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BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 The Blue Laws of Connecticut is a title given 
 the legislation of that Commonwealth by the Rev. 
 Samuel Peters, who parodied its laws in a volume 
 published many years ago, and so cleverly was 
 the parody worded that even now but few know 
 whether the laws he quoted were or were not 
 actual legislation by the lawmakers of Connecti- 
 cut. They were not, but, while they were not, 
 the bona fide laws were every whit as blue as 
 those he alleged to have been in existence. One i 
 o f the laws best known as a Connecticu t BlueEaw^// 
 i s~ a pr ohi bition of ^mothersfro m kissing their || 
 chil^r gn of Sunday, o r on that day erroneously ' 
 called by the Puritans the Sabbath. While there 
 never was such a statute in Connecticut, there 
 were laws similarly tyrannical, for it is on record -, 
 that men were fine d for kissing^ their wives pub - ^^ , .. 
 li cly on t Hat Qay^ Alice Morse Earle, in her in- 
 teresting volume, " The Sabbath in Puritan New 
 England," writes of the Blue Laws: 
 
 "Though these laws were worded by Dr. Peters, and 
 though we are disgusted to hear them so often quoted as 
 historical f ac-ts, still we must acknowledge that though in 
 detail not correct they are in spirit true records of the 
 old Puritan laws which were enacted to enforce the 
 strict and decorous observance of the Sabbath, and which 
 were valid not only in Connecticut and Massachusetts, 
 
4 BLUE LAWS OT CONNECTICUT. 
 
 but in other New England states. Even a careless glance 
 at the historical record of any old town or church vrill 
 give plenty of details to prove this." 
 
 The laws we here quote justify this assertion, 
 and the records of the courts prove it beyond 
 question. These courts had wide latitude in pun- 
 ishing offenses against religion and Puritan mor- 
 ality, and written statutes were not necessary in 
 order to fine, whip, and imprison those who 
 deviated from the Puritan standard of conduct. 
 The actual statutes of Connecticut were as blue as 
 anything the Rev. Samuel Peters could imagine, 
 and it is only that the people were unacquainted 
 with these laws that they were aroused when Mr. 
 Peters parodied them. There was then awakened 
 in the minds of his readers undisguised contempt 
 for the people who could enact them, and much 
 indignation and condemnation has been wasted 
 upon a set of laws which never existed, while 
 most tryannical statutes which were real have 
 gone unnoticed and their sponsors uncondemned. 
 
 When the Rev. Mr. Peters wrote his volume he 
 was in England, and he probably wrote from 
 memory, with no copy of the Conneaticut Code 
 by him. As a New England clergyman he knew 
 what the practice was as to Sabbath observance, and 
 the practice reflected the laws, or the laws the 
 practice, as one pleases. And the practice was 
 " blue" indeed, as were the punishments for Sab- 
 bath breaking. Three of the most famous of the 
 pretended statutes which Mr. Peters quoted were 
 these: 
 
 " No one shall travel, cook victuals, make beds, 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 5 
 
 sweep house, cut hair, or shave on the Sabbath 
 Day." 
 
 " No woman shall kiss her child on the Sabbath 
 or fasting day." 
 
 " No one shall ride on the Sabbath day, or walk 
 in his garden or elsewhere except reverently to 
 and from meeting." 
 
 Yet these rules had all the effect of legal enact- 
 ments. As to the first, the Puritans from sunset 
 on Saturday until Sunday night, would not shave, 
 have rooms swept, nor beds made, nor food pre- 
 pared, nor cooking utensils and table-ware washed. 
 Men i n large num bers wer e fined for walking and, 
 riding unnecessarily on Sunday, and for riding 
 "violently to and from meeting." That is why 
 Mr. Peters put the word "reverently" in his 
 alleged statute. As late as 1831, a lady journey- 
 in g to her father's house in Lebanon. Conn., wa g 
 fined for unn ecessary traveling on the Sab bath. 
 And Captain J<^emble of Boston, in 1656, was kept 
 for two hours in the public stocks for his lewd and 
 unseemly behavior in "publiquely" kissing his wife 
 on Sunday. His wife met him upon the doorstep 
 when he returned from a three years' voyage, and 
 they scandalized the neighbors with the warmth 
 of their greeting. In 1670 two lovers of New 
 London, Conn., were accused and tried for "sitting 
 together on the Lord's day under an apple tree in 
 Goodman Chapman's orchard." 
 
 The tithing-man could arrest any who walked 
 or rode too fast a pace to and from meeting, and 
 he could arrest any who "walked or rode un- 
 necessarily on the sabbath." Great and small 
 alike were under his control, as this notice from 
 
6 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 the " Columbian Centinel" of December, 1789, 
 abundantly proves. It is entitled "The President 
 and the Tithing-man:" 
 
 "The President [George Washington], on his 
 return to New York from his late tour through 
 Connecticut, having missed his way on Saturday, 
 was obliged to ride a few miles on Sunday morn- 
 ing in order to gain the town at which he had pro- 
 posed to have attended divine service. Before he 
 arrived, however, he was met by a tithing-man, 
 who, commanding him to stop, demanded the occa- 
 sion of his riding; and it was not until the Presi- 
 dent had informed him of every circumstance 
 and promised to go no further than the town in- 
 tended that the tithing-man would permit him to 
 proceed on his journey." 
 
 The following is a list of the Sabbath Day 
 offenses taken cognizance of by the authorities, 
 and the punishment meted out. It is compiled 
 from "The Sabbath in Puritan New England," 
 taken from church and court records. It was not 
 necessary for the state legislature to make laws of 
 the "blue " variety for these minor offenses. The 
 town governments, which were one with church 
 governments, looked after the people with care. 
 In those days each person knew his neighbor's 
 business thoroughly. The ministers ruled with 
 <i severity, the "tythingmen" and constables were 
 / their willing servants, and the courts punished 
 I Sabbath breaking and offenses against religion as 
 V3 parent would deal with erring children for 
 breaches of conduct. It was a very paternal gov- 
 ernment, as a stern parent wielding the rod, with 
 no intention of spoiling the child by sparing it. 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 7 
 
 In New London, in the latter part of the seven- 
 teenth century, a man was fined for catching eels 
 on Sunday; another was " fined twenty shillings 
 for sailing a boat on the Lord's Day." 
 
 In Plymouth a man was "sharply whipped" 
 for shooting fowl on Sunday; another was fined 
 for carrying a grist of corn home on the Lord's 
 Day, and the miller who allowed him to take it was 
 also fined. Elizabeth Eddy of the same town was 
 fined, in 1652, "ten shillings for wringing and 
 hanging out clothes." A Plymouth man, for at- 
 tending to his tar-pits on the Sabbath, was set in 
 the stocks. James Watt, in 1658, was publicly 
 reproved ' ' for writing a note about common busi- 
 ness on the Lord's Day, at least in the evening 
 somewhat too soon." A Plymouth man who drove , 
 a yoke of oxen was "presented " before the court, 
 as was also another offender who drove some cows 
 a short distance "without need " on the Sabbath. 
 In Newbury, in 1646, Aquila Chase an d his wife 
 ^ere fined 'tOr ^tllfer lg g~yas t jig m their own 
 garden OH the Sabbath. In Wareham, in 1772, 
 William tLsies acknowledged himself "gilty of 
 racking hay on the Lord's Day " and was fined ten 
 shillings; and in 1774 another Wareham citizen, 
 for a breach of the Sabbath in " puling apples," 
 was fined five shillings. A Dunstable soldier, for 
 " wetting a piece of an old hat to put in his shoe " 
 to protect his foot, was fined and paid forty shil- 
 lings. 
 
 A Maine man who was rebuked and fined for 
 "unseemly walking" on the Lord's Day pro- 
 tested that he ran to save a man from drowning. 
 The court made him pay his fine. In 1720 Samuel 
 
\ 
 
 O BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 Sabin complained of himself before a justice in 
 Norwich that he visited on Sabbath night some 
 relative at a neighbor's house. In 1659 Sam 
 Clarke, for " hankering about on men's gates on 
 Sabbath evening to draw company out to him," 
 was reproved and warned not to " harden his 
 neck" and be " wholly destroyed." 
 
 As late as 1774 the " First Church " of Roxbury 
 (Mass.) fined its members for non-attendance. In 
 1651 Thomas Scott was " f yned " ten shillings un- 
 less he "have learned Mr. Norton's Chatachise by 
 the next Court." In 1760 the legislature of Massa- 
 chusetts passed the law that " any person able of 
 Body who .shall absent themselves from publick 
 worship of God on the Lord's Day shall pay ten 
 / shillings fine." By the Connecticut code the fine 
 Ij was the same, and the law was not suspended till 
 1770, By the New Haven code five shillings was 
 the fine for non-attendarce at church, and the 
 offender was often punished otherwise as well. 
 Sometimes, however, the court increased the fine, 
 as Captain Dennison, one of New Haven's most 
 popular and respected citizens, paid fifteen shil- 
 lings for absence from church. William Blagden, 
 who lived in New Haven in 1647, was "brought 
 up " for absence from meeting. He pleaded that 
 he had fallen into the water late on Saturday, 
 could light no fire on Sunday to dry his clothes, 
 and so had lain in bed to keep warm while his 
 
 Lonly suit was drying. He was convicted of 
 " sloathefulness " for this, and sentenced to be 
 "publicquely whipped." 
 
 The treatment of the Quakers under the Blue 
 Laws is thus described by the author of " The 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 9 
 
 Sabbath in Puritan New England " : "Of course, 
 the Quakers contributed liberally to the support 
 of the court, and were fined in great numbers for 
 refusing to attend the church which they hated,'' 
 and which also warmly abhorred them ; and they 
 were zealously set in the stocks, and whipped and I 
 caged and pilloried as well — ^whipped if they came 
 and expressed any dissatisfaction, and whipped if 
 they stayed away." 
 
 The Puritans included Saturdaj' evening in their 
 holy day, finding scriptural support for their con- 
 duct in the words, " The evening and the morning 
 were the first day." In the first Colonial years 
 Governor Endicott received these instructions 
 from the New England Plantation Company : 
 " And to the end that the Sabeth may be cele- 
 brated in a religious manner wee appoint that all 
 may surcease their labor every Satterday through- 
 out the yeare at three of the clock in the after- 
 noone, and that they spend the rest of the day 
 in chatechizing and preparaceon for the Sabeth as 
 the ministers shall direct." Archibald Hender- 
 son, the master of a vessel which entered the 
 port of Boston, complained to the Council for 
 Foreign Plantations when he returned to London, 
 that while he was in Boston, being ignorant of 
 the laws, and having walked half an hour after 
 sunset on Saturday night, as punishment for this 
 unintentional offense, a constable entered his 
 lodgings, seized him by the hair of his head, and 
 dragged him to prison. 
 
 Some of the regulations which Mr. Peters put 
 into the form of a " blue law" were tho se again g 
 the use of the ''Ci^<rrTrr^'?^mp^rTohac^."yln the 
 
10 
 
 EI,UE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 i 
 
 very earliest days of the colony means had been 
 taken to prevent the planting of the pernicious 
 weed except in very small quantities " for meere 
 necessitie, for phisick, for preseruaceon of health, 
 and that the same be taken privatly by auncient 
 men." In Connecticut a man could b}- perroission 
 
 \ of the law smoke once if he went on a journey of 
 ten miles, but never more than once a day, and 
 never in another man's house. The use of 
 
 '^tobacco was absolutely forbidden under any cir- 
 cumstances on the Sabbath within two miles of 
 the meeting-house. Violators of this rule were 
 fined ten shillings, and in Portsmouth were set 
 as jailbirds in the cage. 
 
 Criticisijigor disparagingministejgalso^C£Ui*ti- 
 tu jeSa n ofEen^^^^rcrflTsEable under the ' ' bli 
 andwicE 
 
 laj^s^' "TirSandwicTi a man was publicly wEipped 
 for speaking deridinglj^ of God's words and ordi- 
 nances as taught by the minister of the town. 
 Mistress Oliver was forced to stand in public with 
 a cleft stick on her tongue for "reproaching the 
 elders." A New Haven man was severel y whipped 
 for declarin^jEaOe3lIl3EEESEEQSIEiHi£lScimr 
 themmis ter's se^;m on. In 1744 William Howes 
 a'ndTiis son were fined fifty shillings " apeece for 
 deriding such as sing in the congregation, tearm- 
 ing them fooles." In 1631 Philip Ratcliffe, for 
 "speaking against the churches," had his ears 
 cut off, was whipped and banished. 
 
 Of course, blasphemy was punished, and it did 
 not require that the objectionable expressions 
 should be directed against the deity to insure 
 rapid punishment for the blasphemer. One man 
 in Hartford, for his ' ' fiUthy and prophane expres- 
 
BLUE Laws Oe CONNECTICUT. ll 
 
 sions," namely, " that hee hoped to meet some of 
 the members of the Church in Hell before long, 
 and he did not question but hee should," was 
 "committed to prison, there to be kept in safe 
 custody till the sermon, and then to stand the 
 time thereof in the pillory, and after sermon to be 
 severeljf whipped." Two women of Wells were 
 punished in 1669 " for using profane speeches in 
 their common talk ; as in making answer to 
 several questions their answer is. The Devil a 
 bit." In 1640, in Springfield, Goody Gregory, 
 being provoked, abused her annoyer, and said, 
 " Before God I coulde breake thy heade ! " She 
 was fined and set in the stocks. 
 
 For some offenses, such as "speaking deridingly 
 of the minister's powers," as was done in 
 Plymouth; "casting uncharitable reflections on 
 the minister," as did an Andover man, and also 
 for absenting one's self from church services ; for 
 "sloathfulness," for "walking profanely," for 
 spoiling hides when tanning and refusing ex- 
 planation thereof ; for being "given too much to 
 Jearings," for " Slanndering," for being a "Make- 
 bayte," for "ronging naibors," for "being too 
 Proude," for " suspitions of stealing pinnes," for 
 "pnishouse Squerilouse Odyouse wordes," and for 
 "lyeing," church members were not only fined 
 and punished, but were deprived of partaking of 
 the sacrament, thus showing how completely the 
 church dominated the government. 
 
 We give in this tract the laws and court records 
 which form the basis of the so-called, and were the 
 real, Blue Laws. That they were not misnamed, 
 the enlightened reader will readily acknowledge. 
 
12 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 The following laws are from the code of 1 650, 
 and the public records of the Colony of Coniitcti- 
 cut previous to 1665, as printed in a " Compila- 
 tion of the Earliest Laws and Orders of the 
 General Court of Connecticut," copyrighted by 
 Silas Andrus in 1852, and from Dr. Lewis's book 
 on Sunday legislation ; also an Extract from the 
 Constitution, or Civil Compact, entered into and 
 adopted by the towns of Windsor, Hartford, and 
 Wethersfield in 1638-9, showing the Biblical basis 
 of the Colony legislation. In the "advertisement" 
 of Mr. Andrus's little book he says : ' ' The fol- 
 lowing sheets contain an exact copy of the con- 
 stitution, or form of civil government, as adopted 
 by the towns of Windsor, Hartford, and Wethers- 
 field, and the code of 1650, as confirmed by the 
 General Court of Connecticut. These were both 
 taken from the original records remaining in the 
 oflSce of the Secretary for the State. Much time 
 and accuracy were required to obtain an exact 
 copy, on account of the orthography, and partic- 
 ularly for the reason that the record in some 
 parts was nearly obliterated, and in others totally 
 gone. Other parts of the record, therefore, have 
 been resorted to, and the copy rendered complete. 
 The ancient orthography has been accurately pre- 
 served. The first revision of the early laws of 
 Connecticut was never before printed. Prior to 
 the revision of 1672, which was printed in 1675, 
 the laws and orders of the General Court were 
 promulgated only by manuscript copies. They 
 were recorded in the public records of the couit, 
 and also in the town records, and it was made the 
 duty of the town constables of the several towns 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 13 
 
 to publish such laws as should be made from time 
 to time, and annually to read the capital laws at 
 si'ine public meeting. To this code may be traced 
 the origin of almost all our civil and religious in- 
 stitutions. Our ancestors have thus, in a great 
 measure, transmitted to their posterity their pres- 
 ent customs, manners, and civil and religious 
 opinions." 
 
 FROM THE CONSTITUTION OF 1 638. 
 
