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diff --git a/12288-0.txt b/12288-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b1f2e3e --- /dev/null +++ b/12288-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5410 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12288 *** + +[Illustration: A Grand Jury Presentment for Witchcraft Reproduced from the +original in the Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford + +May it please yr Honble Court, we the Grand inquest now setting for the +County of Fairefeild, being made sensable, not only by Common fame (but +by testamonies duly billed to us) that the widow Mary Staple, Mary +Harvey ye wife of Josiah Harvey & Hannah Harvey the daughter of the +saide Josiah, all of Fairefeild, remain under the susspition of useing +witchecraft, which is abomanable both in ye sight of God & man and ought +to be witnessed against. we doe therefore (in complyance to our duty, +the discharge of our oathes and that trust reposed in us) presente the +above mentioned pssons to the Honble Court of Assistants now setting in +Fairefeild, that they may be taken in to Custody & proceeded against +according to their demerits. + +Fairefeild, Fby, 1692 +in behalfe of the Grnd Jury +JOSEPH BASTARD, foreman] + + + +THE WITCHCRAFT +DELUSION IN COLONIAL +CONNECTICUT + +1647-1697 + +BY JOHN M. TAYLOR + +Author of "Maximilian and Carlotta, a Story of Imperialism," and +"Roger Ludlow, the Colonial Lawmaker" + + +1908 + + + "Connecticut can well afford to + let her records go to the world." + _Blue Laws: True and False_ (p. 47). + J. HAMMOND TRUMBULL. + + + + FOREWORD + +The true story of witchcraft in old Connecticut has never been told. It +has been hidden in the ancient records and in manuscripts in private +collections, and those most conversant with the facts have not made them +known, for one reason or another. It is herein written from +authoritative sources, and should prove of interest and value as a +present-day interpretation of that strange delusion, which for a half +century darkened the lives of the forefathers and foremothers of the +colonial days. + +J.M.T. + +Hartford, Connecticut. + + +TWO INDICTMENTS FOR WITCHCRAFT + +"John Carrington thou art indited by the name of John Carrington of +Wethersfield--carpenter--, that not hauing the feare of God before thine +eyes thou hast interteined ffamilliarity with Sattan the great enemye of +God and mankinde and by his helpe hast done workes aboue the course of +nature for wch both according to the lawe of God and the established +lawe of this Commonwealth thou deseruest to dye." + +Record Particular Court, 2: 17, 1650-51. + + +"Hugh Crotia, Thou Standest here presented by the name of Hugh Crotia of +Stratford in the Colony of Connecticut in New England; for that not +haueing the fear of God before thine Eyes, through the Instigation of +the Devill, thou hast forsaken thy God & covenanted with the Devill, and +by his help hast in a preternaturall way afflicted the bodys of Sundry +of his Majesties good Subjects, for which according to the Law of God, +and the Law of this Colony, thou deseruest to dye." + +Record Court of Assistants, 2: 16, 1693. + +A WARRANT FOR THE EXECUTION OF A WITCH[A] AND THE SHERIFF'S RETURN +THEREON + +To George Corwin Gentlm high Sheriff of the County of Essex Greeting + +Whereas Bridgett Bishop als Olliver the wife of Edward Bishop of Salem +in the County of Essex Sawyer at a special Court of Oyer and +Terminer ---- (held at?)[B] Salem this second Day of this instant month of +June for the Countyes of Essex Middlesex and Suffolk before William +Stoughton Esqe. and his Associates Justices of the said Court was +Indicted and arraigned upon five several Indictments for useing +practising & exercising on the ----[B] last past and divers others +days ----[B] witchcraft in and upon the bodyes of Abigail Williams Ann +puttnam Jr Mercy Lewis Mary Walcott and Elizabeth Hubbard of Salem +Village single women; whereby their bodyes were hurt afflicted pined +consumed wasted & tormented contrary to the forme of the statute in that +case made and provided To which Indictmts the said Bridgett Bishop +pleaded not guilty and for Tryall thereof put herselfe upon God and her +Country ----[B] she was found guilty of the ffelonyes and Witchcrafts +whereof she stood Indicted and sentence of death accordingly passed agt +her as the Law directs execution whereof yet remaines to be done These +are therefore in the name of their Majties William & Mary now King & +Queen over England & to will and command you that upon Fryday next being +the fourth day of this instant month of June between the hours of Eight +and twelve in the aforenoon of the same day you safely conduct the sd +Bridgett Bishop als Olliver from their Majties Goale in Salem aforesd to +the place of execution and there cause her to be hanged by the neck +until she be dead and of your doings herein make returne to the Clerk of +the sd Court and precept And hereof you are not to faile at your peril +And this shall be sufficient warrant Given under my hand & seal at Boston +the Eighth of June in the ffourth year of the reigne of our Sovereigne +Lords William & Mary now King & Queen over England Annoque Dm 1692 +Wm. Stoughton + +[Footnote A: Original in office of Clerk of the Courts at Salem, +Massachusetts. Said to be the only one extant in American archives.] +[Footnote B: Some of the words in the warrant are illegible.] + + +June 16 1692 + +According to the within written precept I have taken the Bodye of the +within named Bridgett Bishop out of their Majties Goale in Salem & +Safely Conueighd her to the place provided for her Execution & Caused ye +sd Bridgett to be hanged by the neck till Shee was dead all which was +according to the time within Required & So I make returne by me +George Corwin +Sheriff + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER I +Perkins' definition--Burr's "Servants of Satan"--The monkish idea--The +ancientness of witchcraft--Its universality--Its regulation--What it +was--Its oldest record--The Babylonian Stele--Its discovery--King +Hammurabi's Code, 2250 B.C.--Its character and importance--Hebraic +resemblances--Its witchcraft law--The test of guilt--The water test. + +CHAPTER II +Opinions of Blackstone and Lecky--Witchcraft nomenclature--Its earlier +and later phases--Common superstitions--Monna Sidonia's invocation-- +Leland's Sea Song--Witchcraft's diverse literature--Its untold history-- +The modern Satanic idea--Exploitation by the Inquisitors--The chief +authorities--The witch belief--Its recognition in drama and romance--The +Weird Sisters--Other characters. + +CHAPTER III +Fundamentals--The scriptural citations--Old and New +Testament--Josephus--Ancient and modern witchcraft--The distinction--The +arch enemy Satan--Action of the Church--The later definition--The New +England indictments--Satan's recognition--Persecutions in Italy, Germany +and France--Slow spread to England--Statute of Henry VIII--Cranmer's +injunction--Jewell's sermon--Statute James I--His Demonologie--Executions +in Eastern England--Witch finder Hopkins--Howell's statement--John +Lowes--Witchcraft in Scotland--Commissions--Instruments of torture--Forbes' +definition--Colonial beliefs + +CHAPTER IV +Fiske's view--The forefathers' belief--Massachusetts, Connecticut and +New Haven laws--Sporadic cases--The Salem tragedy--Statements of +Hawthorne, Fiske, Lowell, Latimer--The victims--Upham's picture--The +trial court--Sewall's confession--Cotton Mather--Calef and +Upham--Poole--Mather's rules--Ministerial counsel--Longfellow's +opinion--Mather's responsibility--His own evidence--Conspectus + +CHAPTER V +The Epidemic in Connecticut--Palfrey--Trumbulls--Winthrop's +Journal--Treatment of witchcraft--Silence and evasion--The true +story--How told--Witnesses--Testimony--All classes affected--The +courts--Judges and jurors--The best evidence--The record--Grounds for +examination of a witch--Jones' summary--Witch marks--What they were--How +discovered--Dalton's Country Justice--The searchers--Searchers' report +in Disborough and Clawson cases + +CHAPTER VI +Hamersley's and Morgan's comment--John Allyn's letter--The +accusation--Its origin--Its victims--Many witnesses--Record +evidence--The witnesses themselves--Memorials of their delusion--Notable +depositions--Selected testimonies, and cases--Katherine Harrison--The +court--The judge--The indictment--Grand jury's oath--Credulity of the +court--Testimony--Its unique character--Bracy--Dickinson--Montague-- +Graves--Francis--Johnson--Hale--Smith--Verdict and sentence--Court's +appeal to the ministers--Their answer--A remarkable document--Katherine's +petition--"A Complaint of severall grieuances"--Katherine's reprieve-- +Dismissal from imprisonment--Removal + +CHAPTER VII +Mercy Disborough--Cases at Fairfield, 1692--The special court--The +indictment--Testimonies--Jesop--Barlow--Dunning--Halliberch--Benit-- +Grey--Godfree--Search for witch marks--Ordeal by water--Cateran Branch's +accusation--Jury disagree--Later verdict of guilty--The governor's +sentence--Reference to General Court--Afterthought--John Hale's +conclusion--Courts call on the ministers--Their answer--General +advice--Reasons for reprieve--Notable papers--Eliot and +Woodbridge--Willis--Pitkin--Stanly--The pardon + +CHAPTER VIII +Hawthorne--Latimer--Additional cases--Curious and vulgar testimony--All +illustrative of opinion--Make it understandable--Elizabeth +Seager--Witnesses--What they swore to--Garretts--Sterne--Hart--Willard-- +Pratt--Migat--"Staggerings" of the jury--Contradictions--Verdict-- +Elizabeth Godman--Governor Goodyear's dilemma--Strange doings--Ball's +information--Imprisonment--Discharge--Nathaniel and Rebecca Greensmith-- +Character, Accusation--Rebecca's confession--Conviction--Double execution +at Hartford + +CHAPTER IX +Elizabeth Clawson--The indictment--Witnesses--"Kateran" Branch--Garney-- +Kecham--Abigail and Nathaniel Cross--Bates--Sargent Wescot and Abigail-- +Finch--Bishop--Holly--Penoir--Slawson--Kateran's Antics--Acquittal. +Hugh Crotia--The court--Grand jury--Indictment--Testimony--Confession-- +Acquittal--Gaol delivery--Elizabeth Garlick--A sick woman's fancies--"A +black thing at the bed's featte"--Burning herbs--The sick child--The ox' +broken leg--The dead ram and sow--The Tale burning + +CHAPTER X +Goodwife Knapp--Her character--A notable case--Imprisonment--Harsh +treatment--The inquisitors--Their urgency--Knapp's appeal--The postmortem +desecration--Prominent people involved--Davenport and Ludlow--Staplies vs. +Ludlow--The court--Confidential gossip--Cause of the suit--Testimony-- +Davenport--Sherwood--Tomson--Gould--Ward--Pell--Brewster--Lockwood--Hull-- +Brundish--Whitlock--Barlow--Lyon--Mistress Staplies--Her doings aforetime-- +Tashs' night ride--"A light woman"--Her character--Reparation suit--Her +later indictment--Power of the delusion--Pertinent inquiry + +CHAPTER XI +Present opinions--J. Hammond Trumbull--Annie Eliot +Trumbull--Review--Authenticity--Record evidence--Controversialists--Actual +cases--Suspicions--Accusations--Acquittals--Flights--Executions--First +complete roll--Changes in belief--Contrast--Edwards--Carter--"The +Rogerenes"--Conclusion--Hathorne--Mather + + +THE WITCHCRAFT DELUSION +IN COLONIAL CONNECTICUT + + + + +CHAPTER I + +"First, because Witchcraft is a rife and common sinne in these our +daies, and very many are intangled with it, beeing either practitioners +thereof in their owne persons, or at the least, yielding to seeke for +helpe and counsell of such as practise it." _A Discovrse of the Damned +Art of Witchcraft_, PERKINS, 1610. + +"And just as God has his human servants, his church on earth, so also +the Devil has his--men and women sworn to his service and true to his +bidding. To win such followers he can appear to men in any form he +pleases, can deceive them, enter into compact with them, initiate them +into his worship, make them his allies for the ruin of their fellows. +Now it is these human allies and servants of Satan, thus postulated into +existence by the brain of a monkish logician, whom history knows as +witches." _The Literature of Witchcraft_, BURR. + + +Witchcraft in its generic sense is as old as human history. It has +written its name in the oldest of human records. In all ages and among +all peoples it has taken firm hold on the fears, convictions and +consciences of men. Anchored in credulity and superstition, in the dread +and love of mystery, in the hard and fast theologic doctrines and +teachings of diabolism, and under the ban of the law from its beginning, +it has borne a baleful fruitage in the lives of the learned and the +unlearned, the wise and the simple. + +King and prophet, prelate and priest, jurist and lawmaker, prince and +peasant, scholars and men of affairs have felt and dreaded its subtle +power, and sought relief in code and commandment, bull and anathema, +decree and statute--entailing even the penalty of death--and all in vain +until in the march of the races to a higher civilization, the centuries +enthroned faith in the place of fear, wisdom in the place of ignorance, +and sanity in the seat of delusion. + +In its earlier historic conception witchcraft and its demonstrations +centered in the claim of power to produce certain effects, "things +beyond the course of nature," from supernatural causes, and under this +general term all its occult manifestations were classified with magic +and sorcery, until the time came when the Devil was identified and +acknowledged both in church and state as the originator and sponsor of +the mystery, sin and crime--the sole father of the Satanic compacts with +men and women, and the law both canonical and civil took cognizance of +his malevolent activities. + +In the Acropolis mound at Susa in ancient Elam, in the winter of 1901-2, +there was brought to light by the French expedition in charge of the +eminent savant, M. de Morgan, one of the most remarkable memorials of +early civilization ever recovered from the buried cities of the Orient. + +It is a monolith--a stele of black diorite--bearing in bas-relief a +likeness of Hammurabi (the Amrephel of the Old Testament; Genesis xiv, 1), +and the sixth king of the first Babylonian dynasty, who reigned +about 2250 B.C.; and there is also carved upon it, in archaic script in +black letter cuneiform--used long after the cursive writing was +invented--the longest Babylonian record discovered to this day,--the +oldest body of laws in existence and the basis of historical +jurisprudence. + +It is a remarkable code, quickly made available through translation and +transliteration by the Assyrian scholars, and justly named, from its +royal compiler, Hammurabi's code. He was an imperialist in purpose and +action, and in the last of his reign of fifty-five years he annexed or +assimilated the suzerainty of Elam, or Southern Persia, with Assyria to +the north, and also Syria and Palestine, to the Mediterranean Sea. + +This record in stone originally contained nineteen columns of +inscriptions of four thousand three hundred and fourteen lines, arranged +in two hundred and eighty sections, covering about two hundred separate +decisions or edicts. There is substantial evidence that many of the laws +were of greater antiquity than the code itself, which is a thousand +years older than the Mosaic code, and there are many striking +resemblances and parallels between its provisions, and the law of the +covenant, and the deuteronomy laws of the Hebrews. + +The code was based on personal responsibility. It protects the sanctity +of an oath before God, provides among many other things for written +evidence in legal matters, and is wonderfully comprehensive and rich in +rules for the conduct of commercial, civic, financial, social, economic, +and domestic affairs. + +These sections are notably illustrative: + +"If a man, in a case (pending judgment), utters threats against the +witnesses (or), does not establish the testimony that he has given, if +that case be a case involving life, that man shall be put to death. + +"If a judge pronounces a judgment, renders a decision, delivers a +verdict duly signed and sealed and afterwards alters his judgment, they +shall call that judge to account for the alteration of the judgment +which he had pronounced, and he shall pay twelvefold the penalty which +was in the said judgment, and, in the assembly, they shall expel him +from his seat of judgment, and he shall not return, and with the judges +in a case he shall not take his seat. + +"If a man practices brigandage and is captured, that man shall be put to +death. + +"If a woman hates her husband, and says: 'thou shalt not have me,' they +shall inquire into her antecedents for her defects; and if she has been +a careful mistress and is without reproach and her husband has been +going about and greatly belittling her, that woman has no blame. She +shall receive her presents and shall go to her father's house. + +"If she has not been a careful mistress, has gadded about, has neglected +her house and has belittled her husband, they shall throw that woman +into the water. + +"If a physician operates on a man for a severe wound with a bronze +lancet and causes the man's death, or opens an abscess (in the eye) of a +man with a bronze lancet and destroys the man's eye, they shall cut off +his fingers. + +"If a builder builds a house for a man and does not make its +construction firm and the house, which he has built, collapses and +causes the death of the owner of the house, that builder shall be put to +death." + +It is, however, with only one of King Hammurabi's wise laws that this +inquiry has to do, and it is this: + +"If a man has placed an enchantment upon a man, and has not justified +himself, he upon whom the enchantment is placed to the Holy River +(Euphrates) shall go; into the Holy River he shall plunge. If the Holy +River holds (drowns) him he who enchanted him shall take his house. If +on the contrary, the man is safe and thus is innocent, the wizard loses +his life, and his house." + +Or, as another translation has it: + +"If a man ban a man and cast a spell on him--if he cannot justify it he +who has banned shall be killed." + +"If a man has cast a spell on a man and has not justified it, he on whom +the spell has been thrown shall go to the River God, and plunge into the +river. If the River God takes him he who has banned him shall be saved. +If the River God show him to be innocent, and he be saved, he who banned +him shall be killed, and he who plunged into the river shall take the +house of him who banned him." + +There can be no more convincing evidence of the presence and power of +the great witchcraft superstition among the primitive races than this +earliest law; and it is to be especially noted that it prescribes one of +the very tests of guilt--the proof by water--which was used in another +form centuries later, on the continent, in England and New England, at +Wurzburg and Bonn, at Rouen, in Suffolk, Essex and Devon, and at Salem +and Hartford and Fairfield, when "the Devil starteth himself up in the +pulpit, like a meikle black man, and calling the row (roll) everyone +answered, Here!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +"To deny the possibility, nay actual evidence of witchcraft and sorcery, +is at once to flatly contradict the revealed word of God in various +passages both of the Old and New Testaments." _Blackstone's +Commentaries_ (Vol. 4, ch. 4, p. 60). + +"It was simply the natural result of Puritanical teaching acting on the +mind, predisposing men to see Satanic influence in life, and +consequently eliciting the phenomena of witchcraft." LECKY's +_Rationalism in Europe_ (Vol. I, p. 123). + + +Witchcraft's reign in many lands and among many peoples is also attested +in its remarkable nomenclature. Consider its range in ancient, medieval +and modern thought as shown in some of its definitions: Magic, sorcery, +soothsaying, necromancy, astrology, wizardry, mysticism, occultism, and +conjuring, of the early and middle ages; compacts with Satan, consorting +with evil spirits, and familiarity with the Devil, of later times; all +at last ripening into an epidemic demonopathy with its countless victims +of fanaticism and error, malevolence and terror, of persecution and +ruthless sacrifices. + +It is still most potent in its evil, grotesque, and barbaric forms, in +Fetichism, Voodooism, Bundooism, Obeahism, and Kahunaism, in the devil +and animal ghost worship of the black races, completely exemplified in +the arts of the Fetich wizard on the Congo; in the "Uchawi" of the +Wasequhha mentioned by Stanley; in the marriage customs of the Soudan +devil worshipers; in the practices of the Obeah men and women in the +Caribbees--notably their power in matters of love and business, religion +and war--in Jamaica; in the incantations of the kahuna in Hawaii; and in +the devices of the voodoo or conjure doctor in the southern states; in +the fiendish rites and ceremonies of the red men,--the Hoch-e-ayum of +the Plains Indians, the medicine dances of the Cheyennes and Arapahoes, +the fire dance of the Navajos, the snake dance of the Moquis, the sun +dance of the Sioux, in the myths and tales of the Cherokees; and it +rings in many tribal chants and songs of the East and West. + +It lives as well, and thrives luxuriantly, ripe for the full vintage, in +the minds of many people to whom this or that trivial incident or +accident of life is an omen of good or evil fortune with a mysterious +parentage. Its roots strike deep in that strange element in human nature +which dreads whatsoever is weird and uncanny in common experiences, and +sees strange portents and dire chimeras in all that is unexplainable to +the senses. It is made most virile in the desire for knowledge of the +invisible and intangible, that must ever elude the keenest inquiry, a +phase of thought always to be reckoned with when imagination runs riot, +and potent in its effect, though evanescent as a vision the brain +sometimes retains of a dream, and as senseless in the cold light of +reason as Monna Sidonia's invocation at the Witches' Sabbath: (_Romance +of Leonardo da Vinci_, p. 97, MEREJKOWSKI.) + + "Emen Hetan, Emen Hetan, Palu, Baalberi, + Astaroth help us Agora, Agora, Patrisa, + Come and help us." + + "Garr-r: Garr-r, up: Don't knock + Your head: We fly: We fly:" + +And who may count himself altogether free from the subtle power of the +old mystery with its fantastic imageries, when the spirit of unrest is +abroad? Who is not moved by it in the awesome stillness of night on the +plains, or in the silence of the mountains or of the somber forest +aisles; in wild winter nights when old tales are told; in fireside +visions as tender memories come and go? And who, when listening to the +echoes of the chambers of the restless sea when deep calleth unto deep, +does not hear amid them some weird and haunting refrain like Leland's +sea song? + +"I saw three witches as the wind blew cold +In a red light to the lee; +Bold they were and overbold +As they sailed over the sea; +Calling for One Two Three; +Calling for One Two Three; +And I think I can hear +It a ringing in my ear, +A-calling for the One, Two, Three." + +Above all, in its literature does witchcraft exhibit the conclusive +proof of its age, its hydra-headed forms, and its influence in the +intellectual and spiritual development of the races of men. + +What of this literature? Count in it all the works that treat of the +subject in its many phases, and its correlatives, and it is limitless, a +literature of all times and all lands. + +Christian and pagan gave it place in their religions, dogmas, and +articles of faith and discipline, and in their codes of law; and for +four hundred years, from the appeal of Pope John XXII, in 1320, to +extirpate the Devil-worshipers, to the repeal of the statute of James I +in 1715, the delusion gave point and force to treatises, sermons, +romances, and folk-lore, and invited, nay, compelled, recognition at the +hands of the scientist and legist, the historian, the poet and the +dramatist, the theologian and philosopher. + +But the monographic literature of witchcraft, as it is here considered, +is limited, in the opinion of a scholar versed in its lore, to fifteen +hundred titles. There is a mass of unpublished materials in libraries +and archives at home and abroad, and of information as to witchcraft and +the witch trials, accessible in court records, depositions, and current +accounts in public and private collections, all awaiting the coming of +some master hand to transform them into an exhaustive history of the +most grievous of human superstitions. + +To this day, there has been no thorough investigation or complete +analysis of the history of the witch persecutions. The true story has +been distorted by partisanship and ignorance, and left to exploitation +by the romancer, the empiric, and the sciolist. + +"Of the origin and nature of the delusion we know perhaps enough; but of +the causes and paths of its spread, of the extent of its ravages, of its +exact bearing upon the intellectual and religious freedom of its times, +of the soul-stirring details of the costly struggle by which it was +overborne we are lamentably ill informed." (_The Literature of +Witchcraft_, p. 66, BURR.) + +It must serve in this brief narrative to merely note, within the +centuries which marked the climax of the mania, some of the most +authoritative and influential works in giving strength to its evil +purpose and the modes of accusation, trial, and punishment. + +Modern scholarship holds that witchcraft, with the Devil as the arch +enemy of mankind for its cornerstone, was first exploited by the +Dominicans of the Inquisition. They blazed the tortuous way for the +scholastic theology which in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries +gave new recognition to Satan and his satellites as the sworn enemies of +God and his church, and the Holy Inquisition with its massive enginery, +open and secret, turned its attention to the exposure and extirpation of +the heretics and sinners who were enlisted in the Devil's service. + +Take for adequate illustration these standard authorities in the early +periods of the widespread and virulent epidemic: + +Those of the Inquisitor General, Eymeric, in 1359, entitled _Tractatus +contra dæmonum_; the Formicarius or Ant Hill of the German Dominican +Nider, 1337; the _De calcatione dæmonum_, 1452; the _Flagellum +hæreticorum fascinariorum_ of the French Inquisitor Jaquier in 1458; and +the _Fortalitium fidei_ of the Spanish Franciscan Alonso de Spina, in +1459; the famous and infamous manual of arguments and rules of procedure +for the detection and punishment of witches, compiled by the German +Inquisitors Krämer and Sprenger (Institor) in 1489, buttressed on the +bull of Pope Innocent VIII; (this was the celebrated _Witch Hammer_, +bearing on its title page the significant legend, "_Not to believe in +witchcraft is the greatest of heresies_"); the Canon Episcopi; the bulls +of Popes John XXII, 1330, Innocent VIII, 1484, Alexander VI, 1494, Leo +X, 1521, and Adrian VI, 1522; the Decretals of the canon law; the +exorcisms of the Roman and Greek churches, all hinged on scriptural +precedents; the Roman law, the Twelve Tables, and the Justinian Code, +the last three imposing upon the crimes of conjuring, exorcising, +magical arts, offering sacrifices to the injury of one's neighbors, +sorcery, and witchcraft, the penalties of death by torture, fire, or +crucifixion. + +Add to these classics some of the later authorities: the _Dæmonologie_ +of the royal inquisitor James I of England and Scotland, 1597; Mores' +_Antidote to Atheism_; Fuller's _Holy and Profane State_; Granvil's +_Sadducismus Triumphatus_, 1681; _Tryal of Witches at the Assizes for +the County of Suffolk before Sir Matthew Hale, March, 1664_ (London, +1682); Baxter's _Certainty of the World of Spirits_, 1691; Cotton +Mather's _A Discourse on Witchcraft_, 1689, his _Late Memorable +Providences Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions_, 1684, and his +_Wonders of the Invisible World_, 1692; and enough references have been +made to this literature of delusion, to the precedents that seared the +consciences of courts and juries in their sentences of men, women, and +children to death by the rack, the wheel, the stake, and the gallows. + +Where in history are the horrors of the curse more graphically told than +in the words of Canon Linden, an eye witness of the demonic deeds at +Trier (Treves) in 1589? + +"And so, from court to court throughout the towns and villages of all +the diocese, scurried special accusers, inquisitors, notaries, jurors, +judges, constables, dragging to trial and torture human beings of both +sexes and burning them in great numbers. Scarcely any of those who were +accused escaped punishment. Nor were there spared even the leading men +in the city of Trier. For the Judge, with two Burgomasters, several +Councilors and Associate Judges, canons of sundry collegiate churches, +parish-priests, rural deans, were swept away in this ruin. So far, at +length, did the madness of the furious populace and of the courts go in +this thirst for blood and booty that there was scarcely anybody who was +not smirched by some suspicion of this crime. + +"Meanwhile notaries, copyists, and innkeepers grew rich. The executioner +rode a blooded horse, like a noble of the court, and went clad in gold +and silver; his wife vied with noble dames in the richness of her array. +The children of those convicted and punished were sent into exile; their +goods were confiscated; plowman and vintner failed." (_The Witch +Persecutions_, pp. 13-14, BURR.) + +Fanaticism did not rule and ruin without hindrance and remonstrance. Men +of great learning and exalted position struck mighty blows at the root +of the evil. They could not turn the tide but they stemmed it, and their +attacks upon the whole theory of Satanic power and the methods of +persecution were potent in the reaction to humanity and a reign of +reason. + +Always to be remembered among these men of power are Johann Wier, +Friedrich Spee, and notably Reginald Scot, who in his _Discovery of +Witchcraft_, in 1584, undertook to prove that "the contracts and +compacts of witches with devils and all infernal spirits and familiars, +are but erroneous novelties and erroneous conceptions." + +"After all it is setting a high value on our conjectures to roast a man +alive on account of them." (MONTAIGNE.) + +Who may measure in romance and the drama the presence, the cogent and +undeniable power of those same abiding elements of mysticism and +mystery, which underlie all human experience, and repeated in myriad +forms find their classic expression in the queries of the "Weird +Sisters," "_those elemental avengers without sex or kin_"? + + "When shall we three meet again, + In thunder, lightning or in rain? + When the hurly burly's done, + When the battle's lost and won." + +Are not the mummeries of the witches about the cauldron in Macbeth, and +Talbot's threat pour la Pucelle, + + "Blood will I draw on thee, thou art a witch," + +uttered so long ago, echoed in the wailing cry of La Meffraye in the +forests of Machecoul, in the maledictions of Grio, and of the Saga of +the Burning Fields? + +Their vitality is also clearly shown in their constant use and +exemplification by the romance and novel writers who appeal with +certainty and success to the popular taste in the tales of spectral +terrors. Witness: Farjeon's _The Turn of the Screw_; Bierce's _The +Damned Thing_; Bulwer's _A Strange Story_; Cranford's _Witch of Prague_; +Howells' _The Shadow of a Dream_; Winthrop's _Cecil Dreeme_; Grusot's +_Night Side of Nature_; Crockett's Black Douglas; and _The Red Axe_, +Francis' _Lychgate Hall_; Caine's _The Shadow of a Crime_; and countless +other stories, traditions, tales, and legends, written and unwritten, +that invite and receive a gracious hospitality on every hand. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +"A belief in witchcraft had always existed; it was entertained by Coke, +Bacon, Hale and even Blackstone. It was a misdemeanor at English common +law and made a felony without benefit of clergy by 33 Henry VIII, c. 8, +and 5 Eliz., c. 16, and the more severe statute of I Jas. 1, ch. 12." +_Connecticut--Origin of her Courts and Laws_ (N.E. States, Vol I, +p. 487-488), HAMERSLEY. + +"Selden took up a somewhat peculiar and characteristic position. He +maintained that the law condemning women to death for witchcraft was +perfectly just, but that it was quite unnecessary to ascertain whether +witchcraft was a possibility. A woman might not be able to destroy the +life of her neighbor by her incantations; but if she intended to do so, +it was right that she should be hung." _Rationalism in Europe_ (Vol. 1, +p. 123) LECKY. + + +The fundamental authority for legislation, for the decrees of courts and +councils as to witchcraft, from the days of the Witch of Endor to those +of Mercy Disborough of Fairfield, and Giles Corey of Salem Farms, was +the code of the Hebrews and its recognition in the Gospel dispensations. +Thereon rest most of the historic precedents, legislative, +ecclesiastical, and judicial. + +"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." Exodus xxii, 18. + +What law embalmed in ancientry and honored as of divine origin has been +more fruitful of sacrifice and suffering? Through the Scriptures, +gathering potency as it goes, runs the same grim decree, with widening +definitions. + +"And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits and +after wizards ... I will even set my face against that soul and will cut +him off from among his people." Deuteronomy xviii, 10-11. + +"There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his +daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an +observer of times, or an enchanter, or a consulter with familiar +spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer." Deuteronomy xviii, 10-11. + +"Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards out +of the land." Samuel i, 3. + +"Now Saul the king of the Hebrews, had cast out of the country the +fortune tellers, and the necromancers, and all such as exercised the +like arts, excepting the prophets.... Yet did he bid his servants to +inquire out for him some woman that was a necromancer, and called up the +souls of the dead, that so he might know whether his affairs would +succeed to his mind; for this sort of necromantic women that bring up +the souls of the dead, do by them foretell future events." Josephus, +Book 6, ch. 14. + +"For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft." Samuel i, 15-23. + +"And I will cut off witchcraft out of the land." Micah v. 12. + +"Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together +and burned them." Acts xix, 19. + +"But there was a certain man called Simon which beforetime in the same +city used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria." Acts viii, 9. + +"If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is +withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are +burned."