He contracted one of the water-borne diseases that was so common at the time.
A CBS NFL Insider
After Mr. Freeman was released from jail in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, he was found dead in the lot of a slaughterhouse. Tom, the policeman who delivered the news of Mr. Freeman's death to Grandmother Baxter (Maya's grandmother), said that it "Seems like he [Mr. Freeman] was dropped there. Some say he was kicked to death."
Freeman Clarke died in 1887.
A. Martin Freeman died in 1959.
Doug Freeman died in 1994.
Freeman Cary died in 1888.
Freeman Thorpe died in 1922.
Sambrooke Freeman died in 1782.
Chapman Freeman died in 1904.
Edmund Freeman died in 1682.
Freeman Lord died in 1917.
Freeman Tilden died in 1980.