 I FORASMUCH as it hath pleased the Almighty 
 God, by the wise disposition of his divine provi- 
 dence, so to order and dispose of things, that 
 we, the Inhabitants and residents of Windsor, 
 Hartford, and Weathersfeild, are now cohabit- 
 ing, and dwelling in and uppon the river of 
 Connecticutt, and the lands thereunto adjoining, 
 and well knowing when a people are gathered 
 together, the word of God requires, that to 
 meinteine the peace and union of such a people, 
 there should bee an orderly and decent governe- 
 ment established according to God, to order and 
 dispose of the afEaires of the people at all 
 seasons, as occassion shall require; doe there- 
 fore associate and conjoine ourselves to bee as 
 one publique State or Commonwealth ; and 
 doe for ourselves and our successors, and such 
 as shall bee adjoined to us at any time here- 
 after, enter into combination and confederation 
 together, to meinteine and preserve the libberty 
 and purity of the Gospell of our Lord Jesus, 
 which we now profess, as also the discipline of 
 the churches, which, according to the truth of 
 the said Gospell, is now practised amongst us; 
 
14 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 as allso in our civill affaires to bee guided and 
 governed according to such lawes, rules, orders, 
 and decrees, as shall bee made, ordered, and 
 decreed, as followeth: 
 
 1. It is ordered, sentenced, arid decreed. That there 
 shall bee yearly two Generall Assembly's or 
 Courtes the one the second Thursday in Aprill, the 
 other the second Thursday in September following: 
 The first shall bee called the Courte of Election, 
 wherein shall bee yearely chosen, from time to 
 time, so many magistrates and other publique 
 officers, as shall bee found requisite, whereof one 
 to be chosen Governor for the j^eare ensuing, and 
 untill another bee chosen, and no other magistrate 
 to bee chosen for more then one yeare; provided 
 always, there bee six chosen besides the Governor, 
 which being chosen and sworne according to an 
 oath recorded for that purpose, shall Lave power 
 to administer justice according to the lawes here 
 established, and, for want thereof, according to the 
 rule of the word of God. 
 
 FROM THE CODE OF 1650. 
 
 Fforasmuch as many persons of late years have 
 beene and are apt to be injurious to the goods 
 and lives of others, notwithstanding all care and 
 meanes to prevent and punish the same; 
 It is therefore ordered bv this Courte and aulhoritv 
 tlureof. That if any person shall committ Burglary 
 by breaking up any dwelling howse, or shall robb 
 any person in the feild, or highv\ayes, such a per- 
 son so offending, shall, for the first offence, bee 
 branded on the forehead with the letter (B); if hee 
 shall offend in the same kinde, the second time 
 
BLUB LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 16 
 
 hee shall be branded as before, and allso, bee 
 severely whipped; and if hee shall fall into the 
 same offence the third time, hee shall bee put to 
 death as being incorrigible; and if any person 
 shall committ such Burglary, or rob in the fields 
 or howse on the Lords day, besides the former 
 punishments, hee shall for the first offence have 
 one of his eares cutt of, and for the second offence 
 in the same kinde, he shall looss his other eare in 
 the same manner; and if hee fall into the same 
 offence the third time, hee shall bee put to death. 
 
 CAPITALL LAWES. 
 
 I. Ifanyman after legall conviction, sh all have 
 
 or worship any other Coa DutThe J_;of3[God,hee 
 
 shal l bee pu i Jo d g a tljj^^Deut. 13. 6 — 17. 2. — Ex- 
 odus 22. 20. 
 
 2. If any man or woman bee a Witch, that is 
 hath or consulteth with a familiar spirritt, they 
 shall bee put to death. — Exodus 22. 18. — Levit, 20. 
 27. — Deut. 18. 10, II. 
 
 3. If any persorish^nKlq-SiiVh^pit; \hp p prnp^pf 
 God the"ffatB?rrSonne or holy Ghost, with direct, 
 ekpress, presumptuous or highhanded blasphemy, 
 or shall curse in the like manner, he e shall bee p ut 
 to o deat h. — Lev. 24. 15, 16. 
 
 4. If any person shall committ any willful mur- 
 ther, which is manslaughter committed uppon 
 malice, hatred or cruelty, not in a man's necessary 
 and just defence, nor by mere causualty against 
 his will, hee shall be put to death. — Exo.21. 12, 13, 
 14.— Numb. 35, 30, 31. 
 
 5. If any person shall slay another through 
 guile, either by poisonings or other such Devellish 
 
16 
 
 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 practice, hee shall bee put to death. — Exo. 21. 14. 
 
 6. If any man or woman shall lye with any 
 beast 01 bruite creature by carnall copulation, 
 they shall surely bee put to death, and the beast 
 shall bee slaine and buried. — Levit. 20. 15, 16. 
 
 7. .If any man lyeth with mankinde as he lyeth 
 W4 th wom an ^feetiruftEem naveco^ffil Sed abom i~ 
 natiog^-.th€^~ both sha ll surely^bee puTTo d eath, — 
 Levit. 20. 13. 
 
 8. If any person committeth adultery with a 
 married or espoused wife, the Adulterer and the 
 Adulteress shall surely be put to death. — Levit. 20. 
 10, and 18. 20. — Deut. 22. 23, 24. 
 
 , g. If any man shall forcibly, and without con- 
 sent, Ravish any maide, or woman that is lawfully 
 married or contracted, hee shall bee put to death. 
 — Deut. 22. 25. 
 
 10. If any man stealeth a man or mankinde, 
 hee shall bee put to death. — Exodus 21. 16. 
 
 11. If any man rise up by false witness, wit- 
 tingly and of purpose to take away any man's life 
 hee shall bee put to death. — Deut. 19, 16. 18. 19. 
 
 y^ 12. If any m an shall conspire or attempt anv 
 invasinri ynsurrectjonllsi^ rebgli on aga inst the 
 Commonwealth, heeshalTbeeput'to deati 
 ll 
 
 13. It any-CSiIde or Children above"sisteene 
 years old and of suffitient understanding, shall 
 Curse or smite their naturall father or mother, hee 
 or they shall bee put to death; unless it can bee 
 sufiBtiently testified that the parents have beene 
 very unchristianly negligent in the education of 
 such children, or so provoke them by extreme 
 or cruell correction that they have beene forced 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 17 
 
 thereunto to preserve themselves from death or 
 maiming. — Exo. 21. 17. — Levit. 20. — Ex. 21. 15. 
 
 14. If any man have a stubborue and rebellious 
 Sonne of sufficient yeares and understanding, viz. 
 Sixteene yeares of age, which will not obey the 
 voice of his father or the voice of his mother, an i 
 _4hat when they have chastened him will net 
 hearken unto them; then may his ifatter and 
 mother, being his naturall parents, lay hold ou 
 him and bring him to the Magistrates assembled 
 in Courte, and testifieunto them, that theire Sonne 
 is stubborne and rebellious and will not obey 
 theire voice and Chastisement, but lives in sundry 
 notorious Crimes, such a sonne shall bee put to 
 death. — Deut. 21. 20, 21. j 
 
 ECLESEASTICALL. 
 
 Fforasmuch, as the open contempt of Gods word, 
 and messengers thereof, is the desolating sinne 
 of civill states and churches, and that the 
 preaching of the word by those whome God 
 doth send, is the cheife ordinary meanes ordained 
 by God, for the converting, edefying and saving 
 the soules of the elect, through the presence 
 and power of the Holy Ghost thereunto prom- 
 ised; and that the ministry of the word is sett 
 upp by God in his churches for those holy ends; 
 and according to the lespect or contempt of the 
 same, and of those whome God hath sett aparte 
 for his owne worke and imployment, the weale 
 or woe of all Christian states, is much furthered 
 and promoted: 
 It is therefore ordered and decreed, That if any 
 
 Christian, so called, within this jurissdiction, shall 
 
18 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 contemptuously beare himselfe towards the word 
 preached, or the messengers that are called to dis- 
 pense the same in any congregation, when hee 
 doth faithfully execute his service, and office 
 therein, according to the will and word of God, 
 either by interrupting him in his preaching, or by 
 charging him falsely with an error, which hee 
 hath not taught in the open face of the church, or 
 like a sonne of Korah, cast uppon his true doc- 
 trine, or himselfe, any reproach to the dishonor of 
 the Lord Jesus, whoe hath sent him and to the 
 disparagement of that his holy ordinance, and 
 making Gods wayes contemptible and ridiculous, 
 that every such person or persons, whatsoever 
 censure the church may passe, shall, for the first 
 scandall, bee convented and reproved openly, by 
 the magistrates, at some lecture, and bound to 
 theire good behaviour: And if a second time they 
 breake forth into the like contemptuous carriages, 
 they shall either pay five pounds to the publique 
 treasure, or stand two houres openly, uppon a 
 blocker stoole foure foott high, uppon a lecture 
 day, with a paper fixed on his breast written with 
 capitall letters, AN open and obstinate con- 
 temner OF GODS HOLY ORDINANCES, that Others 
 may feare and bee ashamed of breaking out into 
 the like wickedness. 
 
 It is 07-dered and decreed by this courte and au- 
 thority thereof. That wheresoever the ministery of 
 the word is established, according to the order of 
 the gospell, throughout this jurissdiction, every 
 person shall duely resorte and attend thereunto 
 re:.pectively, uppon the Lords day, and uppon such 
 publique fast days, and dayes of thanksgiving, as 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 19 
 
 are too bee generally kept by the appointment of 
 authority: And if any person within this juriss- 
 diction shall, without just and necessary cause, 
 withdraw himselfe from hearing the publique 
 ministry of the word, after due meanes of convic- 
 tion used, hee shall forfeitt for his absence, from 
 every such publique meeting, iive shillings: All 
 such offences to bee heard and determined by 
 any one magistrate, or more, from time to time. 
 
 Two years after the union of the colonies of 
 New Haven and Connecticut under one govern- 
 ment, a law was pas sed forbidding Indians to 
 prnfanp; the Sundaj'^ToQ penatty~Df_ftyF"g^T^11i "^ 
 ti^e or one houri n tSS'stocks^ 
 
 ^ Un the 19th o?~l5ay, fS5B, a general law was 
 enacted as follows : 
 
 " Whereas, the sanctification of the Sabbath is 
 a matter of great concernment to the weal of a 
 people, and the profanation thereof is that as pulls 
 down the judgments of God upon that place or 
 people that suffer the same : It is therefore 
 ordered by this court and the authority thereof, 
 that if any person shall profane the Sabbath, by 
 unnecessary travel, or playing thereon in the time 
 of public worship, or before, or after, or shall 
 keep out of the meeting-house during the public 
 worship unnecessarily, there being convenient 
 room in the house, he shall pay five shillings for 
 every such offense, or sit in the stocks one hour ; 
 any one assistant or commissioner to hear and de- 
 termine any such case. And the constables in 
 the several plantations are hereby required to 
 make search after all offenders against this law, 
 
20 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 and make return thereof to the commissioners or 
 assistants." — Colonial Records of Connecticut, 
 1665-1667, p. 88. 
 
 In 1676 the above was strengthened by the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 " Whereas, notwithstanding former provisions 
 made for the due sanctificaLion of the Sabbath, it 
 is observed that by sundry abuses the Sabbath is 
 profaned, the ordinances rendered unprofitable, 
 which threatens the rooting out of the power of 
 godliness, and the procuring of the wrath and 
 judgments of God upon us and our posterity ; for 
 prevention whereof it is ordered by this couit 
 that if any person or persons henceforth, either on 
 the Saturday night or on the Lord's day night, 
 though it be after the sun is set, shall be found 
 sporting in the streets or fields of any town in this 
 jurisdiction, or be drinking in houses of public 
 entertainment or elsewhere, unless for necessity, 
 every such person so found, complained of, and 
 proved transgressing, shall pay ten shillings for 
 every such transgression, or suffer corporal pun- 
 ishment for default of due payment. Nor shall 
 any sell or draw any sort of strong drink at any 
 time, or to be used in any such manner, upon the 
 like penalty for every default. 
 
 " It is also further ordered that no servile work 
 shall be done on the Sabbath, viz., such as are 
 not works of piety, charity, or necessity ; and no 
 profane discourse or talk, rude or unreverend be- 
 havior, shall be used on that holy day, upon the 
 penalty of ten shillings fine for every transgres- 
 sion hereof, and in case the offense be circum- 
 stanced with high-handed presumption as well 
 
BANISHED. 
 
BlUH LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 21 
 
 [as] profaneness, the penalty to be augmented at 
 the discretion of the judges." — Colonial Records of 
 Connecticut from 1665 to 1677, p. 280. 
 
 In 1 72 1 additional laws were passed under the 
 following preamble : 
 
 "Whereas, notwithstanding the liberty by law 
 granted to all persons to worship God in such places 
 as they shall for that end provide, and in such 
 manner as they shall judge to be most agreeable 
 to the Word of God ; and notwithstanding the 
 laws already provided for the sanctification of the 
 Lord's day, or the Christian Sabbath, many dis- 
 orderly persons in abuse of that liberty, and re- 
 gardless of those laws, neglect the public worship 
 of God on the said day, and profane the same by 
 their rude and unlawful behavior; therefore," etc. 
 
 By this law : 
 
 1. Non-attendance on lawful public worship was 
 subjected to a fine of five shillings. 
 
 2. The same penalty was incurred by going! 
 forth from one's place of abode for any reasouj 
 except to attend worship or perform works o^ 
 necessity. 
 
 3. A fine of twenty shillings was imposed for 
 assembling in any meeting-house on Sunday with- 
 out the consent of the congregation to whom it 
 belonged and the minister who usually oflSciated 
 
 in it. 
 
 4. Disturbing any meeting for public worship 
 on Sunday was made punishable by a fine of forty 
 shillings. 
 
 5. Failure to pay or secure a fine imposed for 
 any of these offenses, within one week, was pun- 
 
22 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 ished by labor in the house of correction for one 
 month or less. 
 
 6. No appeal from a justice's court was al- 
 lowed. 
 
 7. All charges were to be preferred within one 
 month from the time of the offense. — Acts and 
 Laws of Connecticut, folio, pp. 261, 262. New 
 
 London, I7i5-i737- 
 
 Other supplementary acts were also passed, re- 
 lating mainly to the duties of the civil authorities 
 in executing these laws. In 1726 all assistant 
 justices of the peace were empowered, on their 
 own " plain view or personal knowledge" of pro- 
 fanity, drunkenness, or Sabbath-breaking, to make 
 out a judgment accordingly against the offender, 
 "any law or custom to the contrary notwith- 
 standing." — Ibid., p. 319. 
 
 In 1 733 a more extensive code was established, 
 of which the following is an outline : 
 
 1. Non-attendance on public worship for a 
 specified time was punished by a fine of three shil- 
 lings. 
 
 2. Ten shillings was made the penalty for 
 assembling in a meeting-house without the con- 
 sent of the congregation and minister for whom it 
 was provided. No persons were allowed to neglect 
 public worship and meet in private houses, on 
 penalty of ten shillings. 
 
 3. All work or play, on land or water, on Sun- 
 days, fast, or thanksgiving days, was prohibited 
 under a fine of ten shillings. 
 
 4. Disturbing public worship by rude or clam- 
 orous behavior, in or within hearing of the as- 
 sembly, was fined forty shillings. 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 23 
 
 5. All traveling, except in great extremity, was 
 forbidden on pain of twenty shillings fine, and all 
 absence from one's house, except for church 
 attendance, or "necessity," incurred a fine of five 
 shillings. 
 
 6. Staying outside at the meeting-house (there 
 being room inside), or going out unnecessarily 
 during service, or playing or talking around 
 places of worship was finable in the sum of three 
 shillings. Gathering in companies in streets, or 
 elsewhere, on the evening before or the evening 
 after the Sunday, or on the evening after any fasi 
 day, religious gatherings excepted, was liable to 
 a penalty of three shillings, or two hours in the 
 stocks. 
 
 7. Loitering or drinking, in or about any public , 
 place after sunset on Saturday night, subjected 
 both the offender and the keeper of the place to a 
 fine of five shillings. 
 
 8. No vessel was allowed to put to sea from any 
 harbor, river, or creek within the colonial limits 
 without license, granted only in extreme emer- 
 gency, nor to weigh anchor within two miles of 
 any place of meeting, unless to get nearer to that 
 place, under forfeiture of thirty shillings. 
 
