LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 PURCHASED BY THE 
 MRS. ROBERT LENOX KENNEDY CHURCH HISTORY FUND. 
 
 Division 
 
 Section.s....s2...53 
 

 
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 Courtesy of The Essex Institute, Salem, Mass. 
 
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 From a painting by T. H. Matteson 
 
 
 
THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2022 with funding from 
 Princeton Theological Seminary Library 
 
 https://archive.org/details/salemwitchtrialsOOgemm 
 
The 
 SALEM WITCH TRIALS 
 
 A Chapter of New England 
 History 
 
 BY / 
 
 WILLIAM NELSON GEMMILL 
 
 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 A. C. McCLURG & CO. 
 1924 
 
Copyright 
 A. C. McClurg & Co. 
 1924 
 
 Published December, 1924 
 
 Printed in the United States of America 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 I HAVE been moved to write this volume by rea- 
 son of an ever increasing interest in our early 
 American life. 
 
 The story of Witchcraft throughout the world, 
 would fill many volumes, yet some knowledge of it, 
 in the years preceding the coming of our Pilgrim 
 Fathers is necessary to understand a belief that was 
 then, well-nigh universal. The casual student is 
 inclined to charge the whole thing to religious big- 
 otry, but a clearer study must convince any one that 
 this delusion was only a step in the universal strug- 
 gle of mankind, toward the light. The cruelties 
 inflicted upon the witches, are not to be compared 
 with those inflicted upon the early Christians who 
 died for conscience’ sake. 
 
 The story of the trials at Salem has never been 
 more than partially told. Cotton Mather wrote 
 the first book upon the subject. Instead of telling 
 what happened, he laboriously attempted to justify 
 everything that was done. 
 
 Robert Calef, a contemporary, followed a few 
 years later, with a volume which denied many 
 things that Mather asserted, and charged the latter 
 with most of the responsibility for the persecu- 
 tions. 
 
 Charles W. Upton has written the most com- 
 plete work upon the subject. He has not, however, 
 
 i 
 
ii The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 attempted in any large measure, to publish the testi- 
 mony of the witnesses at the trials. In his two 
 volumes, he has set forth some of the evidence but 
 the reader can gain no adequate knowledge of what 
 transpired unless he has before him the evidence 
 in a more connected form. 
 
 In 1864 Mr. W. Elliot Woodward of Roxbury, 
 Massachusetts, undertook to secure all the original 
 documents relating to the witchcraft trials then in 
 existence and on file in the courts of Essex County. 
 It was his intention to publish these, together with 
 his comments thereon. Nothing, however, was pub- 
 lished except the documents themselves and these 
 were never put into general circulation. ‘They con- 
 tain many confessions, taken in prison, and many 
 preliminary examinations certified by the examin- 
 ing magistrates. They also contain some of the 
 evidence heard at the final trials before a jury. 
 
 These early documents are printed in the old 
 English. Many words are misspelled, and many 
 colloquialisms used. They are all written in the 
 third person, and often contain the conclusions of 
 the writer, rather than the language of the wit- 
 nesses. 
 
 Mr. Woodward did a great work in copying 
 these records and thus preserving them for histori- 
 cal reference. 
 
 In preparing this work, I have quoted largely 
 from these original records as copied by Wood- 
 ward, but I have not always followed the words nor 
 
Introduction iii 
 
 the forms of expression. I have put in the first 
 person what was in the third person. I have elim- 
 inated much of the bad spelling, which in many 
 instances, obscures the meaning intended to be con- 
 veyed. Nowhere else has there been preserved 
 for us as accurate an account of the everyday life 
 of these Puritan ancestors as in the testimony given 
 by scores of witnesses in these trials. They are 
 here seen just as they lived with their virtues and 
 vices standing out in bold relief. 
 
 WILLIAM NELSON GEMMILL. 
 

 
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CHAPTER 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 The Invisible World . 
 
 The Witches Sacrament 
 
 The Devil in ae ; 
 
 The Puritan : 
 
 balcniaee 
 
 The Beginning of Trouble 
 
 The Trial of Bridget Bishop 
 
 The Trial of the Reverend 
 George Burroughs 
 
 The ee, of Giles: Wind Wartha 
 
 Cor 
 The Trials Basa Geode ant 
 Sarah’ Osborn) > -. 
 The Trial of Elizabeth Howe i 
 The Trial of Susanna Martin 
 The Trial of Rebecca Nurse 
 The Trial of Mary Easty 
 The Trial of Martha Carrier 
 Dhewbrial ot George Jacobs, sr: 
 The Trial of John and Eliza- 
 bechebroctona.: : 
 The Trial of Ann Pudatae 
 The Trial of John Willard . . 
 The Trial of Samuel Wardwell 
 The Trial of Sarah Wildes . 
 The Trial of Wilmot Reed . 
 The Trials of Mary and Alice 
 Parker and Margaret Scott 
 The Trial of Dorcas Hoar . 
 Confessions . : : 
 The End of the Road 
 Ministers and Meenas 
 Fixing the Blame 
 Damages Awarded . 
 Expense Accounts 
 
fe Pe 
 
 os 
 
 
 
The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 THE INVISIBLE WORLD 
 
 HORTLY after the trials of the witches at 
 Salem, the King of England commanded Cot- 
 ton Mather to report the matter to him. In obedi- 
 ence, he wrote a book entitled The Wonders of the 
 Invisible World. A few years later Robert Calef 
 of Boston wrote another book, on the same sub- 
 ject, and called it More Wonders of the Invisible 
 World. Both treated of the strangest chapter in 
 American History. 
 