[C] John xv, 6. + +[Footnote C: In the opinion of the eminent Italian jurist Bartolo, +witches were burned alive in early times on this authority.] + +These citations make clear the scriptural recognition of witchcraft as a +heinous sin and crime. It is, however, necessary to draw a broad line of +demarcation between the ancient forms and manifestations which have been +brought into view for an illustrative purpose, and that delusion or +mania which centered in the theologic belief and teaching that Satan was +the arch enemy of mankind, and clothed with such power over the souls of +men as to make compacts with them, and to hold supremacy over them in +the warfare between good and evil. + +The church from its earliest history looked upon witchcraft as a deadly +sin, and disbelief in it as a heresy, and set its machinery in motion +for its extirpation. Its authority was the word of God and the civil +law, and it claimed jurisdiction through the ecclesiastical courts, the +secular courts, however, acting as the executive of their decrees and +sentences. + +Such was the cardinal principle which governed in the merciless attempts +to suppress the epidemic in spreading from the continent to England and +Scotland, and at last to the Puritan colonies in America, where the last +chapter of its history was written. + +There can be no better, no more comprehensive modern definition of the +crime once a heresy, or of the popular conception of it, than the one +set forth in the New England indictments, to wit: "interteining +familiarity with Satan the enemy of mankind, and by his help doing +works above the course of nature." + +In few words Henry Charles Lea, in his _History of the Inquisition in +the Middle Ages_, analyzes the development of the Satanic doctrine from +a superstition into its acceptance as a dogma of Christian belief. + +"As Satan's principal object in his warfare with God was to seduce human +souls from their divine allegiance, he was ever ready with whatever +temptation seemed most likely to effect his purpose. Some were to be won +by physical indulgence; others by conferring on them powers enabling +them apparently to forecast the future, to discover hidden things, to +gratify enmity, and to acquire wealth, whether through forbidden arts or +by the services of a familiar demon subject to their orders. As the +neophyte in receiving baptism renounced the devil, his pomps and his +angels, it was necessary for the Christian who desired the aid of Satan +to renounce God. Moreover, as Satan when he tempted Christ offered him +the kingdoms of the earth in return for adoration--'If thou therefore +wilt worship me all shall be thine' (Luke iv, 7)--there naturally arose +the idea that to obtain this aid it was necessary to render allegiance +to the prince of hell. Thence came the idea, so fruitful in the +development of sorcery, of compacts with Satan by which sorcerers became +his slaves, binding themselves to do all the evil they could to follow +their example. Thus the sorcerer or witch was an enemy of all the human +race as well as of God, the most efficient agent of hell in its +sempiternal conflict with heaven. His destruction, by any method, was +therefore the plainest duty of man. + +"This was the perfected theory of sorcery and witchcraft by which the +gentle superstitions inherited and adopted from all sides were fitted +into the Christian dispensation and formed part of its accepted creed." +(_History of Inquisition in the Middle Ages_, 3, 385, LEA.) + +Once the widespread superstition became adapted to the forms of +religious faith and discipline, and "the prince of the power of the air" +was clothed with new energies, the Devil was taken broader account of by +Christianity itself; the sorcery of the ancients was embodied in the +Christian conception of witchcraft; and the church undertook to deal +with it as a heresy; the door was opened wide to the sweep of the +epidemic in some of the continental lands. + +In Bamburg and Wurzburg, Geneva and Como, Toulouse and Lorraine, and in +many other places in Italy, Germany, and France, thousands were +sacrificed in the names of religion, justice, and law, with bigotry for +their advocate, ignorance for their judge, and fanaticism for their +executioner. The storm of demonism raged through three centuries, and +was stayed only by the mighty barriers of protest, of inquiry, of +remonstrance, and the forces that crystallize and mold public opinion, +which guides the destinies of men in their march to a higher +civilization. + +The flames burning so long and so fiercely on the continent at first +spread slowly in England and Scotland. Sorcery in some of its guises had +obtained therein ever since the Conquest, and victims had been burned +under the king's writ after sentence in the ecclesiastical courts; but +witchcraft as a compact with Satan was not made a felony until 1541, by +a statute of Henry VIII. Cranmer, in his _Articles of Visitation_ in +1549, enjoined the clergy to inquire as to any craft invented by the +Devil; and Bishop Jewell, preaching before the queen in 1558, said: + +"It may please your Grace to understand that witches and sorcerers +within these last few years are marvelously increased within your +Grace's realm, Your Grace's subjects pine away even unto the death, +their colour fadeth, their flesh rotteth, their speech is benumbed, +their senses are bereft." + +The act of 1541 was amended in Queen Elizabeth's reign, in 1562, but at +the accession of James I--himself a fanatic and bigot in religious +matters, and the author of the famous _Dæmonologie_--a new law was +enacted with exact definition of the crime, which remained in force more +than a hundred years. Its chief provision was this: + +"If any person or persons use, practice or exercise any invocation or +conjuration of any evil and wicked spirit, or shall consult, covenant +with, entertain, employ, feed or reward any evil and wicked spirit to or +for any intent or purpose, or take up any dead man, woman, or child out +of his, her or their grave, or any other place where the dead body +resteth or the skin, bone, or any part of any dead person, to be +employed or used in any manner of witchcraft, sorcery, charm, or +enchantment, or shall use, practise, or exercise any witchcraft, +enchantment, charm, or sorcery, whereby any person shall be killed, +destroyed, wasted, consumed, pined or lamed in his or her body or any +part thereof: every such offender is a felon without benefit of clergy." + +Under this law, and the methods of its administration, witchcraft so +called increased; persecutions multiplied, especially under the +Commonwealth, and notably in the eastern counties of England, whence so +many of all estates, all sorts and conditions of men, had fled over seas +to set up the standard of independence in the Puritan colonies. + +Many executions occurred in Lancashire, in Suffolk, Essex, and +Huntingdonshire, where the infamous scoundrel "Witch-finder-General" +Matthew Hopkins, under the sanction of the courts, was "pricking," +"waking," "watching," and "testing" persons suspected or accused of +witchcraft, with fiendish ingenuity of indignity and torture. Says James +Howell in his _Familiar Letters_, in 1646: + +"We have multitudes of witches among us; for in Essex and Suffolk there +were above two hundred indicted within these two years, and above the +half of them executed." + +"Within the compass of two years (1645-7), near upon three hundred +witches were arraigned, and the major part of them executed in Essex and +Suffolk only. Scotland swarms with them more and more, and persons of +good quality are executed daily." + +Scotland set its seal on witchcraft as a crime by an act of its +parliament so early as 1563, amended in 1649. The ministers were the +inquisitors and persecutors. They heard the confessions, and inflicted +the tortures, and their cruelties were commensurate with the hard and +fast theology that froze the blood of mercy in their veins. + +The trials were often held by special commissions issued by the privy +council, on the petition of a presbytery or general assembly. It was +here that those terrible instruments of torture, the caschielawis, the +lang irnis, the boot and the pilliewinkis, were used to wring +confessions from the wretched victims. It is all a strange and gruesome +story of horrors told in detail in the state trial records, and +elsewhere, from the execution of Janet Douglas--Lady Glammis--to that of +the poor old woman at Dornoch who warmed herself at the fire set for her +burning. So firmly seated in the Scotch mind was the belief in +witchcraft as a sin and crime, that when the laws against it were +repealed in 1736, Scotchmen in the highest stations of church and state +remonstrated against the repeal as contrary to the law of God; and +William Forbes, in his "Institutes of the Law of Scotland," calls +witchcraft "that black art whereby strange and wonderful things are +wrought by a power derived from the devil." + +This glance at what transpired on the continent and in England and +Scotland is of value, in the light it throws on the beliefs and +convictions of both Pilgrim and Puritan--Englishmen all--in their new +domain, their implicit reliance on established precedents, their +credulity in witchcraft matters, and their absolute trust in scriptural +and secular authority for their judicial procedure, and the execution of +the grim sentences of the courts, until the revolting work of the +accuser and the searcher, and the delusion of the ministers and +magistrates aflame with mistaken zeal vanished in the sober +afterthought, the reaction of the public mind and conscience, which at +last crushed the machinations of the Devil and his votaries in high +places. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +"Hence among all the superstitions that have 'stood over' from primeval +ages, the belief in witchcraft has been the most deeply rooted and the +most tenacious of life. In all times and places until quite lately, +among the most advanced communities, the reality of witchcraft has been +accepted without question, and scarcely any human belief is supported by +so vast a quantity of recorded testimony." + +"Considering the fact that the exodus of Puritans to New England +occurred during the reign of Charles I, while the persecutions for +witchcraft were increasing toward a maximum in the mother country, it is +rather strange that so few cases occurred in the New World." _New France +and New England_ (pp. 136-144), FISKE. + + +The forefathers believed in witchcraft--entering into compacts with the +Devil--and in all its diabolical subtleties. They had cogent reasons for +their belief in example and experience. They set it down in their codes +as a capital offense. They found, as has been shown abundant authority +in the Bible and in the English precedents. They anchored their criminal +codes as they did their theology in the wide and deep haven of the Old +Testament decrees and prophecies and maledictions, and doubted not that +"the Scriptures do hold forth a perfect rule for the direction and +government of all men in all duties which they are to perform to God and +men." + +Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Haven, early in their history +enacted these capital laws: + +In Massachusetts (1641): + +"Witchcraft which is fellowship by covenant with a familiar spirit to +be punished with death." + +"Consulters with witches not to be tolerated, but either to be cut off +by death or banishment or other suitable punishment." (_Abstract New +England Laws_, 1655.) + +In Connecticut (1642): + +"If any man or woman be a witch--that is, hath or consulteth with a +familiar spirit--they shall be put to death." Exodus xxii, 18; Leviticus +xx, 27; Deuteronomy xviii, 10, 11. (_Colonial Records of Connecticut_, +Vol. I, p. 77). + +In New Haven (1655): + +"If any person be a witch, he or she shall be put to death according to" +Exodus xxii, 18; Leviticus xx, 27; Deuteronomy xviii, 10, 11. (_New +Haven Colonial Records_, Vol. II, p. 576, Cod. 1655). + +These laws were authoritative until the epidemic had ceased. + +Witches were tried, condemned, and executed with no question as to due +legal power, in the minds of juries, counsel, and courts, until the hour +of reaction came, hastened by doubts and criticisms of the sources and +character of evidence, and the magistrates and clergy halted in their +prosecutions and denunciations of an alleged crime born of delusion, and +nurtured by a theology run rampant. + +"They had not been taught to question the wisdom or the humanity of +English criminal law." (_Blue Laws--True and False_, p. 15, TRUMBULL.) + +Here and there in New England, following the great immigration from Old +England, from 1630-40, during the Commonwealth, and to the Restoration, +several cases of witchcraft occurred, but the mania did not set its +seal on the minds of men, and inspire them to run amuck in their frenzy, +until the days of the swift onset in Massachusetts and Connecticut in +1692, when the zenith of Satan's reign was reached in the Puritan +colonies. + +A few words about the tragedy at Salem are relevant and essential. They +are written because it was the last outbreak of epidemic demonopathy +among the civilized peoples; it has been exploited by writers abroad, +who have left the dreadful record of the treatment of the delusion in +their own countries in the background; it was accompanied in some degree +by like manifestations and methods of suppression in sister colonies; it +was fanned into flames by men in high station who reveled in its +merciless extirpation as a religious duty, and eased their consciences +afterwards by contrition, confession and remorse, for their valiant +service in the army of the theological devil; and especially for the +contrasts it presents to the more cautious and saner methods of +procedure that obtained in the governments of Connecticut and New Haven +at the apogee of the delusion. + +What say the historians and scholars, some of whose ancestors witnessed +or participated in the tragedies, and whose acquaintance with the facts +defies all challenge? + +"It is on the whole the most gruesome episode in American history, and +it sheds back a lurid light upon the long tale of witchcraft in the +past." (_Fiske's New France and New England_, 195.) + +"The sainted minister in the church; the woman of the scarlet letter in +the market place! What imagination would have been irreverent enough to +surmise that the same scorching stigma was on them both." (_Scarlet +Letter_, HAWTHORNE.) + +"We are made partners in parish and village feuds. We share in the +chimney corner gossip, and learn for the first time how many mean and +merely human motives, whether consciously or unconsciously, gave impulse +and intensity to the passions of the actors in that memorable tragedy +which dealt the death blow in this country to the belief in Satanic +compacts." (_Among my Books--Witchcraft_, p. 142, LOWELL.) + +"The tragedy was at an end. It lasted about six months, from the first +accusations in March until the last executions in September.... It was +an epidemic of mad superstitious fear, bitterly to be regretted, and a +stain upon the high civilization of the Bay Colony." (_Historic Towns of +New England, Salem_, p. 148, LATIMER.) + +What was done at Salem, when the tempest of unreason broke loose? Who +were the chief actors in it? This was done. From the first accusation in +March, 1692, to the last execution in September, 1692, nineteen persons +were hanged and one man was pressed to death[D] (_no witch was ever +burned in New England_), hundreds of innocent men and women were +imprisoned, or fled into exile or hiding places, their homes were broken +up, their estates were ruined, and their families and friends were left +in sorrow, anxiety, and desolation; and all this terrorism was wrought +at the instance of the chief men in the communities, the magistrates, +and the ministers. + +[Footnote D: Fifty-five persons suffered torture, and twenty were +executed before the delusion ended. _Ency. Americana_ (Vol. 16, +"Witchcraft").] + +Upham in his _Salem Witchcraft_ (Vol. II. pp. 249-250) thus pictures +the situation. + +"The prisons in Salem, Ipswich, Boston, and Cambridge, were crowded. All +the securities of society were dissolved. Every man's life was at the +mercy of every man. Fear sat on every countenance, terror and distress +were in all hearts, silence pervaded the streets; all who could, quit +the country; business was at a stand; a conviction sunk into the minds +of men, that a dark and infernal confederacy had got foot-hold in the +land, threatening to overthrow and extirpate religion and morality, and +establish the kingdom of the Prince of darkness in a country which had +been dedicated, by the prayers and tears and sufferings of its pious +fathers, to the Church of Christ and the service and worship of the true +God. The feeling, dismal and horrible indeed, became general, that the +providence of God was removed from them; that Satan was let loose, and +he and his confederates had free and unrestrained power to go to and +fro, torturing and destroying whomever he willed." + +The trials were held by a Special Court, consisting of William +Stoughton, Peter Sergeant, Nath. Saltonstall, Wait Winthrop, Bartho' +Gedney, John Richards, Saml. Sewall, John Hathorne, Tho. Newton, and +Jonathan Corwin,--not one of them a lawyer. + +Whatever his associates may have thought of their ways of doing God's +service, after the tragedy was over, Sewall, one of the most zealous of +the justices, made a public confession of his errors before the +congregation of the Old South Church, January 14, 1697. Were the +agonizing groans of poor old Giles Corey, pressed to death under planks +weighted with stones, or the prayers of the saintly Burroughs ringing in +his ears? + +"The conduct of Judge Sewall claims our particular admiration. He +observed annually in private a day of humiliation and prayer, during the +remainder of his life, to keep fresh in his mind a sense of repentance +and sorrow for the part he bore in the trials. On the day of the general +fast, he arose in the place where he was accustomed to worship, the old +South, in Boston, and in the presence of the great assembly, handed up +to the pulpit a written confession, acknowledging the error into which +he had been led, praying for the forgiveness of God and his people, and +concluding with a request, to all the congregation to unite with him in +devout supplication, that it might not bring down the displeasure of the +Most High upon his country, his family, or himself. He remained standing +during the public reading of the paper. This was an act of true +manliness and dignity of soul." (_Upham's Salem Witchcraft_, Vol. II, p. +441). + +Grim, stern, narrow as he was, this man in his self-judgment commands +the respect of all true men. + +The ministers stood with the magistrates in their delusion and +intemperate zeal. Two hundred and sixteen years after the last witch was +hung in Massachusetts a clearer light falls on one of the striking +personalities of the time--Cotton Mather--who to a recent date has been +credited with the chief responsibility for the Salem prosecutions. + +Did he deserve it? + +Robert Calef, in his _More Wonders of the Invisible World_, Bancroft in +his _History of the United States_, and Charles W. Upham in his _Salem +Witchcraft_, are the chief writers who have placed Mather in the +foreground of those dreadful scenes, as the leading minister of the +time, an active personal participant in the trials and executions, and a +zealot in the maintenance of the ministerial dignity and domination. + +On the other hand, the learned scholar, the late William Frederick +Poole, first in the _North American Review_, in 1869, and again in his +paper _Witchcraft in Boston_, in 1882, in the _Memorial History of +Boston_, calls Calef an immature youth, and says that his obvious +intent, and that of the several unknown contributors who aided him, was +to malign the Boston ministers and to make a sensation. + +And the late John Fiske, in his _New France and New England_ (p. 155), +holds that: + +"Mather's rules (of evidence) would not have allowed a verdict of guilty +simply upon the drivelling testimony of the afflicted persons, and if +this wholesome caution had been observed, not a witch would ever have +been hung in Salem." + +What were those rules of evidence and of procedure attributed to Mather? +Through the Special Court appointed to hold the witch trials, and early +in its sittings, the opinions of twelve ministers of Boston and vicinity +were asked as to witchcraft. Cotton Mather wrote and his associates +signed an answer June 15, 1692, entitled, _The Return of Several +Ministers Consulted by his Excellency and the Honorable Council upon the +Present Witchcrafts in Salem Village_. This was the opinion of the +ministers, and it is most important to note what is said in it of +spectral evidence,[E] as it was upon such evidence that many convictions +were had: + +"1. The afflicted state of our poor neighbors that are now suffering by +molestations from the Invisible World we apprehend so deplorable, that +we think their condition calls for the utmost help of all persons in +their several capacities. + +"2. We cannot but with all thankfulness acknowledge the success which +the merciful God has given unto the sedulous and assiduous endeavors of +our honorable rulers to detect the abominable witchcrafts which have +been committed in the country; humbly praying that the discovery of +these mysterious and mischievous wickednesses may be perfected. + +"3. We judge that, in the prosecution of these and all such witchcrafts +there is need of a very critical and exquisite caution, lest by too much +credulity for things received only upon the devil's authority, there be +a door opened for a long train of miserable consequences, and Satan get +an advantage over us; for we should not be ignorant of his devices. + +"4. As in complaints upon witchcraft there may be matters of inquiry +which do not amount unto matters of presumption, and there may be +matters of presumption which yet may not be matters of conviction, so it +is necessary that all proceedings thereabout be managed with an +exceeding tenderness toward those that may be complained of, especially +if they have been persons formerly of an unblemished reputation. + +"5. When the first inquiry is made into the circumstances of such as +may lie under the just suspicion of witchcrafts, we could wish that +there may be admitted as little as possible of such noise, company and +openness as may too hastily expose them that are examined, and that +there may be nothing used as a test for the trial of the suspected, the +lawfulness whereof may be doubted by the people of God, but that the +directions given by such judicious writers as Perkins and Barnard may be +observed. + +"6. Presumptions whereupon persons may be committed, and much more, +convictions whereupon persons may be condemned as guilty of witchcrafts, +ought certainly to be more considerable than barely the accused persons +being represented by a spectre unto the afflicted, inasmuch as it is an +undoubted and notorious thing that a demon may by God's permission +appear even to ill purposes, in the shape of an innocent, yea, and a +virtuous man. Nor can we esteem alterations made in the sufferers, by a +look or touch of the accused, to be an infallible evidence of guilt, but +frequently liable to be abused by the devil's legerdemains. + +"7. We know not whether some remarkable affronts given the devils, by +our disbelieving these testimonies whose whole force and strength is +from them alone, may not put a period unto the progress of the dreadful +calamity begun upon us, in the accusation of so many persons whereof +some, we hope, are yet clear from the great transgression laid to their +charge. + +"8. Nevertheless, we cannot but humbly recommend unto the government, +the speedy and vigorous prosecutions of such as have rendered themselves +obnoxious, according to the directions given in the laws of God and the +wholesome statutes of the English nation for the detection of +witchcrafts." + +[Footnote E: An illustration: The child Ann Putnam, in her testimony +against the Rev. Mr. Burroughs, said that one evening the apparition of +a minister came to her and asked her to write her name in the devil's +book. Then came the forms of two women in winding sheets, and looked +angrily upon the minister and scolded him until he was fain to vanish +away. Then the women told Ann that they were the ghosts of Mr. +Burroughs' first and second wives whom he had murdered.] + +Did Longfellow, after a critical study of the original evidence and +records, truly interpret Mather's views, in his dialogue with Hathorne? + +MATHER: + "Remember this, That as a sparrow falls not to the ground + Without the will of God, so not a Devil + Can come down from the air without his leave. + We must inquire." + +HATHORNE: + "Dear sir, we have inquired; + Sifted the matter thoroughly through and through, + And then resifted it." + +MATHER: + "If God permits + These evil spirits from the unseen regions + To visit us with surprising informations, + We must inquire what cause there is for this, + But not receive the testimony borne + By spectres as conclusive proof of guilt + In the accused." + +HATHORNE: + "Upon such evidence + We do not rest our case. The ways are many + In which the guilty do betray themselves." + +MATHER: + "Be careful, carry the knife with such exactness + That on one side no innocent blood be shed + By too excessive zeal, and on the other + No shelter given to any work of darkness." + + _New England Tragedies_ (4, 725), LONGFELLOW. + +Whatever Mather's caution to the court may have been, or his leadership +in learning, or his ambition and his clerical zeal, there is thus far no +evidence, in all his personal participation in the tragedies, that he +lifted his hand to stay the storm of terrorism once begun, or cried halt +to the magistrates in their relentless work. On the contrary, after six +victims had been executed, August 4, 1692, in _A Discourse on the +Wonders of the Invisible World_, Mather wrote this in deliberate, cool +afterthought: + +"They--the judges--have used as judges have heretofore done, the +spectral evidences, to introduce their farther inquiries into the lives +of the persons accused; and they have thereupon, by the wonderful +Providence of God, been so strengthened with other evidences that some +of the witch-gang have been fairly executed." + +And a year later, in the light of all his personal experience and +investigation, Mather solemnly declared: + +"If in the midst of the many dissatisfactions among us, the publication +of these trials may promote such a pious thankfulness unto God for +justice being so far executed among us, I shall rejoice that God is +glorified." + +Wherever the responsibility at Salem may have rested, the truth is that +in the general fear and panic there was potent in the minds, both of the +clergy and the laity, the spirit of fanaticism and malevolence in some +instances, such as misled the pastor of the First Church to point to the +corpses of Giles Corey's devoted and saintly wife and others swinging to +and fro, and say "What a sad thing it is to see eight firebrands of hell +hanging there." + +This conspectus of witchcraft, old and new, of its development from the +sorcery and magic of the ancients into the mediæval theological dogma +of the power of Satan, of its gradual ripening into an epidemic +demonopathy, of its slow growth in the American colonies, of its +volcanic outburst in the close of the seventeenth century, is relevant +and appropriate to this account of the delusion in Connecticut, its rise +and suppression, its firm hold on the minds and consciences of the +colonial leaders for threescore years after the settlement of the towns, +a chapter in Connecticut history written in the presence of the actual +facts now made known and available, and with a purpose of historic +accuracy. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +"It was not to be expected of the colonists of New England that they +should be the first to see through a delusion which befooled the whole +civilized world, and the gravest and most knowing persons in it. The +colonists in Connecticut and New Haven, as well as in Massachusetts, +like all other Christian people at that time--at least with extremely +rare individual exceptions--believed in the reality of a hideous crime +called witchcraft." PALFREY'S _New England_ (Vol. IV, pp. 96-127). + +"The truth is that it [witchcraft] pervaded the whole Christian Church. +The law makers and the ministers of New England were under its +influences as--and no more than--were the law makers and ministers of +Old England." _Blue Laws--True and False_ (p. 23), TRUMBULL. + +"One ---- of Windsor Arraigned and Executed at Hartford for a Witch." +WINTHROP'S _Journal_ (2: 374, Savage Ed., 1853). + + +Here beginneth the first chapter of the story of the delusion in +Connecticut. It is an entry made by John Winthrop, Governor of the +Massachusetts Bay Colony, in his famous journal, without specific date, +but probably in the spring of 1647. + +It is of little consequence save as much has been made of it by some +writers as fixing the relative date of the earliest execution for +witchcraft in New England, and locating it in one of the three original +Connecticut towns. + +What matters it at this day whether Mary Johnson as tradition runs, or +Alse Youngs as truth has it, was put to death for witchcraft in Windsor, +Connecticut, in 1647, or Martha Jones of Charlestown, Massachusetts, was +hung for the same crime at Boston in 1648, as also set down in +Winthrop's Journal? + +"It may possibly be thought a great neglect, or matter of partiality, +that no account is given of witchcraft in Connecticut. The only reason +is, that after the most careful researches, no indictment of any person +for that crime, nor any process relative to that affair can be found." +(_History of Connecticut_, 1799, Preface, BENJAMIN TRUMBULL, D.D.) + +"A few words should be said regarding the author's mention of the +subject of witchcraft in Connecticut.... It is, I believe, strictly +true, as he says 'that no indictment of any person for that crime nor +any process relative to that affair can be found.' + +"It must be confessed, however, that a careful study of the official +colonial records of Connecticut and New Haven leaves no doubt that +Goodwife Bassett was convicted and hung at Stratford for witchcraft in +1651, and Goodwife Knapp at Fairfield in 1653. It is also recorded in +Winthrop's _Journal_ that 'One ---- of Windsor was arraigned and executed +at Hartford for a witch' in March, 1646-47, which if it actually +occurred, forms the first instance of an execution for witchcraft in New +England. The quotation here given is the only known authority for the +statement, and opens the question whether something probably recorded as +hearsay in a journal, may be taken as authoritative evidence of an +occurrence.... The fact however remains, that the official records are +as our author says, silent regarding the actual proceedings, and it is +only by inference that it may be found from these records that the +executions took place." (Introduction to Reprint of _Trumbull's History +of Connecticut_, 1898, JONATHAN TRUMBULL.) + +The searcher for inerrant information about witchcraft in Connecticut +may easily be led into a maze of contradictions, and the statement last +above quoted is an apt illustration, with record evidence to the +contrary on every hand. Tradition, hearsay, rumor, misstatements, +errors, all colored by ignorance or half knowledge, or a local jealousy +or pride, have been woven into a woof of precedent and acceptance, and +called history. + +As has been already stated, the general writers from Trumbull to +Johnston have nothing of value to say on the subject; the open official +records and the latest history--_Connecticut as a Colony and a +State_--cover only certain cases, and nowhere from the beginning to this +day has the story of witchcraft been fully told. + +Connecticut can lose nothing in name or fame or honor, if, more than two +centuries after the last witch was executed within her borders, the +facts as to her share in the strange superstition be certified from the +current records of the events. + +How may this story best be told? Clearly, so far as may be, in the very +words of the actors in those tragic scenes, in the words of the minister +and magistrate, the justice and the juryman, the accuser and the +accused, and the searcher. Into this court of inquiry come all these +personalities to witness the sorrowful march of the victims to the +scaffold or to exile, or to acquittal and deliverance with the after +life of suspicion and social ostracism. + +The spectres of terror did not sit alone at the firesides of the poor +and lowly: they stalked in high places, and were known of men and women +of the first rank in education and the social virtues, and of greatest +influence in church and state. + +Of this fact there is complete demonstration in a glance at the +dignitaries who presided at one of the earliest witchcraft trials--men +of notable ancestry, of learning, of achievements, leaders in colonial +affairs, whose memories are honored to this day. + +These were the magistrates at a session entitled "A particular courte in +Hartford upon the tryall of John Carrington and his wife 20th Feb., 1662" +(See _Rec. P.C._, 2: 17): Edw. Hopkins Esqr., Gournor John Haynes Esqr. +Deputy, Mr. Wells, Mr. Woolcott, Mr. Webster, Mr. Cullick, Mr. Clarke. + +This court had jurisdiction over misdemeanors, and was "aided by a +jury," as a close student of colonial history, the late Sherman W. +Adams, quaintly says in one of his historical papers. These were the +jurymen: + + Mr. Phelps John White John More + Mr. Tailecoat Will Leawis Edw. Griswold + Mr. Hollister Sam. Smith Steph. Harte + Daniel Milton John Pratt Theo. Judd + +Before this tribunal--representative of the others doing like service +later--made up of the foremost citizens, and of men in the ordinary +walks of life, endowed with hard common sense and presumably inspired +with a spirit of justice and fair play, came John Carrington and his +wife Joan of Wethersfield, against whom the jury brought in a verdict of +guilty. + +It must be clearly borne in mind that all these men, in this as in all +the other witchcraft trials in Connecticut, illustrious or +commonplace--as are many of their descendants whose names are written on +the rolls of the patriotic societies in these days of ancestral +discovery and exploitation--were absolute believers in the powers of +Satan and his machinations through witchcraft and the evidence then +adduced to prove them, and trained to such credulity by their education +and experience, by their theological doctrines, and by the law of the +land in Old England, but still clothed upon with that righteousness +which as it proved in the end made them skeptical as to certain alleged +evidences of guilt, and swift to respond to the calls of reason and of +mercy when the appeals were made to their calm judgment and second +thought as to the sins of their fellowmen. + +In no way can the truth be so clearly set forth, the real character of +the evidence be so justly appreciated upon which the convictions were +had, as from the depositions and the oral testimony of the witnesses +themselves. They are lasting memorials to the credulity and +superstition, and the religious insanity which clouded the senses of the +wisest men for a time, and to the malevolence and satanic ingenuity of +the people who, possessed of the devil accused their friends and +neighbors of a crime punishable by death. + +Nor is this dark chapter in colonial history without its flashes of +humor and ridiculousness, as one follows the absurd and unbridled +testimonies which have been chosen as completely illustrative of the +whole series in the years of the witchcraft nightmare. They are in part +cited here, for the sake of authenticity and exactness, as written out +in the various court records and depositions, published and unpublished, +in the ancient style of spelling, and are worthy the closest study for +many reasons. + +It will, however, clear the way to a better understanding of the unique +testimonies of the witch witnesses, if there be first presented the +authoritative reasons for the examination of a witch, coupled with a +summary of the lawful tests of innocence or guilt. They are in the +handwriting of William Jones, a Deputy Governor of Connecticut and a +member of the court at some of the trials. + +GROUNDS FOR EXAMINATION OF A WITCH + +"1. Notorious defamacon by ye common report of the people a ground of +suspicion. + +"2. Second ground for strict examinacon is if a fellow witch gave +testimony on his examinacon or death yt such a pson is a witch, but this +is not sufficient for conviccon or condemnacon. + +"3. If after cursing, there follow death or at least mischiefe to ye +party. + +"4. If after quarrelling or threatening a prsent mischiefe doth follow +for ptye's devilishly disposed after cursing doe use threatnings, & yt +alsoe is a grt prsumcon agt y. + +"5. If ye pty suspected be ye son or daughter, the serv't or familiar +friend, neer neighbors or old companion of a knowne or convicted witch +this alsoe is a prsumcon, for witchcraft is an art yt may be larned & +covayd from man to man & oft it falleth out yt a witch dying leaveth som +of ye aforesd heires of her witchcraft. + +"6. If ye pty suspected have ye devills mark for t'is thought wn ye +devill maketh his covent with y he alwayess leaves his mark behind him +to know y for his owne yt is, if noe evident reason in can be given +for such mark. + +"7. Lastly if ye pty examined be unconstant & contrary to himselfe in +his answers. + +"Thus much for examinacon wch usually is by Q. & some tymes by torture +upon strong & grt presumcon. + +"For conviccon it must be grounded on just and sufficient proofes. The +proofes for conviccon of 2 sorts, 1, Some be less sufficient, some more +sufficient. + +"Less sufficient used in formr ages by red hot iron and scalding water. +ye pty to put in his hand in one or take up ye othr, if not hurt ye pty +cleered, if hurt convicted for a witch, but this was utterly condemned. +In som countryes anothr proofe justified by some of ye learned by +casting ye pty bound into water, if she sanck counted inocent, if she +sunk not yn guilty, but all those tryalls the author counts supstitious +and unwarrantable and worse. Although casting into ye water is by some +justified for ye witch having made a ct wth ye devill she hath renounced +her baptm & hence ye antipathy between her & water, but this he makes +nothing off. Anothr insufficient testimoy of a witch is ye testimony of +a wizard, who prtends to show ye face of ye witch to ye party afflicted +in a glass, but this he counts diabolicall & dangerous, ye devill may +reprsent a pson inocent. Nay if after curses & threats mischiefe follow +or if a sick pson like to dy take it on his death such a one has +bewitched him, there are strong grounds of suspicon for strict examinacon +but not sufficient for conviccon. + +"But ye truer proofes sufficient for conviccon are ye voluntary +confession of ye pty suspected adjudged sufficient proofe by both +divines & lawyers. Or 2 the testimony of 2 witnesses of good and honest +report avouching things in theire knowledge before ye magistrat 1 wither +yt ye party accused hath made a league wth ye devill or 2d or hath ben +some knowne practices of witchcraft. Argumts to prove either must be as 1 +if they can pve ye pty hath invocated ye devill for his help this pt +of yt ye devill binds withes to. + +"Or 2 if ye pty hath entertained a familiar spt in any forme mouse cat +or othr visible creature. + +"Or 3 if they affirm upon oath ye pty hath done any accon or work wch +inferreth a ct wth ye devill, as to shew ye face of a man in a glass, or +used inchantmts or such feates, divineing of things to come, raising +tempests, or causing ye forme of a dead man to appeare or ye like it +sufficiently pves a witch. + +"But altho those are difficult things to prove yet yr are wayes to come +to ye knowledg of y, for tis usuall wth Satan to pmise anything till ye +league be ratified, & then he nothing ye discovery of y, for wtever +witches intend the devill intends nothing but theire utter confusion, +therefore in ye just judgmt of God it soe oft falls out yt some witches +shall by confession discour ys, or by true testimonies be convicted. + +"And ye reasons why ye devill would discover y is 1 his malice towards +all men 2 his insatiable desire to have ye witches not sure enough of y +till yn. + +"And ye authors warne jurors, &c not to condemne suspected psons on bare +prsumtions wthout good & sufficient proofes. + +"But if convicted of yt horrid crime to be put to death, for God hath +said thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." + +The accuser and the prosecutor were aided in their work in a peculiar +way. It was the theory and belief that every witch was marked--very +privately marked--by the Devil, and the marks could only be discovered +by a personal examination. And thus there came into the service of the +courts a servant known as a "searcher," usually a woman, as most of the +unfortunates who were accused were women. + +The location and identification of the witch marks involved revolting +details, some of the reports being unprintable. It is, however, +indispensable to a right understanding of the delusion and the popular +opinions which made it possible, that these incidents, abhorrent and +nauseating as they are, be given within proper limitations to meet +inquiry--not curiosity--and because they may be noted in various +records. + +A standard authority in legal procedure in England, recognized in +witchcraft prosecutions in the New England colonies, was _Dalton's +Country Justice_, first published in 1619 in England, and in its last +edition in 1746. + +In its chapter on Witchcraft are these directions as to the witch marks: + +"These witches have ordinarily a familiar, or spirit which appeareth to +them, sometimes in one shape and sometimes in another; as in the shape +of a man, woman, boy, dog, cat, foal, hare, rat, toad, etc. And to these +their spirits, they give names, and they meet together to christen them +(as they speak).... And besides their sucking the Devil leaveth other +marks upon their body, sometimes like a blue or red spot, like a +flea-biting, sometimes the flesh sunk in and hollow. And these Devil's +marks be insensible, and being pricked will not bleed, and be often in +their secretest parts, and therefore require diligent and careful +search. These first two are main points to discover and convict those +witches." + +These methods were adopted in the proceedings against witches in +Connecticut, and it will suffice to cite one of the reports of a +committee--Sarah Burr, Abigail Burr, Abigail Howard, Sarah Wakeman, and +Hannah Wilson,--"apointed (by the court) to make sarch upon ye bodis of +Marcy Disbrough and Goodwif Clauson," at Fairfield, in September and +October 1692, sworn to before Jonathan Bell, Commissioner, and John +Allyn, Secretary. + +"Wee Sarah bur and abigall bur and Abigail howard and Sarah wakman all +of fayrfeild with hanna wilson being by order of authority apointed to +make sarch upon ye bodis of marcy disbrough and goodwif Clauson to see +what they Could find on ye bodies of ether & both of them; and wee retor +as followeth and doe testify as to goodwif Clauson forementioned wee +found on her secret parts Just within ye lips of ye same growing within +sid sumewhat as broad and reach without ye lips of ye same about on Inch +and half long lik in shape to a dogs eare which wee apprehend to be +vnvsuall to women. + +"and as to marcy wee find on marcy foresayd on her secret parts growing +within ye lep of ye same a los pees of skin and when puld it is near an +Inch long somewhat in form of ye fingar of a glove flatted + +"that lose skin wee Judge more than common to women." + +"Octob. 29 1692 The above sworn by the above-named as attests + +"JOHN ALLYN Secry" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +"Remembering all this, it is not surprising that witches were tried, +convicted and put to death in New England; and the manner in which the +waning superstition was dealt with by Connecticut lawyers and ministers +is the more significant of that robust common sense, rejection of +superstition, political and religious, and fearless acceptance of the +ethical mandates of the great Law-giver, which influenced the growth of +their jurisprudence and stamped it with an unmistakable individuality." +_Connecticut; Origin of her Courts and Laws_ (N.E. States, 1: 487-488), +HAMERSLEY. + +"They made witch-hunting a branch of their social police, and desire for +social solidarity. That this was wrong and mischievous is granted; but +it is ordinary human conduct now as then. It was a most illogical, +capricious, and dangerous form of enforcing punishment, abating +nuisances, and shutting out disagreeable truths; fertile in injustice, +oppression, the shedding of innocent blood, and the extinguishing of +light. No one can justify it, or plead beneficial results from it which +could not have been secured with far less evil in other ways. But it was +natural that, believing the crime to exist, they should use the belief +to strike down offenders or annoyances out of reach of any other _legal_ +means. They did not invent the crime for the purpose, nor did they +invent the death penalty for this crime." _Connecticut as a Colony_ +(1: 206), MORGAN. + +"As to what you mention, concerning that poor creature in your town that +is afflicted and mentioned my name to yourself and son, I return you +hearty thanks for your intimation about it, and for your charity therein +mentioned; and I have great cause to bless God, who, of his mercy +hitherto, hath not left me to fall into such an horrid evil." Extract of +a Letter from Sec. Allyn to Increase Mather, Hartford, Mar. 18, 1692-93. + + +An accusation of witchcraft was a serious matter, one of life or death, +and often it was safer to become an accuser than one of the accused. +Made in terror, malice, mischief, revenge, or religious dementia, or of +some other ingredients in the Devil's brew, it passed through the +stages of suspicion, espionage, watchings, and searchings, to the formal +complaints and indictments which followed the testimony of the +witnesses, in their madness and delusion hot-foot to tell the story of +their undoing, their grotesque imaginings, their spectral visions, their +sufferings at the hands of Satan and his tools, and all aimed at people, +their neighbors and acquaintances, often wholly innocent, but having +marked personal peculiarities, or of irregular lives by the Puritan +standard, or unpopular in their communities, who were made the victim of +one base passion or another and brought to trial for a capital offense +against person and property. + +Taking into account the actual number of accusations, trials, and +convictions or acquittals, the number of witnesses called and +depositions given was very great. And the later generations owe their +opportunity to judge aright in the matter, to the foresight of the men +of chief note in the communities who saw the vital necessity of record +evidence, and so early as 1666, in the General Court of Connecticut, it +was ordered that + +"Whatever testimonies are improved in any court of justice in this +corporation in any action or case to be tried, shall be presented in +writing, and so kept by the secretary or clerk of the said court on +file." + +This preliminary analysis brings the searcher for the truth face to face +with the very witnesses who have left behind them, in the attested +records, the ludicrous or solemn, the pitiable or laughable memorials of +their own folly, delusion, or deviltry, which marked them then and now +as Satan's chosen servitors. + +Among the many witnesses and their statements on oath now made +available, the chief difficulty is one of selection and elimination; and +there will be presented here with the context some of the chief +depositions[F] and statements in the most notable witchcraft trials in +some of the Connecticut towns, that are typical of all of them, and show +upon what travesties of evidence the juries found their verdicts and the +courts imposed their sentences. + + +[Footnote F: The selected testimonies herein given are from the +Connecticut and New Haven colonial records; from the original +depositions in some of the witchcraft cases, in manuscript, a part of +the _Wyllys Papers_, so called, now in the Connecticut State Library; +and from the notes and papers on witchcraft of the late Charles J. +Hoadley, LL.D., compiler of the colonial and state records, and for +nearly a half century the state librarian.] + + +KATHERINE (KATERAN) HARRISON + +At a Court of Assistants held at Hartford May 11, 1669, presided over by +Maj. John Mason--the conqueror of the Pequots--then Deputy Governor, +Katherine Harrison, after an examination by the court on a charge of +suspicion of witchcraft, was committed to the common jail, to be kept in +durance until she came to trial and deliverance by the law. + +At an adjourned session of the court at Hartford, May 25, 1669, presided +over by John Winthrop, Governor, with William Leete, Deputy Governor, +Major Mason and others as assistants, an indictment was found against +the prisoner in these words: + +"Kateran Harrison thou standest here indicted by ye name of Kateran +Harrison (of Wethersfield) as being guilty of witchcraft for that thou +not haueing the fear of God before thine eyes hast had familiaritie with +Sathan the grand enemie of god and mankind and by his help hast acted +things beyond and beside the ordinary course of nature and hast thereby +hurt the bodyes of divers of the subjects of or souraigne Lord the King +of which by the law of god and of this corporation thou oughtest to +dye." + +Katherine plead not guilty and "refered herself to a tryall by the jury +present," to whom this solemn oath was administered: + +"You doe sware by the great and dreadful name of the everliuing god that +you will well and truely try just verdict give and true deliverance make +between or Souraigne Lord the King and such prisoner or prisoners at the +barr as shall be given you in charge according to the Evidence given in +Court and the lawes so help you god in or lord Jesus." + +A partial trial was had at the May session of the court, but the jury +could not agree upon a verdict, and adjournment was had until the +October session, when a verdict was to be given in, and the prisoner was +remanded to remain in prison in the meantime. + +It seems incredible that men like Winthrop and Mason, Treat and Leete, +and others of the foremost rank in those days, could have served as +judges in such trials, and in all earnestness and sincerity listened to +and given credence to the drivel, the travesties of common sense, the +mockeries of truth, which fell from the lips of the witnesses in their +testimonies. Some of the absurd charges against Katherine Harrison +invite particular attention and need no comment. They speak for +themselves. + + +THOMAS BRACY (probably Tracy)--_Misfit jacket and breeches--Vision of +the red calf's head--Murderous counsel--"Afflictinge"_ + +"Thomas Bracy aged about 31 years testifieth as follows that formerly +James Wakeley would haue borrowed a saddle of the saide Thomas Bracy, +which Thomas Bracy denyed to lend to him, he threatened Thomas and +saide, it had bene better he had lent it to him. Allsoe Thomas Bracy +beinge at worke the same day making a jacket & a paire of breeches, he +labored to his best understanding to set on the sleeues aright on the +jacket and seauen tymes he placed the sleues wronge, setting the elbow +on the wronge side and was faine to rip them of and new set them on +againe, and allsoe the breeches goeing to cut out the breeches, haueing +two peices of cloth of different collors, he was soe bemoydered in the +matter, that he cut the breeches one of one collor the other off another +collor, in such a manner he was bemoydered in his understandinge or +actinge yet neuertheless the same daie and tyme he was well in his +understandinge and health in other matters and soe was forced to leaue +workinge that daie. + +"The said Thomas beinge at Sargant Hugh Wells his house ouer against +John Harrison's house, in Weathersfield, he saw a cart cominge towards +John Harrisons house loaden wth hay, on the top of the hay he saw +perfectly a red calfes head, the eares standing peart up, and keeping +his sight on the cart tell the cart came to the barne, the calfe +vanised, and Harrison stoode on the carte wch appared not to Thomas +before, nor could Thomas find or see any calfe theire at all though he +sought to see the calfe. + +"After this Thomas Bracy giuing out some words, that he suspected +Katherin Gooddy Harrison of witchcraft, Katherin Harrison mett Thomas +Bracy and threatned Thomas telling him that shee would be euen with him. +After that Thomas Bracy aforesaide, being well in his sences & health +and perfectly awake, his brothers in bed with him, Thomas aforesaid saw +the saide James Wakely and the saide Katherin Harrison stand by his bed +side, consultinge to kill him the said Thomas, James Wakely said he +would cut his throate, but Katherin counselled to strangle him, +presently the said Katherin seised on Thomas striuinge to strangle him, +and pulled or pinched him so as if his flesh had been pulled from his +bones, theirefore Thomas groaned. At length his father Marten heard and +spake, then Thomas left groninge and lay quiet a little, and then +Katherin fell againe to afflictinge and pinching, Thomas againe groninge +Mr. Marten heard and arose and came to Thomas whoe could not speake till +Mr. Marten laid his hands on Thomas, then James and Katherin aforesaid +went to the beds feete, his father Marten and his mother stayed +watchinge by Thomas all that night after, and the next day Mr. Marten +and his wife saw the mark of the saide afflictinge and pinchinge." + +"Dated 13th of August one thousand six hundred sixtie and eight. + +"Hadley. Taken upon oath before us. + +"HENRY CLARKE. +"SAMUELL SMITH." + + +JOSEPH DICKINSON--_Voice calling Hoccanum! Hoccanum! Hoccanum!--A far +cry--Cows running "taile on end"_ + +"The deposition of Joseph Dickenson of Northampton, aged about 32 years, +testifieth that he and Philip Smith of Hadley went down early in the +morninge to the greate dry swampe, and theire we heard a voice call +Hoccanum, Hoccanum, Come Hoccanum, and coming further into the swampe +wee see that it was Katherin Harrison that caled as before. We saw +Katherin goe from thence homewards. The said Philip parted from Joseph, +and a small tyme after Joseph met Philip againe, and then the said +Philip affirmed that he had seene Katherin's cows neare a mile from the +place where Katherin called them. The saide Joseph went homewards, and +goeing homeward met Samuell Bellden ridinge into or downe the meadow. +Samuel Belden asked Joseph wheather he had seene the saide Katherin +Harrison & the saide Samuel told Joseph aforesaide that he saw her neare +the meadow gate, going homeward, and allso more told him that he saw +Katherin Harrison her cows runninge with greate violence, taile on end, +homewards, and said he thought the cattell would be at home soe soon as +Katherin aforesaid if they could get out at the meadow gate, and further +this deponent saieth not" Northampton, 13, 6, 1668, taken upon oth +before us, William Clarke David Wilton. Exhibited in court Oct. 29, +1668. Attests John Allyn, Secry. + + +RICHARD MOUNTAGUE--_Over the great river to Nabuck--The mystery of the +swarming bees_ + +"Richard Mountague, aged 52 years, testifieth as followeth, that meeting +with Goodwife Harrison in Weathersfield the saide Katherin Harrison +saide that a swarm of her beese flew away over her neighbour Boreman's +lott and into the great meadow, and thence over the greate river to +Nabuck side, but the said Katherin saide that shee had fetched them +againe; this seemed very strange to the saide Richard, because this was +acted in a little tyme and he did believe the said Katherin neither went +nor used any lawful meanes to fetch the said beese as aforesaid." Dated +the 13 of August, 1668. Hadley, taken upon oath before us, Henry Clarke, +Samuel Smith. Exhibited in Court, October 29: 68, as attests John Allyn +Secretry. + + +JOHN GRAVES--_Bucolic reflections--The trespass on his neighbor's +"rowing"--The cartrope adventure--The runaway oxen_ + +"John Graves aged about 39 years testifieth that formerly going to reap +in the meadow at Wethersfield, his land he was to work on lay near to +John Harrison's land. It came into the thoughts of the said John Graves +that the said John Harrison and Katherine his wife being rumored to be +suspicious of witchcraft, therefore he would graze his cattle on the +rowing of the land of goodman Harrison, thinking that if the said +Harrisons were witches then something would disturb the quiet feeding of +the cattle. He thereupon adventured and tied his oxen to his cart rope, +one to one end and the other to the other end, making the oxen surely +fast as he could, tieing 3 or 4 fast knots at each end, and tying his +yoke to the cartrope about the middle of the rope between the oxen; and +himself went about 10 or 12 pole distant, to see if the cattle would +quietly feed as in other places. The cattle stood staring and fed not, +and looking stedfastly on them he saw the cartrope of its own accord +untie and fall to the ground; thereupon he went and tied the rope more +fast and more knots in it and stood apart as before to see the issue. +In a little time the oxen as affrighted fell to running, and ran with +such violence that he judgeth that the force and speed of their running +made the yoke so tied fly above six foot high to his best discerning. +The cattle were used ordinarily before to be so tied and fed--in other +places, & presently after being so tied on other men's ground they +fed--peaceably as at other times." Dated August, 1668. Hadley; taken +upon oath before us Henry Clarke, Samuel Smith. Exhibited in court Oct. +29th, 1668, attests John Allyn, Sec. + + +JOANE FRANCIS--_The sick child--The spectre_ + +Joane Francis her testimony. "About 4 years ago, about the beginning of +November, in the night just before my child was struck ill, goodwife +Harrison or her shape appeared, and I said, the Lord bless me and my +child, here is goody Harrison. And the child lying on the outside I took +it and laid it between me and my husband. The child continued strangely +ill about three weeks, wanting a day, and then died, had fits. We felt a +thing run along the sides or side like a whetstone. Robert Francis saith +he remembers his wife said that night the child was taken ill, the Lord +bless me and my child, here is goody Harrison." + + +JACOB JOHNSON'S WIFE--_The box on the head--Diet, drink, and +plasters--Epistaxis_ + +"The relation of the wife of Jacob Johnson. She saith that her former +husband was employed by goodman Harrison to go to Windsor with a canoe +for meal, and he told me as he lay in his bed at Windsor in the night he +had a great box on the head, and after when he came home he was ill, +and goodwife Harrison did help him with diet drink and plasters, but +after a while we sent to Capt. Atwood to help my husband in his +distress, but the same day that he came at night I came in at the door, +& to the best of my apprehension I saw the likeness of goodwife Harrison +with her face towards my husband, and I turned about to lock the door & +she vanist away. Then my husband's nose fell a bleeding in an +extraordinary manner, & so continued (if it were meddled with) to his +dying day. Sworn in court Oct. 29, 1668, attests John Allyn, Secy." + + +MARY HALE--Noises and blows--The canine apparition--The voice in the +night--The Devil a liar + +"That about the latter end of November, being the 29th day, 1668, the +said Mary Hale lying in her bed, a good fire giving such light that one +might see all over that room where the said Mary then was, the said Mary +heard a noise, & presently something fell on her legs with such violence +that she feared it would have broken her legs, and then it came upon her +stomach and oppressed her so as if it would have pressed the breath out +of her body. Then appeared an ugly shaped thing like a dog, having a +head such that I clearly and distinctly knew to be the head of Katherine +Harrison, who was lately imprisoned upon suspicion of witchcraft. Mary +saw it walk to & fro in the chamber and went to her father's bedside +then came back and disappeared. That day seven night next after, lying +in her bed something came upon her in like manner as is formerly +related, first on her legs & feet & then on her stomach, crushing & +oppressing her very sore. She put forth her hand to feel (because there +was no light in the room so as clearly to discern). Mary aforesaid felt +a face, which she judged to be a woman's face, presently then she had a +great blow on her fingers which pained her 2 days after, which she +complained of to her father & mother, & made her fingers black and blue. +During the former passages Mary called to her father & mother but could +not wake them till it was gone. After this, the day of December in the +night, (the night being very windy) something came again and spoke thus +to her, saying to Mary aforesaid, You said that I would not come again, +but are you not afraid of me. Mary said, No. The voice replied I will +make you afraid before I have done with you; and then presently Mary was +crushed & oppressed very much. Then Mary called often to her father and +mother, they lying very near. Then the voice said, Though you do call +they shall not hear till I am gone. Then the voice said, You said that I +preserved my cart to carry me to the gallows, but I will make it a dear +cart to you (which said words Mary remembered she had only spoke in +private to her sister a little before & to no other.) Mary replied she +feared her not, because God had kept her & would keep her still. The +voice said she had a commission to kill her. Mary asked, Who gave you +the commission? The voice replied God gave me the commission. Mary +replied, The Devil is a liar from the beginning for God will not give +commission to murder, therefore it must be from the devil. Then Mary was +again pressed very much. Then the voice said, You will make known these +things abroad when I am gone, but if you will promise me to keep these +aforesaid matters secret I will come no more to afflict you. Mary +replied I will tell it abroad. Whereas the said Mary mentions divers +times in this former writing that she heard a voice, this said Mary +affirmeth that she did & doth know that it was the voice of Katherine +Harrison aforesaid; and Mary aforesaid affirmeth that the substance of +the whole relation is truth." Sworn in Court May 25, 1669. Attest John +Allyn, Sec'y. + + + +Elizabeth Smith--_Neighborly criticism--Fortune telling--Spinning yarn_ + +"Elizabeth the wife of Simon Smith of Thirty Mile Island testified that +Catherine was noted by her and the rest of the family to be a great or +notorious liar, a sabbath breaker, and one that told fortunes, and told +the said Elizabeth her fortune, that her husband's name should be Simon; +& also told the said Elizabeth some other matters that did come to pass; +and also would oft speak and boast of her great familiarity with Mr. +Lilley, one that told fortunes and foretold many matters that in furture +times were to be accomplished. And also the said Katherine did often +spin so great a quantity of fine linen yarn as the said Elizabeth did +never know nor hear of any other woman that could spin so much. And +further, the said Elizabeth said that Capt. Cullick observing the evil +conversation in word and deed of the said Katherine turned her out of +his service, one reason was because the said Katherine told fortunes." +Taken upon oath Sept. 23, 1668 before John Allyn, Assistant. + +On such evidence, October 12, 1669, the jury being called to give in +their verdict upon the indictment of Katherine Harrison, returned that +they find the prisoner guilty of the indictment. + +But meanwhile important things in the history of the case had come to +pass. Serious doubts arose in the minds of the magistrates as to +accepting the verdict, and in their dilemma they took counsel not only +of the law but of the gospel, and presented a series of questions to +certain ministers--the same expedient adopted by the court at Salem +twenty-three years later. + +The answer of the ministers is in the handwriting of Rev. Gershom +Bulkeley of Wethersfield, the author of the unique treatise _Will and +Doom_. It was a remarkable paper as to preternatural apparitions, the +character of evidence for conviction, and its cautions as to its +acceptance. It was this: + +"The answer of some ministers to the questions pr-pounded to them by +the Honored Magistrates, Octobr 20, 1669. To ye 1st Quest whether a +plurality of witnesses be necessary, legally to evidence one and ye same +individual fact? Wee answer." + +"That if the proofe of the fact do depend wholly upon testimony, there +is then a necessity of a plurality of witnesses, to testify to one & ye +same individual fact; & without such a plurality, there can be no legall +evidence of it. Jno 8, 17. The testimony of two men is true; that is +legally true, or the truth of order. & this Cht alledges to vindicate ye +sufficiency of the testimony given to prove that individual facte, that +he himselfe was ye Messias or Light of the World. Mat. 26, 59, 60." + +"To the 2nd quest. Whether the preternatural apparitions of a person +legally proved, be a demonstration of familiarity with ye devill? Wee +anser, that it is not the pleasure of ye Most High, to suffer the wicked +one to make an undistinguishable representation of any innocent person +in a way of doing mischiefe, before a plurality of witnesses. The reason +is because, this would utterly evacuate all human testimony; no man +could testify, that he saw this pson do this or that thing, for it might +be said, that it was ye devill in his shape." + +"To the 3d & 4th quests together: Whether a vitious pson foretelling +some future event, or revealing of a secret, be a demonstration of +familiarity with the devill? Wee say thus much." + +"That those things, whither past, present or to come, which are indeed +secret, that is, cannot be knowne by human skill in arts, or strength of +reason arguing from ye corse of nature, nor are made knowne by divine +revelation either mediate or immediate, nor by information from man, +must needes be knowne (if at all) by information from ye devill: & hence +the comunication of such things, in way of divination (the pson +prtending the certaine knowledge of them) seemes to us, to argue +familiarity with ye devill, in as much as such a pson doth thereby +declare his receiving the devills testimony, & yeeld up himselfe as ye +devills instrument to comunicate the same to others." + +And meanwhile Katherine herself had not been idle even in durance. With +a dignity becoming such a communication, and in a desperate hope that +justice and mercy might be meted out to her, she addressed a petition to +the court setting forth with unconscious pathos some of the wrongs and +sufferings she had endured in person and estate; and one may well +understand why under such great provocation she told Michael Griswold +that he would hang her though he damned a thousand souls, and as for his +own soul it was damned long ago. Vigorous and emphatic words, for which +perhaps Katherine was punished enough, as she was adjudged to pay +Michael in two actions for slander, £25 and costs in one and £15 and +costs in the other. + +This was Katherine's appeal: + +Filed: Wid. Harrisons greuances presented to the court 6th of Octobr +1669. + +"A complaint of severall greiuances of the widow Harrisons which she +desires the honored court to take cognizance of and as far as maybe to +give her reliefe in." + +"May it please this honored court, to have patience with mee a little: +having none to complain to but the Fathers of the Commonweale; and yet +meetting with many injurys, which necessitate mee to look out for some +releeife. I am told to present you with these few lines, as a relation +of the wrongs that I suffer, humbly crauing your serious consideration +of my state a widdow; of my wrongs, (wch I conceive are great) and that +as far as the rules of justice and equitie will allow, I may have right +and a due recompence." + +"That that I would present to you in the first place is we had a yoke of +oxen one of wch spoyled at our stile before our doore, with blows upon +the backe and side, so bruised that he was altogether unserviceable; +about a fortnight or three weeks after the former, we had a cow spoyled, +her back broke and two of her ribs, nextly I had a heifer in my barne +yard, my ear mark of wch was cutt out and other ear marks set on; +nextly I had a sow that had young pigs ear marked (in the stie) after +the same manner; nextly I had a cow at the side of my yard, her jaw bone +broke and one of her hoofs and a hole bored in her side, nextly I had a +three yeare old heifer in the meadow stuck with knife or some weapon and +wounded to death; nextly I had a cow in the street wounded in the bag as +she stood before my door, in the street, nextly I had a sow went out +into the woods, came home with ears luged and one of her hind legs cutt +offe, lastly my corne in Mile Meadow much damnified with horses, they +being staked upon it; it was wheat; All wch injurys, as they do sauor of +enemy so I hope they will be looked upon by this honored court according +to their natuer and judged according to there demerit, that so your poor +suppliant may find some redrese; who is bold to subscribe." + +"Your servant and supplyant, +"KATHERINE HARRISON. + +"Postscript. I had my horse wounded in the night, as he was in my +pasture no creature save thre calves with him: More I had one two yeare +old steer the back of it broke, in the barne yard, more I had a matter +of 30 poles of hops cutt and spoyled; all wch things have hapened since +my husband death, wch was last August was two yeare. There is wittnes to +the oxen Jonathan & Josiah Gillert; to the cows being spoyled, Enoch +Buck, Josiah Gilbert; to the cow that had her jaw bone broke, Dan, Rose, +John, Bronson: to the heifer, one of widdow Stodder sons, and Willia +Taylor; to the corne John Beckly; to the wound of the horse Anthony +Wright, Goodman Higby; to the hops cutting, Goodwife Standish and Mary +Wright; wch things being added, and left to your serious consideration, +I make bold again to subscribe. + +"Yours, +"KATHERINE HARRISON." + +At a special court of assistants held May 20, 1670, to which the General +Assembly had referred the matter with power, the court having considered +the verdict of the jury could not concur with them so as to sentence her +to death, but dismissed her from her imprisonment, she paying her just +fees; willing her to mind the fulfilment of removing from Wethersfield, +"which is that will tend most to her own safety & the contentment of the +people who are her neighbors." + +In the same year, having paid the expenses of her trials and +imprisonment, she removed to Westchester, New York. Being under +suspicion of witchcraft, her presence was unwelcome to the inhabitants +there and complaint was made to Governor Lovelace. She gave security for +her civil carriage and good behavior, and at the General Court of +Assizes held in New York in October, 1670, in the case of Katherine +Harrison, widow, who was bound to the good behavior upon complaint of +some of the inhabitants of Westchester, it was ordered, "that in regard +there is nothing appears against her deserving the continuance of that +obligation she is to be released from it, & hath liberty to remain in +the town of Westchester where she now resides, or anywhere else in the +government during her pleasure." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +"Although our fathers cannot be charged with having regarded the Devil +in his respectful and deferential light, it must be acknowledged, that +they gave him a conspicuous and distinguished--we might almost say a +dignified--agency in the affairs of life and the government of the +world: they were prone to confess, if not to revere, his presence, in +all scenes and at all times. He occupied a wide space, not merely in +their theology and philosophy, but in their daily and familiar +thoughts." UPHAM'S _Salem Witchcraft_. + +"There are in every community those who for one cause or another +unfortunately incur the dislike and suspicion of the neighbors, and when +belief in witchcraft prevailed such persons were easily believed to have +familiarity with the evil one." _A Case of Witchcraft in Hartford_ +(Connecticut Magazine, November, 1899), HOADLEY. + + +Witchcraft in the Connecticut towns reached its climax in 1692--the +fateful year at Salem, Massachusetts--and the chief center of its +activity was in the border settlements at Fairfield. There, several +women early in the year were accused of the crime, and among them Mercy +Disborough. The testimonies against her were unique, and yet so typical +that they are given in part as the second illustration. + + +MERCY (DISBRO) DISBOROUGH + +A special court, presided over by Robert Treat, Governor, was held at +Fairfield by order of the General Court, to try the witch cases, and +September 14, 1692, a true bill was exhibited against Mercy Disborough, +wife of Thomas Disborough of Compo in Fairfield, in these words: + +"Mercy Disborough is complayned of & accused as guilty of witchcraft for +that on the 25t of Aprill 1692 & in the 4th year of their Maties reigne +& at sundry other times she hath by the instigation & help of the diuill +in a preternaturall way afflicted & don harme to the bodyes & estates of +sundry of their Maties subjects or to some of them contrary to the law +of God, the peace of our soueraigne lord & lady the King & Queen their +crowne & dignity." + +"BILLA VERA." + + +Others were indicted and tried, at this session of the court and its +adjournments, notably Elizabeth Clawson. Many depositions were taken in +Fairfield and elsewhere, some of the defendants were discharged and +others convicted, but Mercy Disborough's case was the most noted one in +the tests applied, and in the conclusions to which it led. The whole +case with its singular incidents is worthy of careful study. Some of the +testimony is given here. + + +EDWARD JESOP--_The roast pig--"The place of Scripture"--The bewitched +"cannoe"--The old cart horse--Optical illusions_ + +"Edward Jesop aged about 29 years testifieth that being at The: +Disburrows house at Compoh sometime in ye beginning of last winter in ye +evening he asked me to tarry & sup with him, & their I saw a pigg +roasting that looked verry well, but when it came to ye table (where we +had a very good lite) it seemed to me to have no skin upon it & looked +very strangly, but when ye sd Disburrow began to cut it ye skin (to my +apprehension) came againe upon it, & it seemed to be as it was when upon +ye spit, at which strange alteration of ye pig I was much concerned +however fearing to displease his wife by refusing to eat, I did eat some +of ye pig, & at ye same time Isaac Sherwood being there & Disburrows +wife & hee discoursing concerning a certain place of scripture, & I +being of ye same mind that Sherwood was concerning yt place of scripture +& Sherwood telling her where ye place was she brought a bible (that was +of very large print) to me to read ye particular scripture, but tho I +had a good light & looked ernestly upon ye book I could not see one +letter but looking upon it againe when in her hand after she had turned +over a few leaves I could see to read it above a yard of. Ye same night +going home & coming to Compoh it seemed to be high water whereupon I +went to a cannoe that was about ten rods of (which lay upon such a bank +as ordinarily I could have shoved it into ye creek with ease) & though I +lifted with all my might & lifted one end very high from ye ground I +could by no means push it into ye creek & then ye water seemed to be so +loe yt I might ride over, whereupon I went againe to ye water side but +then it appeared as at first very high & then going to ye cannoe againe +& finding that I could not get it into ye creek I thought to ride round +where I had often been & knew ye way as well as before my own dore & had +my old cart hors yet I could not keep him in ye road do what I could but +he often turned aside into ye bushes and then went backwards so that tho +I keep upon my hors & did my best indeauour to get home I was ye +greatest part of ye night wandering before I got home altho I was not +much more than two miles." + +"Fairfield Septembr 15th 1692. + +"Sworn in Court Septr 15 1692. Attests John Allyn, Secry." + + +JOHN BARLOW--_Mesmeric influence--Light and darkness--The falling out_ + +"John Barlow eaged 24 years or thairabout saieth and sd testifieth that +soumtime this last year that as I was in bedd in the hous that Mead +Jesuop then liuied in that Marsey Desbory came to me and layed hold on +my fett and pinshed them (and) looked wishley in my feass and I strouff +to rise and cold not and too speek and cold not. All the time that she +was with me it was light as day as it semed to me--but when shee uanicht +it was darck and I arose and hade a paine in my feet and leags some time +after an our or too it remained. Sometime before this aforesd Marcey and +I had a falling out and shee sayed that if shee had but strength shee +would teer me in peses." + +"Sworn in court Septr 19, 92. Attests John Allyn." + + +BENJAMIN DUNING--_"Cast into ye watter"--Vindication of innocence--Mercy +not to be hanged alone_ + +"A Speciall Cort held in Fairfield this 2d of June 1692. + +"Marcy Disbrow ye wife of Thomas Disbrow of Fairfield was sometimes +lately accused by Catren Branch servant to Daniell Wescoat off +tormenting her whereupon sd Mercy being sent for to Stanford and ther +examined upon suspecion of witchcraft before athaurity and fro thnce +conueyed to ye county jaile and sd Mercy ernestly desireing to be tryed +by being cast into ye watter yesterday wch was done this day being +examind what speciall reason she had to be so desiring of such a triall +her answer was yt it was to vindicate her innocency allso she sd Mercy +being asked if she did not say since she was duckt yt if she was hanged +shee would not be hanged alone her answer was yt she did say to Benje +Duning do you think yt I would be such a fooll as to be hanged allone. +Sd Benj. Duning aged aboue sixteen years testifies yt he heard sd Mercy +say yesterday that if she was hanged she would not be hanged allone wch +was sd upon her being urged to bring out others that wear suspected for +wiches." + +"Sept 15 1692 Sworn in Court by Benj. Duning attest John Allyn Secy + +"Joseph Stirg aged about 38 declares that he wth Benj. Duning being at +prison discoursing with the prisoner now at the bar he heard her say if +she were hanged she would not be hanged alone. He tould her she +implicitly owned herself a witch." + +"Sworn in Court Sept. 15, atests John Allyn, Secry." + + +THOMAS HALLIBERCH--_A poor creature "damd"--Torment--A lost +soul--Divination_ + +"Thomas Halliberch ye jayle keeper aged 41 testifieth and saith yt this +morning ye date aboue Samull Smith junr. came to his house and sad +somthing to his wife somthing concerning Mercy and his wifes answer was +Oh poor creature upon yt Mercy mad answer & sd poor creature indeed & sd +shee had been tormented all night. Sd Halliberch answered her yt it was +ye devill her answer was she did beleue it was and allso yt she sed to +it in ye name of ye Father Son and Holy Gost also sd Halliberch saith +yt sd Mercy sd that her soul was damd for yesterdays worke. Mercy owned +before this court yt she did say to sd Halliberch that it was reuealled +to her yt shee wisht she had not damd her soule for yesterdays work and +also sad before this cort she belieued that there was a deuination in +all her trouble." + +"Owned by the prisoner in court Sept. 15, 1692. attest John Allyn, Secy" + + +THOMAS BENIT, ELIZABETH BENIT--"_A birds taile"--A family +difference--"Ye Scripture words"--The lost "calues and lams_" + +"Thos. Benit aged aboute 50 yrs testifieth yt Mercy Disbrow tould him yt +shee would make him as bare as a birds taile, which he saith was about +two or three yrs sine wch was before he lost any of his creatures." + +"Elizabeth Benit aged about 20 yrs testifieth yt Mercy Disbrow did say +that it should be prest heeped and running ouer to her sd Elizabth; wch +was somtime last winter after som difference yt was aboute a sow of +Benje. Rumseyes." + +"Mercy Disbrow owns yt she did say those words to sd Elizabeth & yt she +did tell her yt it was ye scripture words & named ye place of scripture +which was about a day after." + +"The abousd Thos. Benit saith yt after ye sd Mercy had expressed herself +as above, he lost a couple of two yr old calues in a creek running by +Halls Islande, which catle he followed by ye track & founde them one +against a coue of ice & ye other about high water marke, & yt they went +into ye creek som distance from ye road where ye other catle went not, & +also yt he lost 30 lams wthin about a fortnights time after ye sd two +catle died som of sd lams about a week old & som a fortnight & in good +liueing case & allso saith yt som time after ye sd lams died he lost two +calues yt he fectht up ouer night & seemed to be well & wear dead before +ye next morning one of them about a fortnight old ye one a sucker & ye +other not." + + +HENRY GREY--_The roaring calfe--The mired cow--The heifer and cart +whip--Hard words--"Creeses in ye cetle"_ + +"The said Henry saith yt aboute a year agou or somthing more yt he had a +calfe very strangly taken and acted things yt are very unwonted, it +roared very strangly for ye space of near six or seven howers & allso +scowered extraordinarily all which after an unwonted maner; & also saith +he had a lame after a very strange maner it being well and ded in about +an houre and when it was skined it lookt as if it had been bruised or +pinched on ye shoulders and allso saith yt about two or three months +agou he and Thos Disbrow & sd Disbroughs wife was makeing a bargaine +about a cetle yt sd Henry was to haue & had of sd Disbrough so in time +they not agreeing sd Henry carried ye cetle to them againe & then sd +Dibroughs wife was very angry and many hard words pased & yt som time +since about two months he lost a cow which was mired in a swampe and was +hanged by one leg in mire op to ye gambrill and her nose in the water +and sd cow was in good case & saith he had as he judged about 8 pound of +tallow out of sd cow & allso yt he had a thre yr old heifer came home +about three weeks since & seemed to ale somthing she lay downe & would +haue cast herself but he pruented her & he cut a piece of her eare & +still shee seemed to be allmost dead & then he sent for his cart whip & +gave ye cow a stroak wth it & she arose suddenly and ran from him & he +followed her & struck her sundry times and yt wthin about one hour he +judges she was well & chewed her cud allso sd Henry saith yt ye ketle he +had of sd Disbrow loockt like a new ketle the hamer stroakes and creeses +was plaine to be seen in ye cetle, from ye time he had it untill a short +time before he carried it home & then in about a quarter of an hour, the +cetle changed its looks & seemed to be an old cetle yt had been used +about 20 years and yt sundry nailes appeared which he could not see +before and allso saith yt somtime lately he being at his brother Jacob +Grays house & Mercy Disbrough being there she begane to descorse about +ye kitle yt because he would not haue ye cetle shee had said that it +should cost him two cows which he tould her he could prove she had sed & +her answer was Aye: & then was silent, & he went home & when he com home +he heard Thomas Benit say he had a cow strangly taken yt day & he sent +for his cart whip & whipye cow & shee was soon well againe & as near as +he could com at it was about ye same time yt he tould Mercy he could +prove what shee sad about ye two cows and allso saith yt as soon as he +came home ye same time his wife tould him yt while Thos Benit had ye +cart whip one of sd Henrys calues was taken strangly & yt she sent for +ye whip & before ye whip came ye calf was well." + +JOHN GRUMMON--_A sick child--Its unbewitching--Benit's +threats--Mercy's tenderness_ + +"John Grummon senr saith yt about six year agou he being at Compo with +his wife & child & ye child being very well as to ye outward vew and it +being suddenly taken very ill & so remained a little while upon wch he +being much troubled went out & heard young Thomas Benit threaten Mercy +Disbrow & bad her unbewitch his uncles child whereupon she came ouer to +ye child & ye child was well. + +"Thomas Benit junr aged 27 years testifieth yt at ye same time of ye +above sd childs illness he came into ye house wher it was & he spoke to +sd John Gruman to go & scould at Mercy & tould him if he sd Gruman would +not he would wherupon he sd Benit went out and called to Mercy & bad her +come and unbewitch his unkle Grumans child or else he would beat her +hart out then sd mercy imediatly came ouer and stroaked ye child & sd +God forbad she should hurt ye child and imediately after ye child was +well." + + +ANN GODFREE--_The frisky oxen--Neighborly interest--The "beer out of +ye barrill"--Mixed theology--The onbewitched sow_ + +"Ann Godfree aged 27 years testifieth yt she came to Thos Disbrows house +ye next morning after it was sd yt Henry Grey whipt his cow and sd +Disbrows wife lay on ye bed & stretcht out her arme & sd to her oh! Ann +I am allmost kild; & further saith yt about a year & eleven months agou +she went to sd Disbrows house wth young Thos Benits wife & told Mercy +Disbrow yt Henry Greys wife sed she had bewitcht his her husbands oxen +& made y jump ouer ye fence & made ye beer jump out of ye barrill & +Mercy answered yt there was a woman came to her & reuiled her & asked +what shee was doing she told her she was praying to her God, then she +asked her who was her god allso tould her yt her god was ye deuill; & +Mercy said she bad ye woman go home & pray to her god & she went home +but shee knew not whether she did pray or not; but she sed God had met +wth her for she had died a hard death for reuileing on her & yt when ye +sd Thos Benits wife & she came away sd Benits wife tould her yt woman yt +was spoaken of was her sister and allso sed yt shee had heard those +words which Mercy had related to her pas between Mercy and her sister. +Upon yt sd An saith she would haue gon back & haue talked againe to +Mercy & Thomas Benit senr bad her she should not for she would do her +som mischief and yt night following shee sd Ann saith she could not +sleep & shee heard a noyse about ye house & allso heard a noyse like as +tho a beast wear knoct with an axe & in ye morning their was a heifer of +theirs lay ded near ye door. Allso sd An saith yt last summer she had a +sow very sick and sd Mercy cam bye & she called to her & bad her +on-bewitch her sow & tould her yt folks talked of ducking her but if she +would not onbewitch her sow she should need no ducking & soon after yt +her sow was well and eat her meat." That both what is on this side & the +other is sworne in court. + +"Sept 15, 92. Attests, John Allyn Secy" + + +"It has been heretofore noted that during her trial--from the records of +which the foregoing testimony has been taken--the prisoner Mercy +Disborough was subjected to a search for witch marks by a committee of +women, faithfully sworn narrowly and truly to inspect and search. This +indignity was repeated, and the women agreed "that there is found on her +boddy as before they found, and nothing else." But the accused in order +to her further detection was subjected to another test of English +parentage, recommended by the authorities and embodied in the criminal +codes. It was the notorious water test, or ordeal by water. September +15, 1692, this test was made, chiefly on the testimony of a young girl +subject to epileptic fits and hysterics, who was carried into the +meetinghouse where the examination was being held. Thus runs the record: + + +_Daniel Westcott's "gerle"--Scenes in the meeting house--"Ye +girl"--Mercy's voice--Usual paroxisme_ + +"The afflicted person being carried into ye meeting house & Mercy +Disbrow being under examination by ye honable court & whilst she was +speaking ye girl came to her sences, & sd she heard Mercy Disbrow saying +withall where is she, endeavoring to raise herself, with her masters +help got almost up, in ye open view of present, & Mercy Disbrow looking +about on her, she immediately fel down into a fit again. A 2d time she +came to herself whilst in ye meeting house, & askd whers Mercy, I hear +her voice, & with that turned about her head (she lying with her face +from her) & lookd on her, then laying herself down in like posture as +before sd tis she, Ime sure tis she, & presently fell into a like +paroxisme or fit as she usually is troubled with." + +Mercy Disborough, and another woman on trial at the same time +(Elizabeth Clauson), were put to the test together, and two eyewitnesses +of the sorry exhibition of cruelty and delusion made oath that they saw +Mercy and Elizabeth bound hand and foot and put into the water, and that +they swam upon the water like a cork, and when one labored to press them +into the water they buoyed up like cork.[G] + +[Footnote G: Depositions of Abram Adams and Jonathan Squire, September +15, 1692.] + + +At the close of the trial the jury disagreed and the prisoner was +committed "to the common goale there to be kept in safe custody till a +return may be made to the General Court for further direction what shall +be don in this matter;" and the gentlemen of the jury were also to be +ready, when further called by direction of the General Court, to perfect +their verdict. The General Court ordered the Special Court to meet again +"to put an issue to those former matters." + +October 28, 1692, this entry appears of record: + +"The jury being called to make a return of their indictment that had +been committed to them concerning Mercy Disborough, they return that +they find the prisoner guilty according to the indictment of familiarity +with Satan. The jury being sent forth upon a second consideration of +their verdict returned that they saw no reason to alter their verdict, +but to find her guilty as before. The court approved of their verdict +and the Governor passed sentence of death upon her." + +The hesitation of the jury to agree upon a verdict, the reference to the +General Court for more specific authority to act, all point to serious +question of the evidence, the motives of witnesses, the value of the +traditional and lawful tests of the guilt of the accused. + +In the search for facts which the old records certify to at this late +day, one is deeply impressed by the wisdom and potency of the sober +afterthought and conclusions of some of the clergy, lawyers, and men of +affairs, who sat as judges and jurors in the witch trials, which led +them to weigh and analyze the evidence, spectral and otherwise, and so +call a halt in the prosecutions and convictions. + +What some of the Massachusetts men did and said in the contemporaneous +outbreak at Salem has been shown, but nowhere is the reaction there more +clearly illustrated than in the statement of Reverend John +Hale--great-grandsire of Nathan Hale, the revolutionary hero--the long +time pastor at Beverly Farms, who from personal experience became +convinced of the grave errors at the Salem trials, and in his _Modest +Inquiry_ in 1697 said: + +"Such was the darkness of that day, the tortures and lamentations of the +afflicted, and the power of former precedents, that we walked in the +clouds and could not see our way.... observing the events of that sad +catastrophe,--Anno 1692,--I was brought to a more strict scanning of the +principles I had imbibed, and by scanning to question, and by +questioning at length to reject many of them." _Nathan Hale_ (p. 10), +Johnston. + +But no utterance takes higher rank, or deserves more consideration in +its appeal to sanity, justice, and humanity, than the declaration of +certain ministers and laymen of Connecticut, in giving their advice and +"reasons" for a cessation of the prosecutions for witchcraft in the +colonial courts, and for reprieving Mercy Disborough under sentence of +death. This is the remarkable document: + +"Filed: The ministers aduice about the witches in Fayrfield, 1692. + +"As to ye evidences left to our consideration respecting ye two women +suspected of witchcraft at Fairfield we offer + +"1. That we cannot but give our concurrance with ye generallity of +divines that ye endeavour of conviction of witchcraft by swimming is +unlawful and sinfull & therefore it cannot afford any evidence. + +"2. That ye unusuall excresencies found upon their bodies ought not to +be allowed as evidence against them without ye approbation of some able +physitians. + +"3. Respecting ye evidence of ye afflicted maid we find some things +testifyed carrying a suspition of her counterfeiting; Others that +plainly intimate her trouble from ye mother which improved by craft may +produce ye most of those strange & unusuall effects affirmed of her; & +of those things that by some may be thought to be diabolical or effects +of witchcraft. We apprehend her applying of them to these persons merely +from ye appearance of their spectres to her to be very uncertain and +failable from ye easy deception of her senses & subtile devices of ye +devill, wherefore cannot think her a sufficient witnesse; yet we think +that her affliction being something strange it well deserves a farther +inquiry. + +"4. As to ye other strange accidents as ye dying of cattle &c., we +apprehend ye applying of them to these women as matters of witchcraft +to be upon very slender & uncertain grounds. + +"Hartford JOSEPH ELIOT +"Octobr 1692 TIMOTHY WOODBRIDGE." + +"The rest of ye ministers gave their approbation to ye sum of what +is ... above written tho this could not be drawen up before their +departure." + +(Above in handwriting of Rev. Timothy Woodbridge.) +"Filed: Reasons of Repreuing Mercy Desbrough. + +"To the Honrd Gen: Assembly of Connecticut Colony sitting in Hartford. +Reasons of repreuing Mercy Disbrough from being put to death until this +Court had cognizance of her case. + +"First, because wee that repreued her had power by the law so to do. +Secondly, because we had and haue sattisfying reasons that the sentence +of death passed against her ought not to be executed which reasons we +give to this Court to be judge of + +"1st. The jury that brought her in guilty (which uerdict was the ground +of her condemnation) was not the same jury who were first charged with +this prisoners deliuerance and who had it in charg many weeks. Mr. +Knowles was on the jury first sworn to try this woman and he was at or +about York when the Court sate the second time and when the uerdict was +given, the jury was altered and another man sworn. + +"It is so inuiolable a practice in law that the indiudual jurors and +jury that is charged with the deliuerance of a prisoner in a capital +case and on whom the prisoner puts himself or herself to be tryed must +try it and they only that al the presidents in Old England and New +confirm it and not euer heard of til this time to be inouated. And yet +not only president but the nature of the thing inforces it for to these +juors the law gaue this power vested it in them they had it in right of +law and it is incompatible and impossible that it should be uested in +these and in others too for then two juries may haue the same power in +the same case one man altered the jury is altered. + +"Tis the birthright of the Kings' subjects so and no otherwise to be +tryed and they must not be despoyled of it. + +"Due form of law is that alone wherein the ualidity of verdicts and +judgments in such cases stands and if a real and apparent murtherer be +condemned and executed out of due form of law it is inditable against +them that do it for in such case the law is superseded by arbitrary +doings. + +"What the Court accepts and the prisoner accepts differing from the law +is nothing what the law admitts is al in the case. + +"If one jury may be changed two, ten, the whole may be so, and solemn +oathe made uain. + +"Wee durst not but dissent from and declare against such alterations by +our repreueing therefore the said prisoner when ye were informed of this +business about her jury, and we pray this honored Court to take heed +what they do in it now it is roled to their doore and that at least they +be well sattisfied from able lawyers that such a chang is in law +alowable ere this prisoner be executed least they bring themselues into +inextricable troubles and the whole country. Blood is a great thing and +we cannot but open our mouths for the dumb in the cause of one appointed +to die by such a uerdict. + +"2dly. We had a good accompt of the euidences giuen against her that +none of them amounted to what Mr. Perkins, Mr. Bernard and Mr. Mather +with others state as sufficiently conuictiue of witchcraft, namely 1st +Confession (this there was none of) 2dly two good wittnesses proueing +som act or acts done by the person which could not be but by help of the +deuill, this is the summe of what they center in as thair books show as +for the common things of spectral euidence il euents after quarels or +threates, teates, water tryalls and the like with suspitious words they +are al discarded and som of them abominated by the most judicious as to +be conuictiue of witchcraft and the miserable toyl they are in the Bay +for adhereing to these last mentioned litigious things is warning enof, +those that will make witchcraft of such things will make hanging work +apace and we are informed of no other but such as these brought against +this woman. + +"These in brief are our reasons for repreueing this prisoner. +May 12th, 1693. +SAMUELL WILLIS. +WM PITKIN +NATH STANLY. + +"The Court may please to consider also how farr these +proceedings do put a difficulty on any further tryal of +this woman." + +All honor to Joseph Elliot, Timothy Woodbridge and their ministerial +associates; to Samuel Willis, Pitkin and Nath. Stanly, level-headed men +of affairs, all friends of the court called upon for advice and +counsel--who gave it in full scriptural measure.[H] + + +[Footnote H: Mercy Disborough was pardoned, as the records show that she +was living in 1707.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +"Old Matthew Maule was executed for the crime of witchcraft. He was one +of the martyrs to that terrible delusion, which should teach us, among +its other morals, that the influential classes, and those who take upon +themselves to be leaders of the people, are fully liable to all the +passionate error that has ever characterized the maddest mob." + +"Clergymen, judges, statesmen--the wisest, calmest, holiest persons of +their day--stood in the inner circle round about the gallows, loudest to +applaud the work of blood, latest to confess themselves miserably +deceived." + +"This old reprobate was one of the sufferers when Cotton Mather, and his +brother ministers, and the learned judges, and other wise men, and Sir +William Phipps, the sagacious governor, made such laudable efforts to +weaken the great enemy of souls by sending a multitude of his adherents +up the rocky pathway of Gallows Hill." _The House of the Seven Gables_ +(20: 225), HAWTHORNE. + +"Then, too, the belief in witchcraft was general. Striking coincidences, +personal eccentricities, unusual events and mysterious diseases seemed +to find an easy explanation in an unholy compact with the devil. A +witticism attributed to Judge Sewall, one of the judges in these trials, +may help us to understand the common panic: 'We know who's who but not +which is witch.' That was the difficulty. At a time when every one +believed in witchcraft it was easy to suspect one's neighbor. It was a +characteristic superstition of the century and should be classed with +the barbarous punishments and religious intolerance of the age." _N.E. +Hist. Towns_.