 9. Posting notices on Sunday, or publishing 
 them in any way, was declared illegal, and the 
 proper officers were instructed to destroy all such 
 as should be put up, and the one putting up the 
 same was subjected to a fine of five shillings. 
 
 10. Two "tythingmen" were ordered to be ap- 
 pointed for every parish ; these were empowered 
 and instructed, after the usual manner, to execute 
 these provisions. Whipping, twenty stripes or 
 
24 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 less, was the penalty for nonpayment of a fine. — 
 "Acts and Laws of Connecticut, 1750 to 1772," pp. 
 139-142. 
 
 In 1 76 1, in spite of all that had been done, trav- 
 eling is declared to be a "growing evil," and all 
 assistant justices of the peace are empowered to 
 arrest, without a written warrant, any person trav- 
 eling unnecessarily, and every sheriff, constable, 
 grand juryman, and tythingman was empowered 
 to take such person into custody, " upon sight or 
 present information of others." Refusal to aid in 
 any such arrest, when called upon, incurred the 
 usual penalties. — Ibid. p. 351. 
 
 To quote again from the Code of 1650: 
 
 FFORNICATION 
 
 It is ordeted by this Courte and authority tketeof, 
 That if any man shall committ ffornication, with 
 any single woman, they shall bee punnished, 
 either by injoyning to marriage, or fyne, or cor- 
 porall punnishment, or all, or any of these, as the 
 Courte or magistrates shall appoint, most agree- 
 able to the word of God. 
 
 GAMING. 
 
 Uppon complaint of great disorder, by the use of 
 the game called shufHe board, in howses of com- 
 mon interteinement, whereby much precious 
 time is spent unfruitfully, and much waste of 
 wyne and beare occasioned : 
 
 It is therefore otdered and enacted bv the authority 
 of this Courte, That no person shall henceforth 
 use the said game of shuffle board in any such 
 howse nor in any other howse, used as a common 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 25 
 
 for such purpose, uppon payne for every keeper 
 of such howse, to forfeitt for every such offence, 
 twenty shillings : And for every person playing at 
 the said game in any such howse, to forfeitt for 
 every such offence, five shillings ; the like penalty 
 shall bee for playing in any place, at any unlaw- 
 full game. 
 
 IDLENESS. 
 
 It is ordered by this Courte and authority thereof^ 
 That no person, howseholder or other, shall spend 
 his time idlely or unprofitably, under paine of such 
 punishment as the courte shall thiuke meete to in- 
 flict, and for this end, it is ordered, that the con- 
 stable of every place shall use speciall care and 
 dilligence, to take knowledge of offenders in this 
 kinde;" especially of common coasters, unprofEt- 
 able fowlers, and tobacko takers, and present the 
 same unto any magistrate, who shall have power 
 to heare and determine the the case, or transfer it 
 to the next courte. 
 
 INKEEPERS. 
 
 Fforasmuch, as there is a necessary use of howses 
 of common intertainement, in every common- 
 wealth, and of such as retaile wyne, beare, and 
 victualls; yet because there are so many abuses 
 of that lawfull libberty, both by persons iuter- 
 teining and persons interteined, there is allso 
 need of strict lawes and rules to regulate such an 
 imployment. 
 
 It is therefore ordered by this Cowte and autho?ity 
 thereof. That no person or persons licenced for 
 common interteinement, shall suffer any to bee 
 drunken, or drinke excessively, viz , above halfe a 
 
26 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 pinte of wyue, for one person, at one time, or to, 
 continue tipling above the space of halfe an houre, 
 or at unreasonable times, or after nine of the clock 
 at night, in or about any of theire howses, on pen- 
 alty of five shillings for every such offence ; and 
 every person found drunken, viz. so that hee bee 
 thereby bereaved or dissabled in the use of his un- 
 derstanding, appearing in his speech or gesture, in 
 any of the said howses, or elsewhere, shall forfeitt 
 ten shillings; and for excessive drinking, three 
 shillings foure pence; and for continuing above 
 halfe an houre, tipling, two shillings six pence; 
 and for tipling at unseasonable times, or after nine 
 o'clock at night, five shillings, for every offence in 
 these perticulars, being lawfully convicted thereof; 
 and for want of payment, such shall bee imprisoned 
 until they pay or bee sett in the stocks, one houre 
 or more, in some open place, as the weather shall 
 permitt, not exceeding three houres at one time ; 
 provided, notwithstanding, such licenced persons 
 may interteine seafaring men or land travelers in 
 the night season, when they come first on shoare, 
 or from theire journeye, for their nece.sseary re- 
 freshment, or when they prepare for theire voyage 
 or journeye the next day early, so bee no dissorder 
 amongst them, and allso, strangers and other per- 
 sons, in an orderly way, may continue at such 
 howses of common interteinement during meal 
 times, or uppon lawfull business, what time theire 
 occassions shall require. 
 
 Anditis allso oidered. That if any person offend 
 in drunkenness, excessive or long drinking, the 
 second time they shall pay double fynes ; and if 
 they fall into the same offence the third time, they 
 
BLUK LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 27 
 
 shall pay treble fynes, and if the parties bee not 
 able to pay theire fynes, then hee that is found 
 drunken shall bee punnished by whipping, to the 
 number of ten stripes; and hee that offends by ex- 
 cessive or long drinking, shall bee put into the 
 stocks for three hours, when the weather may not 
 hazzard his life or limbs ; and if they offend the 
 fouith time, they shall bee imprisoned untill they 
 put in two sufficient sureties for theire good be- 
 havior. 
 
 A?id it is further ofdeted, That the severall 
 townes uppon the river, within this jurissdiction, 
 shall provide amoagst themselves, in each towne, 
 one sufficient inhabitant, to keepe an ordinary for 
 provision and lodging, in some comfortable man- 
 ner, that passengers or strangers may know where 
 to resorte; and such inhabitants, as by the severall 
 townes, shall bee chosen for the said service, shall 
 bee presented by two magistrates, that they may 
 judge meete for that imployment; and this to be 
 effected by the severall townes within one month, 
 under the penalty of forty shillings, a month, for 
 each month that either towne shall neglect the 
 same. 
 
 A7id it is allso further ordered. That every in- 
 keeper or victualler shall provide for interteine- 
 ment of strangers horses, viz., one or more inclos- 
 uers for summer, and hay and provender for 
 winter, with convenient stable roome and attend- 
 ance, under penalty of two shillings sixpence for 
 every dayes default, and double dammage to the 
 partye thereby wronged, except it bee by inevit- 
 able accident. 
 
 Lastly, It is ordered by the authority aforesaid, 
 
28 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 That all constables may, and shall, from time to 
 time, duely make search throughout the limitts of 
 theire townes, uppon Lords dayes and lecture 
 dayes, in times of exercise, and allso, at all other 
 limes, so oft as they shall see cause, for all of- 
 fences and oftendors against this law, in any the 
 perticulars thereof; and if uppon due information 
 or complaint of any of theire inhabitants, or other 
 credible persons, whether taverner, victualler, 
 tabler, or other, they shall refuse or neglect to 
 make search as aforesaid, or shall not to theire 
 power performe all other thinges belonging to 
 theire place or office of constableship, then uppon 
 complaint and due proofe before any one magis- 
 trate, within three months after such refusall or 
 Defi;lect, they shall bee fyned for every such 
 offence, ten shillings, to bee levied by the marshall 
 as in other cases, by warrant from such magis- 
 trate before whome they are convicted, or warrant 
 from the Treasurer, uppon notice from such 
 magistrate. 
 
 It is 07dered by this Coiirte and authority thereof 
 That no inkeeper, victualler, wine drawer, or 
 other, shall deliver any wyne, nor suffer any to 
 be delivered out of his howse to any which come 
 for it, unless they bring a note under the hand of 
 some one master of some familye and allowed in- 
 habitant of that towne; neither shall sell or draw 
 any hott water to any, but in case of necessitye, 
 and in such moderation for quantity, as they have 
 good grounds to conceive it may not bee abused 
 and shall be ready to give an account of theire 
 doings herein, when they are called thereto under 
 censure of the courte, in case of delinquency. 
 
BLUB LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 29 
 
 LYINGE. 
 
 TA^ei-eas truth in words, as well as in actions, is 
 required of all men; especially of christians, who 
 are the professed servants of the Lord of truth; 
 and whereas all lyinge is contrary to truth; and 
 some sortes of lyes are not only sinfull, as all 
 lyes are, but allso, pernicious to the publique 
 weal and injurious to perticular persons. 
 
 It is ihetefore ordered by this Courte, and authotity 
 ihejeof, That every person at the age of discretion, 
 which is accounted fourteene yeares, who shall 
 wittingly and willingly, make or publish any lye, 
 which may bee pernicious to the publique weal, 
 or tending to the dammage or injury of any per- 
 ticular person, to deceive and abuse the people 
 with false news or reportes, and the same duly 
 prooved in any courte, or before any one magis- 
 trate, who hath hereby power graunted, to heare 
 and determine all offences against this lawe, such 
 persons shall be fyned for the first offence, ten 
 shillings, or if the party bee unable to pay the 
 same, then to bee sett in the stocks so long as the 
 said courte or magistrate shall appointe, in some 
 open place, not exceeding three houres; for the 
 second oiience in that kinde, whereof any shall bee 
 leegally convicted, the summe of twenty shillings, 
 or bee whipped upon the neked body, not exceeding 
 twenty stripes, and for the third offence that way, 
 forty shillings, or if the party bee unable to pay, 
 then to bee whipped with more stripes, not exceed- 
 ing thirtye; and if yett, any shall offend in like 
 kinde, and bee legally convicted thereof, such per- 
 son, male or female, shall bee fyned ten shillings 
 
30 BLUB LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 at a time, more than formerly, or if the party so 
 offending bee unable to pay, then to bee whipped 
 with five or six stripes more than formerly, not 
 exceeding forty at any time: And for all such as 
 being under the age of discretion, that shall offend 
 in lyinge contrary to this order, theire parents or 
 masters shall give them due correction, and that in 
 the presence of some officer, if any magistrate 
 shall so appointe; provided allso, that no person 
 shall bee barred of his just action of slander, or 
 otherwise, by any proceeding uppon this order. 
 
 MASTERS, SERVANTS, SOJOURNERS. 
 
 // is ordered by this Coutte and auihoyity tJureof, 
 That no master of a family shall give intertein- 
 ment or habitation to any young man to sojourne 
 in his familye, but by the allowance of the inhabit- 
 ants of the towne where he dwells, under the pen- 
 alty of twenty shillings per week: And it is allso 
 ordered : That no young man that is neither mar- 
 ried, nor hath any servant, nor is a publique officer, 
 shall keepe howse by himselfe, without the con- 
 sent of the towne, for, and under paine or penalty 
 of twenty shillings a week. 
 
 It is allso ordered by the authority aforesaid, That 
 no servant, either man or maid, shall either give, 
 sell or truck, any commodity whatsoever, without 
 licence from theire master, during the time of 
 theire service, under paine of fyne or corporall 
 punishment, at the discretion of the Courte as 
 the offence shall deserve; and that all workmen 
 shall work the whole day, allowing convenient 
 time for food and rest. 
 
 // is allso ordered, That when any servants shall 
 
J^ 
 
BLUB LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 31 
 
 runn from their masters, or any other inhabitants 
 shall privately goe away with suspicion of ill in- 
 tentions, it shall bee lawfull for the next magis- 
 trate, or the constable and two of the chiefest 
 inhabitants, where no magistrate is, to press men 
 and boates or pinnaces, at the publique charge, to 
 pursue such persons by sea or land, and bring 
 them back, by force of armes. 
 
 MARRIAGE. 
 
 florasmuch as many persons entangle themselves 
 with rashe and inconsiderate contracts for theire 
 future joininge in marriage covenant, to the 
 great trouble and greife of themselves and 
 theire ffriends, for the preventing thereof. 
 
 It is ordered by the authority of this Courte, That 
 whomsoever intends to joine themselves in mar- 
 riage covenant, shall cause theire purpose of con- 
 tract to bee published in some publique place, and 
 at some publique meeting, in the severall townes 
 where such persons dwell, at the least, eight dayes 
 before they enter into such contract, whereby they 
 engage themselves each to other; and that they 
 shall forbeare to joine in marriage covenant, at 
 least eight days after the said contract. 
 
 And it is allso ordered and declared, That no per- 
 son whatsoever, male or female, not being at his 
 or her owne dispose, or that remaineth under the 
 government of parents, masters or guardians, or 
 such like, shall either make or give interteinment 
 to any motion or sute, in way of marriage, with- 
 out the knowledge and consent of those they 
 stand in such relation to, under the severe censure 
 
32 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 of the courte, in case of delinquency not attending 
 this order; nor f hall any third persons intermeddle 
 in making any motion to any such, without the 
 knowledge and consent of those under whose gov- 
 ernment they are, under the same penalty. 
 
 MINISTERS MEINTEINANCE. 
 
 Whereas the most considerable persons in the 
 land came into these partes of America, that they 
 might enjoye Christe, in his ordinances, without 
 disturbance; and whereas, amongst many other 
 pretious meanes, the ordinances have beene and 
 are dispensed amongst us, with much purity and 
 power, they tooke it into their serious considera- 
 tion, that a due meinteinauce according to God 
 might bee provided and settled, both for the pres- 
 ent and future, for the incouragement of the min- 
 isters worke therein; and doe order, that those 
 who are taught in the word, in the severall plan- 
 tations, bee called together, that every man volun- 
 tarily sett downe what hee is willing to allow to 
 that end and use; and if any man refuse to paye 
 meete proportion, that then hee bee rated by 
 authority, in some just and equall way; and if 
 after this, any man withhold or delay due pay- 
 ment, the civill power to be exercised as in other 
 just debts. 
 
 OATHS. 
 
 I A. W. now chosen to be Governor within this 
 jurissdiction, for this yeare ensuing, and untill a 
 new bee chosen, doe sweare by the great and 
 dreadful name of the everlasting God, to promoate 
 the publique good and peace of the same accord- 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 83 
 
 ing to the best of my skill ; as allso, will meinteine 
 the lawful! priviledges of this commonwealth ; as 
 allso, that all wholesome lawes, that are or shall 
 bee made by lawfuU authority, here established, 
 bee duly executed, and will further the execution 
 of justice, according- to the rule of Gods word ; so 
 helpe mee God, in the name of the Lord Jesus 
 Christe. [Oaths of other officers were similarly 
 worded.] 
 
 PROFANE SWEARING. 
 
 It is ordered, and by this Courte decreed, That if 
 any person within this jutissdiction shall sweare 
 rashly and vainely, either by the holy name of 
 God, or any other oath, and shall sinfully and 
 wickedly curse any, hee shall forfeitt to the com- 
 mon treasure, for every such several offence, 
 ten shillings : And it shall bee in the power of 
 any magistrate, by warrant to the constable, to 
 call such persons before him, and uppon just proof e 
 to pass a sentence, and levye the said penalty, ac- 
 cording to the usual order of justice ; and if such 
 persons bee not able, or shall utterly refuse to 
 pay the aforesaid fyne, hee shall bee committed to 
 the stocks, there to continue, not exceeding three 
 houres, and not less than one houre. 
 
 TOBACKO. 
 
 Fforasmuch as it is observed that many abuses 
 are crept in, and committed, by frequent taking 
 of tobacko. 
 
 It is ordered by the authority of this Courte, That 
 no person under the age of twenty one years, nor 
 any other, that hath not already accustomed him- 
 
34 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 selfe to the use thereof, shall take any tobacko, 
 untill hee hath brought a certificate under the hands 
 of some who are approved for knowledge and skill 
 in phisick, that it is usefull for him, and allso, that 
 hee hath received a lycense from the court for 
 the same. — And for the regulating of those, who 
 either by theire former taking it, have, to theire 
 owne apprehensions, made it necessary to them, or 
 uppon due advice, are pursuaded to the use 
 thereof, 
 
 // 7S ordered, That no man within this colonye, 
 after the publication hereof, shall take any tobacko 
 publiquely, in the streett, highwayes or any barne 
 3fardes, or uppon training day es, in any open places, 
 under the penalty of six-pence for each offence 
 against this order, in any the perticulars thereof, to 
 bee paid without gainesayiug, uppon conviction, by 
 the testimony of one witness, that is without just 
 exception, before any one magistrate. And the 
 constables in the several townes, are required to 
 make presentment to each perticular courte, of 
 such as they doe understand, and can evict to bee 
 transgressors of this order. 
 