 A witch was one who sold herself to the Devil 
 and in consideration received a familiar spirit, 
 which gave her power to inflict evil at will upon 
 man and beast. Having sworn to serve the Devil, 
 she was a traitor to God and must be put to death. 
 
 The church had long recognized the power of 
 God to cast out devils from men, and that such 
 power was given to His apostles and ministers. A 
 body of men known as Exorcists had for centuries 
 chastised the evil spirits in men. Cruel and often 
 inhuman were the punishments inflicted upon those 
 who were charged with being possessed of the 
 Devil. The old ritual ran thus: 
 
 I exorcise thee, thou unclean spirit, in the name 
 of Jesus Christ, Tremble O! Satan! thou enemy of 
 1 
 
2 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 the faith, thou foe of mankind who hast brought 
 death into the world, who hast deprived men of 
 life, and hath rebelled against justice, thou seducer 
 of mankind, thou root of evil, thou source of ava- 
 rice, discord and envy! 
 
 The religious awakening of the Seventeenth 
 century was like the shock of a nightmare. It was 
 much easier to throw off their chains than it was to 
 establish a new order out of the chaos. 
 
 How to find God and follow him was now the 
 burning purpose of the world. It is not strange 
 that the mind was confused by the teachings, the 
 practices and the worship of the old Gods. 
 
 Everywhere there sprang up men and women 
 who claimed belief in witchcraft had not only religi- 
 ous sanction, but also regal and legal support. 
 Macaulay said James I was the “Wisest fool in 
 England.” He might have said he was the per- 
 forming idiot of the Seventeenth century. His face 
 was hideous, his form misshapen, and his mind dis- 
 torted. From his father, Lord Darnley, he inher- 
 ited the sullen brutality of a murderer. From his 
 mother, Mary, Queen of Scots, came the vain cun- 
 ning of a trickster, who, for his own pleasure, 
 would sacrifice a kingdom. 
 
 Witchcraft had never been a statutory offense 
 in England until James made it such. Before it 
 had been heresy, and the church alone punished 
 it. 
 
 When James came to the throne in 1603 he was 
 
The Invisible World 3 
 
 twenty-three and a bachelor. Queen Elizabeth 
 tried to find him a suitable wife, but he was sus- 
 picious and ‘‘ would not be ruled by an old maid 
 Queen.” She at last offered him the little fifteen 
 year old Anne, Princess of Denmark. In order to 
 make this match, she had her artists paint a por- 
 trait of the Princess which greatly flattered her. 
 At last James agreed to marry, sight unseen. But 
 Anne was a Protestant and James’ mother had 
 taught him to be a Catholic. He resolved, how- 
 ever, to renounce the religion of his mother and 
 follow that of the “Good Queen Bess.”’ The wed- 
 ding was arranged. As the courtship had been by 
 proxy, so the wedding should be, and James was 
 married in England while his child-bride was in 
 Denmark. Then he summoned the captains of his 
 fleet and ordered them to sail away and bring back 
 his queen, that she might adorn the palace of a 
 King. When the boats were ready, a great storm 
 fell upon the water, the high waves dashed upon 
 the shore, the vessels were destroyed, and many 
 of the King’s bravest men were at the bottom of 
 the sea. A new fleet was equipped but before it 
 reached Denmark one-half of it had been destroyed 
 _ by the storm. 
 
 The little bride, robed in all the splendor of a 
 Queen, started on her journey to England and a 
 palace. But wilder and fiercer rolled the billows 
 over the decks of the vessels, and all were driven 
 farther away from merry England and landed 
 
+ The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 upon the storm-tossed coast of Norway, where the 
 sailors mutinied and refused to venture further. 
 
 Then the brave and gallant King said: ‘I will 
 no longer be an irresolute asse led by the nose like 
 a dumb creature, or a bairn that can do nothing 
 for himself. I will defy all the devils that plot my 
 destruction, and go after her and bring her to my 
 palace.” So he sailed away to Copenhagen, found 
 his bride, ‘‘ kissed her on the shoulder, stroked her 
 yellow hair,” and stayed until the ice went out in 
 the spring when he sailed for home, convinced that 
 the Devil had plotted his destruction because he 
 married a Protestant wife. He declared the storm, 
 the mist, and the rolling sea were the Devil’s 
 weapons. 
 
 He wrote a book on Demonology wherein he 
 outlined all the activities of the Devil, and laid 
 down many rules whereby witches might be de- 
 tected and punished. 
 
 To demonstrate the efficacy of his rules he de- 
 creed all kinds of inhuman torture to compel con- 
 fessions, attending often in person and witnessing 
 with glee the excruciating torment of the accused. 
 
