“No! I didn’t intent to kill him,” she replied when asked if the slaying was premeditated. “I just meant to teach him a lesson.”
The blood gushed from his throat all over here clothing before she could retreat. He then turned, she said, walked into the kitchen of their home and fell into his mother’s arms. She contended that she did not know that Freeman was dead until the policemen arrived, adding that members of her husband’s family, who reside in the same house, did not inform her of the gravity of the wound.
Rural Policeman R.W. Goforth, who was accompanied to the scene of the slaying by Fred M. McGraw, discounted the girl’s version that she was ignorant of Freeman’s death until his arrival.
He also refuted her story of the slain man walking from the front of the house to the kitchen before dropping dead. He was of the opinion that the body was removed there after death.
Describing the condition of the body, the officer said that the head appeared to be completely severed except for a small portion of skin and flesh in the back of the neck.
The jagged end of the jugular vein was described as protruding from the wound. Death must have been instantaneous, he said.
The policeman allowed the girl to change her blood-clotted dress for another and then brought her to the county jail where she was lodged to await the coroner’s inquest.
From page 5 of the Salisbury Daily Tribune, May 24, 1926, J.B. Sherrill, editor and publisher.
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073201/1926-05-24/ed-1/seq-5/
Same newspaper, same day of publication, stories on different pages put different spin on tale of this murder. To read the other account, go to:
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073201/1926-05-24/ed-1/seq-1/