 Thus the Code, so far as it relates to other than 
 ordinary business and governmental affairs. That 
 the colony was early made a practical theocracy is 
 known by the following document, the most 
 ancient record of New Haven, and certainly a curi- 
 osity of civil government. It is dated but a year 
 after the founding of the colony, and evidently 
 was the first step toward establishing a govern- 
 ment: 
 
BLUE L.VWS OF CONNECTICUT. 35 
 
 The 4th day of the 6th moneth, called June, 1639, 
 all the free planters assembled together in a gen- 
 eral meetinge, to consult about settling civil gov- 
 ernment according to God, and about the nomina- 
 tion of persons that may be found by coiiserst of 
 all fittest in all respects for the foundation work 
 of a Church which was intended to be gathered in 
 Quinipieck. ■ After sollemne invocation of the 
 name of GOD in prayer, for the presence and help 
 of his spirit and grace in these weighty businesses, 
 they were reminded of the business whereabout 
 the)' met (viz) for the establishment of such civil 
 order as might be most pleasing unto GOD, and 
 for the chusing the fittest man for the foundation 
 work of a church to be gathered. For the better 
 enabling them to discerne the minde of GOD, and 
 to agree accordingly concerning the establishment 
 of civil order, Mr. John Davenport propounded 
 divers queries for them, publickly praying them to 
 consider seriously in the presence and feare of 
 GOD the weight of the business they met about, 
 and not to be rash or sleight in giving their votes 
 to things they understood not, but to digest fully 
 and thoroughly what should be propounded unto 
 them, and without respect to men, as they should 
 be satisfied and perswaded in their own minds to 
 give their answers in such sort as they would be 
 willing they should stand upon record for pos- 
 terity. 
 
 This being earnestly expressed by Mr. Daven- 
 port, Mr. Robert Newman was intreated to write 
 in characters and to read distinctly and audibly 
 in the hearing of all the people, what was pro- 
 pounded and accorded on, that it might appear 
 
36 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 that all consented to matters propounded accord- 
 ing to words written by him. 
 
 Quaere i. Whether the Scriptures doe holde 
 fourth a perfect rule for the direction and govern- 
 ment of all men in all dutej-es which they are to 
 perform to GOD and men as well in the govern- 
 ment of famylyes and commonwealths as in mat- 
 ters of the church? 
 
 This was assented unto by all, no man dissent- 
 ing, as was expressed by holding up of hands. 
 Afterwards it was read over to them, that they 
 might see in what wordes their vote was ex- 
 pressed: they againe expressed their consent 
 thereto by holding up their hands, no man dis- 
 senting. 
 
 Quaere 2. Whereas there was a covenant sol- 
 lemnely made by the whole assembly of free 
 'I'lauters of this plantation, the first day of extra- 
 ordinary humiliation that we had after we came 
 together, that as in matters that concern the gath- 
 ering and ordering of a church, so likewise in all 
 publique offices, which concern civil order, as 
 choyce of magistrates and officers, making and 
 repealing of laws, divideing allotments of inheri- 
 tances, and all things of like nature we would all 
 of us be ordered by those rules which the scrip- 
 ture holds forth to us. This covenant was called 
 a plantation covenant to distinguish it from a 
 church covenant, which could not at that time be 
 made, a church not being then gathered, but was 
 deferred till a church might be gathered according 
 to GOD. It was demanded whether all the free 
 planters doe hold themselves bound by that cove- 
 nant in all business of that nature which are 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 37 
 
 expressed in the covenant, to submit themselves 
 to be ordered by the rules which are held forth in 
 the scripture. 
 
 This also was assented unto by all, and no man 
 gainsayedit, and they did testify the same by hold- 
 ing up their handes, both when it was first pro- 
 pounded, and afterwards confirmed the same by 
 holding up their hands when it was read unto 
 them in publique. John Clark being absent when 
 the covenant was made doth now manifest his 
 consent to it. Also Richard Beach, Andrew Low, 
 Goodman Bamster, Arthur Halbidge, John Potter, 
 Richard Hill, John Brockett, and John Johnson, 
 these persons being not admitted planters when 
 the covenant was made doth now expresse their 
 consent to it. 
 
 Oa^re 3. Those who have desired to be re- 
 ceived as free planters and are settled in the 
 plantation with a purposed resolution and desire 
 that they may be admitted into church fellowship, 
 according to Christ, as soon as GOD shall fitt them 
 thereunto, were desired to express it by holding 
 up of hands, accordingly all did express this to be 
 their desire and purpose, by holding up their hands 
 twice, (viz) both at the proposal of it, and after 
 when these written words were read unto them. 
 
 Quaere 4. All the free planters were called upon 
 to express whether they held themselves bound to 
 establish such civil order as might best conduce 
 to the securing the purity and peace of the ordi- 
 nances to themselves and their posterity, accord- 
 ing to GOD. In answer hereunto they expressed 
 by holding up their hands twice as before : That 
 they helde themselves bound to establish such 
 
38 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 civil order as might best conduce to the ends afore- 
 said. 
 
 Then Mr. Davenport declared unto them by the 
 scriptures what kind of persons might best be 
 trusted with matters of government, and by 
 sundry arguments from scripture proved that such 
 as were described Ex. i8, i. Deut. i. 13. with 
 Deut. 19, 15. and i Cor. 6. i to 7, ought to 
 be entrusted by them, seeing they were free to 
 cast themselves into that mould and forme of 
 commonwealth which appeareth best for them in 
 reference to the securing the pure and peaceable 
 enjoyment of all Christ his ordinances in the 
 church according to GOD, whereunto they have 
 bound themselves as hath been acknowledged. 
 Having said this he sat down, praying the com- 
 pany freely to consider whether they would have 
 it voted at this time or not. After some space of 
 silence Mr. Theophilus Eaton answered it might 
 be voted, and some others also spake to the 
 same purpose, none at all opposing it. Then it 
 was propounded to vote. 
 
 Quffire 5. Whether free Burgesses shall be 
 choben out of Church membeis, that they are in 
 the foundation work of the Church being actually 
 free Burgesses; and to chuse to themselves out of 
 the like estate of church fellowship, and the power 
 of chusing magistrates and officers from among 
 themselves and the power of making and repealing 
 laws according to the word, and the dividing of 
 inheritances, and the deciding differences that may 
 arise, and all the businesses of like nature are to 
 be transacted by those free Burgesses. 
 
 This (viz., Quasre 5) was put to vote, and 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNKCTICVV, 39 
 
 agreed unto by the lifting up of hafids tvice, as in 
 the former cases it was done. Then one man 
 stood up after the vote was past, and expressing 
 his dissenting from the rest, in that yet granting: 
 
 1. That magistrates should be men fearing GOD. 
 
 2. That the Church is the company whence ordi- 
 narily such men may be expected. 3. That they 
 that chuse them ought to be men fearing GOD, 
 onelye at this he stucke. That free planters ought 
 not to give the power out of their hands. 
 
 Another stood up and answered that in this case 
 nothing was done but with their consent. The 
 former answered that all the free planters ought 
 to resume this power into their own hands again 
 if things were not orderly carried. Mr. Theophilus 
 Eaton answered that in all places they chuse com- 
 mittees. In like manner the companys of London 
 chuse the liver5's by whom the publique magis- 
 trates are chosen. In this the rest are not 
 wronged: because they expect to be of the livery 
 themselves, and to have the same power. Some 
 others intreated the former to give his arguments 
 and reasons whereupon he dissented. He refused 
 to doe it, and said they might not rationally de- 
 maund it, seeing he let the vote pass on freely, and 
 did not speak until after it was past because he 
 would not hinder what they agreed upon. Then 
 Mr. Davenport, after a short relation of some 
 former passages between them two about this 
 question, prayed the company that nothing might 
 be concluded by them in this weighty question 
 but what themselves were persuaded to be agree- 
 ing with the minde of GOD, and they had heard 
 what had been said since the vote, intreated them 
 
40 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 agayne to consider of it, and agayne to put it to 
 vote as before. Agayue all of them, by holding 
 up their hands, did shew their consent as before. 
 And some of them professed, that whereas they 
 did waver before they came to the assembl}?, they 
 were now fully convinced that it is the minde of 
 GOD. One of them said that in the morning be- 
 fore he came, reading Deuteronomy 17. 15. he 
 was convinsed at home. Another said that 
 he came doubting to the assembly, but he blessed 
 GOD, by what had beene said he was now fully 
 satisfied that the choyce of Burgesses out of 
 Church members and to intrust these with the 
 power before spoken of, is according to the minde 
 of GOD revealed in the scripture. All having 
 spoken their apprehensions it was agreed upon, 
 and Mr. Robert Newman was desired to write it 
 as an order whereunto every one that hereafter 
 should be admitted here as planters should sub- 
 mit and testify the same by subscribing their 
 names to the order namely. 
 
 That Church members only shall be free Bur- 
 gesses, and they only shall chuse magistrates and 
 oiScers among themselves, to have the power of 
 transacting all publique civil affairs of this planta- 
 tion, of making and repealing laws, devideiug of 
 inheritances, deciding of differences that may arise 
 and doing all things or businesses of a like nature. 
 
 This being settled as a fundamental article con- 
 cerning civil government, Mr. Davenport pro- 
 pounded and pro.iosed some things to considera- 
 tion aboute the gatheringe of a Church. And to 
 prevent the blemishing of the first beginnini'-s of 
 the worke, he advised that the names of such as 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 41 
 
 were to be admitted might be publiquely pro- 
 pounded, to the end that they who were most 
 approved might be chosen; for the town being 
 cast into several private meetings wherein they 
 that dwelt nearest together gave their accounts 
 one to another of GODS gracious work upon 
 them, and prayed together, and conferred to their 
 mutual edification, sundry of them had knowledge 
 one of another, and in every meeting some one 
 was more approved of all than any other. For 
 this reason, and to prevent scandalls, the whole 
 company was intreated to consider whom they 
 found fittest to nominate for this worke. 
 
 Ousere 6. Whether are you all willing and do 
 agree in this, that twelve men be chosen, that 
 their fitness for the foundation work may be tried, 
 however there may be more named, yet it may be 
 in their power who are chosen to reduce them to 
 twelve and it be in the power of those twelve to 
 chuse out of themselves 7, that shall be most ap- 
 proved of the major part to begin the church. 
 
 This was agreed upon by consent of all, as was 
 expressed by holding up of hands, and that so 
 many as should be thought fit for the foundation 
 work of the church shall be propounded by the 
 plantation and written down, and passe without 
 exception, uniesse they had given publique scan- 
 dall or ofEence, yet so as in case of publique 
 scandall and offence, every one should have lib- 
 erty to propound their exceptions at that time 
 publiquely against any man that should be nomi- 
 nated wh^n all the names shouldbe writ down, but 
 if the offence were private, that men's names 
 might be tendered ; so many as were offended 
 
42 
 
 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 43 
 
 were intreated to deal with the offender privately. 
 And if he gave not satisfaction to bring the matter 
 to the twelve that they might consider of it im- 
 partially and in the feare of GOD. The names of 
 the persons named and agreed upon were Mr. 
 T. Eaton, Mr. J. Davenport, Robert Newman, 
 Matthew Gibb, Richard Malthie, Nathaniel 
 Turner, Thomas Fugill, John Punderson, William 
 Andrews, John Dixon. No exception was brought 
 against any of these in public, except one 
 about taking an excessive rate for meal that he 
 had sold to one of Pequonnockin his neede, which 
 he confessed with grief, and declared that having 
 been smitten in heart, and troubled in his con- 
 science, he offered such a part of the price back 
 again, with confession of his sin to the party, as 
 he thought himself bound to do. And it being 
 feared that the report of the sin was heard further 
 than the report of his satisfaction, a course was 
 concluded on to make the satisfaction to as many 
 as heard of the sin. It was also agreed upon at 
 said meetinge, that if the persons above named 
 did find themselves straitened in the number of fit 
 men for the 7, that it should be free for them to 
 take into tryal of fitness such other as they should 
 think meete. Provided that it should be signified 
 to the towne upon the Lord's day who they so 
 take in that every man may be satisfied of them, 
 according to the course formerly taken. 
 
 [The foregoing was subscribed and signed by 
 one hundred and eleven persons.] 
 
 It will be seen from the foregoing facts cited 
 and laws quoted that the Rev. Samuel Peters had 
 ample ground for compiling in his " General His- 
 
44 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 tory of Connecticut," a code of Blue Laws. From 
 a summary of that work we subjoin his list, and 
 following we give the historical account of the 
 persecution of witches, Quakers, and heretics in 
 the Colonies, which shovTS that his Blue Laws 
 were actually enforced if not enacted. As Dr. 
 Lewis says, in his " Critical History of Sunday 
 Legislation": "The Blue Laws which exist in 
 tradition are a fair index to the rigid spirit of those 
 days." 
 
 REV. SAMUEL PETERS' CODE. 
 
 Conspiracy against this Dominion shall be pun- 
 ished with death. 
 
 Whoever says there is a power and jurisdiction 
 above and over this Dominion shall suffer death 
 and loss of property. 
 
 Whoever attempts to change or overturn this 
 Dominion shall suffer death. 
 
 The judges shall determine controversies with- 
 out a jury. 
 
 No one shall be a freeman, or give a vote, 
 unless he be converted and a member in full com- 
 munion in one of the Churches allowed in this 
 Dominion. 
 
 No man shall hold any office who is not sound 
 in the faith, and faithful to this Dominion ; and 
 whoever gives a vote to such a person shall pay 
 a fine of £i ; for a second offense he shall be dis- 
 franchised. 
 
 Each freeman shall swear by the blessed God 
 to bear true allegiance to this Dominion, and that 
 Jesus is the only King. 
 
 No Quaker or Dissenter from the established 
 worship of this Dominion shall be allowed to give 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 45 
 
 a vote for the election of magistrates or any officer. 
 
 No food or lodging shall be afforded to a Quaker, 
 Adamite, or other Heretic. 
 
 If any person turns Quaker, he shall be ban- 
 ished, and not suffered to return but upon pain of 
 death. 
 
 No priest shall abide in the Dominion ; he shall 
 be banished, and suffer death on his return. 
 Priests may be seized by any one without a war- 
 rant. 
 
 No one to cross a river, but with an authorized 
 ferrj^man. 
 
 No one shall run on the Sabbath-day or walk in 
 the garden or elsewhere, except reverently to and 
 from meeting. 
 
 No one shall travel, cook victuals, make beds, 
 sweep house, cut hair, or shave, on the Sabbath- 
 day. 
 
 No woman shall kiss her child on the Sabbath 
 or fasting-day. 
 
 The Sabbath shall begin at sunset on Saturday. 
 
 A person accused of trespass in the night shall 
 be j udged guilty, unless he clear himself by his oath. 
 
 When it appears that an accused has confeder- 
 ates, and he refuses to discover them, he may be 
 racked. 
 
 No one shall buy or sell lands without permis- 
 sion of the selectmen. 
 
 A drunkard shall have a master appointed by 
 the selectmen, who are to debar him from the lib- 
 erty of buying and selling. 
 
 Whoever publishes a lye to the prejudice of his 
 neighbor, shall sit in the stocks or be whipped 
 fifteen stripes. 
 
46 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 No minister shall keep a school. 
 
 Every rateable person who refuses to pay his 
 proportion to the support of the minister of the 
 town or parish, shall be fined by the Court £2, 
 and ^4 every quarter, until he or she pay the rate 
 to the minister. 
 
 No one shall read Common Prayer, keep Christ- 
 mas or Saints'-days, make minced pies, dance, 
 play cards, or play on any instrument of music, 
 except the drum, trumpet, and jews'-harp. 
 
 Fornication shall be punished by compelling 
 marriage, or as the court may think proper. 
 
 Adultery shall be punished with death. 
 
 A man that strikes his wife shall pay a fine of 
 ^10 ; a woman that strikes her husband shall be 
 punished as the Court directs. 
 
 No man shall court a maid in person, or by 
 letter, without first obtaining consent of her 
 parents ; ^5 penalty for the first offense, _^io for 
 the second; and for the third imprisonment during 
 the pleasure of the Court. 
 