 He first required his victims to walk in their bare 
 feet, until the feet were blistered and the accused 
 fell unconscious from pain and exhaustion. ‘Then 
 he required them to be stripped and their bodies 
 shaven in order to find Devil marks. If by this 
 time they had not confessed, he had their big toes 
 and thumbs tied together and threw them into the 
 
The Invisible World 5 
 
 water. If they sank, of course they were innocent. 
 If they floated, they were witches and were burned 
 at the stake. ‘Their bodies were often mutilated. 
 An ear, a finger, or the tongue was cut off to compel 
 a confession. 
 
 In this way, many confessions were obtained. 
 All the old hags in the community acknowledged 
 themselves to be witches. Many declared, under 
 torture, that they had made solemn covenants with 
 the Devil, who had promised, in return for their 
 loyalty, that they should be given power to wreak 
 vengeance upon their enemies. They declared that 
 they had been present at several large meetings 
 presided over by the Devil in the form of a he- 
 goat, wherein plots were laid for the overthrow 
 of the King and his church. 
 
 James said women were more especially sought 
 by the Devil because, 
 
 That sex is frailer than man is, and it is easier 
 to entrap them in the snares of the Devil, as was 
 proved to be true by the serpent deceiving Eve in 
 the Garden. Many of them are lean and de- 
 formed, shadowy and melancholic in their faces, 
 to the horror of all who see them. They are 
 scolds and devilish in their characters, and go about 
 begging from house to house for a pot full of meal. 
 They promise anything you want, and lie whenever 
 it 1s convenient. 
 
 To have communication with a witch was ground 
 for suspicion. James said in his Demonology: 
 
 Who sups with the Devil has need of a large 
 
6 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 spoon. Witches can raise a storm and tempest in 
 the air, or upon sea or land. ‘They cannot weep 
 in any event over three tears, if they do, they are 
 crocodile tears. God decreed that the water should 
 refuse to receive a witch into its bosom, so the ac- 
 cused should be thrown into the water. If they are 
 witches, they will float on the surface, but if they 
 be innocent they will sink. 
 
 He ordered that witches being tortured should 
 be watched closely to prevent anyone spitting in 
 their eyes to make artificial tears and thus deceive 
 the finders. 
 
 The established courts of England were not suf- 
 ficient to try all the accused. The King appointed 
 many Royal Commissioners to go about hunting 
 and trying witches. They were known as “ Witch 
 finders.”” ‘Their business was to compel confessions 
 and bring to trial, and the stake, those who were 
 accused, 
 
 The most notorious of these was Matthew Hop- 
 kins, who, for a consideration, would “cry out”’ 
 against any citizen and use all effort henceforth to 
 bring him to the stake. After burning hundreds 
 of innocent victims, he was accused of being a witch 
 and burned. 
 
 James, a Protestant, carried on his witchcraft 
 persecutions in the name of the church. For over 
 one hundred years prior to his accession to the 
 throne, France, Spain, and Germany rang with the 
 cries of the tortured witches. Both Catholics and 
 Protestants joined in the cruel torture and death. 
 
The Invisible World 7 
 
 In 1484 Pope Innocent VIII issued a bull com- 
 manding a vigilant search for witches, and every- 
 where the witch-fires were kindled in the name of 
 religion. 
 
 England was the last of the European powers to 
 succumb to the delusion and the first to awaken to 
 the horror of it. Before this awakening came, she 
 had burned over 20,000, while 30,000 were burned 
 in France, 25,000 in Spain, and 75,000 in the dif- 
 ferent states of Germany. 
 
 The Earl of Bothwell was the leader of the 
 Catholic party in England. He had long been a 
 skillful necromancer and was supposed to have 
 communication with the Devil. He engaged in 
 several plots against the King. This, no doubt, 
 had much to do with James’ belief in the deter- 
 mination of the Evil Spirits to destroy his King- 
 dom. 
 
 The delusion was not confined to the poor and 
 ignorant, but pervaded all classes of society. The 
 most distinguished judges like Sir Matthew Hale 
 and Sir Francis North had no doubt about the ex- 
 istence of witches. Both presided at witchcraft 
 trials and accepted without question the evidence 
 of ghosts. Both signed the death warrants which 
 lit the fagots about the quivering flesh of innocent 
 men and women. 
 
 Among the clergy were such eminent divines as 
 Richard Baxter and John Wesley, who believed 
 firmly in the power of the Devil to send his Evil 
 
8 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 Spirits into human beings and thus make them sub- 
 ject to his dominion. 
 
 It was the statute of James I under which the 
 witches of Salem were tried and condemned by our 
 Puritan ancestors. And all the rules and prece- 
 dents followed in these trials were established dur- 
 ing the reign of the Stuarts, and were set forth in 
 bound books, copied in large part from King 
 James’ work on Demonology. 
 
 The horrors of the Inquisition were never 
 equaled in England, but many of the inhuman 
 practices of that reign of terror in Europe were 
 adopted by the witch finders under James, who 
 traveled about through England and Scotland 
 and, for a small stipend, brought to the stake 
 anyone whom rivalry, jealousy, and hate might 
 accuse. 
 
 The penalty for convicted witches in Europe had 
 always been “‘death by burning,” but for some 
 unaccountable reason, no witches were ever burned 
 in America. Those who suffered death were al- 
 ways hung upon the gallows. Many, however, who 
 were convicted at Salem were confined in prison, 
 the time of their sentence being at the will of the 
 magistrates. 
 
