Case File MO70

[Dictaphone was tuned for wide-audio capture before recording. Abridged transcript is based on the modified recording with relevant sound isolated, created in 1882.]

Freestone: I need space! Clear the area!

[The other voices quiet. A wet snapping noise. A shriek.]

Freestone: Please remain calm. This is an emergency medical procedure to-

Walker(?): What are you doing to her? I knew that man was the devil! Pastor!

Freestone: Mrs. Not(?), I will address your concerns shortly.

[The sound of liquid pouring, more wet snapping, a crackle of electricity, a growing murmur]

Walker(?): Pastor, pastor, stop him!

Lannery Sr: Woman, the girl’s already shaking like she’s possessed. What worse is the n****r gonna do?

Walker(?): Look at what he’s already done! Her dress, her dress, it’s torn, it’s-

Fry: Shut it. Freestone’ll fix it. Hands of the devil, heart of an angel. Tell ‘em, Freestone! You’ll pull her right back to-

Freestone: Stop. All of you. If she dies because I can’t hear myself think, God may forgive you but I won’t.

[The next four minutes are voiceless. There is more wet snapping, heavy breathing (CPR?), air bellows, crackles of electricity, the sound of a squeaky faucet]

Freestone: Mr. Fry, that bottle of brandy. Pour about a tablespoon here. Careful.

[The noises continue for three more minutes, ending with a series of wet suction noises]

Freestone: There. It’ll be a while before she wakes, but she’ll live. Could someone put her on a table or in a bed or — thank you, Mr. Macy.

Macy Sr: Don’t. We’re not friends right now. What in the goddamn are you?

Freestone: Human, and one who’s helped you a lot over the past six months. All of you. So let’s not do anything drastic.

Barrow: You’re one of those creyeents, aren’t you?

Freestone: ‘Creyentes’, and different tradition. There’s no spells or sorcery involved. It’s just…a carpenter’s approach to medicine.

Barrow: Never seen a hunk of wood with blood inside it.

Freestone: And I’ve never gotten splinters from a human body, but I assure you, the base principles are basically the same.

Graham: Y-you’re a freak! Don’t dress it up in fancy words, you c**n.

Fry: Shut it, Graham. He’s a good freak and a decent man. I was half-dead from drink before he fixed me up, and he didn’t even — ah!

Walker(?): Cover my mouth again, Jo, and next time I’m kicking higher. We all know the n****r was off the minute he walked into town. Could smell the withcraft on him. Now it’s staring you all in the face and you’re just letting it. God, I let him treat me. Where’s the pastor?

Freestone: Please. What you saw was an emergency tool that I use alongside normal, God-fearing medicine, like what I used on her when she saw me. I know it looks grotesque, but it causes no long-term damage and it actually improves your well-being. Haven’t you felt like your sick spells have recovered faster? That wounds that would fester heal up right? Have any of you had anything to complain about regarding my services? Has anybody died under my watch?

[Silence]

Freestone: I thought so. Now-

Bean: Michael Smith, Richard Campbell, Rosa and Thomas Edwards, Evelyn Banks. Apologies, everyone, I was busy bringing in a new guest. Have you forgotten already, Victor? Have you forgotten what brought the homunculi circus? They came for you.

[An uproar]

Freestone: Hold. I had no idea they came for me, and when they attacked, I helped-

Bean: Is that why you waited until the last minute to warn the Mayor? Is that why you covered up their first attack? You suspected weeks in advance, right Mr. Bitters?

[Sounds of struggle]

Freestone: Unhand me!

Bitters: I - I got him! Pastor, you’ll…protect me?

Barrow: That’s the strongman from the circus! Lament, what the hell is going on here?

Bean: My congregation…my fellows, my friends…as God as my witness, I must reveal the Negro before you as a craven, conniving fleshworker. He lied to you from the beginning. He has no interest in your well-being-

Freestone: No! I’ve always put your health — mmpf!

Bitters: It’s…it’s time to be quiet now! You don’t get to do it again!

Bean: And his career here has only been to further his own ends. This man I’ve called here, this strong man, a former slave-hunter of great renown, had his mind scoured for laying a hand on him, broken from a bold man of action down to a shell of his former self. That is the power he wields; to reshape the mind as well as the body. If you’ve ever been alone with him, can you trust anything he’s told you?

Bitters: He’s kicking, pastor. Please…

Bean: Soon, Bitters. Mrs. Walker was quite right. We all knew what he was from the beginning, but he knew he only had to convince one person to convince all of us. Right, Mayor?

[Silence]

Bean: Roger?

Macy Sr: I…was misled. I won’t defend him.

[Sounds of struggle]

Bitters: Father, protect me. Father, protect me. Father, protect me.

Macy Sr: Don’t look at me like that, boy. You’re the one keeping secrets and digging up graves.

Bean: I think it’s clear to everyone who this man truly is. Unless you have something to say, Fry?

Lannery Sr: Go on, n****r-lover. You were saying all sorts of nice things before.

[Silence]

Bean: I thought so. Every bit of help he provides is to further his own needs in secret. He kept his secrets even when they could have saved lives. What’s the punishment for causing the deaths of five people? He saved little Josephine from, perhaps, a bit of bone down the wrong pipe, but what does he deserve for taking her father away from her, for putting his hands on her in such a way, on our daughters, on our wives?

[Silence]

Walker: Hanging’s too good for him.

Lannery Sr: Abuse-Not, you mad hag, hanging’s fine. The Klan does it all the time.

Graham: I say we burn him.

Bean: I recuse myself as a man of the cloth - someone should keep watch over the children - but may you do as you see fit. As Achan was executed to free the people of Israel from the fury of God, may Victor’s death bring us to-

Bitters: Ow! Pastor, he bit-

Freestone: Geraldine, Geraldine, Geraldine, the Switch, the Switch, the Switch!

[Uproar, sound of glass breaking before catastrophic destruction. Please see transcript #3 for this incident for later events]