 Married persons must live together or be im- 
 prisoned. 
 
 Every male shall have his hair cut round 
 according to a cap. 
 
 This code, evidently, was formulated by Mr. 
 Peters from actual happenmgs and decisions of the 
 courts as well as from the records. He gave the 
 spirit if not letter of the law, and we have scrip- 
 ture authority that it is the spirit which giveth 
 life. In this case, however, it gave life to bigotry 
 and death to liberty, as the annexed account of 
 the Prosecution of Witches and Quakers develops. 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 47 
 
 PERSECUTIONS OF WITCHES AND 
 QUAKERS IN NEW ENGLAND. 
 
 The religious superstition which the colonists 
 brought over from Europe afforded a fertile soil 
 for the dire evils and vagaries of witchcraft. The 
 belief in an ever-present, personal devil was gen- 
 eral. The clergy preached it from the pulpit, and 
 almost every individual unfalteringly believed in 
 the old "Evil One." It was not uncommon for 
 certain of the devout ones to report having seen 
 the devil, horns, hoofs, and all. The Rev. John 
 Higginson, a Puritan clergyman, in a letter to 
 Increase Mather, detailed an account of how the 
 devil called upon a young man by the name of 
 Sharp and presented him with a book, saying: 
 " Here is a book for you; keep this till I call for it 
 again." Young Sharp being fond of reading soon 
 began to peruse the work, whereupon a strange 
 kind of horror seized him, both of body and mind, 
 which caused the hair of his head to stand upon 
 end, which continued until he closed the book. 
 Upon repeating the same on subsequent occasions 
 and experiencing the same results, he acquainted 
 his master with the facts. They at once con- 
 cluded that it was a conjuring book and that it 
 was the devil who brought it. The book was cast 
 into the flames and the devil never afterwards 
 called for it. 
 
48 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 The Eev. Cotton Mather entertained a pro- 
 found fear of the devil, and in one of his sermons 
 says: 
 
 " No place, that I know of, has got such a spell 
 upon it as will always keep the devil out. The 
 meeting-house, wherein we assemble for the wor- 
 ship of God, is filled with many holy people and 
 many holy concerns continually; but, if our eyes 
 were so refined as the servant of the prophet had 
 his of old, I suppose we should now see a throng 
 of devils in this very place. 
 
 "When we are in the church assemblie, oh, how 
 many devils, do you imagine, crowd in among us! 
 There is a devil that rocks one to sleep. There is, 
 a devil that makes another to be thinking of, he 
 scarcely knows what himself. And there is a devil 
 that makes another to be pleasing himself with 
 wanton and wicked speculations. It is also possi- 
 ble that we have our closets or our studies glori- 
 ously perfumed with devotions every day; but, 
 alasl can v/e shut the devil out of them? No; let 
 us go where we will, we shall still find a devil 
 nigh unto us. Only when we come to heaven, we 
 shall be out of his reach forever." 
 
 When such a firm belief in devils prevailed, it 
 can be understood how easy it was to transplant 
 on American soil the blighting superstition about 
 witches that had so long prevailed in Europe. A 
 brief mention will here be made of some of the 
 trials and executions for witchcraft that took place 
 in Massachusetts, commencing about the middle 
 of the seventeenth century. 
 
 Margaret Jones was executed as a witch in Bos- 
 ton, June 15, 1648. 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 49 
 
 Hugh and Mary Parsons of Springfield' were 
 arrested and tried on the charge of witchcraft, but 
 it appears they were not executed. 
 
 A woman at Dorchester, and another at Cam- 
 bridge, were executed as witches in 1650. 
 
 Mrs. Ann Hibbins, as stated by Hutchinson, 
 was tried and executed as a witch in 1655. 
 
 The same author mentions another case that 
 took place at Hartford, Conn., where two women 
 were prosecuted, who got so bewildered that 
 one of them confessed to such prepotterous par- 
 ticulars as to be wholly incredible. They were 
 condemned and executed in 1669. 
 
 Another case of similar kind took place at 
 Hampton in 1673, but the woman was not exe- 
 'cuted. 
 
 Eunice Cole was tried in 1673 before the county 
 court at Salisbury on the charge of witchcraft and 
 holding familiar intercourse with the devil. She 
 was imprisoned in Boston for a time, and then 
 ordered to depart from that jurisdiction. 
 
 Caleb Powell, a sailor, an astronomer, and as- 
 trologer, from his rather extensive knowledge, was 
 believed to be a wizard, and was brought before 
 the court at Ipswich on March 30, 1680. Not 
 being able to convict him, the charge was trans- 
 ferred to an old lady, Elizabeth Morse. Though 
 the evidence against her was frivolous to the last 
 degree, she was, nevertheless, convicted, and 
 would have been executed had not the humane 
 Governor Bradstreet been merciful enough to 
 pardon her, at which many Christian people were 
 greatly offended. 
 
 Mrs. Glover, an Irishwoman, of Boston, was 
 
50 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 executed in 1688 for bewitching four children of 
 Mr. Goodwin's. It is believed she was partially 
 crazy. The oldest of the children was thirteen 
 years of age. The most experienced physicians 
 pronounced them bewitched. Cotton Mather 
 stated that their conduct was very extraordinary. 
 " At one time they would bark like dogs, and then 
 again they would purr like cats. Yes," said he, 
 " they would fly like geese and be carried with an 
 incredible swiftness, having but just their toes now 
 and then upon the ground, sometimes not once in 
 twenty feet, and their arms waved like the wings 
 of a bird." 
 
 The period is now reached — the year 1692— 
 when the noted phase of delusion broke out at 
 Salem, Mass., known as the Salem Witchcraft. 
 The general religious superstition which per- 
 vaded the Puritanic people of New England fitted 
 them to become ready believers in in all sorts of 
 diabolism or the great power of the devil over 
 humans. This Salem imposture began at the 
 house of the Rev. Samuel Parris, the pastor of a 
 church in that village. His daughter Elizabeth, 
 Ann Putnam, Mary Walcot, Mary Lewis, Eliza- 
 beth Hubbard, Susanna Sheldon, Mary Warren, 
 Sarah Churchill, and others, including some In- 
 dians from the West Indies, were in the habit of 
 meeting at the house of Parris to take lessons in 
 and practice palmistry, fortune-telling, necro- 
 mancy, and magic. They became very expert in 
 many arts and tricks, and showed not a little 
 talent in acting and representing various charac- 
 ters. Ann Putnam, though younger than most of 
 the others, was the leading spirit of the party 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 51 
 
 and was quick at repartee and in readily devising 
 expedients in any emergency. They soon came 
 to understand each other well, and acted in con- 
 cert in pretending to be bewitched so as to aston- 
 ish beholders. They claimed that they were 
 choked, thrown into spasms and convulsions, and 
 otherwise submitted to torture by persons in the 
 neighborhood who had entered into compact with 
 the devil ; and upon such claims and pretensions 
 large number of persons of all ages, and many of 
 them of unblemished character, were arrested, 
 thrown into prison, and subjected to an ex parte 
 trial, semi-theological in character, before which 
 the girls appeared as accusers, and declared that 
 they had been and were tormented by the accused ; 
 and while the trials were in progress, and when- 
 ever they deemed it necessary, they went into 
 convulsions and spasms, often falling to the floor, 
 insisting that the accused parties were causing 
 this distress and torture. Upon this kind of evi- 
 dence multitudes of people were torn from their 
 homes and sent to crowded, uncomfortable prisons 
 to remain eight or ten months. Thirteen women 
 and six men were hanged, and one infirm old 
 man, Giles Corey, eighty-one years of age, was 
 pressed to death under a board loaded with heavy 
 weights until his tongue protruded from his 
 mouth and his breath was literally crushed out of 
 him. The society in and about Salem was greatly 
 demoralized by these villainous charges. None 
 was safe. Every person was liable to fall under 
 these accusing girls and their confidential advisers, 
 who had not a little influence over them. A reign 
 of terror existed in the community. The witch 
 
52 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 trials held in a church in Salem were the all- 
 absorbing matters of interest. To avoid this 
 cruel persecution many were forced to leave their 
 homes, some going to Europe and some to other 
 localities. The state of society was utterly de- 
 moralized. 
 
 Upham, in his " Salem Witchcraft," vol. ii, p. 
 3S0, says : " The evils of this epidemic cast their 
 , shadow over a broad surface and darkened the 
 condition of generations. . . . The fields were 
 neglected, fences, roads, barns, even the meeting- 
 house went into disrepair. . . . Scarcity of 
 provisions, nearly amounting to a famine, con- 
 tinued for some time ; farms were brought under 
 mortgage or sacrificed, and large numbers of 
 people were dispersed. One locality in Salem vil- 
 lage . . . bears to this day the marks of the 
 blight. . . . The ruinous results were not 
 confined to the village, but spread more or less 
 over the country." 
 
 Hutchinson, the earliest historian of these re- 
 markable witch trials, says : ' ' No wonder the 
 whole country was in consternation, when persons 
 of sober lives and unblemished characters were 
 committed to prison upon such sort of evidence. 
 Nobody was safe." 
 
 Space can be used to mention but a few of the 
 cases that were brought before those witch courts, 
 when the Rev. Cotton Mather and the Rev. Samuel 
 Parris figured conspicuously and wielded a pow- 
 erful control. William Hobbs was arrested in 
 in April, 1692. A kind of mock trial was held 
 over him, and he was sent to prison, where he re 
 mained till December, when he was admitted to 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 53 
 
 bail and a fine imposed upon him. In May, 
 1693, the fine was remitted and he set at liberty. 
 
 Elizabeth Howe, an estimable lady, whose hus- 
 band was blind, and si e a mother of several chil- 
 dren, was accused of bewitching the girls afore- 
 said, and was thrown into prison. Her blind 
 husband, led by one of the children, made a trip 
 of several miles almost daily to visit her in her 
 miserable cell, where she was so long confined 
 without having committed a single wrong. She 
 was at last executed by hanging. 
 
 Bridget Bishop, a married woman of good char- 
 acter, passed through a similar experience. She 
 was hanged. 
 
 Mrs. Mary Bradbury, seventy- five years of age, 
 who for over half a century had been a faithful 
 wife and an honorable, useful member of society, 
 was submitted to the same accusations and trials. 
 She was condemned to death, but the excitement 
 spent itself before the execution was carried out, 
 and her life was not taken. 
 
 George Jacobs, Sr., a tall, gray-headed old 
 man, was one of the sufferers. He, too, was exe- 
 cuted for, as was believed, being in league with 
 the devil. 
 
 George Burroughs, a minister and a man of ex- 
 cellent character, was unfortunate enough to fall 
 under the ban of the accusing girls whose atten- 
 tion it was thought had been directed to him by 
 an interested party. He had previously .esided 
 in Salem, where he preached for some years, and 
 had removed to what is now the state of Maine. 
 But he was denounced by these bewitched girls, a 
 legal process was issued for him and he was sent 
 
54 BLDK LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 for and brought to Salem, being compelled to 
 leave his helpless family unprovided for, and with 
 hardly a moment's notice. He was thrown inio 
 prison, brought before the court, and with no 
 evidence save what the girls said of him, he was 
 cunvicted and sent to the grJlows. 
 
 Elizabeth Gary, wife of Jonathan Gary, was 
 accused by two of the girls and one of the Indian? 
 She was arrested and heavy irons were placed 
 upon her limbs, but through the eiTorts of her 
 husband she escaped to Rhode Island, and after- 
 wards to New York, where she was kindly re- 
 ceived by Governor Fletcher. Her husband was 
 afterwards arrested and the property which he had 
 left with a friend was taken and confiscated. 
 
 John Alden was arrested and imprisoned fif- 
 teen weeks, when he was fortunate enough to make 
 his escape. 
 
 Giles Gorey's case was a hard one. He v.'as a 
 sufferer under High Priest Parris and his female 
 accusers. His wife had been complained of, and 
 he knowing her innocence, spoke strongly in her 
 defense. He was arranged before the same court, 
 but could not be induced to make a plea either of 
 guilty or not guilt}'. He was a man of some prop- 
 erty and he wished what he had to go to his 
 children. He knew that if he confessed or pleaded 
 guilty, his effects, in case of conviction, instead 
 of going to his heirs would be grabbed either by 
 the church or the court that convicted him. He 
 adhered to his resolution, confessing nothing, and 
 making no plea though three times brought before 
 the legal dignitaries. In consequence of the si- 
 lence he maintained, the sentence of peine forte 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 65 
 
 et d2(re, from the code of King James I., was passed 
 upon him, which was that he be remanded to his 
 low, damp dungeon, to be there laid upon his back 
 on the bare floor, naked for the most part, a board 
 to be laid upon him, and weights enough piled 
 on the board to nearly crush the life out of him, 
 and to have no sustenance, save on the first day 
 three morsels of very poor bread, and on the sec- 
 ond day three draughts of standing or stagnant 
 water, the nearest to be found to the prison door, 
 and this to be alternately his daily diet until he 
 died. 
 
 This horrible sentence was carried out and 
 the suffering that man passed through cannot be 
 conceived. The agony of him who died upon the 
 cross after three hours of exposure was trifling 
 compared with the protracted agony endured by 
 the aged Giles Corey, more than four score years 
 old. It is said the last act in this diabolical 
 tragedy was enacted in an open field near the 
 prison. The wretched sufferer begged his exe- 
 cutioners to increase the weights which were 
 crushing him that his agonies might be ended. 
 The hope, however, that he would yield and ac- 
 knowledge his guilt, so that his property could be 
 secured, induced them not to hurry his death. But 
 he assured them that it was of no use to expect 
 him to yield; that there could be but one way of 
 ending the matter, and that they might as well 
 pile on the rocks and have the matter ended. 
 Calef says that as his body yielded to the pres- 
 sure, his tongue protruded from his mouth, and an 
 offi-cial forced it back with his cane. This inhuman 
 act is attributed to the pious Parris, who made him- 
 
56 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 self so officious in the Salem trials and executions. 
 Upham, in narrating this horrid cruelty, says: 
 " For a person more than eighty-one years of age 
 this must be allowed to have been a marvelous ex- 
 hibition of prowess; illustrating, as stronglj' as 
 anything in human history, the power of a reso 
 lute will over the utmost pain and agony of body 
 and demonstrating that Giles Corey was a man of 
 heroic nerve and a spirit that could not be sub- 
 dued." This was a case of Christian persecution, 
 where the recipient was, as has been the case in 
 thousands of other instances, vastly superior, in 
 everything that constitutes manhood, to the per- 
 son who inflicted it. 
 
 The following persons were brought to trial at 
 one time, the grand jury having found about fifty 
 indictments: Rebecca Jacobs, Margaret Jacobs, 
 Sarah Buckley, Job Tookey, Hannah T5'ler, 
 Candy, Mary Marston, Elizabeth Johnson, Abi- 
 gail Baker, Mary Tyler, Sarah Hawkes, Mary 
 Wardwell, Mary Bridges, Hannah Post, Sarah 
 Bridges, Mary Osgood, Mary Lacy, and Mary 
 Post. The last three were condemned but not ex- 
 ecuted ; all the rest were acquitted. On another 
 day warrants were issued for the following unfor- 
 tunate individuals: William Hobbs and Deliver- 
 ance his wife, Nehemiah Abbot, Jr., Mary Easty, 
 Sarah Wilds, Edward Bishop and Sarah his wife, 
 Mary Black, and Mary English. On a single day 
 these convicted victims were sentenced to death: 
 Sarah Good, Sarah Wilds, Elizabeth How, Su- 
 sanna Martin, and Rebecca Mun. They were all 
 executed on the nineteenth of July, 1692. 
 