 A negro named Manuel was convicted of witch- 
 craft at the old court house in Cahokia, Illinois, in 
 1790, and sentenced to be burned to death. This 
 was during the period of the French settlement. In- 
 stead of obeying orders, the Sheriff, Richard Win- 
 
The Invisible World 9 
 
 ston, hung him. ‘The order of the court to the 
 Sheriff is as follows: 
 
 ‘You are ordered to take the negro slave, Man- 
 uel, condemned for witchcraft, and after having 
 made honorable prayer at the church, you will chain 
 him to a post, at the water’s side, and then burn 
 him alive and scatter his ashes.”’ 
 
 At least two others, were convicted of witch- 
 craft in this same court house, which now stands 
 in Jackson Park, Chicago. A slave by the name 
 of Ennbrill and Jennette Cudney an old woman. 
 
CHAPTER Iti 
 
 THE WITCHES SACRAMENT 
 4 ‘HE most remarkable thing connected with the 
 
 witchcraft delusion was the witches sacrament. 
 
 As the persecutions under James increased, 
 many confessed they were witches and said they 
 had frequently attended witch meetings, where 
 the witches sacrament was celebrated. Some of 
 these confessions have been preserved. ‘The most 
 complete are those of Geillis Duncan, a beautiful 
 Scotch girl, who was condemned and executed be- 
 cause of her skill in curing diseases. 
 
 Doctor Fian, a school master, who was a spirit 
 medium and Agnes Samson known as the ‘“‘ Elder 
 Witch”’ testified under cruel torture that about the 
 time James was to be married, the Devil sum- 
 moned the witches and wizards one night to the old 
 North Berwick Kirk in Scotland, there to plan how 
 the marriage could be prevented. 
 
 The meeting was on October thirty-first, All 
 Halloween night. The Devil and over two hun- 
 dred witches gathered about the little kirk, which 
 stood far up on the rocky coast, overlooking the 
 sea. 
 
 It was a wild and stormy night, but this only 
 increased the fiendish pleasure of the worshippers. 
 Some came by sea, riding in sieves, others flew 
 through the air on broom sticks, some rode on 
 
 10 
 
The Witches Sacrament 11 
 
 goats, some on swine, some on dogs and some on 
 black cats. Time and distance were annihilated. 
 
 The Devil was there in the form of a he-goat. 
 His nose was like an eagle’s beak, his body hard 
 as iron, his eyes like fire-balls, his voice like the 
 east wind, his hands and legs were covered with 
 long hair, scorpion thongs were fastened to his 
 belt. In one hand he held a black image for the 
 witches to kiss, in the other he held a flaming torch. 
 When the witches arrived the kirk was dark, but 
 each witch carried in her hand a candle which 
 burned with a blue flame. All saluted the Devil, 
 who stood in front of the kirk, then they circled 
 ’round and ’round, in a wild sensuous dance, led 
 by Geillis Duncan, who played a reel upon a jews- 
 harp. All were naked and danced back to back. 
 Sometimes the Devil played on a bag-pipe and 
 sometimes on a flute. If the dancers lagged, he 
 lashed their bare bodies with his scorpion whips, 
 and the burning feet of the dancers moved so 
 swiftly about the kirk that the grass was withered, 
 and until this day nothing will grow thereon. 
 
 When the dance had finished, Doctor Fian blew 
 his fiery breath into the keyhole and the kirk be- 
 came a blaze of light. All entered through cracks 
 in the door and beheld the Devil sitting in the pul- 
 pit, in the form of a he-goat, and clothed in a black 
 gown and hat. 
 
 When all were inside, the roll was called and each 
 wizard and witch arose and told what he or she 
 
12 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 had done since they last met. Some had killed 
 the neighbor’s cattle, or sheep, or swine. Others 
 had inflicted death, or rheumatism, or gout. Some 
 destroyed crops, withered trees and fruit. Some 
 had driven needles through the brains of little 
 children. The greater the misery inflicted the hap- 
 pier was Satan, who alternately smiled and frowned 
 as he listened to the reports. One old witch re- 
 ported that she had done nothing since last they 
 met. Then the Devil leaped upon her and beat 
 her until blood flowed to the floor. 
 
 When the roll was finished, new members were 
 received. A solemn oath was administered by the 
 Devil, wherein each one swore to deny God, to 
 curse, blaspheme, and provoke Him and His dis- 
 ciples, to worship Satan and do his commandments, 
 to lay waste the fruits of the earth, to send disease 
 and death into cattle, swine, and horses, to blight 
 corn, and the harvest, to engender hate, stir up 
 wrath, and do evil everywhere, to avenge the Devil 
 against all his enemies, by afflicting them with 
 pain, loathsome disease and famine, to make deso- 
 late the fields and the heart of man, to ravish the 
 graves of the dead, and haunt the homes of the 
 living. 
 
 When this ceremony ended, all kissed the Devil 
 on his back, and received a mark in the flesh burned 
 by a red-hot iron. 
 