--LATIMER'S--_Salem_ (150). + + +Multiplication of these witchcraft testimonies, quaint and curious, +vulgar and commonplace, evil and pathetic, voices all of a strange +superstition, understandable only as through them alone can one gain a +clear perspective of the spirit of the time and place, would prove +wearisome. They may well remain in the ancient records until they find +publicity in detail in some accurate and complete history of the +beginnings of the commonwealth--including this strange chapter in its +unique history. + +It will, however, serve a present necessary purpose, and lead to a more +exact conception of the reign of unreason, if glimpses be taken here and +there of a few of the statements made on oath in some of the other +cases. + + +ELIZABETH SEAGER + +Daniell Gabbett and Margaret Garrett--_The mess of parsnips--Hains' "hodg +podg"--Satan's interference_ + +"The testimony of Daniell Garrett senior and the testimony of Margarett +Garrett. Goodwife Gaarrett saith that goodwife Seager said there was a +day kept at Mr. Willis in reference to An Coale; and she further said +she was in great trouble euen in agony of spirit, the ground as follows +that she sent her owne daughtr Eliza Seager to goodwife Hosmer to carry +her a mess a parsnips. Goodwife Hosmer was not home. She was at Mr. +Willis at the fast. Goodm Hosmer and his son was at home. Goodm Hosmer +bid the child carry the parsnips home againe he would not receiue them +and if her mother desired a reason, bid her send her father and he would +tell him the reason. Goodwife Seager upon the return of the parsnips +was much troubled and sent for her husband and sent him up to Goodm +Hosmer to know the reason why he would not reciue the parsnips, and he +told goodman Seager it was because An Coale at the fast at Mr. Willis +cryed out against his wife as being a witch and he would not receiue +the parsnips least he should be brought in hereaftr as a testimony +against his wife. Then goodwif Seager sd that Mr. Hains had writt a +great deal of hodg podg that An Coale had sd that she was under +suspicion for a witch, and then she went to prayer, and did adventure to +bid Satan go and tell them she was no witch. This deponent after she had +a little paused said, who did you say, then goodw Seger sd againe she +had sent Satan to tell them she was no witch. This deponent asked her +why she made use of Satan to tell them, why she did not besech God to +tell them she was no witch. She answered because Satan knew she was no +witch. Goodman Garrett testifies that before him and his wife, Goodwife +Seager said that she sent Satan to tell them she was no witch." + + +ROBERT STERNE, STEPHEN HART, JOSIAH WILLARD AND DANIEL PRATT--_Four +women--Two black creatures--A kettle and a dance--"That place in the +Acts about the 7 sons"_ + +"Robert Sterne testifieth as followeth. + +"I saw this woman goodwife Seager in ye woods wth three more women and +with them I saw two black creaures like two Indians but taller. I saw +likewise a kettle there over a fire. I saw the women dance round these +black creatures and whiles I looked upon them one of the women G: +Greensmith said looke who is yonder and then they ran away up the hill. +I stood still and ye black things came towards mee and then I turned to +come away. He further saith I knew the psons by their habits or clothes +haueing observed such clothes on them not long before." + +"Wee underwritten do testifie, that goodwife Seager said, (upon the +relateing of goodwife Garrett testimony, in reference to Seager sending +Satan,) that the reason why she sent Satan, was because he knew she was +no witch, we say Seager said Dame you can remember part of what I said, +but you do not speak of the whole you say nothing of what I brought to +prove that Satan knew that I was no witch. I brought that place in the +Acts, about the 7 sons that spake to the euill spirits in the name of +Jesus whom Paul preacheth I have forgot there names. + +"STEPHEN HART +"JOSIAH WlLLARD +"DANIEL PRATT." + + +MRS. MIGAT--_A warm greeting, "how doe yow"--"god was naught"--"Hell +need not be feared, for she should not burn in ye fire"--The ghost +"stracke"_ + +"Mrs. Migat sayth she went out to give her calues meat, about fiue +weekes since, & goodwif Segr came to her and shaked her by ye arme, & sd +she how doe yow, how doe yow, Mrs. Migatt. + +"2d Mrs. Migatt alsoe saith: a second time goodwife Segr came her +towerds ye little riuer, a litle below ye house wch she now dweleth in, +and told her, that god was naught, god was naught, it was uery good to +be a witch and desired her to be one, she should not ned fare going to +hell, for she should not burne in ye fire Mrs. Migat said to her at this +time that she did not loue her; she was very naught, and goodwif Segr +shaked her by ye hands and bid her farwell, and desired her, not to tell +any body what shee had said unto her. + +"3d Time. Mrs. Migat affirmeth yt goodwife Segr came to her at ye hedge +corner belonging to their house lot, and their spake to her but what she +could not tell, wch caused Mrs. Migatt (as she sayth) to (turn) away wth +great feare. + +"Mrs. Migat sayth a little before ye floud this spring, goodwife Segr +came into thaire house, on a mone shining night, and took her by ye hand +and stracke her on ye face as she was in beed wth her husband, whome she +could wake, and then goodwife Segr went away, and Mrs. Migat went to ye +dore but darst not looke out after her. + +"These pticulers Mrs. Migat charged goodwife Segr wth being face to +face, at Mr. Migats now dwelling house." + +"John Talcott." + + +_Staggerings of the jury--"Shuffing"--"Grinding teeth"--Seager's +denials--Contradictions--Acquittal_ + +"Janur 16 1662 + +"The causes why half the jury ore more did in their vote cast gooddy +Seger (and the rest of the jury were deeply suspitious, and were at a +great loss and staggeringe whereby they were sometimes likely to com up +in their judgments to the rest, whereby she was allmost gone and cast as +the foreman expressed to her at giuing in of the verdict) are these + +"First it did apeare by legall euidence that she had intimat +familliarity with such as had been wiches, viz goody Sanford and goody +Ayrs. 2ly this she did in open court stoutly denie saing the witnesses +were preiudiced persons, and that she had now more intimacy then they +themselves, and when the witneses questioned with her about frequent +being there she said she went to lerne to knitt; this also she stoutly +denied, and said of the witneses they belie me, then when Mr. John Allen +sd did she not teach you to knitt, she answered sturdily and sayd, I do +not know that I am bound to tell you & at another time being pressed to +answ she sayd, nay I will hould what I have if I must die, yet after +this she confessed that she had so much intimacy with one of ym as that +they did change woorke one with another. 3ly she having sd that she did +hate goody Aiers it did appear that she bore her great yea more than +ordinarily good will as apeared by releeuing her in her truble, and was +couert way, and was trubled that is was discouered; likewise when goody +Aiers said in court, this will take away my liffe, goody Seger shuffed +her with her hand & sd hould your tongue wt grinding teeth Mr. John +Allen being one wittnes hearto when he had spoken, she sd they seek my +innocent blood; the magistrats replied, who she sd euery body. 4ly being +spoken to about triall by swiming, she sagd the diuill that caused me to +com heare can keep me up. + +"About the buisnes of fliing the most part thought it was not legally +proued. + +"Lastly the woman and Robert Stern being boath upon oath their wittnes +was judged legall testimony ore evidence only som in the jury because +Sternes first words upon his oath were, I saw these women and as I take +it goody Seger was there though after that he sayd, I saw her there, I +knew her well I know God will require her blood at my hands if I should +testifie falsly. Allso bec he sd he saw her kittle, there being at so +great a distance, they doubted that these things did not only weaken & +blemish his testimony, but also in a great measure disable it for +standing to take away liffe." + +"WALT. FYLER." + +Elizabeth Seager was acquitted. + + +ELIZABETH GODMAN + +Of all the women who set the communities ablaze with their witcheries, +none in fertility of invention and performance surpassed Elizabeth +Godman of New Haven--a member of the household of Stephen Goodyear, the +Deputy Governor. Reverend John Davenport said, in a sermon of the time, +"that a froward discontented frame of spirit was a subject fitt for ye +Devill," and Elizabeth was accused by Goodwife Larremore and others of +being in "such a frame of spirit," and of practicing the black arts. + +She promptly haled her accusers before a court of magistrates, August 4, +1653, with Governor Theophilus Eaton and Deputy Governor Stephen +Goodyear present; and when asked what she charged them with, she desired +that "a wrighting might be read--wch was taken in way of examination +before ye magistrate," in May, 1653. The "wrighting" did not prove +helpful to Elizabeth's case. The statements of witnesses and of the +accused are in some respects unique, and of a decided personal quality. + + +_"Hobbamocke"--The "swonding fitt"--Lying--Evil communications--The +Indian's statement--"Ye boyes sickness"--"Verey strang fitts"--"Figgs"-- +"Pease porridge"--"A sweate"--Mrs. Goodyeare's opinion--Absorption-- +Contradictions--Goodwife Thorp's chickens--"Water and wormes"_ + +"Mris. Godman was told she hath warned to the court diuers psons, vizd: +Mr. Goodyeare, Mris. Goodyeare, Mr. Hooke, Mris. Hooke, Mris. Atwater, +Hanah & Elizabeth Lamberton, goodwife Larremore, goodwife Thorpe, &c., +and was asked what she had to charge them wth, she said they had given +out speeches that made folkes thinke she was a witch, and first she +charged Mris. Atwater to be ye cause of all, and to cleere things +desired a wrighting might be read wch was taken in way of examination +before ye magistrate, (and in here after entred,) wherein sundrie things +concerning Mris. Atwater is specifyed wch we now more fully spoken to, +and she further said that Mris. Atwater had said that she thought she +was a witch and that Hobbamocke was her husband, but could proue +nothing, though she was told that she was beforehand warned to prepare +her witnesses ready, wch she hath not done, if she haue any. After +sundrie of the passages in ye wrighting were read, she was asked if +these things did not giue just ground of suspition to all that heard +them that she was a witch. She confessed they did, but said if she spake +such things as is in Mr. Hookes relation she was not herselfe.... Beside +what is in the papr, Mris. Godman was remembred of a passage spoken of +at the gouernors aboute Mr. Goodyeare's falling into a swonding fitt +after hee had spoken something one night in the exposition of a chapter, +wch she (being present) liked not but said it was against her, and as +soone as Mr. Goodyeare had done duties she flung out of the roome in a +discontented way and cast a fierce looke vpon Mr. Goodyeare as she went +out, and imediately Mr. Goodyeare (though well before) fell into a +swond, and beside her notorious lying in this buisnes, for being asked +how she came to know this, she said she was present, yet Mr. Goodyeare, +Mris. Goodyeare, Hanah and Elizabeth Lamberton all affirme she was not +in ye roome but gone vp into the chamber." + +THE "WRIGHTING" + +"The examination of Elizabeth Godman, May 12th, 1653. + +"Elizabeth Godman made complainte of Mr. Goodyeare, Mris. Goodyeare, Mr. +Hooke, Mris. Hooke, Mris. Bishop, Mris. Atwater, Hanah & Elizabeth +Lamberton, and Mary Miles, Mris. Atwaters maide, that they haue +suspected her for a witch; she was now asked what she had against Mr. +Hooke and Mris. Hooke; she said she heard they had something against her +aboute their soone. Mr. Hooke said hee was not wthout feares, and hee +had reasons for it; first he said it wrought suspition in his minde +because shee was shut out at Mr. Atwaters vpon suspition, and hee was +troubled in his sleepe aboute witches when his boye, was sicke, wch was +in a verey strang manner, and hee looked vpon her as a mallitious one, +and prepared to that mischiefe, and she would be often speaking aboute +witches and rather justifye them then condemne them; she said why doe +they provoake them, why doe they not let them come into the church. +Another time she was speaking of witches wthout any occasion giuen her, +and said if they accused her for a witch she would haue them to the +gouernor, she would trounce them. Another time she was saying she had +some thoughts, what if the Devill should come to sucke her, and she +resolued he should not sucke her.... Time, Mr. Hookes Indian, said in +church meeting time she would goe out and come in againe and tell them +what was done at meeting. Time asking her who told, she answered plainly +she would not tell, then Time said did not ye Devill tell you.... Time +said she heard her one time talking to herselfe, and she said to her, +who talke you too, she said, to you; Time said you talke to ye Devill, +but she made nothing of it. Mr. Hooke further said, that he hath heard +that they that are adicted that way would hardly be kept away from ye +houses where they doe mischiefe, and so it was wth her when his boy was +sicke, she would not be kept away from him, nor gott away when she was +there, and one time Mris. Hooke bid her goe away, and thrust her from ye +boye, but she turned againe and said she would looke on him. Mris. +Goodyeare said that one time she questioned wth Elizabeth Godmand aboute +ye boyes sickness, and said what thinke you of him, is he not strangly +handled, she replyed, what, doe you thinke hee is bewitched; Mris. +Goodyeare said nay I will keepe my thoughts to myselfe, but in time God +will discouer ... + +"Mr. Hooke further said, that when Mr. Bishop was married, Mris. Godman +came to his house much troubled, so as he thought it might be from some +affection to him, and he asked her, she said yes; now it is suspitious +that so soone as they were contracted Mris. Byshop fell into verey +strang fitts wch hath continewed at times euer since, and much suspition +there is that she hath bine the cause of the loss of Mris. Byshops +chilldren, for she could tell when Mris. Bishop was to be brought to +bedd, and hath giuen out that she kills her chilldren wth longing, +because she longs for every thing she sees, wch Mris. Bishop denies.... +Another thing suspitious is, that she could tell Mris. Atwater had figgs +in her pocket when she saw none of them; to that she answered she smelt +them, and could smell figgs if she came in the roome, nere them that had +them; yet at this time Mris. Atwater had figgs in her pocket and came +neere her, yet she smelt them not; also Mris. Atwater said that Mris. +Godman could tell that they one time had pease porridge, when they could +none of them tell how she came to know, and beeing asked she saith she +see ym on the table, and another time she saith she was there in ye +morning when the maide set them on. Further Mris. Atwater saith, that +that night the figgs was spoken of they had strangers to supper, and +Mris. Godman was at their house, she cutt a sopp and put in pann; Betty +Brewster called the maide to tell her & said she was aboute her workes +of darkness, and was suspitious of Mris. Godman, and spake to her of it, +and that night Betty Brewster was in a most misserable case, heareing a +most dreadfull noise wch put her in great feare and trembling, wch put +her into such a sweate as she was all on a water when Mary Miles came to +goe to bed, who had fallen into a sleepe by the fire wch vsed not to +doe, and in ye morning she looked as one yt had bine allmost dead.... + +"Mris. Godman accused Mr. Goodyeare for calling her downe when Mris. +Bishop was in a sore fitt, to looke vpon her, and said he doubted all +was not well wth her, and that hee feared she was a witch, but Mr. +Goodyeare denyed that; vpon this Mris. Godman was exceeding angrie and +would haue the servants called to witnes, and bid George the Scochman +goe aske his master who bewitched her for she was not well, and vpon +this presently Hanah Lamberton (being in ye roome) fell into a verey +sore fitt in a verey strang maner.... + +"Another time Mris. Goodyeare said to her, Mris. Elzebeth what thinke +you of my daughters case; she replyed what, doe you thinke I haue +bewitched her; Mris. Goodyeare said if you be the ptie looke to it, for +they intend to haue such as is suspected before the magistrate. + +"Mris. Godman charged Hanah Lamberton that she said she lay for somewhat +to sucke her, when she came in hott one day and put of some cloathes and +lay vpon the bed in her chamber. Hanah said she and her sister Elizabeth +went vp into the garet aboue her roome, and looked downe & said, looke +how she lies, she lyes as if som bodey was sucking her, & vpon that she +arose and said, yes, yes, so there is; after said Hanah, she hath +something there, for so there seemed as if something was vnder the +cloathes; Elizabeth said what haue you there, she said nothing but the +cloathes, and both Hanah & Eliza. say that Mris. Godman threatened +Hanah, and said let her looke to it for God will bring it vpon her owne +head, and about two dayes after, Hanahs fitts began, and one night +especially had a dreadfull fitt, and was pinched, and heard a hedious +noise, and was in a strang manner sweating and burning, and some time +cold and full of paine yt she shriked out. + +"Elizabeth Lamberton saith that one time ye chilldren came downe & said +Mris. Godman was talking to herselfe and they were afraide, then she +went vp softly and heard her talke, what, will you fetch me some beare, +will you goe, will you goe, and ye like, and one morning aboute breake +of day Henry Boutele said he heard her talke to herselfe, as if some +body had laine wth her.... + +"Mris. Goodyeare said when Mr. Atwaters kinswoman was married Mris. +Bishop was there, and the roome being hott she was something fainte, +vpon that Mris. Godman said she would haue many of these fainting fitts +after she was married, but she saith she remembers it not.... + +"Goodwife Thorp complained that Mris. Godman came to her house and asked +to buy some chickens, she said she had none to sell, Mris. Godman said +will you giue them all, so she went away, and she thought then that if +this woman was naught as folkes suspect, may be she will smite my +chickens, and quickly after one chicken dyed, and she remembred she had +heard if they were bewitched they would consume wthin, and she opened it +and it was consumed in ye gisard to water & wormes, and divers others of +them droped, and now they are missing and it is likely dead, and she +neuer saw either hen or chicken that was so consumed wthin wth wormes. +Mris. Godman said goodwife Tichenor had a whole brood so, and Mris. +Hooke had some so, but for Mris. Hookes it was contradicted presently. +This goodwife Thorp thought good to declare that it may be considered +wth other things." + +The court decided that Elizabeth's carriage and confession rendered her +"suspitious" of witchcraft, and admonished her that "if further proofe +come these passages will not be forgotten." + +The further proof came forth promptly, since in August, 1655, Elizabeth +was again called before the court for witchcraft, and the witnesses +certified to "the doing of strange things." + +_The Governor's quandary--Elizabeth's "spirituall armour"--"The +jumbling at the chamber dore"--The lost grapes--The tethered +calfe--"Hott beare"_ + +"At a court held at Newhaven the 7th of August 1655. + +"Elizabeth Godman was again called before the Court, and told that she +lies under suspition for witchcraft, as she knowes, the grounds of which +were examined in a former court, and by herselfe confessed to be just +grounds of suspition, wch passages were now read, and to these some more +are since added, wch are now to be declared. + +"Mr. Goodyeare said that the last winter, upon occasion of Gods +afflicting hand upon the plantation by sickness, the private meeting +whereof he is had appointed to set a day apart to seeke God: Elizabeth +Godman desired she might be there; he told her she was under suspition, +and it would be offensive; she said she had great need of it, for she +was exercised wth many temptations, and saw strange appearitions, and +lights aboute her bed, and strange sights wch affrighted her; some of +his family said if she was affraide they would worke wth her in the day +and lye with her in the night, but she refused and was angry and said +she would haue none to be wth her for she had her spirituall armour +aboute her. She was asked the reason of this; she answered, she said so +to Mr. Goodyeare, but it was her fancy troubled her, and she would haue +none lye wth her because her bed was weake; she was told that might haue +been mended; then she said she was not willing to haue any of them wth +her, for if any thing had fallen ill wth them they would haue said that +she had bine the cause." + +Mr. Goodyeare further declared that aboute three weekes agoe he had a +verey great disturbance in his family in the night (Eliza: Godman hauing +bine the day before much discontented because Mr. Goodyeare warned her +to provide another place to live in) his daughter Sellevant, Hanah +Goodyeare, and Desire Lamberton lying together in the chamber under +Eliza: Godman; after they were in bed they heard her walke up and downe +and talk aloude; but could not tell what she said; then they heard her +go downe the staires and come up againe; they fell asleep, but were +after awakened wth a great jumbling at the chamber dore, and something +came into the chamber wch jumbled at the other end of the roome and +aboute the trunke and amonge the shooes and at the beds head; it came +nearer the bed and Hanah was affraid and called father, but he heard +not, wch made her more affraide; then cloathes were pulled of their bed +by something, two or three times; they held and something pulled, wch +frighted them so that Hanah Goodyeare called her father so loude as was +thought might be heard to the meetinghouse, but the noise was heard to +Mr. Samuell Eatons by them that watched wth her; so after a while Mr. +Goodyeare came and found them in a great fright; they lighted a candell +and he went to Eliza: Godmans chamber and asked her why she disturbed +the family; she said no, she was scared also and thought the house had +bine on fire, yet the next day she said in the family that she knew +nothing till Mr. Goodyeare came up, wch she said is true she heard the +noise but knew not the cause till Mr. Goodyeare came; and being asked +why she went downe staires after she was gon up to bed, she said to +light a candell to looke for two grapes she had lost in the flore and +feared the mice would play wth them in the night and disturbe ye family, +wch reason in the Courts apprehension renders her more suspitious. + +Allen Ball informed the Court. Another time she came into his yard; his +wife asked what she came for; she said to see her calfe; now they had a +sucking calfe, wch they tyed in the lott to a great post that lay on ye +ground, and the calfe ran away wth that post as if it had bine a fether +and ran amonge Indian corne and pulled up two hills and stood still; +after he tyed the calfe to a long heauy raile, as much as he could well +lift, and one time she came into ye yard and looked on ye calfe and it +set a running and drew the raile after it till it came to a fence and +gaue a great cry in a lowing way and stood still; and in ye winter the +calfe dyed, doe what he could, yet eate its meale well enough. + +Some other passages were spoken of aboute Mris. Yale, that one time +there being some words betwixt them, wth wch Eliza: Godman was +unsatisfyed, the night following Mris. Yales things were throwne aboute +the house in a strange manner; and one time being at Goodman Thorpes, +aboute weauing some cloth, in wch something discontented her, and that +night they had a great noise in the house, wch much affrighted them, but +they know not what it was. + +These things being declared the Court told Elizabeth Godman that they +haue considered them, wth her former miscarriages, and see cause to +order that she be comitted to prison, ther to abide the Courts pleasure, +but because the matter is of weight, and the crime whereof she is +suspected capitall, therefore she is to answer it at the Court of +Magistrates in October next." + +In October, 1655, Elizabeth "was again called before the court and told +that upon grounds formerly declared wch stand upon record, she by her +owne confession remains under suspition for witchcraft, and one more is +now added, and that is, that one time this last summer, comeing to Mr. +Hookes to beg some beare, was at first denyed, but after, she was +offered some by his daughter which stood ready drawne, wch she had, yet +went away in a muttering discontented manner, and after this, that +night, though the beare was good and fresh, yet the next morning was +hott, soure and ill tasted, yea so hott as the barrell was warme wthout +side, and when they opened the bung it steemed forth; they brewed againe +and it was so also, and so continewed foure or fiue times, one after +another. + +"She brought diuers psons to the court that they might say something to +cleere her, and much time was spent in hearing ym, but to little +purpose, the grounds of suspition remaining full as strong as before and +she found full of lying, wherfore the court declared vnto her that +though the euidenc is not sufficient as yet to take away her life, yet +the suspitions are cleere and many, wch she cannot by all the meanes she +hath vsed, free herselfe from, therfore she must forbeare from goeing +from house to house to give offenc, and cary it orderly in the family +where she is, wch if she doe not, she will cause the court to comitt her +to prison againe, & that she doe now presently vpon her freedom giue +securitie for her good behauiour; and she did now before the court +ingage fifty pound of her estate that is in Mr. Goodyeers hand, for her +good behauior, wch is further to be cleered next court, when Mr. +Goodyeare is at home." + +"She was suffered to dwell in the family of Thomas Johnson, where she +continued till her death, October 9th, 1660." (_New Haven Town Records_, +Vol. ii, pp. 174,179.) + + +NATHANIEL AND REBECCA GREENSMITH + +Nathaniel Greensmith lived in Hartford, south of the little river, in +1661-62, on a lot of about twenty acres, with a house and barn. He also +had other holdings "neer Podunk," and "on ye highway leading to +Farmington." + +He was thrifty by divergent and economical methods, since he is credited +in the records of the time with stealing a bushel and a half of wheat, +of stealing a hoe, and of lying to the court, and of battery. + +In one way or another he accumulated quite a property for those days, +since the inventory of it filed in the Hartford Probate Office, January +25, 1662, after his execution, carried an appraisal of £137. l4s. +1_d_.--including "2 bibles," "a sword," "a resthead," and a "drachm +cup"--all indicating that Nathaniel judiciously mingled his theology and +patriotism, his recreation and refreshment, with his everyday practical +affairs and opportunities. + +But he made one adventure that was most unprofitable. In an evil hour he +took to wife Rebecca, relict of Abraham Elson, and also relict of Jarvis +Mudge, and of whom so good a man as the Rev. John Whiting, minister of +the First Church in Hartford--afterward first pastor of the Second +Church--said that she was "a lewd, ignorant and considerably aged +woman." + +This triple combination of personal qualities soon elicited the +criticism and animosity of the community, and Nathaniel and Rebecca fell +under the most fatal of all suspicions of that day, that of being +possessed by the evil one. + +Gossip and rumor about these unpopular neighbors culminated in a formal +complaint, and December 30, 1662, at a court held at Hartford, both the +Greensmiths were separately indicted in the same formal charge. + +"Nathaniel Greensmith thou art here indicted by the name of Nathaniel +Greensmith for not having the fear of God before thine eyes, thou hast +entertained familiarity with Satan, the grand enemy of God and +mankind--and by his help hast acted things in a preternatural way beyond +human abilities in a natural course for which according to the law of +God and the established law of this commonwealth thou deservest to die." + +While Rebecca was in prison under suspicion, she was interviewed by two +ministers, Revs. Haynes and Whiting, as to the charges of Ann Cole--a +next door neighbor--which were written down by them, all of which, and +more, she confessed to be true before the court. + +(Note. Increase Mather regarded this confession as convictive a proof of +real witchcraft as most single cases he had known.) + +THE MINISTERS' ACCOUNT--_Promise to Satan--A merry Christmas +meeting--Stone's lecture--Haynes' plea--The dear Devil--The corvine +guest--Sexual delusions_ + +"She forthwith and freely confessed those things to be true, that she +(and other persons named in the discourse) had familiarity with the +devil. Being asked whether she had made an express covenant with him, +she answered she had not, only as she promised to go with him when he +called (which she had accordingly done several times). But that the +devil told her that at Christmas they would have a merry meeting, and +then the covenant should be drawn and subscribed. Thereupon the +fore-mentioned Mr. Stone (being then in court) with much weight and +earnestness laid forth the exceeding heinousness and hazard of that +dreadful sin; and therewith solemnly took notice (upon the occasion +given) of the devil's loving Christmas. + +"A person at the same time present being desired the next day more +particularly to enquire of her about her guilt, it was accordingly done, +to whom she acknowledged that though when Mr. Haynes began to read she +could have torn him in pieces, and was so much resolved as might be to +deny her guilt (as she had done before) yet after he had read awhile, +she was as if her flesh had been pulled from her bones, (such was her +expression,) and so could not deny any longer. She also declared that +the devil first appeared to her in the form of a deer or fawn, skipping +about her, wherewith she was not much affrighted but by degrees he +contrived talk with her; and that their meetings were frequently at such +a place, (near her own house;) that some of the company came in one +shape and some in another, and one in particular in the shape of a crow +came flying to them. Amongst other things she owned that the devil had +frequent use of her body." + +Had Rebecca been content with purging her own conscience, she alone +would have met the fate she had invoked, and probably deserved; but out +of "love to her husband's soul" she made an accusation against him, +which of itself secured his conviction of the same offense, with the +same dire penalty. + +THE ACCUSATION--_Nathaniel's plea--"Travaile and labour"--"A red +creature"--- Prenuptial doubts--The weighty logs--Wifely tenderness and +anxiety--Under the greenwood tree--A cat call--Terpsichore and Bacchus_ + +"Rebecca Greenswith testifieth in Court Janry 8. 62. + +"1. That my husband on Friday night last when I came to prison told me +that now thou hast confest against thyself let me alone and say nothing +of me and I wilbe good unto thy children. + +"I doe now testifie that formerly when my husband hathe told me of his +great travaile and labour I wondered at it how he did it this he did +before I was married and when I was married I asked him how he did it +and he answered me he had help yt I knew not of. + +"3. About three years agoe as I think it; my husband and I were in ye +wood several miles from home and were looking for a sow yt we lost and I +saw a creature a red creature following my husband and when I came to +him I asked him what it was that was with him and he told me it was a +fox. + +"4. Another time when he and I drove or hogs into ye woods beyond ye +pound yt was to keep yong cattle severall miles of I went before ye hogs +to call them and looking back I saw two creatures like dogs one a little +blacker then ye other, they came after my husband pretty close to him +and one did seem to me to touch him I asked him wt they were he told me +he thought foxes I was stil afraid when I saw anything because I heard +soe much of him before I married him. + +"5. I have seen logs that my husband hath brought home in his cart that +I wondered at it that he could get them into ye cart being a man of +little body and weake to my apprhension and ye logs were such that I +thought two men such as he could not have done it. + +"I speak all this out of love to my husbands soule and it is much +against my will that I am now necessitate to speake agaynst my husband, +I desire that ye Lord would open his heart to owne and speak ye trueth. + +"I also testify that I being in ye wood at a meeting there was wth me +Goody Seager Goodwife Sanford & Goodwife Ayres; and at another time +there was a meeting under a tree in ye green by or house & there was +there James Walkely, Peter Grants wife Goodwife Aires & Henry Palmers +wife of Wethersfield, & Goody Seager, & there we danced, & had a bottle +of sack: it was in ye night & something like a catt cald me out to ye +meeting & I was in Mr. Varlets orcherd wth Mrs. Judeth Varlett & shee +tould me that shee was much troubled wth ye Marshall Jonath: Gilbert & +cried, & she sayd if it lay in her power she would doe him a mischief, +or what hurt shee could." + +The Greensmiths were convicted and sentenced to suffer death. In +January, 1662, they were hung on "Gallows Hill," on the bluff a little +north of where Trinity College now stands--"a logical location" one most +learned in the traditions and history of Hartford calls it--as it +afforded an excellent view of the execution to a large crowd on the +meadows to the west, a hanging being then a popular spectacle and +entertainment. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +"They shall no more be considered guilty than this woman, whom I now +pronounce to be innocent, and command that she be set at liberty." LORD +CHIEF JUSTICE MANSFIELD. + +ELIZABETH (CLAUSON) CLAWSON + +THE INDICTMENT + + +"Elizabeth Clawson wife of Stephen Clawson of Standford in the country +of Fayrefeild in the Colony of Connecticutt thou art here indicted by +the name of Elizabeth Clawson that not haueing the fear of God before +thine eyes thou hast had familiarity with Satan the grand enemie of God +& man & that by his instigation & help thou hast in a pretematurall way +afflicted & done harm to the bodyes & estates of sundry of his Maties +subjects or to some of them contrary to the peace of or Soueraigne Lord +the King & Queen their crowne & dignity & that on the 25t of Aprill in +the 4th yeare of theire Maties reigne & at sundry other times for which +by the law of God & the law of the Colony thou deseruest to dye." + + +THE TESTIMONIES + + +JOSEPH GARNEY--_The maid in fits--Joseph's subterfuge--""The black +catt"--"The white dogg"--Witches three_ + +"Joseph Garney saith yt being at Danil Wescots uppon occation sine he +went to Hartford while he was gone from home Nathanill Wiat being with +me his maid being at work in the yard in her right mind soon after fell +into a fit. I took her up and caried her in & laid her upon the bed it +was intimated by sum that she desembled. Nathanel Wiat said with leaue +he would make triall of that leaue was granted and as soon as she was +laid upon ye bed then Wiat asked me for a sharp knife wch I presently +took into my hand then she imediately came to herself and then went out +of ye room into ye other room & so out into ye hen house then I hard her +presently shreek out I ran presently to her and asked her what is ye +matter, she was in such pain she could not Hue & presently fell into a +fit stiff. We carried her in and laid her upon ye bed and then I got my +kniffe ready and fitting under pretence of doing sum great matter then +presently she came to herselfe & said to me Joseph what are you about to +doe I said I would cutt her & seemed to threten great matters, then she +laid her down upon the bed & said she would confess to us how it was +with her and then said I am possessed with ye deuill and he apeared to +me in ye hen house in ye shape of a black catt & was ernist with her to +be a witch & if she would not he would tear her in pieces, then she +again shreekt out now saith shee I see him & lookt wistly & said there +he is just at this time to my apearance there seemed to dart in at ye +west window a sudden light across ye room wch did startle and amase me +at yt present, then she tould me yt she see ye deuill in ye shape of a +white dogg, she tould me that ye deuill apeared in ye shape of these +three women namly goody Clawson, goody Miller, & ye woman at Compo. +[Disborough] I asked her how she knew yt it was ye deuill that appeared +in ye shape of these three women she answered he tould me so. I asked +her if she knew that these three women were witches or no she said she +could not tell they might be honest women for ought she knew or they +might be witches." + + +Sarah Kecham--_Cateron's seizures--Riding and singing--English and +French--The naked sword_ + +The testimony of Sarah Kecham. "She saith yt being at Danel Wescots +house Thomas Asten being there Cateron Branch being there in a fit as +they said I asked then how she was they sayth she hath had noe fits she +had bine a riding then I asked her to ride and then she got to riding. I +asked her if her hors had any name & she called out & said Jack; I then +asked her to sing & then she sunge; I asked her yt if she had sung wt +Inglish she could then sing French and then she sung that wch they +called French. Thomas Astin said he knew that she was bewitched I tould +him I did not beleue it, for I said I did not beleue there was any witch +in the town, he said he knew she was for said he I haue hard say that if +a person were bewitched take a naked sword and hould ouer them & they +will laugh themselues to death & with yt he took a sword and held ouer +her and she laughed extremely. Then I spoke sumthing whereby I gaue them +to understand that she did so becase she knew of ye sword, whereupon +Danil made a sine to Thomas Austen to hould ye sword again yt she might +not know of it, wch he did & then she did not laugh at all nor chang her +countenance. Further in discourse I hard Daniel Wescot say yt when he +pleased he could take her out of her fits. John Bates junr being present +at ye same time witnesseth to all ye aboue written. + +"Ye testers are redy to giue oath to ye aboue written testimony when +called therunto. +"Staford ye 7th Septembr 1692." + +ABIGAIL CROSS AND NATHANIEL CROSS--_The "garles desembling"--Daniel +Wescot's wager--The trick that nobody else could do_ + +(Kateran Branch, the accuser of the Fairfield women, was a young servant +in Daniel Wescot's household.) + +"The testimony of Abigail Cross as followith that upon sum discourse +with Danil Wescot about his garles desembling sd Daniel sd that he would +venture both his cows against a calfe yt she should doe a trick tomorrow +morning that no body else could doe. sd Abigail sd to morrow morning, +can you make her do it when you will; & he said yess when I will I can +make her do it. + +"Nathaneel Cross being present at ye same time testifieth ye same with +his wife. + +"The above testers say they are redy to giue oath to ye aboue written +testimony when called to it." + +SARAH BATES--_An effective remedy for fits--Burnt feathers--Blood +letting--The result_ + +"The testimony of Mrs. Sarah Bates she saith yt when first ye garl was +taken with strang fits she was sent for to Danil Wescots house & she +found ye garle lieing upon ye bed. She then did apprehend yt the garls +illness might be from sum naturall cause; she therefore aduised them to +burn feathers under her nose & other menes yt had dun good in fainting +fits and then she seemed to be better with it; and so she left her that +night in hops to here she wold be better ye next morning; but in ye +morning Danil Wescot came for her againe and when she came she found ye +garl in bed seemingly senceless & spechless; her eyes half shet but her +pulse seemed to beat after ye ordinary maner her mistres desired she +might be let blud on ye foot in hops it might do her good. Then I said I +thought it could not be dun in ye capassity she was in but she desired a +triall to be made and when euerything was redy & we were agoing to let +her blud ye garl cried; the reson was asked her why she cried; her +answer was she would not be bluded; we asked her why; she said again +because it would hurt her it was said ye hurt would be but small like a +prick of a pin then she put her foot ouer ye bed and was redy to help +about it; this cariag of her seemed to me strang who before seemed to ly +like a dead creature; after she was bluded and had laid a short time she +clapt her hand upon ye couerlid & cried out; and on of ye garls yt stood +by said mother she cried out; and her mistres was so afected with it yt +she cried and said she is bewitched. Upon this ye garl turned her head +from ye folk as if she wold hide it in ye pillar & laughed." The above +written Sarah Bates appeared before me in Stamford this 13th Septembr +1692 & made oath to the above written testimony. Before me Jonat, Bell +Comissr." + + +Daniel Wescot--_Exchanging yarn--"A quarrill"--The child's nightmare_ + +"The testimony of Daniel Wescote saith that some years since my wife & +Goodwife Clauson agreed to change their spinning, & instead of half a +pound Goodwife Clawson sent three quarters of a pound I haueing waide +it, carried it to her house & cnvinced her of it yt it was so, & thence +forward she till now took occation upon any frivolous matter to be angry +& pick a quarrill with booth myself & wife, & some short time after this +earning ye flex, my eldest daughter Johannah was taken suddenly in ye +night shrecking& crying out, There is a thing will catch me, uppon which +I got up & lit a candle, & tould her there was nothing, she answerd, +yees there was, there tis, pointing with her finger sometimes to one +place & sometimes to another, & then sd tis run under the pillow. I askd +her wr it was, she sd a sow, & in a like manner continued disturbd a +nights abought ye space of three weeks, insomuch yt we ware forcd to +carry her abroad sometimes into my yard or lot, but for ye most part to +my next neighbours house, to undress her & get her to sleep, & +continually wn she was disturbd shed cry out theres my thing come for +me, whereuppon some neighbours advisd to a removal of her, & having +removd her to Fairfeild it left her, & since yt hath not been disturbd +in like manner." + +"The aboue testimony of Daniell Wesocott now read to the wife of sayd +Daniell Shee testifys to the whole verbatum & hath now giuen oath to the +same before us in Standford, Septembr 12th 1692. + +"JONATN SELLECK Comissr + +"JONOTHAN BELL Commissionr. + +"Sworn in Court Septr 15 1692 + +"As attests John Allyn Secry." + +ABIGAIL WESCOT--_Throwing stones--Railing--Twitting of "fine cloths"_ + +"Abigal Wescot further saith that as she was going along the street +Goody Clauson came out to her and they had some words together and Goody +Clauson took up stone and threw at her; and at another time as she went +along the street before said Clausons dore Goody Clauson caled to me and +asked me what I did in my chamber last Sabbath day night, and I doe +affirme that I was not their that night; and at another time as I was in +her sone Stephens house being neer her one house shee followed me in and +contended with me becase I did not com into her house caling of me proud +slut what ear you proud on your fine cloths and you look to be mistres +but you never shal by me and seuerall other prouoking speeches at that +time and at another time as I was by her house she contended and +quareled with me; and we had many words together and shee twited me of +my fine cloths and of my mufe and also contended with me several other +times. + +"Taken upon oath before us Standford Septemr 12th +"JONATN SELLECK Comissionr +"JONOTHAN BELL Comissr." + +ABRAHAM FINCH--_The strange light--"Two pry eies"--Cause of the "pricking"_ + +"Abraham Finch jun aged about 26 years. + +"The deponant saith that hee being a waching at with ye French girle at +Daniell Wescoat house in the night I being laid on the bed the girle +fell into a fite and fell crose my feet and then I looking up I sawe a +light abut the bignes of my too hands glance along the sommer of the +house to the harth ward, and afterwards I sawe it noe mor; and when +Dauid Selleck brought a light into the room a littell space after the +French garle cam to hirselfe againe. Wee ascked hir whie shee skreemed +out when shee fell into her fit. Shee answered goodie Clawson cam in +with two firy eies. + +"Furdermore the deponant saith that Dauid Selleck was that same night +with him and being laid downe on the bed me nie the garle and I laye by +the bed sid on the chest and Dauid Selleck starte up suddenly and I +asked wt was ye matter with him and hee answered shee pricked mee and +the French garle answered noe shee did not it was goodie Crump and then +shee put her hand ouer the bed sid and said give mee that thing that you +pricked Mr. Selleck with and I cached hold of her hand and found a pin +in it and I took it away from her. The deponant saith that when the garl +put her hand ouer the bed it was open and he looked very well in her +hand and cold see nothing and before shee puled in her hand again shee +had goten yt pin yt hee took from her. + +"This aboue written testor is redy when called to giue oath to the aboue +written testimony." + + +EBENEZER BISHOP--_Kateran calls for somersaults--Fits and spots_ + +"Ebenezer Bishop aged about 26 years saith on night being at Danill +Wescots house Catern Branch being in on of her fits I sate doen by ye +bed side next to her she then calling ernestly upon goody Clason goody +Clason seueral times now goody Clason turn heels ouer head after this +she had a violent fit and calling again said now they are agoing to kill +me & crieing out very loud that they pincht her on ye neck and calling +out yt they pincht her again I setting by her I took ye light and look +upon her neck & I see a spot look red seeming to me as big as a pece of +eight afterwards it turned blue & blacker then any other part of her +skin and after ye second time of her calling I took ye light & looked +again and she pointed with her hand lower upon her shoulder and I se +another place upon her shoulder look red & blue as I saw upon the other +place before and then after yt she had another fit. + +"Stamford 29th August 1692 this aboue written testor is redy when called +to giue oath to ye aboue written testimony. + +"Hannah Knapp testifieth the same to the above written and further adeth +that shee saw scraches upon her; and is redy to give oth to it if called +to it. + +"Both the above sworn in Court Septr 15 1692. Attests John Allyn, +Secry." + +SAMUEL HOLLY--_Singular physiological transformations_ + +"The testimony of Samuel Holly senour aged aboute fifty years saith that +hee being at ye house of Danell Wescot in ye euning I did see his maid +Cattern Branch in her fit that shee did swell in her brests (as shee lay +on her bed) and they rise as lik bladers and suddenly pased in to her +bely, and in a short time returned to her brest and in a short time her +breasts fell and a great ratling in her throat as if shee would haue +been choked; All this I judge beyond nature. + +"Danil Wescot testifieth to ye same aboue written and further addith yt +when she was in those fits ratling in her throat she would put out her +tong to a great extent I consieue beyond nature & I put her tong into +her mouth again & then I looked in her mouth & could se no tong but as +if it were a lump of flesh down her throat and this ofen times. + +"The testors, as concerned are ready to giue oath to the above written +testimony if called thereunto. + +"Staford 29 April 1692 + +"Sworn in Court Septr 15 1692. + +"Attests JOHN ALLYN, Seer." + +"The testimony of Daniell Westcot aged about forty nine years saith that +som time this spring since his maid Catton Branch had fits and with many +other strange actions in her, I see her as shee lay on the bed at her +length in her fit, and at once sprang up to the chamber flore withouts +the helpe of her hands or feete; thats neere six feet and I judge it +beyond nator for any person so to doe. + +"Sworn in Court Sept 15 1692. + +"Attests JOHN ALLYN Secry." + + +_Inquiry and search--Visions of the young accuser--The talking cat--The +spread table--The strange woman--"Silk hood and blew apron"--"2 +firebrands in her forehead"--"A turn at heels ouer head"_ + +"Stamford May ye 27th, 1692. + +"Uppon ye information & sorrowfull complainte of Sergeant Daniel Wescot +in regard of his maide servant Katherine Branch whome he suspects to be +afflicted of witchcraft, under wch sore affliction she hath now labourd +upwards of five weeks, & in that lamentable state yeat remains. In order +to inquiry & search into (the) matter were then psent Major Nathan +Golde, Capt. John Burr, Capt. Jonothan Selleck, Lieutenant Jonothan +Bell. + +"The manner of her being taken & handled. + +"Being in ye feilds gathering of herbs, she was seizd with a pinching & +pricking at her breast; she being come home fell a crying, was askd ye +reason, gave no answer but wept & immediately fell down on ye flooer wth +her hands claspt, & with like actions continued wth some respite at +times ye space of two days, then sd she saw a cat, was asked what ye cat +sd she answerd ye cat askd her to [go] with her, with a promise of fine +things & yt if she should goe where there ware fine folks; & still was +followed wth like fits, seeming to be much tormented, being askd again +what she saw sd cats, & yt they toulde her they woulde kill her, & wth +this menaceing disquieted her severall dayes; after yt she saw in ye +roome where she lay a table spread wth variety of meats, & they askd her +to eat & at ye table she saw tenn eating, this she positively affirmd +when in her right minde, after this was exceeding much tormentted, her +master askd her what was ye matter, because she as she sd in her fit run +to sundry places to abscoude herselfe, she toulde him twas because she +saw a cat coming to her wth a rat, to fling in her face, after yt she sd +they toulde her they woulde kill her because she tould of it. These sort +of actions continued about 13 days, & then was extremely afflicted with +fits in ye night, to ye number of about 40ty crying out a witch, a +witch, her master runing to her askd her what was ye matter she sd she +felt a hand. Ye next week she saw as she sd a woman stand in ye house +having on a silk hood & a blew apron, after that in ye evening being +well composd going out of dooers run in again & caught her master +abought ye middle, he askd her ye reason, she sd yt she meet an olde +woman at ye dooer, with 2 firebrands in her forehead, he askd her what +kinde of clooths she had on, answered she had two homespun coats, one +tuct up rounde her ye other down. The next day she namd a person calling +her goody Clauson, & sd there she is sitting on a reel, & again sd she +saw her sit on ye pommel of a chair, saying Ime sure you are a witch, +elce you coulde not sit so & sd she saw this person before namd at times +for a week together. One time she sd she saw her and describd her whole +attire, her [master]? went immediately & saw ye woman namd exactly atird +as she was describd of ye person afflicted. Again she sd in her fits +Goody Clauson lets haue a turn at heels ouer head, withall saying shall +you goe first, or shall I. Weel sd she if I do first you shall after, & +wth yt she turnd ouer two or three times heels ouer head, & so lay down, +saying come if you will not Ile beat your head & ye wall together & +haueing ended these words she goot up looking aboute ye house, & sd look +shes gone, & so fell into a fit." + + +LIDIA PENOIR--_"A lying gairl"_ + +"The testimony of Lidia Penoir. Shee saith that shee heard her ant +Abigal Wescot say that her seruant gairl Catern Branch was such a lying +gairl that not any boddy could belieue one word what shee said and saith +that shee heard her ant Abigail Wescot say that shee did not belieue +that Mearcy nor goody Miller nor Hannah nor any of these women whome +shee had apeacht was any more witches then shee was and that her husband +would belieue Catern before he would belieue Mr. Bishop or Leiftenat +Bell or herself. + +"The testor is ready to giue oath to sd testimony. Standford, Augt 24th +1692." + + +ELEZER SLAWSON--"_A woman for pease"--A good word_ + +"The testimony of Elezer Slawson aged 51 year. + +"He saith yt he liued neare neighbour, to goodwife Clawson many years & +did allways observe her to be a woman for pease and to counsell for +pease & when she hath had prouacations from her neighbours would answer +& say we must liue in pease for we are naibours & would neuer to my +obseruation giue threatning words nor did I look at her as one giuen to +malice; & further saith not + +"ELEAZAR SLASON. +"CLEMENT BUXSTUM. + +"The above written subscribers declared the aboue written & signed it +with their own hands before me + +"JONOTHAN BELL Comissionr." + + +In closing the citations of testimony in the Clawson case, other +performances of Catherine Branch, the maid servant of Daniel and Abigail +Wescot, are given to emphasize the absurdities which found credence in +the community and brought several women to the bar of justice, to answer +to the charge of a capital offense. + + +_An epileptic fit--Muscular contortions--"Talkeing to the +appearances"--"Hell fyre to all eternity"--A creature "with a great head +& wings & noe boddy & all black"--Songs and tunes--Secular and +scriptural recitations--" The lock of hayer"_ + +"June 28th 1692. + +"Sergt Daniell Wescott brought his Mayd Katheren Branch to my house to +be examined, which was dune as is within mentioned, & the sd Katheren +Branch being dismised was gott about 40 or 50 rodd from my house, my +Indian girl runeing back sayinge sd Kate was falen downe & looked black +in the face soe my sonn John Selleck & cousen Dauid Selleck went out & +fecht her in, shee being in a stife fitt--& comeing out of that fitt +fell a schrickeing, crying out you kill me, Goody Clawson you kill me, +two or three times shee spoke it & her head was bent downe backwards +allmost to her back; & sometimes her arme would be twisted round the sd +Kate cryeing out you break my arme & with many such fitts following, +that two men could hardly prevent by all their strenth the breaking of +her neck & arme, as was thought by all the standers by; & in this maner +sd Kate continued all the night, & neuer came to her sences but had som +litell respitt betweene those terible fitts & then sd Kate would be +talkeing to the appearances & would answer them & ask questions of them +to manny to be here inserted or remembered. They askt her to be as they +were & then shee should be well & we herd sd Kate saye I will not yeald +to you for you are wiches & yor portion is hell fyre to all eternity & +many such like expressions shee had; telling them that Mr. Bishop had +often tould her that shee must not yield to them, & that that daye +Norwalk minister tould her the same therefore she sayd I hope God will +keep me from yielding to you; sd Kate sayd Goody Clawson why doe you +torment me soe; I neuer did you any harme neather in word nor acction; +sayeing why are you all come now to afflict me. Katherine tould their +names, saying Goody Clawson, Mercy Disbrow, Goody Miller, & a woman & a +gail, five of you. Then she sd Kate spoke to the gail whom she caled +Sarah, & sayd is Sarah Staples your right name; I am aferd you tell me a +lye; tell me your rite name; & soe uged it much; & then stoped & sayd, +tell; yeas I must tell my master & Capt. Selleck if they aske me but Ile +tell noe body els. Soe at last sd Kate sayd, Hanah Haruy once or twice +out is that your name why then did you tell me a lye before; Well then +sayd Kate what is the womans name that comes with you; & soe stoped & +then sayd tell yeas I must tell my master & Capt. Selleok if he askes +me, but Ile tell noeboddy els, & sayd you will not tell me then I will +ask Goody Crumpe;& she sd Gody Crump what is the woemans name yt comes +with Hanah Haruy; & so urged severall times, a then sd Marry Mary what, +& then Mary Haruy; well sayd Kate is Mary Haruy ye mother of Hanah +Haruy; & then sayd now I know it seeming to reioyce, & saying Hanah why +did you not tell me before, sayeing their was more catts come at first & +I shall know all your names; & Kate sayd what creature is that with a +great head & wings & noe boddy & all black, sayeing Hanah is that your +father; I believe it is for you are a wich; & sd Kate sayd Hanah what is +yor fathers name; & have you noe grandfather & grandmother; how come you +to be a witch & then stoped, & sd again a grandmother what is her name & +then stoped, & sd Goody Staples what is her maiden name & then again +fell into terrible fits which much affrighted the standers by, which +were many pesons to behould & here what was sd & dune by Kate. Shee fell +into a fitt singeing songes & then tunes as Kate sd giges for them to +daunce by each takeing their turns; then sd Kate rehersed a great many +verses, which are in some primers, & allsoe ye dialoge between Christ +ye yoong man & the dieull, the Lords prayer, all the comand-ments & +catechism, the creede & severall such good things, & then sayd, Hanah I +will say noe more; let me here you, & sayd why doe I say these things; +you doe not loue them & a great deale more she sayd which I cannot well +remember but what is aboue & on ye other syde was herd and seene by +myselfe & others as I've attest to it. + +"Jonahn Selleck Commissioner." + +"To add one thing more to my relation as is within of what I saw & herd, +is that som persons atempted to cutt of a lock of the sd Kates hayer, +when shee was in her fitts but could not doe it, for allthough she knew +not what was sayd & dune by them, & let them come neuer soe priuately +behynd her to doe it yeat shee would at once turne about and preuent it; +At last Dauid Waterbery tooks her in his armes to hould her by force; +that a lock of hayer might be cutt; but though at other times a weake & +light gail yeat shee was then soe stronge & soe extreame heauy that he +could not deale with her, not her hayer could not be cutt; & Kate +cryeing out biterly, as if shee had bin beaten all ye time. When sd Kate +come to herself, was askt if she was wileing her hayer should be cutt; +shee answered yeas--we might cutt all of it we would." + +Elizabeth Clawson was found not guilty. + +HUGH (CROSIA, CROSHER) CROHSAW + +A court of Assistants holden at Hartford, May 8th, 1693. + +Present. +Robert Treat, Esq. Governor +William Joanes, Esq. Dept. Govr. +Samuel Willis, Esq. \ +William Pitkin, Esq. | +Col. John Allyn | + } Assistants +Nath. Stanly, Esq. | +Caleb Stanly, Esq. | +Moses Mansfield, Esq. / + +Gent. of the Jury are: + +Joseph Bull, Nathaneal Loomis, Joseph Wadsworth, Nathanael Bowman, +Jonathan Ashley, Stephen Chester, Daniel Heyden, Samuell Newell, Abraham +Phelps, Joseph North, John Stoughton, Thomas Ward. + +And the names of the Grand Jury are: +Bartholomew Barnard, Joseph Mygatt, William Williams, John Marsh, John +Pantry, Joseph Langton, William Gibbons, Stephen Kelsey, Cornelious +Gillett, Samuel Collins, James Steele, Jonathan Loomis. + + * * * * * + +THE INDICTMENT + +"Hugh Crotia, Thou Standest here presented by the Name of Hugh Crotia of +Stratford in the Colony of Connecticutt, in New England; for that not +haveing the fear of God before thine Eyes, through the Instigation of +the Devill, thou hast forsaken thy God, & covenanted with the Devill, +and by his help hast in a preternaturall way afflicted the bodys of +Sundry of his Majestie's good subjects, for which according to the Law +of God, and the Law of this Colony, thou deservest to dye." + + +_The arrest--Satan the accessory--An alibi--The confession--A contract +to serve the devil_ + +"Fayrfield this 15 Novembor 1692 acording as is Informed that hugh +Crosia is complained of by a gerll at Stratford for aflicting her and +hee being met on ye road going westward from fayrfeild hee being met by +Joseph Stirg and danill bets of norwak and being brought back by them to +athority in fayrfeild and on thare report to sd authority of sum +confesion sd Croshaw mad of such things as rendar him undar suspecion of +familiarity with satan sd Crosha being asked whethar he +sayd he sent ye deuell to hold downe Eben Booths gerll ye gerll above +intended hee answared hee did say so but hee was not thar himself hee +answereth he lyed when he sayd he sent ye deuell as above. + +"Sd hugh beeing asked whethar hee did not say hee had made a Contract +with ye deuell five years senc with his heart and signed to ye deuells +book and then seald it with his bloud which Contract was to serve ye +deuell and the deuell to serve him he saith he did say so and sayd he +ded so and wret his name and sealed ye Contract with his bloud and that +he had ever since been practising Eivel against every man: hee also sayd +ye deuell opned ye dore of eben booths hous made it fly open and ye gate +fly open being asked how he could tell he sayd he deuell apeered to him +like a boye and told him hee ded make them fly open and then ye boye +went out of his sight. + +"This examination taken and Confessed before authority in fairefeild +before Us Testis the date above +"Jon. Bur, Assist +"Nathan Gold, Asist." + +"The Grand Jury upon consideration of this Case re-turnd, Ignoramus.... + +"This Court do grant to the said Hugh Crotia A Gaol Delivery, he paying +the Master of the Gaol his just fees and dues upon his release and also +all the Charge laid out on him at Fairfield, & in bringing him to +prison. + +ELIZABETH GARLICK + +In 1657, when Easthampton, Long Island, was within the jurisdiction of +New York, becoming a few months later a part of Connecticut, two persons +came over from Gardiner's Island and settled in the colony, Joshua +Garlick and Elizabeth his wife--whilom servants of the famous engineer +and colonist Lion Gardiner. + +Stories of Elizabeth's practice of witchcraft and other black arts +followed her, and despite her attendance at church she fell under +suspicion, and was arrested, and held by the magistrates for trial after +hearing various witnesses. Credulity offers no better illustrations than +those which fell from the lips of some of the witnesses in this case. + +_Tuning a psalm--A black thing--A double tongued woman--A doleful +noise--Burning the herbs--The sick child--Gardiner's ox--The dead +ram--Burning "the sow's tale"_ + +Goodwife Howell, during her illness which hastened Elizabeth's arrest, +"tuned a psalm and screked out several times together very grievously," +and cried "a witch! a witch! now are you come to torter me because I +spoke two or three words against you," and also said, she saw a black +thing at the beds featte, that Garlick was double-tongued, pinched her +with pins, and stood by the bed ready to tear her in pieces. And William +Russell, in a fit of insomnia or indigestion, before daybreak, "heard a +very doleful noyse on ye backside of ye fire, like ye noyse of a great +stone thrown down among a heap of stones." + +Goody Birdsall "declared y't she was in the house of Goody Simons when +Goody Bishop came into the house with ye dockweed and between Goody +Davis and Goody Simons they burned the herbs. Farther, she said y't +formerly dressing flax at Goody Davis's house, Goody Davis saith y't she +had dressed her children in clean linen at the island, and Goody Garlick +came in and said, 'How pretty the child doth look,' and so soon as she +had spoken Goody Garlick said, 'the child is not well, for it groaneth,' +and Goody Davis said her heart did rise, and Goody Davis said, when she +took the child from Goody Garlick, she said she saw death in the face of +it, & her child sickened presently upon it, and lay five daies and 5 +nights and never opened the eyes nor dried till it died. Also she saith +as she dothe remember Goody Davis told her upon some difference between +Mr. Gardiner or some of his family, Goodman Garlick gave out some +threateningse speeches, & suddenly after Mr. Gardiner had an ox legge +broke upon Ram Island. Moreover Goody Davis said that Goody Garlick was +a naughtie woman." + +Goody Edwards testified: "Y't as Goody Garlick owned, she sent to her +daughter for a little best milk and she had some and presently after, +her daughters milk went away as she thought and as she remembers the +child sickened about y't time." Goody Hand deposed that "she had heard +Goody Davis say that she hoped Goody Garlick would not come to +Eastharapton, because, she said, Goody Garlick was naughty, and there +had many sad things befallen y'm at the Island, as about ye child, and +ye ox, as Goody Birdsall have declared, as also the negro child she said +was taken away, as I understood by her words, in a strange manner, and +also of a ram y't was dead, and this fell out quickly one after another, +and also of a sow y't was fat and lustie and died. She said they did +burn some of the sow's tale and presently Goody Garlick did come in." + +The settlers held a town meeting, and wisely questioning whether they +had legal authority to hold a trial in a capital case, they appointed a +committee to go "unto Keniticut to carry up Goodwife Garlick yt she may +be delivered up unto the authoritie there for the trial of the cause of +witchcraft which she is suspected for." The General Court of Connecticut +took jurisdiction of the case, a trial of Goody Garlick was held, +resulting in her acquittal, and she was sent back to Easthampton, to +what end is not told in the records of the day. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +"This case is one of the most painful in the entire Connecticut list, +for she impresses one as the best woman; how the just and high minded +old lady had excited hate or suspicion, we cannot know." _Connecticut as +a Colony_ (1: 212), MORGAN. + +"Mr. Dauenport gaue in as followeth--That Mr. Ludlow sitting with him +and his wife alone, and discoursing of the passages concerning Knapps +wife, the Witch and her execution, said that she came downe from the +ladder (as he understood it), and desired to speak with him alone, and +told him who was the witch spoken of." _New Haven Colonial Record_ +(2: 78). + +"Shortly after this, a poor simple minded woman living in Fairfield, by +the name of Knap, was suspected of witchcraft. She was tried, condemned +and sentenced to be hanged." SCHENCK'S _History of Fairfield_ (1: 71). + +"GOODWIFE KNAP" + +This was one of the most notable of the witchcraft cases. It stands +among the early instances of the infliction of the death penalty in +Connecticut; the victim was presumably a woman of good repute, and not a +common scold, an outcast, or a harridan; it is singularly illustrative +of witchcraft's activities and their grasp on the lives of the best men +and women, of the beliefs that ruled the community, and of the crude and +revolting practices resorted to in the punishments of the condemned, and +especially since in its later developments it involved in controversy +and litigation two of the great characters in colonial history, Rev. +John Davenport, one of the founders of New Haven, and Roger Ludlow, +Deputy Governor of Massachusetts and Connecticut.