 "The wife of an honest and worthy man in 
 
BLUB LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 57 
 
 Andover was sick of a fever. After all the usual 
 means had failed to check the symptoms of her 
 disease, the idea became prevalent that she was 
 suffering under an ' evil hand.' The husband, 
 pursuant of the advice of friends, posted down to 
 Salem Village to ascertain from the afflicted girls 
 who was bewitching his wife. Two of them re- 
 turned with him to Andover. Never did a place 
 receive such fatal visitors. The Grecian horse 
 did not bring greater consternation to ancient 
 Ilium. Immediately after their arrival, they suc- 
 ceeded in getting more than fifty of the inhabi- 
 tants into prison, several of whom were hanged. 
 A perfect panic swept like a hurricane over the 
 place. The idea seized all minds, as Hutchinson 
 expresses it, that the only ' way to prevent an ac- 
 cusation was to become an accuser.' ' The num- 
 ber of the afflicted increased every day, and the 
 number of the accused in proportion.' In this 
 stage of things, such a great accession being made 
 to the ranks of the confessing witches, the power of 
 the delusion became irresistibly strengthened. Mr. 
 Dudley Bradstreet,the magistrate of the place, after 
 having committed about forty persons to jail, con- 
 cluded he had done enough, and declined to arrest 
 any more. The consequence was that he and his 
 wife were cried out upon, and they had to fly for their 
 lives. They accused his brother, John Bradstreet, 
 with having 'afflicted' a dog. Bradstreet escaped by 
 flight. The dog was executed. The number of 
 persons who had publicly confessed that they had 
 entered into a league with Satan, and exercised 
 the diabolical power thus acquired to the injury, 
 torment, and death of innocent parties, produced 
 
58 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 a profound effect upon the public mind. At the 
 same time the accusers had everywhere increased 
 in number, owing to the inflamed state of imagina- 
 tion universally prevalent, which ascribed all ail- 
 ments or diseases to the agency of witches, to a 
 mere love of notoriety and a passion for general 
 sympathy, to a desire to be secure against the 
 charge of bewitching others, or to a malicious dis- 
 position to wreak vengeance upon enemies. 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 other man. Fear sat on every 
 countenance, terror and distress were in all hearts; 
 silence prevaded the streets; all who could, quit 
 the country; business was at a stand ; a convic- 
 tion sank into the minds of minds of men that a 
 dark and infernal confederacy had got foothold 
 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 suf- 
 ferings 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 that he 
 and his confederates had free and unrestrained 
 power to go to and fro, torturing and destroying 
 whomever he willed. We cannot, by any extent 
 of research or power of imagination, enter fully 
 into the ideas of the people of that day; and it is 
 therefore absolutely impossible to appreciate the 
 awful condition of the community at the point of 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 59 
 
 time to which our narrative has led us " (Upham's 
 Salem Witchcraft, vol. ii, 247-250). 
 
 In speaking of the unjust trial and conviction 
 of Rebecca Nurse, Upham says: "But nothing can 
 extenuate the infamy that must forever rest upon 
 the names of certain parties to the proceedings. 
 Not to attempt here to measure the guilt of the 
 accusing witnesses, it may be mentioned that it 
 was the deliberate conviction of the family of 
 Rebecca Nurse that Mr. Parris, more than all 
 other persons, was responsible for her execution; 
 whether by his ofBcious activity in driving on the 
 prosecution, or in preventing her reprieve, cannot 
 be known. Of the prominent part taken by Mr. 
 Noyes in the cruel treatment of this woman, there 
 is no room for doubt. The records of the First 
 Church in Salem are darkened by the following 
 entry: '1692, July 3. — After sacrament, the elders 
 propounded to the chuich — and it was, by an 
 unanimous vote, consented to — that our sister 
 Nurse, being a convicted witch by the Court, and 
 condemned to die, should be excommunicated ; 
 which was accordingly done in the afternoon, she 
 being present' " (Ibid, p. 290). 
 
 In speaking of the minister, George Burroughs, 
 Upham uses this language: "A review of what 
 can be gleaned in reference to Mr. Burroughs at 
 Casco Bay and Salem Village, and a considerate 
 survey and scrutiny of all that has reached us from 
 the day of his arrest to the moment of his death, 
 have left a decided impression that he was an able, 
 intelligent, and true-minded man ; ingenuous, sin- 
 cere, humble in his spirit; faithful and devoted as 
 a minister; and active, disinterested, and generous 
 
60 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 as a citizen. His descendants, under his own 
 name and the names of Newman, Fowle, Holbrook, 
 Fox, Thomas, and others, have been numerous 
 and respectable " (Ibid, pp. 303, 304). 
 
 Speaking of his execution, he says, quoting 
 a paragraph from Calef: "As soon as he was 
 turned off, Mr. Cotton Mather, being mounted 
 upon a horse, addressed himself to the people, 
 partly to declare that he (Mr. Burroughs) was no 
 ordained minister, and partly to possess the people 
 of his guilt, saying that the devil had often been 
 transformed into an angel of light ; and this some- 
 what appeased the people, and the executions 
 went on. When he was cut down, he was dragged 
 by a halter to a hole, or grave, between the rocks, 
 about two feet deep ; his shirt and breeches being 
 pulled off, and an old pair of trousers of one exe- 
 cuted put on his lower parts : he was so put in, 
 together with Willard and Carrier, that one of his 
 hands, and his chin, and a foot of one of them, 
 were left uncovered." 
 
 " Cotton Mather, not satisfied with this display 
 of animosity, at a moment when every human 
 heart, however embittered by prejudice, is hushed 
 for the time in solemn silence, attempts, in an 
 account afterwards given of Mr. Burroughs's trial, 
 to blacken his character by an elaborate dressing- 
 up of the absurd stories told by the accusers, and 
 a perverse misrepresentation of the demeanor of 
 the accused. He relates with apparent glee what 
 was regarded as a wonderful achievement of 
 adroitness on the part of Chief-Justice Stoughton 
 in trapping Mr. Burroughs, and putting the laugh 
 upon him in court" (Ibid, p. 301). 
 
"Quakers, both men and women, were hanged in 
 the presence of the priests, who were pleased with nothing 
 V/etter." 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 61 
 
 On the case of John Proctor and George Jacobs, 
 Sr., Mr. Upham uses this language: "Jolm Proctor 
 had spoken so boldly against the proceedings, and 
 all who had part in them, that it was felt to be 
 necessary to put him out of the way. He had de- 
 nounced the entire company of the accusers, and 
 their revenge demanded his sacrifice. They 
 brought the whole power of their cunning and au- 
 dacious arts to bear against him, and pursued him 
 to the death with violence and rage. The manly 
 and noble deportment exhibited in his dying hour 
 seems to have made a deep impression on the 
 minds of some, and gave an effectual blow to the 
 delusion. The descendants of John Proctor have 
 always understood that his remains were recovered 
 from the spot where the hangman deposited them, 
 and placed in his own grounds, where they rest 
 to-day. 
 
 "No account has come to us of the deportment 
 of George Jacobs, Sr., at his execution. As he was 
 remarkable in life for the firmness of his mind, so 
 he probably was in death. He had made his will 
 before the delusion arose. It is dated January 29, 
 1692, and shows that he, like Proctor, had a con- 
 siderable estate. Bartholomew Gedney is one of 
 the attesting witnesses, and probably wrote the 
 document. After his conviction, on the 12th of 
 August, he caused another to be written, which, 
 in its provisions, reflects light upon the state of 
 mind produced by the condition in which he found 
 himself. In his infirm old age, he had been con- 
 demned to die for a crime of which he knew him- 
 self innocent, and which there is some reason to 
 believe he did not think anyone capable of com- 
 
62 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 mitting. He regarded the whole thing as a wicked 
 conspiracy and absurd fabrication. He had to 
 end his long life upon a scaffold a week from that 
 day. His house was desolated and his property 
 sequestered. His only son, charged with the 
 same crime, had eluded the sheriff — leaving his 
 family, in the hurry of his flight, unprovided for 
 — and was an exile in foreign lands. The crazy 
 wife of that son was in prison and in chains, wait- 
 ing trial on the same charge; her little children, 
 including an unweaned infant, left in a deserted 
 and destitute condition in the woods. The older 
 children were scattered, he knew not where, while 
 one of them had completed the bitterness of his 
 lot by becoming a confessor, upon being arrested 
 with her mother as a witch. This granddaughter 
 Margaret, overwhelmed with fright and horror, 
 bewildered by the statements of her accusers, and 
 controlled probably by the arguments and arbitrary 
 methods of address employed by her minister, Mr. 
 Noyes — whose peculiar function in these proceed- 
 ings seems to have been to drive persons accused 
 to make confession — had been betrayed into that 
 position, and became a confessor, and accuser of 
 others" (Ibid, 312, 315, 316). 
 
 Here is another quotation from Upham: "On 
 the gth of September, the Court met again; and 
 Martha Corey, Mary Easty, Alice Parker Ann 
 Pudeato?, Dorcas Hoar, and Mary Bradbury were 
 tried and condemned ; and, on the 17th Matg-aret 
 Scott, WilviotReed, Samuel Wardwell, Maty Parker 
 Abigail Faulkner, Rebecca Eames, Mary Lacy 
 Ann Foster, and Abigail Hobbs received the same 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 63 
 
 sentence. Those in italics were executed Septem- 
 ber 22, 1692 " (Ibid. 324). 
 
 Respecting the closing of this mad business 
 Upham thus remarks: "After the executions on 
 the 2 2d of September, the court adjourned to meet 
 some weeks subsequently, and it was, no doubt, 
 their expectation from month to month to hold 
 sessions, and supply each time new cartloads of 
 victims to the hangman. But a sudden collapse 
 took place in the machinery, and they met 
 no more. The executive authority intervened, 
 and their functions ceased. The curtain fell 
 unexpectedly, and the tragedy ended. It is 
 not known precisely what caused this sudden 
 change. It is probable that a revolution had 
 been going on some time in the public mind, which 
 was kept for a while from notice, but at last be- 
 came too apparent and too serious to be disre- 
 garded. It has generally been attributed to the 
 fact that the girls became over-confident, and 
 struck too high. They had ventured, as we have 
 seen, to cry out against the Rev. Samuel Willard, 
 but were rebuked and silenced by the court. 
 Whoever began to waver in his confidence of the 
 correctness of the proceedings was in danger of 
 being attacked by them; and as a general thing, 
 when a person was ' cried out upon,' it maybe 
 taken as proof that he had spoken against them " 
 (Ibid, pp. 344, 345). 
 
 Of the sad fate of Margaret Jacobs our author 
 observes : " Margaret Jacobs had to remain in jail 
 after the governor's proclamation had directed the 
 release of all prisoners, because she could not pay 
 the fees and charges. Her grandfather had been 
 
64 BLUE LA-WS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 executed, and all his furniture, stock, and movable 
 property seized by the marshal or sheriff. Her 
 father escaped the warrant by a sudden flight 
 from home uni -r the cover of midnight, and was 
 in exile 'beyo. a the seas;' her mother and herself 
 taken at the time b3f the officers serving the war- 
 rants against them; the younger children of the 
 family, left without protection, had dispersed, and 
 been thrown ujion the charity of neighbor?; the 
 house had been stripped of its contents, left open, 
 and deserted. She had not a shilling in the vrorld, 
 and knew not where to look for aid. Sl'.e was 
 taken back to prison, and remained there for some 
 time, until a person named Gammon, apparently a 
 stranger, happened to hear of her case, and, 
 touched with compassion, raised the money re- 
 quired, and released her" (Ibid, 353, 354). 
 
 Of Cotton Mather, more is required to be said: 
 " He aspired to be considered the leading cham- 
 pion of the church, and the most successful com- 
 batant against the Satanic powers. He seems to 
 have longed for an opportunity to signalize him- 
 self in this particular kind of warfare; seized upon 
 every occurrence that would admit of such a color- 
 ing to represent it as the result of diabolical 
 agency; circulated in his numerous publications 
 as many tales of witchcraft as he could collect 
 throughout New and Old England, and repeatedly 
 endeavored to get up cases of the kind in Boston. 
 There is some ground for suspicion that he was 
 instrumental in originating the fanaticism in 
 Salem; at any rate, he took a leading part in fo- 
 menting it. And while there is evidence that he 
 endeavored, after the delusion subsided, to escape 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 66 
 
 the disgrace of having approved of the proceedings, 
 and pretended to have been in some measure op- 
 posed to them, it can be too clearly shown that he 
 was secretl3' and cunningly endeavoring to renew 
 them during the next year in his own parish in 
 Boston. 
 
 " How blind is man to the future ! The state of 
 things which Cotton Mather labored to bring 
 about, in order that he might increase his own in- 
 fluence over an infatuated people, by being re- 
 garded by them as mighty to cast out and vanquish 
 evil spirits, and as able to hold Satan himself in 
 chains by his prayers and his pietj', brought him 
 at length into such disgrace that his power was 
 broken down, and he became the object of public 
 ridicule and open insult. And the excitement 
 that had been produced for the purpose of restor- 
 ing and strengthening the influence of the clerical 
 and spiritual leaders resulted in effects which re- 
 duced that influence to a still lower point. The 
 intimate connection of Dr. Mather and other 
 prominent ministers with the witchcraft delusion 
 brought a reproach upon the clergy from which 
 they have not yet recovered." 
 
 "Of the history of Cotton Mather subsequently 
 to the witchcraft prosecutions, and more or 
 less in consequence of his agency in them, 
 it may be said that the residue of his life was 
 doomed to disappointment and embittered by 
 reproach and defeat. The storm of fanatical de- 
 lusion, which he doubted not would carry him to 
 the heights of clerical and spiritual power in 
 America and everywhere, had left him a wreck. 
 His political aspirations, always one of his strong- 
 
66 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 est passions, were wholly blasted, and the great 
 aim and crown of his ambition, the presidency of 
 Harvard College, once and again and forever had 
 eluded his grasp " (Ibid. pp. 366-369, 503). It 
 is indeed a pity that a man of his abilities and 
 opportunities for good should be stranded on such 
 a miserable, delusive shoal. 
 
 Of the Rev. Samuel Parris and his connection 
 with the witch trials, Upham speaks thus : " At 
 this point, if Mr. Parris, the ministers, and the 
 magistrates had done their duty, the mischief 
 might have been stopped. The girls ought to 
 have been rebuked for their dangerous and for- 
 bidden sorceries and divinations, their meetings 
 broken up, and all such tamperings with alleged 
 supernaturalism and spiritualism frowned down. 
 Instead of this, the neighboring ministers were 
 summoned to meet at Mr. Parris's house to wit- 
 ness the extraordinary doings of the girls, and all 
 they did was to indorse and pray over them. 
 Countenance was thus given to their pretensions, 
 and the public confidence in the reality of their 
 statements established. Magistrates from the 
 town, church members, leading people, and 
 people of all sorts, flocked to witness the awful 
 power of Satan, as displayed in the tortures and 
 contortions of the ' afflicted children,' who became 
 objects of wonder, so far as their feats were re- 
 garded, and of pity, in view of their agonies and 
 convulsions. 
 
 " The aspect of the evidence rather favors 
 the supposition that the girls had originally no 
 design of accusing or bringing injury upon any 
 one. But the ministers at Parris's house, physi- 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 67 
 
 clans, and others, began the work of destruction 
 by pronouncing the opinion that they were be- 
 witched. This carried with it, according to the 
 received doctrine, a conviction that there were 
 witches about, for the devil could not act except 
 through the instrumentality of beings in confeder- 
 acy with him. Immediately the girls were beset 
 by everybody to say who it was that bewitched 
 them. Yielding to this pressure, they first cried 
 out upon such persons as might have been most 
 naturally suggested to them" (387, 388). 
 
 In allusion to Parris's status after the excite- 
 ment had subsided, he speaks thus : " After the 
 explosion of the witchcraft delusion the relations 
 of parties became entirely changed. The prose- 
 cutors at the trials were put on the defensive, and 
 felt themselves in peril. Parris saw his danger, 
 and, with characteristic courage and fertility of 
 resources, prepared to defend himself, and carry 
 the war upon any quarter from which an attack 
 might be apprehended. He continued, on his own 
 responsibility, to prosecute in court his suit 
 against the parish, and in his usual trenchant 
 style. As the law then was, a minister in a con- 
 troversy with his parish had a secure advantage, 
 and absolutely commanded the situation if his 
 church were with him. From the time of his set- 
 tlement, Paris had shaped his policy on this 
 basis." 
 
 As a rule, every excitement and delusion that 
 runs rapidly soon runs out, and the rule held 
 good in the matter of the Salem witchcraft. The 
 good sense of the public compelled a rational view 
 to be taken, and the imposition that had been 
 
68 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 played by interested parties was made apparent. 
 The supernatural part of the delusion lost caste 
 and the devil retired far to the rear. It was quite 
 perceptible that the girls had been partly infatu- 
 ated and partly designing, and that they had not 
 been a little influenced by interested clergymen 
 and others who had certain objects to carry out. 
 The truth gradually dawned upon the minds of 
 the masses that the parties who had been arrested, 
 imprisoned, and executed were not the guilty par- 
 ties, but that the real guilt rested in another quar- 
 ter — upon the girls and their abettors. 
 