 At last came the banquet, and a merry feast it 
 was. Unbaptized children were served. They had 
 
The Witches Sacrament 13 
 
 been boiled in a red hot caldron until the flesh 
 became ointment. Some of the bodies had been 
 taken from new made graves. Some had recently 
 been strangled. Some were still-born. While the 
 kettle boiled, all danced ’round and ’round it. 
 
 Into the steaming kettle were thrown noses, fin- 
 gers, and toes that had been gathered from rifled 
 graves, and the entrails of children and every foul 
 and venomous beast and serpent. The meal was 
 served without salt and flavor, and all who ate were 
 as hungry as before. 
 
 Then the Devil spoke. He exhorted to all evil 
 deeds. 
 
 ‘Revenge yourself or you shall die! Lay waste 
 the fruits of the earth! Summon wind and rain 
 and hurricane to destroy the crops! Poison the 
 cattle, murder the children, and rifle the graves of 
 the dead! ‘Thus only shall you live!”’ 
 
 Then he stamped his hoofs upon the floor and 
 all was dark. Thechurch was empty. The witches 
 had vanished as they had come. 
 
 The testimony is strangely reminiscent of the 
 Witches scene in Macbeth so vividly described by 
 Shakespeare. The dramatist doubtless voiced the 
 belief of his day. 
 
 Round about the cauldron go, 
 
 In the poisoned entrails throw. 
 Toad that under cold stone 
 
 Days and nights has thirty-one 
 Sweltered venom sleeping got, 
 Boil thou first in the charmed pot. 
 
14 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 Fillet of a fenny snake 
 
 In the cauldron boil and bake, 
 
 Eye of newt and toe of frog 
 
 Wool of bat and tongue of dog, 
 Adder’s fork and blind worm’s sting, 
 Lizzard’s leg and owlet’s wing. 
 
 For a charm of powerful trouble 
 Like a hell broth boil and bubble 
 Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, 
 Witches’ mummy, maw of Gulf, 
 Livers of blaspheming Jew. 
 
 Gall of goat, and slips of yew 
 Silvered in the moon’s eclipse, 
 Nose of Turk and ‘Tartar’s lips, 
 Fingers of both strangled babe 
 Ditch delivered by a drab, 
 
 Make the gruel thick and slab, 
 Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron, 
 Cool it with a baboon’s blood, 
 Then the charm is firm and good. 
 
 Eating the ointment and drinking the blood of 
 their murdered victims was supposed to give the 
 witches mastery over the elements, and power to 
 inflict all manner of evil upon others. 
 
 The story of the trial of the witches at Salem 
 would not be complete or understood without some 
 knowledge of the historic *‘ Witches Sacrament.” 
 Throughout nearly all of the trials in Massachus- 
 etts constant reference was made to the great witch 
 sacrament that was held on April 20, 1692, in the 
 pasture of the Reverend Samuel Parris, near the 
 town of Salem. 
 
 Several witches confessed that they attended this 
 
The Witches Sacrament 15 
 
 meeting and described what happened. Here it 
 was they signed the Devil’s book and surrendered 
 themselves soul and body to his dominion. Among 
 those who participated actively in this meeting, ac- 
 cording to the testimony of many witches, were the 
 Reverend George Burrows, who was the Devil’s 
 arch wizard; Martha Carrier, known as ‘‘ Queen 
 of the Witches;” Abigail and Deliverance Hobbs. 
 
 The first two were hung, and the last two lin- 
 gered in prison until the delusion was over. 
 
 It was commonly believed at that time that on 
 October 31st of each year all the fairies, ghosts 
 and witches came forth from their hiding places 
 to dance in the forests with demons, goblins and 
 evil spirits; there to plot and plan for another 
 year. Our modern Halloween is largely based 
 upon this belief, and instead of ghosts, fairies, 
 demons and goblins coming forth to dance in the 
 moonlight, the night of October 31st is now 
 the occasion when lovers of mischief sally forth 
 to steal gates from their hinges, upset wagons, 
 rattle tin cans and commit all manner of depre- 
 dations to the joy of youth and the discomfiture 
 of all others. Well did the old Scotch ditty 
 run—‘ That night a child might understand the 
 Devil had business in his hand.” 
 
 Edward Lear said of the witches of North 
 
 Berwick: 
 
 They went to sea in a sieve they did, 
 In a sieve they went to sea. 
 
16 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 In almost every trial at Salem witnesses testified 
 that the accused, in some devilish form, appeared 
 to them and wanted them to write in the Devil’s 
 book, and in every case an extra jury was impaneled 
 to search the bodies of the prisoners to find the 
 Devil marks, which it was believed Satan inflicted 
 with his red-hot iron. 
 
CHAPTER THI 
 THE DEVIL IN DISGUISE 
 
 (yes ancestors did not believe in an imaginary 
 Devil. ‘Theirs was a real, live Devil. Some- 
 times he was a ravenous beast, sometimes a serpent. 
 Sometimes he had the face of a man and the cloven 
 hoofs, horns, and tail of an animal. His greatest 
 accomplishment was to transmit his evil spirit to 
 others. Sometimes he sent his spirit into men and 
 women and children, sometimes into animals, some- 
 times into inanimate objects. 
 