[I] Goodwife Knapp of +Fairfield was "suspicioned." That was enough to set the villagers agog +with talk and gossip and scandal about the unfortunate woman, which +poisoned the wells of sober thought and charitable purpose, and swiftly +ripened into a formal accusation and indictment. + +[Footnote I: Connecticut, through its Commission of Sculpture, in +recognition of his services to the Colony, is to erect a memorial statue +to Ludlow to occupy the western niche on the northern facade of the +Capitol building at Hartford.] + + +Pending her trial the prisoner was committed to the house of correction +or common jail for the safe keeping of "refractory persons" and +criminals. + +What terrors of mind and spirit must have waited on this "simple minded" +woman, in the cold, gloomy, and comfortless prison, probably built of +rough logs, with a single barred window and massive iron studded door, a +ghost haunted torture chamber, in charge of some harsh wardsmen. + +Knapp was duly and truly tried, and sentenced to death by hanging, the +usual mode of execution. _No witch was ever burned in New England._ + +From the day sentence was pronounced until the hanging took place, out +in Try's field beyond the Indian field, in view of the villagers, whose +curiosity or thirst for horrors or whose duty led them there, this +prisoner of delusion was made the object of rudest treatment, espionage, +and of inhuman attempts to wring from her lips a confession of her own +guilt or an accusation against some other person as a witch. + +The very day of her condemnation, a self-constituted committee of +women, with one man on it,--Mistress Thomas Sherwood, Goodwife Odell, +Mistress Pell, and her two daughters, Goody Lockwood, and Goodwife +Purdy,--visited the prison, and pressed her to name any other witch in +town, and so receive such consolation from the minister as would be for +her soul's welfare. + +Mistress Pell seems to have been the chief spokeswoman, and each member +of the committee served in some degree as an inquisitor, or exhorter, +not to repentance, but to disclosures. Baited and badgered, warned and +threatened, the hapless prisoner protested she was innocent, denied the +charges made against her, told one of the committee to "take heed the +devile have not you," and also said, "I must not render evil for +evil.... I have sins enough allready, and I will not add this [accusing +another] to my condemnation." And at last in agony of soul she made that +pathetic appeal to one of her relentless tormentors, "neuer, neuer poore +creature was tempted as I am tempted, pray, pray for me." + +But even after death on the scaffold, the witch-hunters of the day did +not refrain from their ghoulish work, but desecrated the remains of +Goodwife Knapp at the grave side in their search for witch marks. + +All the facts during the imprisonment, execution and burial are set +forth in some of the testimonies herewith given, in a chapter of related +history (the evidence at the trial not being disclosed in any present +record), and all of them marked by a total unconsciousness of their +sinister and revolting character. + +No case in the history of the delusion in New England is more replete +in incidents and apt illustrations, due to their fortunate preservation +in the records of a lawsuit involving some of the prominent characters +in that drama of religious insanity. + +At a magistrate's court held at New Haven the 29th of May, 1654. + + Present. +Theophilus Eaton Esqr, Gouernor. +Mr. Stephen Goodyeare, Dept, Gouernor. +Francis Newman \ +Mr. William Fowler } Magistrats +Mr. William Leete / + +a suit was heard entitled-- + +Thomas Staplies of Fairfield, plant'. + +Mr Rogger Ludlow late of Fairfield, defendt. + +It was brought by an aggrieved husband to recover damages for defamation +of the character of his wife. It centered in one of the dramatic +incidents at Knapp's execution. In the last extremity, and in the +presence of immediate death, the prisoner came down from the ladder, and +asking to speak with Ludlow alone, told him that Goodwife Staplies was a +witch. + +Some time afterward Ludlow, at New Haven, told the Rev. John Davenport +and his wife the story, in confidence, and under the promise of secrecy, +but it spread abroad with inevitable accretions, and when it reached +Fairfield Thomas Staplies went to law, to vindicate his wife's character +in pounds, shillings, and pence. These are some of the statements and +remarkable testimonies: + +_Attorney Banke's declaration--Ensigne Bryan's answer--Davenport's view +of an oath, Hebrews vi,16--His account and conscientious scruples--Mistress +Davenport's forgetfulness--"A tract of lying"--"Indian gods"--Luce Pell +and Hester Ward's visit to the prison--The "search" of Knapp--"Witches +teates"--Feminine resemblances--Matronly opinions--Post-mortem evidence-- +Contradictions--Knapp's ordeal--"Fished wthall in private"--Her denials-- +Talk on the road to the "gallowes"_ + +"John Bankes, atturny for Thomas Staplies, declared, that Mr. Ludlow had +defamed Thomas Staplies wife, in reporting to Mr. Dauenport and Mris. +Dauenport that she had laid herselfe vnder a new suspition of being a +witch, that she had caused Knapps wife to be new searched after she was +hanged, and when she saw the teates, said if they were the markes of a +witch, then she was one, or she had such markes; secondly, Mr. Ludlow +said Knapps wife told him that goodwife Staplies was a witch; thirdly, +that Mr. Ludlow hath slandered goodwife Staplies in saying that she made +a trade of lying, or went on in a tract of lying, &c. + +"Ensigne Bryan, atturny for Mr. Ludlow, desired the charge might bee +proued, wch accordingly the plant' did, and first an attestation vnder +Master Dauenports hand, conteyning the testimony of Master and Mistris +Dauenport, was presented and read; but the defendant desired what was +testified and accepted for proofe might be vpon oath, vpon wch Mr. +Dauenport gaue in as followeth, That he hoped the former attestation hee +wrott and sent to the court, being compared wth Mr. Ludlowes letter, and +Mr. Dauenports answer, would haue satisfyed concerning the truth of the +pticulars wthout his oath, but seeing Mr. Ludlowes atturny will not be +so satisfyed, and therefore the court requires his oath, and yt he +lookes at an oath, in a case of necessitie, for confirmation of truth, +to end strife among men, as an ordinance of God, according to Heb: 6,16, +hee therevpon declares as followeth, + +"That Mr. Ludlow, sitting wth him & his wife alone, and discoursing of +the passages concerning Knapps wife the witch, and her execution, said +that she came downe from the ladder, (as he vnderstood it,) and desired +to speake wth him alone, and told him who was the witch spoken of; and +so fair as he remembers, he or his wife asked him who it was; he said +she named goodwife Stapleies; Mr. Dauenport replyed that hee beleeued it +was vtterly vntrue and spoken out of malice, or to that purpose; Mr. +Ludlow answered that he hoped better of her, but said she was a foolish +woman, and then told them a further storey, how she tumbled the corpes +of the witch vp & downe after her death, before sundrie women, and spake +to this effect, if these be the markes of a witch I am one, or I haue +such markes. Mr. Dauenport vtterly disliked the speech, not haueing +heard anything from others in that pticular, either for her or against +her, and supposing Mr. Ludlow spake it vpon such intelligenc as +satisfyed him; and whereas Mr. Ludlow saith he required and they +promised secrecy, he doth not remember that either he required or they +pmised it, and he doth rather beleeue the contrary, both because he told +them that some did ouerheare what the witch said to him, and either had +or would spread it abroad, and because he is carefull not to make +vnlawfull promises, and when he hath made a lawfull promise he is, +through the help of Christ, carefull to keepe it. + +"Mris. Dauenport saith, that Mr. Ludlow being at their house, and +speakeing aboute the execution of Knapps wife, (he being free in his +speech,) was telling seuerall passages of her, and to the best of her +remembrance said that Knapps wife came downe from the ladder to speake +wth him, and told him that goodwife Staplyes was a witch, and that Mr. +Daueport replyed something on behalfe of goodwife Staplies, but the +words she remembers not; and something Mr. Ludlow spake, as some did or +might ouer-heare what she said to him, or words to that effect, and that +she tumbled the dead body of Knapps wife vp & downe and spake words to +this purpose, that if these be the markes of a witch she was one, or had +such markes; and concerning any promise of secrecy she remembers not." + +"Mr. Dauenport and Mris. Dauenport affirmed ypon oath, that the +testimonies before written, as they properly belong to each, is the +truth, according to their best knowledg & memory. + +"Mr. Dauenport desired that in takeing his oath to be thus vnderstood, +that as he takes his oath to giue satisfaction to the court and Mr. +Ludlowes atturny, in the matters attested betwixt M' Ludlow & Thomas +Staplies, so he lymits his oath onely to that pt and not to ye preface +or conclusion, they being no pt of the attestation and so his oath not +required in them. + +"To the latter pt of the declaration, the plant' pduced ye proofe +following, + +"Goodwif Sherwood of Fairfeild affirmeth vpon oath, that vpon some +debate betwixt Mr. Ludlow and goodwife Staplies, she heard M' Ludlow +charge goodwif Staplies wth a tract of lying, and that in discourse she +had heard him so charge her seuerall times. + +"John Tompson of Fairfeild testifyeth vpon oath, that in discourse he +hath heard Mr. Ludlow express himselfe more then once that goodwife +Staplies went on in a tract of lying, and when goodwife Staplyes hath +desired Mr. Ludlow to convince her of telling one lye, he said she need +not say so, for she went on in a tract of lying. + +"Goodwife Gould of Fairefeild testifyeth vpon oath, that in a debate in +ye church wth Mr. Ludlow, goodwife Staplyes desired him to show her +wherein she had told one lye, but Mr. Ludlow said she need not mention +ptculars, for she had gon on in a tract of lying. + +"Ensigne Bryan was told, he sees how the plantife hath proued his +charge, to wch he might now answer; wherevpon he presented seuerall +testimonies in wrighting vpon oath, taken before Mr. Wells and Mr. +Ludlow. + +"May the thirteenth, 1654. + +"Hester Ward, wife of Andrew Ward, being sworne deposeth, that aboute a +day after that goodwife Knapp was condemned for a witch, she goeing to +ye prison house where the said Knapp was kept, she, ye said Knapp, +voluntarily, wthout any occasion giuen her, said that goodwife Staplyes +told her, the said Knapp, that an Indian brought vnto her, the said +Staplyes, two litle things brighter then the light of the day, and told +the said goodwife Staplyes they were Indian gods, as the Indian called +ym; and the Indian wthall told her, the said Staplyes, if she would +keepe them, she would be so big rich, all one god, and that the said +Staplyes told the said Knapp, she gaue them again to the said Indian, +but she could not tell whether she did so or no. + +"Luce Pell, the wife of Thomas Pell, being sworne deposeth as followeth, +that aboute a day after goodwife Knapp was condemned for a witch, Mris. +Jones earnestly intreated her to goe to ye said Knapp, who had sent for +her, and then this deponent called the said Hester Ward, and they went +together; then the said Knapp voluntarily, of her owne accord, spake as +the said Hester Ward hath testifyed, word by word; and the said Mris. +Pell further saith, that she being one of ye women that was required by +the court to search the said Knapp before she was condemned, & then +Mris. Jones presed her, the said Knapp, to confess whether ther were any +other that were witches, because goodwife goodwife Basset, when she was +condemned, said there was another witch in Fairefeild that held her head +full high, and then the said goodwife Knapp stepped a litle aside, and +told her, this deponent, goodwife Basset ment not her; she asked her +whom she ment, and she named goodwife Staplyes, and then vttered the +same speeches as formerly conerning ye Indian gods, and that goodwife +Staplyes her sister Martha told the said goodwife Knapp, that her sister +Staplyes stood by her, by the fire in there house, and she called to +her, sister, sister, and she would not answer, but she, the said Martha, +strucke at her and then she went away, and ye next day she asked her +sister, and she said she was not there; and Mris. Ward doth also testify +wth Mris. Pell, that the said Knapp said the same to her; and the said +Mris. Pell saith, that aboute two dayes after the search afforesaid, she +went to ye said Knapp in prison house, and the said Knapp said to her, +I told you a thing the other day, and goodman Staplies had bine wth her +and threatened her, that she had told some thing of his wife that would +bring his wiues name in question, and this deponent she told no body of +it but her husband, & she was much moued at it. + +"Elizabeth Brewster being sworne, deposeth and saith, that after +goodwife Knap was executed, as soone as she was cut downe, she, the said +Knapp, being caried to the graue side, goodwife Staplyes wth some other +women went to search the said Knapp, concerning findeing out teats, and +goodwife Staplyes handled her verey much, and called to goodwife +Lockwood, and said, these were no witches teates, but such as she +herselfe had, and other women might haue the same, wringing her hands +and takeing ye Lords name in her mouth, and said, will you say these +were witches teates, they were not, and called vpon goodwife Lockwood to +come & see them; then this deponent desired goodwife Odell to come & +see, for she had bine vpon her oath when she found the teates, and she, +this depont, desired the said Odill to come and clere it to goodwife +Staplies; goodwife Odill would not come; then the said Staplies still +called vpon goodwife Lockwood to come, will you say these are witches +teates, I, sayes the said Staplies, haue such myselfe, and so haue you +if you search yorselfe; goodwife Lockwood replyed, if I had such, she +would be hanged; would you, sayes Staplies, yes, saith Lockwood, and +deserve it; and the said Staplies handeled the said teates very much, +and pulled them wth her fingers, and then goodwife Odill came neere, and +she, the said Staplies, still questioning, the said Odill told her no +honest woman had such, and then all the women rebuking her and said +they were witches teates, and the said Staplies yeilded it. + +"Mary Brewster being sworn & deposed, saith as followeth, that she was +present after the execution of ye said Knapp, and she being brought to +the graue side, she saw goodwife Staplyes pull the teates that were +found aboute goodwife Knapp, and was verey earnest to know whether those +were witches teates wch were found aboute her, the said Knapp, wn the +women searched her, and the said Staplyes pulled them as though she +would haue pulled them of, and prsently she, ths depont, went away, as +hauing no desire to looke vpon them. + +"Susan Lockwood, wife of Robert Lockwood, being sworne & examined saith +as foll, that she was at the execution of goodwife Knapp that was hanged +for a witch, and after the said Knapp was cut downe and brought to the +graue, goodwife Staplyes, wth other women, looked after the teates that +the women spake of appointed by the magistrats, and the said goodwife +Staplies was handling of her where the teates were, and the said +Staplies stood vp and called three or foure times and bid me come looke +of them, & asked her whether she would say they were teates, and she +made this answer, no matter whether there were teates or no, she had +teates and confessed she was a witch, that was sufficient; if these be +teates, here are no more teates then I myselfe haue, or any other women, +or you either if you would search yor body; this depont saith she said, +I know not what you haue, but for herselfe, if any finde any such things +aboute me, I deserved to be hanged as she was, and yet afterward she, +the said Staplyes, stooped downe againe and handled her, ye said Knapp, +verey much, about ye place where the teates were, and seuerall of ye +women cryed her downe, and said they were teates, and then she, the said +Staplyes, yeilded, & said verey like they might be teates. + +"Thomas Sheruington & Christopher Combstocke & goodwife Baldwine were +all together at the prison house where goodwife Knapp was, and ye said +goodwife Baldwin asked her whether she, the said Knapp, knew of any +other, and she said there were some, or one, that had receiued Indian +gods that were very bright; the said Baldwin asked her how she could +tell, if she were not a witch herselfe, and she said the party told her +so, and her husband was witnes to it; and to this they were all sworne & +doe depose. + + +"Rebecka Hull, wife of Cornelius Hull, being sworne & examined, deposeth +& saith as followeth, that when goodwife Knapp was goeing to execution, +Mr. Ludlow, and her father Mr. Jones, pressing the said Knapp to confess +that she was a witch, vpon wch goodwife Staplies said, why should she, +the said Knapp, confess that wch she was not, and after she, the said +goodwife Staplyes, had said so, on that stood by, why should she say so, +she the said Staplyes replyed, she made no doubt if she the said Knapp +were one, she would confess it. + +"Deborah Lockwood, of the age of 17 or thereaboute, sworne & examined, +saith as followeth, that she being present when goodwife Knapp was +goeing to execution, betweene Tryes & the mill, she heard goodwife +Staplyes say to goodwife Gould, she was pswaded goodwife Knapp was no +witch; goodwife Gould said, sister Staplyes, she is a witch, & hath +confessed had had familiarity wth the Deuill. Staplies replyed, I was +wth her yesterday, or last night, and she said no such thing as she +heard. + +"Aprill 26th, 1654. + +"Bethia Brundish, of the age of sixteene or thereaboutes, maketh oath, +as they were goeing to execution of goodwife Knapp, who was condemned +for a witch by the court & jury at Fairfeild, there being present +herselfe & Deborah Lockwood and Sarah Cable, she heard goodwife Staplyes +say, that she thought the said goodwife Knapp was no witch, and goodwife +Gould presently reproued her for it." "Witnes + +"Andrew Warde, + +"Jurat' die & anno prdicto, + +"Coram me, Ro Ludlowe. + +"The plant' replyed that he had seuerall other witnesses wch he thought +would cleere the matters in question, if the court please to heare them, +wch being granted, he first presented a testimony of goodwife Whitlocke +of Fairfeild, vpon oath taken before Mr. Fowler at Millford, the 27th of +May, 1654, wherein she saith, that concerning goodwife Staplyes speeches +at the execution of goodwife Knapp, she being present & next to goody +Staplyes when they were goeing to put the dead corpes of goodwife Knapp +into the graue, seuerall women were looking for the markes of a witch +vpon the dead body, and seuerall of the women said they could finde +none, & this depont said, nor I; and she heard goodwife Staplyes say, +nor I; then came one that had searched the said witch, & shewed them the +markes that were vpon her, and said what are these; and then this depont +heard goodwife Staplyes say she never saw such in all her life, and that +she was pswaded that no honest woman had such things as those were; and +the dead corps being then prsently put into the graue, goodwife Staplyes +& myselfe came imediately away together vnto the towne, from the place +of execution. + +"Goodwife Barlow of Fairfeild before the court did now testify vpon +oath, that when Knapps wife was hanged and ready to be buried, she +desired to see the markes of a witch and spake to one of her neighbours +to goe wth her, and they looked but found them not; then goodwife +Staplyes came to them, and one or two more, goodwife Stapyleyes kneeled +downe by them, and they all looked but found ym not, & said they saw +nothing but what is comon to other women, but after they found them they +all wondered, and goodwife Staplyes in pticular, and said they neuer saw +such things in their life before, so they went away. + +"The wife of John Tompson of Fairefeild testifyeth vpon oath, that +goodwife Whitlock, goodwife Staplyes and herselfe, were at the graue and +desired to see ye markes of the witch that was hanged, they looked but +found them not at first, then the midwife came & shewed them, goodwife +Staplyes said she neuer saw such, and she beleeved no honest woman had +such. + +"Goodwife Sherwood of Fairefeild testifyeth vpon oath, that that day +Knapps wife was condemned for a witch, she was there to see her, all +being gone forth but goodwife Odill and her selfe, then their came in +Mris. Pell and her two daughters, Elizabeth & Mary, goody Lockwood and +goodwife Purdy; Mris. Pell told Knapps wife she was sent to speake to +her, to haue her confess that for wch she was condemned, and if she knew +any other to be a witch to discover them, and told her, before she was +condemned she might thinke it would be a meanes to take away her life, +but now she must dye, and therefore she should discouer all, for though +she and her family by the providence of God had brought in nothing +against her, yet ther was many witnesses came in against her, and she +was cast by the jury & godly magistrats hauing found her guilty, and +that the last evidence cast the cause. So the next day she went in +againe to see the witch wth other neighbours, there was Mr. Jones, Mris. +Pell & her two daughters, Mris. Ward and goodwife Lockwood, where she +heard Mris. Pell desire Knapps wife to lay open herselfe, and make way +for the minister to doe her good; her daughter Elizabeth bid her doe as +the witch at the other towne did, that is, discouer all she knew to be +witches. Goodwife Knapp said she must not say anything wch is not true, +she must not wrong any body, and what had bine said to her in private, +before she went out of the world, when she was vpon the ladder, she +would reveale to Mr. Ludlow or ye minister. Elizabeth Bruster said, if +you keepe it a litle longer till you come to the ladder, the diuill will +haue you quick, if you reveale it not till then. Good: Knapp replyed, +take heed the devile haue not you, for she could not tell how soone she +might be her companyon, and added, the truth is you would haue me say +that goodwife Staplyes is a witch, but I haue sinns enough to answer for +allready, and I hope I shall not add to my condemnation; I know nothing +by goodwife Staplyes, and I hope she is an honest woman. Then goodwife +Lockwood said, goodwife Knapp what ayle you; goodman Lyon, I pray +speake, did you heare vs name goodwif Staplyes name since we came here; +Lyon wished her to haue a care what she said and not breed difference +betwixt neighbours after she was gone; Knapp replyed, goodman Lyon hold +yor tongue, you know not what I know, I haue ground for what I say, I +haue bine fished wthall in private more then you are aware of; I +apprehend goodwife Staples hath done me some wrong in her testimony, but +I must not render euill for euill. Then this depont spake to goody +Knapp, wishing her to speake wth the jury, for she apprehended goodwife +Staplyes witnessed nothing contrary to other witnesses, and she supposed +they would informe her that the last evidence did not cast ye cause; she +replyed that she had bine told so wthin this halfe houre, & desired Mr. +Jones and herselfe to stay and the rest to depart, that she might speake +wth vs in private, and desired me to declare to Mr. Jones what they said +against goodwife Staplyes the day before, but she told her she heard not +goodwife Staplyes named, but she knew nothing of that nature; she +desired her to declare her minde fully to M' Jones, so she went away. + +"Further this depont saith, that comeing into the house where the witch +was kept, she found onely the wardsman and goodwife Baldwine, there +goodwife Baldwin whispered her in the eare and said to her that goodwife +Knapp told her that a woman in ye towne was a witch and would be hanged +wthin a twelue moneth, and would confess herselfe a witch and cleere her +that she was none, and that she asked her how she knew she was a witch, +and she told her she had reeived Indian gods of an Indian, wch are +shining things, wch shine lighter then the day. Then this depont asked +goodwife Knapp if she had said so, and she denyed it; goodwife Baldwin +affirmed she did, but Knapps wife againe denyed it and said she knowes +no woman in the towne that is a witch, nor any woman that hath received +Indian gods, but she said there was an Indian at a womans house and +offerred her a coople of shining things, but she woman neuer told her +she tooke them, but was afraide and ran away, and she knowes not that +the woman euer tooke them. Goodwife desired this depont to goe out and +speake wth the wardsmen; Thomas Shervington, who was one of them, said +hee remembred not that Knapps wife said a woman in the towne was a witch +and would be hanged, but spake something of shining things, but Kester, +Mr. Pells man, being by said, but I remember; and as they were goeing to +the graue, goodwife Staplyes said, it was long before she could beleeve +this poore woman was a witch, or that their were any witches, till the +word of God convinced her, wch saith, thou shalt not suffer a witch to +liue. + +"Thomas Lyon of Fairfeild testifyeth vpon oath, taken before Mr. Fowler, +the 27th May, 1654, that he being set by authority to watch wth Knapps +wife, there came in Mris. Pell, Mrs. Ward, goodwife Lockwood, and Mris. +Pells two daughters; the fell into some discourse, that goodwife Knapp +should say to them in private wch goodwife Knapp would not owne, but did +seeme to be much troubled at them and said, the truth is you would haue +me to say that goodwife Staplyes is a witch; I haue sinnes enough +allready, I will not add this to my condemnation, I know no such thing +by her, I hope she is an honest woman; then goodwife Lockwood caled to +mee and asked whether they had named goodwife Staplyes, so I spake to +goodwife Knapp to haue a care what she said, that she did not make +differrence amongst her neighbours when she was gon, and I told her that +I hoped they were her frends and desired her soules good, and not to +accuse any out of envy, or to that effect; Knapps wife said, goodman +Lyon hold yor tongue, you know not so much as I doe, you know not what +hath bine said to me in private; and after they was gon, of her owne +accord, betweene she & I, goody Knapp said she knew nothing against +goodwife Staplyes of being a witch. + +"Goodwife Gould of Fairfeild testifyeth vpon oath, that goodwife +Sherwood & herselfe came in to see the witch, there was one before had +bine speaking aboute some suspicious words of one in the towne, this +depont wished her if she knew anything vpon good ground she would +declare it, if not, that she would take heede that the deuill pswaded +her not to sow malicious seed to doe hurt when she was dead, yet wished +her to speake the truth if she knew anything by any pson; she said she +knew nothing but vpon suspicion by the rumours she heares; this depont +told her she was now to dye, and therefore she should deale truly; she +burst forth ito weeping and desired me to pray for her, and said I knew +not how she was tempted; neuer, neuer poore creature was tempted as I am +tempted, pray, pray for me. Further this depont saith, as they were +goeing to ye graue, Mr. Buckly, goodwife Sherwood, goodwife Staplye and +myselfe, goodwife Staplyes was next me, she said it was a good while +before she could beleeue this woman was a witch, and that she could not +beleue a good while that there were any witches, till she went to ye +word of God, and then she was convinced, and as she remembers, goodwife +Stapleyes went along wth her all the way till they came at ye gallowes. +Further this deponent saith, that Mr. Jones some time since that Knapps +wife was condemned, did tell her, and that wth a very cherefull +countenance & blessing God for it, that Knapps wife had cleered one in +ye towne, & said you know who I meane sister Staplyes, blessed be God +for it." + +Staplies' wife was a character. She was "a light woman" from the night +of her memorable ride with Tom Tash, to Jemeaco, Long Island, to the +suspicion of herself as a witch, and the "repairing" of her name by +Thomas' lawsuit, and her own indictment for familiarity with Satan some +years later. That she had many of the traditional witch qualities, and +was something of a gymnast and hypnotist, is written in the vivid +recollections of Tash's experience with her. This was his account of it +on oath thirty years after: + +"John Tash aged about sixty four or thareabouts saith he being at Master +Laueridges at Newtown on Long Island aboutt thirty year since Goodman +Owen and Goody Owin desired me to goe with Thomas Stapels wiffe of +Fairfield to Jemeaco on Long Island to the hous of George Woolsy and as +we war going along we cam to a durty slow and thar the hors blundred in +the slow and I mistrusted that she the said Goody Stapels was off the +hors and I was troubiled in my mind very much soe as I cam back I +thought I would tak better noatis how it was and when I cam to the slow +abovesaid I put on the hors prity sharp and then I put my hand behind me +and felt for her and she was not upon the hors and as soon as we war out +of the slow she was on the hors behind me boath going and coming and +when I cam home I told thes words to Master Leveredg that she was a +light woman as I judged and I am redy to give oath to this when leagaly +caled tharunto as witnes my hand. + +his "John+Tash mark + +"Grenwich July 12, 1692. + +"John Tash hath given oath to his testimony abovesaid + +"Before me John Renels Comessener." + + +And Mistress Staplies had other qualities, always potent in small +communities to invite criticism and dislike. She was a shrewd and +shrewish woman, impatient of some of the Puritan social standards and of +the laws of everyday life. She openly condemned certain common +moralities, was reckless in criticism of her neighbors, and quarreled +with Ludlow about some church matters. + +It is evident from the testimonies that Staplies was on both sides as to +the guilt of goodwife Knapp, and when rumor and suspicion began to point +to herself as a mischief-maker and busybody in witchcraft matters, to +divert attention from his wife and set a backfire to the sweep of public +opinion, Thomas sued Ludlow, and despite his strong and clear defense as +shown on the record evidence, the court in his absence awarded damages +against him for defamation and for charging Staplies' wife with going on +"in a tract of lying," "in reparation of his wife's name" as the +judgment reads. Mistress Staplies did not grow in grace, or in the +graces of her neighbors, since some years later she was indicted for +witchcraft, tried, and acquitted with others, at Fairfield, in 1692.[J] + +[Footnote J: See _Historical Note_, p. 161.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +"The planters of New England were Englishmen, not exempt from +English prejudices in favor of English institutions, laws and usages ... +They had not been taught to question the wisdom or the humanity of +English criminal law. They were as unconscious of its barbarism, as +were the parliaments which had enacted or the courts which dispensed +it." _Blue Laws, True and False_ (p. 15), J. HAMMOND TRUMBULL. + + "It would seem a marvellous panic, this that shook the rugged + reasoners in its iron grasp, and led to such insanity as this + displayed toward Alse Young, did we not know that it was but the + result of a normal inhuman law confirmed by a belief in the divine, + the direct legacy of England, the unquestionable utterance of Church + and State." _One Blank of Windsor_, ANNIE ELIOT TRUMBULL. + +This brief review of witchcraft in some of its historical aspects, of +its spread to the New England colonies, of its rise and suppression in +the Connecticut towns, with the citations from the original records +which admit no challenge of the facts, may be aptly closed by what is +believed to be a complete list of the Connecticut witchcraft cases, +authenticated by conclusive evidence of time, place, incident, and +circumstance. + +Some minor questions may be put, or kept in controversy, as one writer +or another, who regards history as a matter of opinion, not of fact, and +relying on tradition or hearsay evidence or on superficial +investigation, gives a place to guesswork instead of truth, to +historical conceits instead of historical verities. + +A RECORD OF THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO CAME UNDER SUSPICION OR ACCUSATION OF +WITCHCRAFT IN CONNECTICUT, AND WHAT BEFELL THEM. + +Herein are written the names of all persons in anywise involved in the +witchcraft delusion in Connecticut, with the consequences to them in +indictments, trials, convictions, executions, or in banishment, exile, +warnings, reprieves, or acquittals, so far as made known in any +tradition, document, public or private record, to this time. + +MARY JOHNSON. Windsor, 1647. + +There is no documentary or other evidence to show that Mary Johnson was +executed for witchcraft in Windsor in 1647. The charge rests on an entry +in Governor Winthrop's _Journal_, "One ---- of Windsor arraigned and +executed at Hartford for a witch." WINTHROP'S _History of New England_ +(Savage, 2: 374). + +No importance would have attached to this statement, which bears no date +and does not give the name or sex of the condemned, had not Dr. Savage +in his annotations of the _Journal_ (2: 374) asserted that it was "the +first instance of the delusion in New England," and without warrant +added, "Perhaps there was sense enough early in the colony to destroy +the record." + +In all discussions of this matter, it has been assumed or conceded (in +the absence of any positive proof), by such eminent critics and scholars +as Drake, Fiske, Poole, Hoadley, Stiles, and others, that Winthrop's +note was based on rumor or hearsay, or that it related to the later +conviction and execution of a woman of the same name, next noted, and +the errors as to person, time, and place might easily have been made. + +MARY JOHNSON. Wethersfield, 1648. + +This Mary Johnson left a definite record. It is written in broad lines +in the dry-as-dust chronicles of the time. Cotton Mather embalmed the +tragedy in his _Magnalia_. + +"There was one Mary Johnson tryd at Hartford in this countrey, upon an +indictment of 'familiarity with the devil,' and was found guilty +thereof, chiefly upon her own confession." + +"And she dyd in a frame extreamly to the satisfaction of them that were +spectators of it." _Magnalia Christi Americana_ (6: 7). + +At a session of the Particular Court held in Hartford, August 21, 1646, +Mary Johnson for thievery was sentenced to be presently whipped, and to +be brought forth a month hence at Wethersfield, and there whipped. The +whipping post, even in those days, did not prove a means to repentance +and reformation, since at a session of the same court, December 7, 1648, +the jury found a bill of indictment against Mary Johnson, that by her +own confession she was guilty of familiarity with the devil. + +That she was condemned and executed seems certain (it being assumed that +Mary and Elizabeth Johnson were one and the same person, both Christian +names appearing in the record), since at a session of the General Court, +May 21, 1650, the prison-keeper's charges for her imprisonment were +allowed and ordered paid "out of her estate." + +A pathetic incident attaches to this case. A child to this poor woman +was "borne in the prison," who was bound out until he became twenty-one +years of age, to Nathaniel Rescew, to whom £15 were paid according to +the mother's promise to him, he having engaged himself "to meinteine and +well educate her sonne." _Colonial Records of Connecticut_ +(I,143: 171: 209-22-26-32). + + +THE FIRST EXECUTION FOR WITCHCRAFT IN NEW ENGLAND + +_A secret long kept made known--Winthrop's journal entry probably +correct--Tradition and surmise make place for historical certainty--The +evidence of an eyewitness--A notable service._ + +ALSE YOUNG. Windsor, 1647. + +"May 26. 