 The two clergymen most interested thus fell 
 into odium with the people. Cotton Mather, who 
 was so intimately connected with the trials, never 
 reached the goal of his ambition that he hoped 
 for, and the latter part of his life was passed in 
 comparative disgrace. 
 
 Parris, who had acted a still more despicable 
 part, and had evinced a decided spirit of cruel 
 persecution, was compelled to leave for other 
 parts, as has been shown. Yes, all those who 
 had been directly engaged in the disreputable 
 business passed into disgrace and forgetfulness. 
 Upham thus dismisses Parris : " Samuel Parris, 
 after a ministry of seven years, crowded from the 
 very beginning with contention and animosity, 
 and closed in desolation, ruin, and woes unutter- 
 able, havoc scattered among his people and the 
 whole country round, was driven from the parish, 
 the blood of the innocent charged upon his head 
 and for the rest of his days consigned to obscurity 
 and penury. The place of his abode has upon it 
 no habitation or structure of man, and the only 
 
" The persons who were hanged had their shirts ripped 
 off with a knife, and their naked bodies were cast into a 
 hole without covering." 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 69 
 
 vestiges left of him are his records of the long 
 quarrel with his congregation and his inscription 
 on the headstone erected by him as he left the 
 village forever, over the fresh grave of his wife " 
 (Ibid. p. 515). 
 
 Anne Putnam, the leading spirit in the strange 
 delusion, was truly sorry for the part she had per- 
 formed in the sad tragedy. 
 
 "On the twenty-fifth of August, 1706, a great 
 concourse assembled in the meeting-house. Large 
 numbers came from other places, particularly from 
 the town of Salem. The following document, 
 having been judged sufficient and suitable, was 
 written out in the church-book the evening before 
 and signed by her. It was read by the pastor/ 
 before the congregation, who were seated; she( 
 standing in her place while it was read , and own- 
 ing it as hers by a declaration to that effect at its 
 close, and also acknowledging the signature : 
 
 "THE CONFESSION OF ANNE PUTNAM, WHEN SHE WAS RE- 
 CEIVED TO COMMUNION, I706. 
 
 " I desire to be humbled before God for that sad and 
 humbling providence that befell my father's family in 
 the year about '92; that I, then being in my childhood, 
 should, by such a providence of God, be made an instru- 
 ment for the accusing of several persons of a grievous 
 crime, whereby their lives were taken away from them, 
 whom now I have just grounds and good reason to be- 
 lieve they were innocent persons; and that it was a great 
 delusion of Satan that deceived me in that sad time, 
 whereby 1 justly fear I have been instrumental, with 
 others, though ignorantly and unwittingly, to bringupon 
 myself and this land the guilt of innocent blood; though 
 what was said or done by me against any person I can 
 truly and uprightly say, before God and man , I did it not 
 out of any anger, malice, or ill-will to any person, for I 
 
70 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 had no such thing against one of them; but what I did 
 was ignorantly, being deluded by Satan. Andpaiticu- 
 larly, as I was a chief instrument of accuEing of Good- 
 wife Nurse and her two sisters, I desire to lie in the dust, 
 and to be humbled for it, in that I was a cause, with 
 others, of so sad a calamity to them and their families; 
 for which cause I desire to lie in the dust, and earnestly 
 bep' forgiveness of God, and from all those unto whom I 
 have given just cause of sorrow and offense, whose rela- 
 tions wtre taken away or accused. 
 
 [Signed] Anne Putnam. 
 
 "This confession was read before the congre- 
 gation, together with her relation^ August 25, 
 1706; and she acknowledged it." 
 
 "While, in a certain sense, she imputes the 
 blarae to Satan, this declaration of Anne Putnam 
 is conclusive evidence that she and her confederate 
 accusers did not believe in any communications 
 having been made to them by invisible spirits of 
 any kind. Those persons, in our day, who im- 
 agine that they hold intercourse, by rapping or 
 otherwise, with spiritual beings, have sometimes 
 found arguments in favor of their belief in the 
 phenomena of the witchcraft trials. But Anne 
 Putnam's confession is decisive against this. If 
 she had really received from invisible beings, 
 subordinate spirits, or the spirits of deceased per- 
 sons, the matters to which she testified, or ever 
 believed that she had, she would have said so. 
 On the contrary she declares that she had no 
 foundation whatever, from any source, for what 
 she said, but was under the subtle and mysterious 
 influence of the devil himself. 
 
 " She died at about the age of thirty-six years. 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 71 
 
 Her will is dated May 20, 1715, and was pre- 
 sented in probate June 29, 1716." 
 
 Thus passed away the principal actors in that 
 sad drama, during which so much of t'le spirit of 
 persecution was manifested and such a reign of 
 dark superstition ruled over the minds of other- 
 wise honest people. In the present age of intelli- 
 gence and scientific investigation, another such 
 wild delusion need never be feared. Where the 
 light of science shines, and the benefits of intelli- 
 gence and culture abound, little is to be appre- 
 hended from the presence of devils and witches. 
 We can well afford to spare the presence of these, 
 together with all the weird and wild and darken- 
 ing superstitions that attend them if, instead, we 
 can have reason, science, and nature's truths. 
 
 PERSECUTIONS OF QUAKERS ANP HERETICS. 
 
 The persecutions of the Quakers in America 
 differed only in degree, "as a small stream 
 differeth from a large stream," not in kind or 
 spirit, from those in Europe. In Massachusetts a 
 law was passed enacting that for aiBrming that 
 men are saved by works and not by faith, for 
 opposing infant baptism, for leaving the church 
 when infants were about to be baptized, the of- 
 fender should suffer banishment, and that who- 
 ever denied the infallibility of the Bible should, 
 for the first offense, ' ' be openly and severely 
 whipped by the executioner," and for the second 
 "might be put to death." (Ancient Laws and 
 Charters of Mass. Bay.) 
 
 The Puritan laws of New England against "a 
 cursed sect of hereticks lately risen up in the 
 world, which are commonly called Quakers," pro- 
 
72 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 vided as punishment for a Quaker, on first con- 
 viction, twenty stripes ; second, loss of an ear if a 
 man, and if a woman, to be severely whipped; and 
 the third, whether man or woman, to have the 
 tongue bored through with a red-hot iron. If 
 Quakers returned to the colony after banishment 
 they were to suffer death (date 1656-7). 
 
 Brooks Adams, in his valuable work, the ' 'Eman- 
 cipation of Massachusetts," finds the reason for this 
 persecution to have been a desire to perpetuate 
 the priesthood and maintain its usurped and ex- 
 clusive power over the people. "Viewed from the 
 standpoint of comparative history," says Mr. 
 Adams, " the policy of theocratic Massachusetts 
 toward the Quakers was the necessary conse- 
 quence of antecedent causes, and is exactly par- 
 alleled with the massacre of the house of Ahab by 
 Elisha and Jehu (as told in 2 Kings ix, x). The 
 power of a dominant priesthood depended on con- 
 formity, and the Quakers absolutely refused to 
 conform ; nor was this the blackest of their 
 crimes; they believed that the deity communi- 
 cated directly with men, and that these revela- 
 tions were the highest rule of conduct. Mani- 
 festly such a doctrine was revolutionary. The 
 influence of all ecclesiastics must ultimately rest 
 upon the popular belief that they are endowed with 
 attributes which are denied to common men. The 
 syllogism of the New England elders was this: 
 All revelation was contained in the Bible; we 
 alone, from our peculiar education, are capable of 
 interpreting the meaning of the scriptures ; there- 
 fore we only can declare the will of God. But it is 
 evident that, were the dogma of the 'inner light' 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 73 
 
 once accepted, this reasoning must fall to the 
 ground, and the authority of the ministry be 
 overthrown. Necessarily those who held so sub- 
 versive a doctrine would be pursued with greater 
 hate than less harmful heretics, and thus contem- 
 plating the situation there is no difficulty in un- 
 derstanding why the Rev. John Wilson, pastor, 
 Boston, should have vociferated in his pulpit, that 
 ' he would carry fire in one hand and faggots in 
 the other, to burn all the Quakers in the world;' 
 why the Rev. John Higginson should have de- 
 nounced the ' inner light ' as 'a stinking vapour 
 from hell ; ' why the astute Norton should have 
 taught that the 'justice of God was the Devil's ar- 
 mour ;' and why Endicott sternly warned the first 
 comers, ' Take heed you break not our ecclesiasti- 
 cal laws, for then ye are sure to stretch by the 
 halter. ' " 
 
 This same John Wilson, pastor, on his death-bed 
 was asked what he thourjbt to be the greatest sin 
 of the people. True to the instinct of his caste he 
 answered: " I have long feared several sins, 
 whereof one was Corahism ; that is, when people 
 rise up as a Corah against their ministers, as if 
 they took too much upon them, when indeed they 
 do but rule for Christ, and according to Christ." 
 Reading the history of Puritan New England one 
 can but wish that the people had more of the spirit 
 of Corah ! 
 
 "The persecution of the Baptists," says Mr. 
 Adams, also "lays bare this selfish clerical policy. 
 The theory of the suppression of heresy as a 
 sacred duty breaks down when it is conceded tha!- 
 the heretic may be admitted to the orthodox com- 
 
74 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 munion without sin; therefore the motives for 
 cruelty were sordid. The ministers felt instinct- 
 ively that an open toleration would impair their 
 power ; not only because the congregations would 
 divide, but because these sectaries listened to 
 'JohnPvUssell the shoemaker.' Obviously, were 
 cobblers to usurp the sacerdotal fi^nctions, the 
 superstitious reverence of the people for the 
 priestly office would not long endure ; and it was 
 his crime in upholding this sacrilegious practice 
 which made the Rev. Thomas Cobbett cry out in 
 his pulpit 'against Gorton, that arch-heretick, who 
 would have all men to be preachers.' The clergy 
 held the state within their grasp, and shrank from 
 no deed of blood to guard the interests of their 
 order." 
 
 Under Governer Endicott and Priests Norton, 
 Wilson, and others, these poor persecuted sec- 
 taries were driven from town to town, even into 
 the wildforest among the wilderlndians,in the most 
 cruel and inhuman manner. Sewel, in his history 
 of the Quakers, tells the story of a few of their 
 wrongs: The.ie detestable scenes of more than 
 savage barbarity began in the month called July, 
 1656. Mary Fisher and Ann Austin, having 
 arrived in the road before Boston, the deputy 
 governor, Bellingham, had them brought on shore 
 and committed to prison as Quakers. They were 
 stripped naked under pretense of knowing whether 
 they were witches, "and in this search," says 
 Sewel, "they were so barbarously misused that 
 modesty forbids to mention it." After about five 
 weeks' imprisonment they were sent back to Old 
 England, their beds and Bibles being taken by the 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 75 
 
 jailer for his fees. Scarcely a month after, eight 
 other persecuted Quakers came; they were locked 
 up in the same manner as the former; and after about 
 eleven weeks' stay were sent back. John Endicott 
 bade them "take heed that ye break not our 
 ecclesiastical laws, for then ye are sure to stretch 
 by the halter." Then a law was made to prohibit 
 all masters of ships from bringing any Quakers 
 into that jurisdiction. Nicholas Uspal, a mem- 
 ber of the church and a man of unblamable char- 
 acter, for speaking against such proceedings was 
 fined twenty-three pounds and also imprisoned 
 for not going to church ; next they banished him 
 from their jurisdiction; and though an aged and 
 weakly man, he was forced to depart in the 
 winter. Nicholas afterwards met with an Indian 
 prince, who, having understood how he had been 
 used, offered to make him a warm house, and 
 further said, "What a God have the English, who 
 deal so with one another about their God !" 
 
 The following year (1657) Anne Burden and 
 Mary Dyer were imprisoned at Boston; and Mary 
 Clark, for warning these persecutors to desist from 
 their iniquitj', was unmercifully rewarded with 
 twenty stripes of a three-corded whip on her 
 naked back, and detained in prison about three 
 months in the winter season. The cords of these 
 whips were commonly as thick as a man's little 
 finger, each cord having knots at the end. Chris- 
 topher Holder and John Copeland were whipped 
 at Boston the same year, each thirty stripes with a 
 knotted whip of three cords, the hangman meas- 
 uring his ground and fetching the strokes with all 
 the force he could, ' ' which so cruelly cut their 
 
76 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 flesh that a woman standing by fell down dead." 
 Then they were locked up in prison and kept three 
 days without food, or so much as a drink of water, 
 and detained in prison nine weeks in the cold winter 
 season, without fire, bed, or straw. They afterwards 
 had their right ears cut off by authority. Lawrence 
 and Cassandra Southick and their son Josiah, being 
 carried to Boston, were all of them, notwithstand- 
 ing the old age of the two, sent to the house of 
 correction, and whipped with cords as those be- 
 fore, in the coldest season of the year, and had 
 property taken from them ' ' to the value of four 
 pounds ten shillings," for not going to church. 
 
 In the year 1658 a law was made which, besides 
 imposing heavy penalties and imprisonments, ex- 
 tended to working in the house of correction, 
 severe whipping, cutting off ears, and boring 
 through their tongues with a red-hot iron, whether 
 male or female, and other inhuman barbarities. 
 The same year William Brend and William Led- 
 dra came to Newbury; thence they were taken to 
 Boston, to the house of correction, to work there; 
 but they, being unwilling to submit, were kept 
 five days without any food, and then beaten 
 twenty strokes with a three-corded whip. Next 
 they were put into irons, neck and heels so close 
 together that there was no more room left between 
 than for the lock that fastened them, and kept in 
 that situation sixteen hours, and then brought to 
 the mill to work; but Brend, refusing, was beaten 
 by the inhuman jailer with a pitched rope till his 
 flesh was bruised into a jelly, his body turned 
 cold, and for some time he had neither seeing, 
 feeling, nor hearing. The high priest, John 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 Norton, was heard to say, " William Brend en. 
 deavored to beat our gospel ordinances black and 
 blue; if then he be beaten black and blue it is but 
 just upon him; and I will appear in the behalf of 
 him that did so." 
 
 As if these inhuman barbarities were not suf- 
 ficient, John Norton and other priests petitioned 
 for a law to banish the Quakers on pain of death. 
 The petition was granted October 20, 1658, by the 
 court of Boston. A short extract of the law is as 
 follows: " Whereas, there is a pernicious sect 
 (commonly called Quakers), who do take upon 
 them to change and alter the received laudable 
 customs of our nation, and also to destroy the 
 order of the churches, by denying all established 
 forms of worship. For prevention thereof, this 
 court doth order and enact that every person or 
 persons, being convicted to be of the sect of the 
 Quakers, shall be sentenced to be banished upon 
 pain of death." 
 