 In choosing his followers, he always selected the 
 weaker because they had less power of resistance. 
 It was thought that God was more powerful than 
 the Devil, but less cunning. For that reason the 
 Devil evaded the strong-willed and resolute, and 
 sought converts among the old women, the feeble- 
 minded, and the children. 
 
 Nearly all the early witches were women, most 
 of them old, feeble, childish, and often insane. 
 More than three-fourths of those burned in Europe 
 were women. The Devil sent his evil spirit into 
 them and gave them power to transmit that spirit 
 to others and to animals. In selecting the animals, 
 those were chosen that were the most despised. 
 Snakes, toads, rats, leeches, worms, caterpillars, 
 grasshoppers, black cats, swine, he-goats, and some- 
 
 times dogs and cattle. These were chosen to bring 
 17 
 
18 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 disease, famine, desolation, and death to the 
 world. 
 
 Thus came about the belief that anything that 
 had the power to inflict injury was possessed of an 
 evil spirit, whether it was a living or an inanimate 
 object. Justification for this belief was found in 
 David’s maledictions upon the mountains of Gil- 
 boa, that had neither rain nor dew; in God’s curse 
 upon the city of Jericho making its walls to fall 
 down before blasts and trumpets; in the withered 
 fig tree of Bethany; and in the condemnation of 
 the serpent in the Garden of Eden so that it crawls 
 forever upon its belly. 
 
 ‘Tf an ox gore a man or a woman that they die, 
 then the ox shall be surely stoned and his flesh shall 
 not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall be quit.” 
 Thus runs the law of Moses. 
 
 The church in the fourteenth, fifteenth and six- 
 teenth centuries had one all absorbing purpose, 
 and that was to overcome the Devil. No matter 
 how difficult the task, it must be accomplished. 
 To penetrate his disguises, to find him and offer 
 him battle, was a task worthy a young church, just 
 emerging from a long night of idolatry, ignorance 
 and superstition. It did not debate long the means 
 to be used. The only way to conquer the evil 
 spirit was to destroy the body which harbored it. 
 
 Some animals are the personification of evil. 
 They seem to have no good purpose in life. Fam- 
 ine, pestilence, and death follow them everywhere. 
 
The Devil in Disguise 19 
 
 Locusts, lice, grasshoppers, and leeches, snakes, 
 rats, toads, and lizards all seem to have upon them 
 the shadow of the devil. Their mission is to des- 
 troy. It is not strange that the church attacked 
 these evil forces and established tribunals to try 
 them. 
 
 Mephistopheles was “* The Lord of rats and eke 
 of mice, of flies and frogs, bed-bugs and lice.”’ 
 
 Only the Ecclesiastical courts could try wild ani- 
 mals. Domestic animals were tried by the civil 
 courts. 
 
 It is a familiar story that Saint Patrick drove the 
 snakes out of Ireland, but how he did it is not as 
 familiar. Tradition has it that Ireland was once 
 so infested with poisonous snakes and other rep- 
 tiles, that no human being dared venture to the 
 interior. Saint Patrick, who was then a young 
 missionary in France, was ambitious to conquer 
 the devil in Ireland. At his request he was sent 
 there as a missionary. On landing, he was greeted 
 by a cloud of bats that completely darkened the sky. 
 He pronounced an exorcism against them and beat 
 upon cymbals and drums, but the bats refused to 
 depart. 
 
 He next tried the snakes. A decree was issued 
 commanding all the snakes in the island to appear 
 before his altar on a certain day. When the day 
 arrived, the snakes did not appear, but they were 
 condemned and excommunicated. It is related by 
 Colgan that Saint Patrick beat his drum so hard 
 
20 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 to drive the snakes away that he knocked a hole in 
 the top of it, thereby endangering the success of his 
 miracle. Just then an angel appeared, patched 
 the drum, and for four centuries afterwards this 
 drum was preserved as a holy relic in Dublin. 
 
 Tradition has it that the snakes took fright and 
 disappeared. Colgan relates that one large ser- 
 pent remained behind and Saint Patrick made a box 
 and invited the old fellow to crawl in. The snake 
 replied that the box was too small. - 
 
 ‘Get in and try it,”’ said Saint Patrick. Where- 
 upon the unsuspecting reptile entered the box; the 
 new missionary to the Emerald Isle closed the lid, 
 and rolled the box into the sea. That was the last 
 snake in Ireland. 
 
 Ribadeneira, a Jesuit author, says that Ireland 
 became so free from ravenous beasts and poison- 
 ous reptiles that even the wood of the forest had 
 virtue against evil spirits, and it is said to this day 
 not even a spider will come near King’s College in 
 Cambridge, because it is built of Irish wood. 
 
 There is a record of over one hundred trials of 
 animals during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. 
 They are interesting only as illustrating the belief 
 of the people of that time in the power of the devil 
 to inflict upon the world his evil purposes through 
 the instrumentality of dumb creatures. It illus- 
 trates also how far a militant church may go in 
 search of the Devil that it may overcome him and 
 build up the Kingdom of God. There were many 
 
The Devil in Disguise 21 
 
 animal trials in the Prylaneum at Rome in the olden 
 days. The dogs that guarded the gates of the city 
 from the northern invaders were tried once a year, 
 because they did not bark when the enemy ap- 
 proached, and a holiday was proclaimed each year 
 in honor of the geese that cackled when the bar- 
 barians entered the city. 
 