47 Alse Young was hanged." MATTHEW GRANT'S _Diary_. + +"The first entry (the executions of Carrington and his wife being next +mentioned) supplies the name of the 'One (blank) of Windsor arraigned +and executed at Hartford for a witch'--the first known execution for +witchcraft in New England. I have found no mention elsewhere of this +Alse Young." J. HAMMOND TRUMBULL'S _Observation on Grant's Entry_. + +"Who then was the 'witch' with whose execution Connecticut stepped into +the dark shadow of persecution? She has been called Mary Johnson, but no +Mary Johnson has been identified as this earliest victim. Whose is that +pathetic figure shrinking in the twilight of that early record? We could +think of her with no less kindly compassion could we give a name to the +unhappy victim of the misread Word of God, who was led forth to a death +stripped of dignity as of consolation: who to an ignorance and +credulity, brought from an old world and not yet sifted out by the +enlightenment and experience of a new, yielded up her perhaps miserable +but unforfeited life. Here is the note which in all probability +establishes the identity of the One of Windsor arraigned and executed as +a witch--'May 26, 47 Alse Young was hanged.'" _"One Blank" of Windsor_ +(Courant Literary Section, 12, 3, 1904), ANNIE ELIOT TRUMBULL. + + +Matthew Grant came over with the Dorchester men from the Bay Colony in +1635, and settled in Windsor, Connecticut, where he lived until his +death there in 1683. + +He was a land surveyor, and the town clerk, a close observer of men and +their public and private affairs, and kept a careful record of current +events in a "crabbed, eccentric but by no means entirely illegible hand" +during the long years of his sojourn in the "Lord's Waste." + +It has been surmised for several years--but without confirmation--and +credited by the highest authorities in Connecticut colonial history, and +known only to one of them, that Grant's manuscript diary contained the +significant historical note as to the fate of Alse Young. It waited two +centuries and more for its true interpreter, as did Wolcott's cipher +notes of Hooker's famous sermon, and there it is, "not made on the +decorous pages which memorize the saints," Brookes, Hooker, Warham, +Reyner, Hanford, and Huit, "but scrawled on the inside of the cover, +where it might be the sinner might escape detection." + +In the publication of Grant's note Miss Trumbull has rendered a great +service in the settlement of a disputed question, in the correction of +errors, in fixing the priority of the outbreak between Massachusetts and +Connecticut; and in the new light shining through this revelation stands +Alse, glorified with the qualities of youth, of gentleness, of +innocence; and the story of her going to the unholy sacrifice on that +fateful May morning more than two and a half centuries ago is told with +exquisite tenderness and pathos. + +Confirmation of the truth of Grant's entry is given by the scholarly +historian of Windsor, Dr. Stiles, who says in his history of that +ancient town: + +"We know that a John Youngs, [?] bought land in Windsor of William +Hubbard in 1641--which he sold in 1649--and thereafter disappears from +record. He may have been the husband or father of 'Achsah'[?] the witch; +if so, it would be most natural that he and his family should leave +Windsor." STILES' _History of Windsor_ (pp. 444-450). + + +JOHN and JOAN CARRINGTON. Wethersfield, 1651. + +They were indicted at a court held February 20, 1651, Governor John +Haynes and Edward Hopkins being present, with other magistrates; and +they were found guilty on March 6, 1651. Both were executed. _Records +Particular Court_ (2: 17). [Dr. Hoadley's note in this case: "Mr. +Trumbull (Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull) told me he had a record of execution +in these cases. I suppose he referred to the diary of Matthew Grant."] +The entry of the execution appears in Grant's _Diary_, after the note as +to Alse Young. _One Blank of Windsor_, TRUMBULL. + +LYDIA GILBERT. Windsor, 1654. + +October 3, 1651, Henry Stiles of Windsor was killed by the accidental +discharge of a gun in the hands of Thomas Allyn, also of Windsor. An +inquest was held, and Thomas was indicted in the following December. He +plead guilty, and at the trial the jury found the fact to be "homicide +by misadventure." Thomas was fined £20 for his "sinful neglect and +careless carriage," and put under a bond of £10, for good behavior for a +year. _Records Particular Court_ (2: 29-57). + +But witchcraft was abroad, and its tools and emissaries more than two +years afterwards fastened suspicion of this death by clear accident, on +Lydia Gilbert, it being charged that "thou hast of late years, or still +dost give entertainment to Sathan ... and by his helpe hast killed the +body of Henry Styles, besides other witchcrafts." + +She was indicted and tried in September or November, 1654, and "Ye party +above mentioned is found guilty of witchcraft by ye jury." Her fate is +not written in any known record, but the late Honorable S.O. Griswold, a +recognized authority on early colonial history in Windsor, says that as +the result of a close examination of the record, "I think the reasonable +probability is that she was hanged." _Records Particular Court_ (2: 51); +STILE'S _History of Windsor_ (pp. 169, 444-450). + + +GOODY BASSETT. Stratford, 1651. Executed. + +"The Gouernor, Mr. Cullick, and Mr. Clarke are desired to goe downe to +Stratford to keepe courte uppon the tryall of Goody Bassett for her +life"--May, 1651. "Because goodwife Bassett when she was condemned" +(probably on her own confession, as in the Greensmith case). _Colonial +Records of Connecticut_ (1: 220); _New Haven Colonial Records_ (2: 77-88). + + +GOODWIFE KNAPP. Fairfield, 1653. Executed. + +"After goodwife Knapp was executed, as soon as she was cut downe." _New +Haven Colonial Records_ (1: 81). + +Full account in previous chapter. + + +ELIZABETH GODMAN. New Haven, 1655. Acquitted. + +Elizabeth was released from prison September 4, 1655, with a reprimand +and warning by the court. _New Haven Town Records_ (2: 174, 179); _New +Haven Colonial Records_ (2: 29, 151). + +Account in previous chapter. + + +NICHOLAS BAYLEY and WIFE. New Haven, 1655. Acquitted. + +Nicholas and his wife, after several appearances in court on account of +a suspicion of witchcraft, and for various other offenses--among them, +lying and filthy speeches by the wife--were advised to remove from the +colony. They took the advice. + + +WILLIAM MEAKER. New Haven, 1657. Accused acquitted. + +Thomas Mullener was always in trouble. He was a chronic litigant. His +many contentions are noted at length in the court records. Among other +things he made up his mind that his pigs were bewitched, so "he did cut +of the tayle and eare of one and threw into the fire," "said it was a +meanes used in England by some people to finde out witches," and in the +light of this porcine sacrifice he charged his neighbor William Meaker +with the bewitching. Meaker promptly brought an action of defamation, +but Mullener became involved in other controversies and "miscarriages," +to the degree that he was advised to remove out of the place, and put +under bonds for good behavior; and Meaker, probably feeling himself +vindicated, dropped his suit. _New Haven Colonial Records_ (2: 224). + + +ELIZABETH GARLICK. Easthampton, 1658. Acquitted. + +_Records Particular Court_ (2 :113); _Colonial Records of Connecticut_ +(1: 573); STILES' _History of Windsor_ (p. 735). + +Account in previous chapter. + + +NICHOLAS and MARGARET JENNINGS. Saybrook, 1661. + +Jury disagreed. + +The major part of the jury found Nicholas guilty, but the rest only +strongly suspected him, and as to Margaret, some found her guilty, and +the others suspected her to be guilty. It is probable that the Jennings +were under inquiry when, at a session of the General Court at Hartford, +June 15, 1659, it was recorded that "Mr. Willis is requested to goe +downe to Sea Brook, to assist ye Maior in examininge the suspitions +about witchery, and to act therin as may be requisite." _Records +Particular Court_ (2: 160-3); _Colonial Records of Connecticut_ (1: 338). + +1662-63 was a notable year in the history of witchcraft in Connecticut. +It marked the last execution for the crime within the commonwealth, and +thirty years before the outbreak at Salem. + +NATHANIEL GREENSMITH and REBECCA his WIFE. Hartford, 1662. Both +executed. + +Account in previous chapter. _Records Particular Court_ (2: 182); +_Memorial History Hartford County_ (1: 274); _Connecticut Magazine_ +(November 1899, pp. 557-561). + + +MARY SANFORD. Hartford, 1662. Convicted June 13, 1662. Executed. + +_Records Particular Court_ (2: 174-175); HOADLEY'S _Record Witchcraft +Trials_. + + +ANDREW SANFORD. Hartford, 1662. No indictment. + +_Records Particular Court_ (2: 174-175); HOADLEY'S _Record Witchcraft +Trials_. + + +JUDITH VARLETT (VARLETH). Hartford, 1662. Arrested; released. + +It will be recalled that Rebecca Greensmith in her confession, among +other things, said that Mrs. Judith Varlett told her that she (Varlett) +"was much troubled wth ye Marshall Jonath: Gilbert & cried, & she sayd +if it lay in her power she would doe him a mischief, or what hurt shee +could." + +Judith must have indulged in other indiscretions of association or of +speech, since she soon fell under suspicion of witchcraft, and was put +under arrest and imprisoned. But she had a powerful friend at court +(who, despite his many contentions and intrigues, commanded the +attention of the Connecticut authorities), in the person of her +brother-in-law Peter Stuyvesant, then bearing the title and office of +"Captain General and Commander-in-Chief of Amsterdam In New Netherland, +now called New York, and the Dutch West India Islands." It was doubtless +due to his intercession in a letter of October 13, 1662, that she was +released. + +The letter: + +"To the Honorable Deputy Governour & Court of "Magistracy att Harafort. +(Oct. 1662) + +"Honoured and Worthy Srs.-- + +"By this occasion of me Brother in Lawe (beinge necessitated to make a +Second Voyage for ayde his distressed sister Judith Varleth jmprisoned +as we are jmformed, uppon pretend accusation of wicherye we Realy +Beleeve and out her wel known education Life Conversation & profession +of faith, wee dear assure that shee is jnnocent of Such a horrible +Crimen, & wherefor j doubt not hee will now, as formerly finde jour +dhonnours favour and ayde for the jnnocent). _Ye Ld Stephesons Letter_ +(C.B. 2: doc. 1). + +MARY BARNES. Farmington, 1662. Convicted January 6. Probably executed. +_Records Particular Court_ (2: 184). + +WILLIAM AYRES and GOODY AYRES his Wife. Hartford, 1662. Arrested. Fled +from the colony. + +ELIZABETH SEAGER. Hartford, 1662. Convicted; discharged. + +Goody Seager probably deserved all that came to her in trials and +punishment. She was one of the typical characters in the early +communities upon whom distrust and dislike and suspicion inevitably +fell. Exercising witch powers was one of her more reputable qualities. +She was indicted for blasphemy, adultery, and witchcraft at various +times, was convicted of adultery, and found guilty of witchcraft in +June, 1665. She owed her escape from hanging to a finding of the Court +of Assistants that the jury's verdict did not legally answer to the +indictment, and she was set "free from further suffering or +imprisonment." _Records County Court_ (3: 5: 52); _Colonial Records of +Connecticut_ (2: 531); _Rhode Island Colonial Records_ (2: 388). + + +JAMES WALKLEY. Hartford, 1662. Arrested. Fled to Rhode Island. + +KATHERINE HARRISON. Wethersfield, 1669. Convicted; discharged. + +See account in previous chapter. _Records Court of, Assistants_ (I, +1-7); _Colonial Records of Connecticut_ (2: 118, 132); _Doc. History New +York_ (4th ed., 4: 87). + + +NICHOLAS DESBOROUGH. Hartford, 1683. Suspicioned. + +Desborough was a landowner in Hartford, having received a grant of fifty +acres for his services in the Pequot war. He owes his enrollment in the +hall of fame to Cotton Mather, who was so self-satisfied with his +efforts in "Relating the wonders of the invisible world in preternatural +occurrences" that in his pedantic exuberance he put in a learned +sub-title: "Miranda cano, sed sunt credenda" (The themes I sing are +marvelous, yet true). + +Fourteen examples were chosen for the "Thaumatographia Pneumatica," as +"remarkable histories" of molestations from evil spirits, and Mather +said of them, "that no reasonable man in this whole country ever did +question them." + +Desborough stands in place as the "fourth example." No case more clearly +illustrates the credulity that neutralized common sense in strong men. +It was a case of abstraction, or theft, or mistaken thrift. A "chest of +cloaths" was missing. The owner, instead of going to law, found his +remedy "in things beyond the course of nature," and he and his friends +with "nimble hands" pelted Desborough's house, and himself when abroad, +with stones, turves, and corncobs, and finally some of his property was +burned by a fire "in an unknown way kindled." Is it not enough to note +that Mather closes this wondrous tale of the spiritual molestations with +the very human explanation that "upon the restoring of the cloaths, the +trouble ceased"? + + +ELIZABETH CLAWSON. Fairfield, 1692. Acquitted. +Account in previous chapter. + + +MARY and HANNAH HARVEY. Fairfield, 1692. Jury found no bill. + + +GOODY MILLER. Fairfield, 1692. Acquitted. + + +MARY STAPLIES. Fairfield, 1692. Jury found no bill. +Account in previous chapter. + + +MERCY DISBOROUGH. Fairfield, 1692. Convicted; reprieved. Account in +previous chapter. HUGH CROTIA. Stratford, 1693. Jury found no bill. +Account in previous chapter. _C. & D._ (Vol. I,185). + + +WINIFRED BENHAM SENIOR and JUNIOR. Wallingford, 1697. Acquitted. + +They were mother and daughter (twelve or thirteen years old), tried at +Hartford and acquitted in August, 1697; indicted on new complaints in +October, 1697, but the jury returned on the bill, "Ignoramus." _Records +Court of Assistants_ (1: 74, 77). + + +SARAH SPENCER. Colchester, 1724. Accused. Damages 1s. + +Even a certificate of the minister as to her religion and virtue, could +not free Sarah from a reputation as a witch. And when Elizabeth (and how +many Connecticut witches bore that name) Ackley accused her of "riding +and pinching," and James Ackley, her husband, made threats, Sarah sued +them for a fortune in those days, £500 damages, and got judgment for £5, +with costs. The Ackleys appealed, and at the trial the jury awarded +Sarah damages of ls., and also stated that they found the Ackleys not +insane--a clear demonstration that the mental condition of witchcraft +accusers was taken account of in the later and saner times. + + +NORTON. Bristol, 1768. Suspicioned. No record. + +"On the mountain," probably Fall mountain in Bristol, the antics of a +young woman named Norton, who accused her aunt of putting a bridle on +her and driving her through the air to witch meetings in Albany, caused +a commotion among the virtuous people. Deacon Dutton's ox was torn +apart by an invisible agent, and unseen hands brought new ailments to +the residents there, pinched them and stuck red hot pins into them. +Elder Wildman set out to exorcise the evil spirit, but became so +terrorized that he called for help, and one of his posse of assistants +was scared into convulsions. This case may be counted among the last, +perhaps the last traditions of the strange delusion which aforetime +filled the hills and valleys of Quohnectacut with its baleful light. +_Memorial History Hartford County_ (2: 51). + + + +ROLL OF NAMES + +ALSE YOUNG 1647 +MARY JOHNSON 1648 +JOHN CARRINGTON 1650-51 +JOAN CARRINGTON 1650-71 +GOODY BASSETT 1651 +GOODWIFE KNAPP 1653 +LYDIA GILBERT 1654 +ELIZABETH GODMAN 1655 +NICHOLAS BAYLY 1655 +GOODWIFE BAYLY 1655 +WILLIAM MEAKER 1657 +ELIZABETH GARLICK 1658 +NICHOLAS JENNINGS 1661 +MARGARET JENNINGS 1661 +NATHANIEL GREENSMITH 1662 +REBECCA GREENSMITH 1662 +MARY SANFORD 1662 +ANDREW SANFORD 1662 +GOODY AYRES 1662 +KATHERINE PALMER 1662 +JUDITH VARLETT 1662 +JAMES WALKLEY 1662 +MARY BARNES 1662-63 +ELIZABETH SEAGER 1666 +KATHERINE HARRISON 1669 +NICHOLAS DISBOROUGH 1683 +MARY STAPLIES 1692 +MERCY DISBOROUGH 1692 +ELIZABETH CLAWSON 1692 +MARY HARVEY 1692 +HANNAH HARVEY 1692 +GOODY MILLER 1692 +HUGH CROTIA 1693 +WINIFRED BENHAM, SENR. 1697 +WINIFRED BENHAM, JUNR. 1697 +SARAH SPENCER 1724 +---- NORTON 1768 + +What of those men and women to whom justice in their time was meted out, +in this age of reason, of religious enlightenment, liberty, and +catholicity, when witchcraft has lost its mystery and power, when +intelligence reigns, and the Devil works his will in other devious ways +and in a more attractive guise? + +They were the victims of delusion, not of dishonor, of a perverted +theology fed by moral aberrations, of a fanaticism which never stopped +to reason, and halted at no sacrifice to do God's service; and they were +all done to death, or harried into exile, disgrace, or social +ostracism, through a mistaken sense of religious duty: but they stand +innocent of deep offense and only guilty in the eye of the law written +in the Word of God, as interpreted and enforced by the forefathers who +wrought their condemnation, and whose religion made witchcraft a heinous +sin, and whose law made it a heinous crime. + +Is the contrast in human experience, between the servitude to credulity +and superstition in 1647-97 and the deliverance from it of this day, any +wider than between the ironclad theology of that and of later times, and +the challenge to it, and its diabolical logic, of yesterday, which marks +a new era in denominational creeds, in religious beliefs, and their +expression? + +Jonathan Edwards, in his famous sermon at Enfield in 1741, on "Sinners +in the hands of an Angry God," was inspired to say to the impenitent: +"The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider +or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you and is dreadfully +provoked; His wrath toward you burns like fire; He looks upon you as +worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire; He is of purer eyes +than to bear to have you in His sight; you are 10,000 times so +abominable in His eyes as the most hateful and venomous serpent is in +ours.... Instead of one how many is it likely will remember this +discourse in hell! And it would be a wonder if some that are now present +should not be in hell in a very short time--before this year is out. And +it would be no wonder if some persons, that now sit here in some seats +of this meeting-house, in health and quiet, and secure, should be there +before to-morrow morning." One hundred and sixty-three years later, +Rev. Dr. Samuel T. Carter, a godly minister of the same faith, "a +heretic who is no heretic," stood before the presbytery of Nassau, was +invited to remain in the Presbyterian communion, and yet said this of +the doctrine of Edwards, as written in the _Westminster Confession_: "In +God's name and Christ's name it is not true. There is no such God as the +God of the confession. There is no such world as the world of the +confession. There is no such eternity as the eternity of the +confession.... This world so full of flowers and sunshine and the +laughter of children is not a cursed lost world, and the 'endless +torment' of the confession is not God's, nor Christ's, nor the Bible's +idea of future punishment." + +What should constitute the true faith of a Christian, and set him apart +from his fellowmen in duties and observances, was one of the crucial +questions in the everyday life of the early New England colonists, and +the hanging and discipline of witches was one of its necessary +incidents. + +It was the same spirit of intolerance and of religious animosity that +was written in the treatment of the Quakers and Baptists at Boston; in +the experience of Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson; and of "The +Rogerenes" in Connecticut, for "profanation of the Sabbath," told in a +chapter of forgotten history. + +In the sunlight of the later revelation, is not the present judgment of +the men and women of those far off times, "when the wheel of prayer was +in perpetual motion," when fear and superstition and the wrath of an +angry God ruled the strongest minds, truly interpreted in the solemn +afterthoughts which the poet ascribes to the magistrate and minister at +the grave of Giles Corey? + + HATHORNE + + "This is the Potter's Field. Behold the fate + Of those who deal in witchcrafts, and when questioned, + Refuse to plead their guilt or innocence, + And stubbornly drag death upon themselves. + + MATHER + + "Those who lie buried in the Potter's Field + Will rise again as surely as ourselves + That sleep in honored graves with epitaphs; + And this poor man whom we have made a victim, + Hereafter will be counted as a martyr." + + _The New England Tragedies._ + + + + +HISTORICAL NOTE + +ROGER LUDLOW + + +The Connecticut historians to a very recent date, in ignorance of the +facts, and despite his notable services of twenty-four years to the +colonies, left Ludlow to die in obscurity in Virginia or elsewhere, and +some of the traditions, based on no record or other evidence, have been +recently repeated. It is therefore proper to state here in few words who +Ludlow was, what he did both in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and after +his "return into England" in 1654. + +Ludlow came of an ancient English family, which gave to history in his +own time and generation such illustrious kinsmen as Sir Henry Ludlow, a +member of the Long Parliament and one of the Puritan leaders, and Sir +Edmund Ludlow, member of Parliament, Lieutenant-General under Cromwell, +member of the court at King Charles' trial, and whom Macaulay named "the +most illustrious saviour of a mighty race of men, the judges of a king, +the founders of a republic." + +In May, 1630, Ludlow came to Massachusetts, as one of the Assistants +under the charter of "The Governor and company of Massachusetts Bay in +New England." + +His services in the Bay Colony from 1630-35 ranged from the duties of a +magistrate in the Great Charter Court to those of the high office of +Deputy Governor. The quality of that service is written in a bare +statement of his various offices--surveyor, negotiator of the Pequot +treaty, colonel ex officio, auditor of Governor Winthrop's accounts, +superintendent of fortifications, military commissioner, member of the +General Court, Deputy Governor when Thomas Dudley was Governor; and he +was always one of the foremost men in civil, political, and social +affairs, to the day of his departure to "the valley of the long +river,"--a day of good fortune for Connecticut. + +When Massachusetts established church membership as the condition of +suffrage,--and radical differences of opinion on other matters +arose,--it marked the culmination of a set purpose of some of her ablest +men to remove from her jurisdiction, among whom Hooker, Ludlow, and +Haynes were the most notable. The General Court created a commission to +govern Connecticut for a year, and made Ludlow its chief. He came to the +new land of promise with the Dorchester men, and settled in Windsor in +1635-36. + +What he did in the nineteen years of his residence at Windsor and +Fairfield is epitomized in a brief summary of the duties and honors to +which he was called by his fellowmen: + +Chief of the Massachusetts commission and the first Governor, de facto; +organizer and chief magistrate of the first court; writer of the +earliest laws; president of the court which declared war against the +Pequots; framer of the Fundamental Orders--the Constitution of +1639--which embodied the great principles of government by the people +propounded and elucidated by the illustrious Thomas Hooker, in his +letter to Governor Winthrop, and in his famous sermon; compiler, at the +request of the General Court, of the _Body of Lawes_, the _Code of +1650_; commissioner on important state matters; commissioner for the +United Colonies; founder and defender of Fairfield; patriot, jurist, +statesman. + +Ludlow left Connecticut in 1654, not to die in obscurity as the earlier +writers imagined, but to serve abroad for several years in positions of +honor and distinction. + +Cromwell invited him to return, as he did many of the leading Puritans +in New England, and appointed him a commissioner for the administration +of justice in Dublin; also to serve with the chief justice of the upper +bench and other distinguished lawyers, to determine all the claims to +the forfeited Irish lands, and at last as a Master in Chancery. + +Ten years Ludlow served in these important stations; and at his death, +probably in 1664, he was buried in St. Michael's churchyard in Dublin, +with his wife--a sister of Governor John Endicott--and other members of +his family.[K] + +[Footnote K: _Roger Ludlow--The Colonial Lawmaker_--TAYLOR.] + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +Some of the authorities and records in witchcraft literature consulted +in the writing of this essay are here cited for reference and +information: + +Connecticut Archives: _Wyllys Papers, Original Witchcraft Depositions_; +Records: _General Court, Particular Court, Court of Assistants, County +Court, Colonial Boundaries, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Connecticut +Colonial, New Haven Colonial, Hartford Probate, New Haven Town; Magnolia +Christi Americana_ (MATHER); MATTHEW GRANT'S _Diary_ (TRUMBULL'S +_Observations_) _Courant Literary Section_, 12-3-1904; HOADLEY'S +_Witchcraft Trials and Notes_ (Manuscript); WINTHROP'S _History of New +England_; STILES' _History of Windsor; Blue Laws, True and False_ +(TRUMBULL); PERKINS' _Discourse; The Literature of Witchcraft_ (BURR); +_Hammurabi's Code; Cent. Mag._, June, 1903; BLACKSTONE'S _Commentaries; +A Tale of the Witches_ (STONE); LECKY'S _Rationalism in Europe; The +Witch Persecutions_ (BURR); Encyc. Articles ("Witchcraft"): _Britannica, +Americana, International, Chambers', Johnson's; Connecticut: Origin of +her Courts and Laws_ (HAMERSLEY); BARBER'S _Connecticut Historical +Collections_; SCHENCK'S _Fairfield; Connecticut as a Colony and State_ +(MORGAN et al.); _The House of the Seven Gables_ (HAWTHORNE); LATIMER'S +_Salem_; JOHNSTON'S _Nathan Hale; Connecticut History_ (TRUMBULL); +UPHAM'S _Salem Witchcraft; Conn. Mag_., Nov., 1899; Dalton's _Justice; +Mem. Hist, of Boston; Mem. Hist, of Hartford County_; Palfrey's _New +England; Historic Towns of New England_ (Latimer); _Giles Corey of the +Salem Farms_ (Longfellow); _New France and New England_ (Fiske); Scott's +_Demonology and Witchcraft_; Lowell's "Witchcraft" (_Among My Books_); +Whitmore's _Colonial Laws_; Drake's _Witchcraft Delusion in New +England_; Fowler's _Salem Witchcraft_; Hutchinson's _Hist, of +Massachusetts Bay_; Larned's _Hist, of Ready Reference_ (Mass.); Howe's +_Puritan Republic_; Goodwin's _Pilgrim Republic_; Merejkowski's _Romance +of Leonardo da Vinci_; Bulwer's _Last Days of Pompeii_; Weyman's _The +Long Night_; Crockett's _The Black Douglas_; Lea's _Hist, of the +Inquisition; Scarlet Letter_ (Hawthorne); _A Case of Witchcraft in +Connecticut_ (Hoadley); _Witches in Connecticut_ (Bliss); _Historical +Discourses_ (Bacon); _History of Wethersfield_ (Stiles); _History of +Long Island_ (Thompson), _Witchcraft in Boston_ (Poole); _Literature of +Witchcraft in New England_ (Winsor); _Witchcraft and Second Sight in the +Scottish Highlands_ (Campbell); _Witch-hunter in the Bookshops_ (Burr); +_Epidemic Delusions_ (Carpenter); _History of New England_ (Neal); +_History of Colonization of U.S._ (Bancroft); _Salem Witchcraft_ +(Fowler); Bouvier's _Law Dic.; Witchcraft in Connecticut_ (Livermore); +_Witchcraft in Salem Village_, 1692 (Nevins); _History of Stratford and +Bridgeport_ (Orcutt); _Bench and Bar_ (Adams); Conway's _Demonology and +Devil-lore; Domestic and Social Life in Colonial Times_ (Warner); _Nat. +Mag._ Nov. 15, 1891. + + + + +INDEX + + +A + +Allyn, John 44, 51-56, 65-67, 71, 84, 106, 109, 117 +Allyn, Thomas 148 +Ashley, Jonathan 117 +Austen, Thomas 103 +Ayres, Goody 152, 157 +Ayres, William 152 + + +B + +Baldwin, Goodwife 133, 137 +Ball, Allen 94 +Bankes, John 126 +Barlow, Goodwife 135 +Barlow, John 65 +Barnard, Bartholomew 117 +Barnes, Mary 152, 157 +Bassett, Goody 130, 148, 156 +Bates, Sarah 104 +Bayley, Goodwife 149, 156 +Bayley, Nicholas 149, 156 +Belden, Samuel 51 +Bell, Jonathan 44, 105-107, 110, 113 +Benham, Winifred, Jr. and Sr. 155, 157 +Benit, Elizabeth 67, 70 +Benit, Thomas 67, 71 +Benit, Thomas, Jr. 70 +Birdsall, Goody 120 +Bishop, Bridgett ix +Bishop, Ebenezer 108 +Bishop, Edward ix +Bowman, Nathanael 117 +Bracy, Thomas 49 +Branch, Catherine 65, 103-104, 108-116 +Brewster, Elizabeth 131 +Brewster, Mary 132 +Brundish, Bethia 134 +Bryan, Ensign 126, 129 +Bulkeley, Rev. Gershom 57 +Bull, Joseph 117 +Burr, Abigail 43 +Burr, John 110, 119 +Burr, Sarah 43 +Buxstum, Clement 113 + + +C + +Carrington, Joan 38, 145, 147, 156 +Carrington, John vii, 38, 145, 147, 156 +Carter, Dr. Samuel T. 159 +Chester, Stephen 117 +Clarke, Mr. 38, 148 +Clarke, Henry 50, 52, 53 +Clarke, William 51 +Clawson, Elizabeth 44, 63, 101-116, 154, 157 +Clawson, Stephen 101 +Cole, Ann 97 +Collins, Samuel 117 +Comstock, Christopher 133 +Corey, Giles 15, 27 +Corwin, George ix +Corwin, Jonathan 27 +Cross, Abigail 104 +Cross, Nathanael 104 +Crotia, Hugh viii, 117-119, 155, 157 +Cullick, Mr. 38, 56, 148 + + +D + +Davenport, Rev. John 85, 122, 125-128 +Davis, Goody 120 +Desborough, Nicholas 153, 157 +Dickinson, Joseph 50 +Disborough, Mercy 15, 44, 62-78, 154, 157 +Disborough, Thomas 63, 65 +Duning, Benjamin 65 + +E + +Eaton, Theophilus 85, 125 +Edwards, Goody 120 +Edwards, Jonathan 158 +Eliot, Joseph 76, 78 + +F + +Finch, Abraham 107 +Fowler, William 125, 138 +Francis, Joane 53 +Fyler, Walt. 85 + +G + +Gardiner, Lion 119 +Garlick, Elizabeth 119-121, 150, 156 +Garlick, Joshua 119 +Garney, Joseph 101 +Garrett, Daniel 80 +Garrett, Margaret 80 +Gedney, Bartholomew 27 +Gibbons, William 117 +Gilbert, Lydia 148, 156 +Gillett, Cornelius 117 +Godfree, Ann 70 +Godman, Elizabeth 85-96, 149, 156 +Gold, Nathan 110, 119 +Goodyear, Stephen 85-89, 92, 93 +Gould, Goodwife 139 +Grant, Matthew 146-147 +Graves, John 52 +Greensmith, Nathaniel 96-100, 151, 156 +Greensmith, Rebecca 96-100, 151, 156 +Grey, Henry 68, 69, 70 +Griswold, Edward 38 +Griswold, Michael 59 +Grummon, John 70 + +H + +Hale, Mary 54 +Halliberch, Thomas 66 +Hand, Goody 121 +Harrison, Katherine 47-61, 153, 157 +Hart, Stephen 38, 81 +Harvey, Hannah 115, 154, 157 +Harvey, Mary 154, 157 +Hathorne, John 27 +Haynes, John 38, 97, 98, 147 +Heyden, Daniel 117 +Hollister, Mr. 38 +Holly, Samuel 109 +Hooker, Thomas 162 +Hopkins, Edward 38, 147 +Hopkins, Matthew 21 +Howard, Abigail 43 +Howell, Goodwife 119 +Hubbard, Elizabeth ix +Hull, Rebecca 133 +Hull, Cornelius 133 + +J + +Jennings, Margaret 150, 156 +Jennings, Nicholas 150, 156 +Jesop, Edward 63 +Joanes, William 117 +Johnson, Jacob 53 +Johnson, Mary 35, 143, 144, 156 +Jones, Martha 35 +Jones, William 40 +Judd, Theo. 38 + +K + +Kecham, Sarah 103 +Kelsey, Stephen 117 +Knapp, Goodwife 109, 122-141, 156, 176 + +L + +Lamberton, Desire 93 +Lamberton, Elizabeth 86, 90 +Lamberton, Hannah 86, 90 +Langton, Joseph 117 +Leawis, Will. 38 +Leete, William 47, 125 +Lewis, Mercy ix +Lockwood, Deborah 133 +Lockwood, Robert 132 +Lockwood, Susan 124, 131, 132, 136, 138 +Loomis, Jonathan 117 +Loomis, Nathanael 117 +Ludlow, Roger 123, 125-129, 161-163 +Lyon, Thomas 136, 138 + +M + +Mansfield, Moses 117 +Marsh, John 117 +Mason, John 47 +Mather, Cotton 28-34, 153 +Meaker, William 149, 156 +Migat, Mrs. 82 +Miller, Goody 154, 157 +Milton, Daniel 38 +More, John 38 +Montague, Richard 51 +Mullener, Thomas 149 +Mygatt, Joseph 117 + +N + +Newell, Samuel 117 +Newton, Thomas 27 +North, Joseph 117 +Norton 155, 157 + +O + +Odell, Goodwife 124, 131, 135 + +P + +Palmer, Katherine 157 +Pantry, John 117 +Pell, Luce 124, 130, 135, 138 +Penoir, Lydia 112 +Phelps, Abraham 117 +Phelps, Mr. 38 +Pitkin, William 78, 117 +Pratt, Daniel 81 +Pratt, John 38 +Purdy, Goodwife 124, 135 +Putnam, Ann ix, 30 + +R + +Renels, John 141 +Richards, John 27 +Russel, William 120 + +S + +Saltonstall, Nathl. 27 +Sanford, Andrew 151, 157 +Sanford, Mary 151, 156 +Seager, Elizabeth 80-85, 152, 157 +Selleck, David 108, 114 +Selleck, Jonathan 106, 107, 110, 116 +Sergeant, Peter 27 +Sewall, Samuel 27 +Shervington, Thomas 133, 138 +Sherwood, Isaac 64 +Sherwood, Mistress Thomas 124, 128, 135, 139 +Slawson, Elezer 113 +Smith, Elizabeth 56 +Smith, Philip 51 +Smith, Samuel 38, 50, 52, 53, 66 +Spencer, Sarah 155, 157 +Stanly, Caleb 117 +Stanly, Nath. 78, 117 +Staplies, Mary 125-141, 154, 157 +Staplies, Thomas 125, 126 +Steele, James 117 +Sterne, Robert 81, 84 +Stiles, Henry 148 +Stirg, Joseph 66 +Stoughton, John 117 +Stoughton, William 27, ix + +T + +Tailecote, Mr. 38 +Tash, John 140, 141 +Tompson, J. 129, 135 +Treat, Robert 48, 62, 117 +Trumbull, J. Hammond v + + +V + +Varlett, Judith 151, 157 + + +W + +Wadsworth, Joseph 117 +Wakely, James 50 +Wakeman, Sarah 43 +Walcott, Mary ix +Walkley, James 153, 157 +Ward, Andrew 134 +Ward, Hester 129, 136 +Ward, Thomas 117 +Webster, Mr. 38 +Wells, Mr. 38, 129 +Wells, Hugh 49 +Wescot, Abigail 106, 112 +Wescot, Daniel 101-116 +White, John 38 +Whiting, Rev. John 96, 97 +Whitlock, Goodwife 134 +Wiat, Nath. 102 +Willard, Josiah 81 +Williams, Abigail ix +Williams, William 117 +Willis, Samuel 78, 117 +Wilson, Hannah 43 +Wilton, David 51 +Winthrop, John 35, 47, 143 +Winthrop, Wait 27 +Woodbridge, Rev. Timothy 76, 78 +Woolcott, Mr. 38 + +Y + +Young, Alse 35, 145-147, 156 + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Witchcraft Delusion In Colonial +Connecticut (1647-1697), by John M. Taylor + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12288 *** |