 Sewel thus describes the condemnation and de- 
 struction of Wenlock Christison in 1661: "Wil- 
 liam Leddra being thus despatched, it was resolved 
 to make an end also of Wenlock Christison. He 
 therefore was brought from the prison to the court 
 at Boston, where the governor John Indicot, and 
 the deputy governor Richard Billingham, both 
 being present, it was told him, ' Unless you will 
 renounce your religion, you shall surely die.' But 
 instead of shrinking, he said with an undaunted 
 courage, 'Nay, I shall not change my religion, 
 nor seek to save my life; neither do I intend to 
 deny my master; but if I lose my life for Christ's 
 sake, and the preaching of the gospel, I shall save 
 
78 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 my life.' . . . John Indicot asked him ' what 
 he had to say for himself, why he should not die?' 
 . . . Then Wenlock asked, ' By what law will 
 you put me to death?' The answer was, ' We have 
 a law, and by our law you are to die.' ' So said 
 the Jews of Christ' (reply'd Wenlock), ' we have 
 a law, and by our law he ought to die. Who em- 
 powered you to make that law?' To v/hich one of 
 the board answered, 'We have a patent, and 
 are the patentees; judge whether we have not 
 the power lo make laws.' Hereupon Wenlock 
 asked again, ' How, have you power to 
 make laws repugnant to the laws of Eng- 
 land?' 'No,' said the governor. 'Then' 
 (reply'd Wenlock), 'you are gone beyond your 
 bounds, and have forfeited your patent; and that 
 is more than you can answer.' 'Are you,' asked 
 he, ' subjects to the king, yea or nay?' . . . To 
 which one said, 'Yea, we are so.' 'Well,' said 
 Wenlock, ' so am I.' . . . ' Therefore seeing 
 that j^ou and I are subjects to the king, I demand 
 to be tried by the laws of my own nation.' It was 
 answered, ' You shall be tried by a bench and a 
 jury.' For it seems they began to be afraid to go 
 on in the former course, of trial without jury. . . 
 But Wenlock said, ' That is not the law, but the 
 manner of it; for I never heard nor read of any 
 law that was in England to hang Quakers.' To 
 this the governor reply'd ' that there was a law to 
 hang Jesuits.' To which Wenlock returned, ' If 
 you put me to death, it is not because I go under 
 the name of a Jesuit, but of a Quaker. Therefore 
 I appeal to the laws of my own nation.' But in- 
 stead of taking notice of this, one said ' that he 
 
BLUE LAWS OP CONNECTICUT. 79 
 
 was in their hands, and had broken their law, and 
 they would try him.' " 
 
 And try him they did. He w;;s sent back to 
 prison till the next court, when he was again 
 brought to the bar, and again demanded an appeal 
 to England. But Endicott was determined that he 
 should die, and he put his fate to vote, failing, 
 however, to carry condemnation. " The governor 
 seeing this division, said, ' I could find it in my 
 heart to go home;' being in such a rage, that he 
 flung something furiously on the table. . . . 
 Then the governor put the court to vote again; 
 but this was done confusedly, which so incensed 
 the governor that he stood up and said, ' You that 
 will not consent record it; I thank God I am not 
 afraid to give judgment. . . . Wenlock Chris- 
 tison, hearken to your sentence: You must return 
 unto the place from whence you came, and from 
 thence to the place of execution, and there you 
 must be hanged until you are dead, dead, dead.' " 
 
 Daniel and Provided Southick, son and daugh- 
 ter to Lawrence and Cassandra, not frequenting 
 the assemblies of these persecuting Puritans, were 
 fined ten pounds, though it was well known they 
 had no estate, their parents having been reduced 
 to poverty by their rapacious persecutors. To get 
 this money the general court at Boston issued an 
 order, by which the treasurers of the several coun- 
 ties were empowered to sell the bodies of said 
 persons to any of the English nation at Virginia 
 or Barbadoes, to pay their fines. William Maston, 
 at Hampton, was fined ten pounds for two books 
 found in his house, five pounds for not frequent- 
 ing their church, and three pounds besides as due 
 
80 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 to the priest; for which fine he had taken from 
 him property worth more than twenty pounds. 
 Not long after, over a thousand pounds were 
 taken from some, only because they had separated 
 themselves from the persecuting church. Thomas 
 Prince, governor of Plymouth, was heard to say, 
 "that in his conscience the Quakers were such a 
 people as deserved to be destroyed, they, their 
 wives and children, their houses and lands, with- 
 out pity or mercy." Humphrey Norton, at New 
 Haven, for being a Quaker, was severely whipped 
 and burnt in the hand with the letter H to signify 
 heretic. The sentence of death was executed upon 
 William Robinson and Marmaduke Stephenson, 
 upon the twenty-seventh of October, 1659. As 
 they approached the gallows, the priest (Wilson) 
 tauntingly said to Robinson, "Shall such Jacks as 
 you come in before authority with their hats on?" 
 To which Robinson replied, " Mind you, mind 
 you, it is for the not putting off the hat we are put 
 to death!" The persons who were hanged were 
 barbarously used; even their shirts were ripped off 
 with a knife, and their naked bodies cast into a 
 hole that was dug, without any covering. And 
 Priest Wilson also made a ballad on them. On 
 the thirty-first of March, 1660, Mary Dyer was 
 sentenced to death by Endicott, and the next day 
 executed. William Leddra returned to Boston, 
 was cast into an open prison, and locked in chains 
 day and night, in a very cold winter, and was 
 sentenced to death and executed on the fourteenth 
 of January, 1 66 1. Many, both men and women 
 were stripped naked from the waist upward, tied 
 to a cart-tail, and scourged in the most brutal and 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 81 
 
 barbarous manner, while the priests, who were the 
 principal instigators to such more than savage 
 meanness, were pleased in nothing better than in 
 the exercise of such Christian and diabolical 
 cruelties. Peter Pearson and Judith Brown, being 
 stripped to the waist, were fastened to a cart-tail 
 and whipped through the town of Boston. Joseph 
 Southick also was stripped and led through the 
 streets of Boston at the cart -tail and vehemently 
 scourged by the hangman. The same day he was 
 whipped at Roxbury, and the next morning at 
 Dedham. The whip used for these executions was 
 not of whip-cord, but of dried guts, and each 
 string had three knots at the end. At Dover, 
 Anne Coleman, Mary Tomkins, and Alice Am- 
 brose were sentenced to be fastened to the cart- 
 tail and whipped on their naked backs through 
 eleven towns, a distance of nearly eighty miles. 
 Then, on a very cold day, the deputy, Walden,*at 
 
 * Following is the warrant under which Walden acted: 
 
 "To the Constables of Dover, Hampton, Salisbury, 
 Newbury, Rowley, Ipswich, Wenham, Linn, Boston, 
 Roxbury, Dedham, and until these vagabond Quak- 
 ers are carried out of this jurisdiction. 
 
 You and every one of you are required, in the King's 
 Majesty's name, to take these vagabond Quakers, Anne 
 Coleman, Mary Tomkins, and Alice Ambrose, and make 
 them fast to the cart's tail, and driving the cart through 
 your several towns, to whip them on their backs, not ex- 
 ceeding ten stripes apiece on each of them in each town, 
 and so to convey them from constable to constable, till 
 they come out of this jurisdiction, and you will answer 
 it at your peril : and this shall be your warrant. 
 
 " Per me, Richard Walden. 
 
 "At Dover, dated December 22d, 1662." 
 
82 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 Dover, caused these women to be stripped naked, 
 from the middle upward, and tied to a cart, and 
 then whipped them, while the priest looked on 
 and laughed at it. Two of their friends testified 
 against Walden's cruelty, for which they were put 
 in the stocks. The women were carried to Hamp- 
 ton, and there whipped; from thence to Salisbury, 
 and again v^hipped. William Barefoot at length 
 obtained the warrant from the constable for their 
 release, the priest, however, vainly protesting. 
 Not long after, these women returned to Dover, 
 and were again seized, while in meeting, and bar- 
 barously dragged about at the instigation of Hate- 
 evil Nutwell, a ruling elder. The barbarity of 
 their persecutors on this occasion exceeded all de- 
 scription. Being seized in meeting, while on their 
 knees in prayer, they were dragged by their arms 
 nearly a mile through a deep snow, across fields 
 and over stumps, by which they were much 
 bruised. The next day they were barbarously 
 dragged down a steep hill to the water side and 
 threatened with drowning, and one of them was 
 actually plunged into the water, when a sudden 
 shower obliged the Christians to retreat. At 
 length, after much abuse, these victims of ortho- 
 dox barbarity were turned out of doors at midnight; 
 and, with their clothes wet and frozen, were 
 obliged to suffer the inclemency of a severe winter's 
 night. Afterwards, Anne Coleman and four of 
 her friends were whipped through Salem, Boston, 
 and Dedham by order of Hawthorne, the magis- 
 trate. Anne Coleman was a little weakly woman, 
 and, while she was fastened to the cart at Ded- 
 ham, the executioner, encouraged by Priest 
 
Deputy Walden caused these women to be stripped 
 naked from the middle upward and tied to a cart, and 
 then whipped them. 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 83 
 
 Bellingham, struck her so savagely that, with the 
 knot of the whip, he split the nipple of her breast, 
 which so tortured her that it almost took away 
 her life. 
 
 Margaret Brewster was the last woman whipped 
 by the Puritans for the crime of being a Quaker. 
 Inspired by the persecutions of her sect, she jour- 
 neyed to New England to protest to the governor 
 against his cruel course. She was tried and con- 
 demned to be whipped, her sentence being in the 
 following words: "Margaret Brewster, You are 
 to have your clothes stripped off to the middle, 
 and to be tied to a cart's tail at the South Meeting 
 House, and to be drawn through the town, and to 
 receive twenty stripes upon your naked body." 
 
 These are a few instances, narrated in the brief- 
 est and driest manner, of the savage cruelty 
 practiced by those who pretended that they had 
 left England to enable them to exercise liberty of 
 conscience. By their character one would think 
 that they " left their country for their country's 
 good," instead of for their own. Such was Prot- 
 estantism in all its purity of Puritanism! Such 
 were the fiends which the Christian religion made 
 of men! 
 
84 
 
 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICU'^. 
 
 BLUE LAWS OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 Those who fancy that strict laws were peculiar 
 to New England in colonial days should read s offl^ 
 of the enactmeatsin the Virgiaia.assembly. 
 •'"'TTwas enacted, '" WritesProf. Tohn Fiske in 
 "Old Virginia and Her Neighbors," "that any 
 person found drunk was for the first offense to be 
 privately reproved by the minister; the second 
 time this reproof was to be publicly administered; 
 the third time the offender must be put in irons 
 for twelve hours and pay a fine; for any subse- 
 quent offense he must be severely punished at the 
 discretion of the governor and council. 
 
 " To guard the community against excessive 
 vanity in dress it was enacted that for all public 
 contributions every_ugmarried ^an-ai BSt be sl§ ^ 
 ses sed in ch urch ' accor ding to hisown^ajparp],' 
 and every married man must be assessed 'ac- 
 fCording to his own and his wife's apparel.' 
 
 ' ' Not merely extravagance in dress, but such 
 social misdemeanors as flirting received due legis- 
 taRvS" cone 
 toencSt 
 
 ? mnaliu ii : Pretty fflaids ■Weieknowh 
 ITgehopes in more than one suitor, and 
 gay deceivers of the sterner sex would sometimes 
 seek to win the affections of two or more women 
 at the same time. "Wherefore it was enacted that 
 'every minister should give notice in his church 
 that what man or woman soever should use any 
 word or speech tending to a contract of marriage 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 8S 
 
 a 
 
 to two several persons at one time as might en- 
 tangle or breed scruples in their consciencesX 
 should for such their offense, either undergo \ 
 corporal correction (by whipping) or be punished \ 
 by fine or otherwise, according to the quality of ) 
 the person so offending." ^ 
 
 Men were held to more strict accountability for 
 the spoken or written word than in th-ese modern 
 days. One of the most prominent settlers we find 
 presenting a petition to the assembly to grant him 
 due satisfaction against a neighbor who has ad- 
 dressed to him a letter " wherein he taxeth him 
 both unseemly and amiss of certain things wherein 
 he was never faulty." Speaking against the gov- 
 ernor or any member of the council was liable to 
 be punished with the pillory. It was also impru 
 dent to speak too freely about clergymen, ¥/h 
 were held in great reverence. No planter coul 
 dispose of so much as a pound of tobacco until h 
 had laid aside a certain specified quantity as his 
 assessment towards the minister's salary. 
 
 If you look on a map of Virginia, one which 
 gives the county seats in capitals, you will see near 
 the eastern coast the imposing name "Princess 
 Anne Court House." The two buildings forming 
 the core of the hamlet are the court house and the 
 jail. In the court house are the records of witch 
 trials ViTitten on parchment in ink that began to 
 fade one hundred years ago. Among other docu- 
 ments there are the following declarations, 
 adopted "at a meeting of the justices according 
 to appointment, 21 September, 1699" : 
 "the test. 
 
 "I, A B, doe declare that I doe believe that 
 
9 
 
 86 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 there is not any Transubstantiation in the sacra- 
 ment of the Lord's Supper, or in the Elements of 
 Bread and Wine, at or after the consecration 
 thereof by any person whatsoever. 
 
 "the association. 
 
 "Whereas there hath been a horrid and Detest- 
 able Conspiracy formed and carryed on by Papists 
 and other wicked and traitorous persons for As- 
 sassinating his Majestie's Royall person In order 
 to Encourage an Invasion from France to Subvert 
 our Religion, Laws, and Libertys, wee whose 
 names are hereunto Subscribed doe heartily, sin- 
 cerely, and Solemnly profess, testify, and Declare 
 that his present Majestie King William is 
 Rightfull and LawfuU King of these Realms. 
 And wee doe mutually promise and Engage to 
 stand by and assist each other to the utmost of our 
 power In the Support and Defence of his Majes- 
 tie's most Sacred person and Government against 
 the late King James and all his adherents, and in 
 Case his Majestie comes to any Violent or un- 
 timely Death (which God forbid) wee doe hereby 
 trooly and unanimously Oblidge Ourselves to 
 Unite, Associate, and stand by each other in Re- 
 venging the same upon his enemies and their Ad- 
 herents, and in Supporting and Defending the 
 Succession of the Crowne according to an act 
 made in the first year of the reign of King Wil- 
 liam and Queen Mary Entitled An Act Declaring 
 the Rights and Libertys of the Subject and Set- 
 tling the Succession of the Crowne." 
 
 The records of the criminal cases might have 
 been written in some Puritanical village where 
 
BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 87 
 
 punishments were thorough and frequent. One 
 hundred and fifty years ago, for instance, Edward 
 Cannon and Amos Weeks stood ' 'presented by the 
 grand jury for suffering negroes to dance in the 
 house then occupied by them." The said Cannon 
 and Weeks protested that they were not guilty of 
 this heinous crime, but they had to stand trial 
 nevertheless. 
 
 In 1764 Pat Murphy was indicted by the grand 
 jury for Sabbath-breaking, and the same august 
 body indicted a number of women for the specific 
 offense of not going to church. 
 
 In 1876 there were reprinted at Hartford, Conn., 
 the " Articles, Laws, and Orders, Divine, Poli- 
 tique, and Martial, for the Colony in Virginia; 
 first established by Sir Thomas Gates Knight, 
 Lieutenant-General, the 24th of May, 16 10. Again 
 exemplified and enlarged by Sir Thomas Dale, 
 Knight, Marshall, and Deputie Governour, the 
 22d of June, 1611." From these we get the fol- 
 lowing regulation prescribing the penalty of death 
 
 fnT^Qii-»M^pinHarire_QJw2JT»rf-h rirf^ltyn+gy '■ h irpfy 
 
 jan and woman shall repair in the morning to the 
 divine service and sermons preached upon the 
 Sabbath day, and in the afternoon to divine ser- 
 vice, and catechising, upon pain for the first fault 
 to lose their provision, and the allowance for the 
 whole week following; for the second, to lose the 
 said allowance and also be whipt; and for the 
 third, to suffer death." 
 
 Scriptural sanction for that law was found in 
 Exodus XXXV, 2. It was passed at the time the 
 Virginia plantation held all things in common; 
 and if the Sabbath was not observed according to 
 
88 BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 the requirements of the government, all supplies 
 were cut off. 
 
 On the subject of religious persecutions in Vir 
 ginia Thomas Jefferson wrote: " The first settlers 
 [of Virginia] were emigrants from England, of the 
 English church, just at a point of time when it 
 was flushed with complete victory over the relig- 
 ions of all other persuasions. Possessed as they 
 became of the powers of making, administering, 
 and executing the laws, they showed equal in- 
 tolerance in this country with their Presbyterian 
 brethren who had emigrated to the Northern gov- 
 ernment. . . . Several acts of the Virginia 
 
 ' Assembly, of 1659, 1662, and 1693 had made it 
 penal in parents to refuse to have their children 
 baptized; had prohibited the ' unlawful ' assem- 
 bling of Quakers; had made it penal for any mas- 
 
 Iter of a vecsel to bring a Quaker into the state; 
 had ordered those already there, and such as 
 should come thereafter, to be imprisoned till they 
 should abjure the country — provided a milder 
 penalty for the first and second return, but death 
 for their third. If no capital executions took 
 place here, as did in New England, it was not 
 owing to the moderation of the church, or spirit 
 of the legislature, as may be inferred from the 
 law itself; but to historical circumstances which 
 have not been handed down to us." — " Notes on 
 Virginia" (1788), p. 167. 
 
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