 Because dogs waited at the gates of death in 
 Greece their bark on a dark night is still a symbol 
 of death. 
 
 The Catholics tried and condemned the Protes- 
 tant church at La Rochelle in 1685. The church 
 was ordered demolished and burned. The bell, 
 because it had summoned heretics to worship, was 
 whipped, then buried fora year. After that it was 
 disinterred, baptized, and hung in the new cathe- 
 dral. 
 
 Our early fathers gave souls to trees and plants, 
 to animals, to the sea, the sun, the mountain, the 
 lightning, and the storm—anything that had 
 power to inflict pain or death. 
 
 Even as late as 1887 a tree was tried in Mary- 
 land. ‘The record shows it blew down upon John 
 Bryant and “broke his blound bulke.”” The court 
 decided the owner of the tree should forfeit it to 
 the family of the deceased. 
 
 Roosters and black cats were always closely re- 
 lated to the devil. Every now and then a rooster 
 was said to have laid an enormous egg and every- 
 body got excited. A rooster’s egg was more valu- 
 
27 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 able to a magician than the philosopher’s stone. It 
 was thought the devil employed witches to hatch 
 them. They were supposed to contain mystic com- 
 pounds and hatched out winged serpents which had 
 power to destroy all other animals. 
 
 A rooster was tried at Basle in 1474. It had 
 laid an egg. The lawyer for the defense refused 
 to plead for his client, saying the size of the egg 
 was indisputable evidence of the rooster’s guilt. 
 Both the cock and the egg were burned at the stake 
 amid great rejoicing. 
 
 Before trying an animal at least three summons 
 had to be issued against it. If it did not then ap- 
 pear the trial proceeded, and it was exorcised and 
 excommunicated. It is remarkable how effective 
 these judgments were (according to some histor- 
 ians). It was not thought necessary to have the 
 defendants in court. Murderers were often tried 
 in their absence. 
 
 In 1451 a trial of the leeches was held in Lais- 
 anne. When they did not appear, all were found 
 cuilty, excoriated, and ordered to depart from 
 the land in three days. It is recorded that 
 they refused and were destroyed by a pest- 
 ilence. 
 
 Caterpillars have frequently been tried. No- 
 body ever liked caterpillars. The Bishop of Laon 
 tried them in his diocese in 1120. They were con- 
 victed and, we are told, at once departed beyond 
 the borders. 
 
The Devil in Disguise De 
 
 In order to invoke the aid of the church in rid- 
 ding the country of pests, it was necessary that all 
 tithes be paid. This fact often stayed the execu- 
 tion of tormentors. It also greatly aided the 
 church coffers. 
 
 Rats and mice have always been looked upon as 
 the devil’s avengers. ‘There are many stories of 
 their ravages in Germany. 
 
 Archbishop Hatto of Metz was devoured by 
 mice in his tower at ‘Bingen on the Rhine” 
 because, when there was a great famine, he drove 
 all the poor in a barn and burnt it. 
 
 It is also related that Bishop Widerolf of Straus- 
 burg was eaten by mice in 997, because of his edict 
 against them. Bishop Adolf and Bishop Gut- 
 tengen of Cologne were devoured by mice in their 
 castle on the Rhine, because they had bought up all 
 the corn in a period of famine. 
 
 The most interesting rat trial in history is one 
 which occurred at Auten, France, in 1531. The 
 record reads like many trials today. ‘The rats were 
 so numerous that they threatened to devour every 
 living thing. Whereupon, the Bishop summoned 
 them before the bar of justice to answer to the 
 charge of being in league with the Devil. 
 
 The court appointed Barthelemy de Chassenenz, 
 the greatest criminal lawyer of his day, to defend 
 them. Summons to all was properly posted. When 
 the day arrived for the trial, the defendants did 
 not appear. Their counsel, pursuing the tactics of 
 
24 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 truly great criminal lawyers, pleaded for delay. He 
 said: 
 
 ‘“ My clients are very numerous. Some are old 
 and feeble, some sick, some lame. The roads 
 are bad and the weather inclement. Some are 
 young and cannot travel far. ‘The way is long and 
 hard. I pray this honorable court to grant further 
 time.” 
 
 The court was moved with compassion and 
 granted three weeks delay. At the end of the time 
 allowed only the learned lawyer appeared. He 
 made another plea for delay. He said: 
 
 ‘“ My clients would be obedient to the commands 
 of this Worshipful Court, but they dare not ap- 
 proach, because all the roads and lanes leading 
 hither are thronged with cats, which are the dead- 
 liest of my clients’ enemies. Unless your Wor- 
 shipful shall make safe the way, so that the de- 
 fendants may come without fear and trembling, 
 justice will be a by-word in the land, and whole 
 families, the innocent with the guilty, will be en- 
 gulfed in a common ruin.” 
 
 Whereupon, the court ordered that all the 
 owners of cats in the diocese give bond within three 
 days that their cats would not eat the rats while 
 on their way to and from the court. In default 
 whereof the rats should be discharged. It is need- 
 less to add that Chassenenz won his case. 
 
 In 1456 a sow and six young pigs were tried at 
 Laveguy, France, on the charge of murder. It was 
 
 claimed that they killed and ate a child. The law- 
 
The Devil in Disguise 25 
 
 yer for the defense refused to plead for the sow, 
 but eloquently defended the pigs on the ground that 
 they were too young to understand the meaning of 
 their act and were tempted by an evil mother. The 
 pigs were acquitted, but the sow was publicly exe- 
 cuted in the market place. 
 
 In 1314 at Moisey a bull was tried on the charge 
 of goring a man to death. He was convicted, 
 strangled, and hung by the hindlegs. 
 
 Animals were often condemned to be burned 
 alive. Sometimes they were sentenced to be slightly 
 singed and then strangled and burned. 
 
 In 1684 vast flocks of pigeons devastated the 
 grain fields of French Canada. They were cited 
 by the court to appear, tried, condemned and ban- 
 ished. A few days later they all left on their an- 
 nual flight to the South. 
 
 At least two dogs were hung as witches in Salem 
 in 1692. Robert Calef says concerning them: 
 
 ‘“A dog being afflicted at Salem village, those that 
 had the spectral sight being sent for they all ac- 
 cused John Bradstreet, brother of the justice, that 
 he afflicted the dog and now rode upon his back. 
 
 ‘The said Bradstreet being arrested made his 
 escape into the Pissatuqua Government, and the 
 dog was tried and put to death and this was all the 
 afflicted that suffered death.” 
 
 Again he says: 
 
 “At Andover the afflicted complained of a dog 
 as afflicting them and they all would fall into fits 
 
26 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 at the dog looking upon them. Whereupon, the 
 said dog was tried and hung for a witch.” 
 
 While these dog trials are not described, no 
 doubt the usual procedure in such cases was fol- 
 lowed. The dog, with a strap or halter about his 
 neck, was led by a bailiff before the bar of the 
 court. Another bailiff followed with a goad or 
 prong to prod the culprit when necessity required. 
 
 If found guilty, summary execution followed, 
 the animal always being hung head downward. 
 
 Many witnesses in the Salem trials saw the devil 
 in the form of a black cat. It was always crossing 
 somebody’s path on a dark night. The next day 
 that somebody had the gout or the stomach ache. 
 There is no record of the trial of the cats. Much 
 of the evidence has to do with the witches that were 
 abroad in the night in almost every animal disguise, 
 carrying death to the hogs, drying up the milk of 
 the cows, and giving distemper to the horses. To 
 penetrate these disguises and detect the witches, 
 the boys of the village often greased the soles of 
 their shoes with lard. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 THE PURITAN 
 
 O ONE can understand the events at Salem 
 unless he is acquainted with the Puritan. 
 
 His character is so striking, and his achieve- 
 ments so wonderful, that every child in America 
 ought to know more about him. He is the one man 
 who did not come to the new world for trade, or 
 worldly advantage. He came that he might wor- 
 ship God in his own way. He did not start the 
 Reformation in the old world, but he would not let 
 it stop. He rebelled just as much against the 
 stately pomp of the Church of England as he did 
 against the Catholic Church. His was a religion 
 of the heart. He was a non-conformist in every 
 sense of the word. Whatever was, he thought was 
 wrong and ought to be changed, and he was willing 
 to become a heretic, or even a traitor to change it. 
 His conscience was his guide and it rendered stern 
 judgments. To him, the church was without a 
 living soul, and his life work was to breathe into 
 it fire from Heaven that it might regenerate the 
 world. The only way to do this was to overthrow 
 the existing order. 
 
 Instead of pride there must be humility. In- 
 stead of outward splendor there must be simplicity. 
 Instead of his religion being dictated by Popes and 
 Prelates it must be dictated by the heart and con- 
 science. 
 
 27 
 
28 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 It was the noblest revolution in the history of 
 mankind. Knighthood in the new world meant 
 devotion to principle, not to kings. Chivalry which 
 concealed the debauchery of an age gave place 
 to courage which enthroned conscience as the 
 moral guide for all men. It was this conception 
 of the new knighthood which led to the Declara- 
 tion of Independence and the establishment of a 
 government “of the people, for the people and 
 by the people.” 
 
 It would be idle to say that the Puritan did not 
 make many mistakes. An untrained conscience al- 
 ways makes mistakes. A man must be judged by 
 his purpose and his accomplishments, not by the 
 methods he used. 
 
 To overcome pride, the Puritan carried self- 
 denial to the extreme. His clothes were as un- 
 adorned as it was possible to make them. His 
 speech was slow and solemn. His look was som- 
 ber. He even changed his name that he might 
 always be reminded of his debt to God whom he 
 worshiped. 
 
 The following is a jury list filed in 1688, now 
 in the Museum in London: Stand-Fast Stringer of 
 Crowhurst, Kill-Sin Pimple of Whitham, Be-Faith- 
 ful Joine of Britling, Fly-Debate Roberts of Brit- 
 ling, Fight-the-good-fight-of-Faith White of El- 
 mer, Weep-Not Billings of Lewes, Meek-Brewer 
 of Okehan, Safety-in-Heaven Snat of Okefield, 
 Search-the-Scriptures Martin of Sollhurst, Fight- 
 
The Puritan 29 
 
 the-Devil Richardson of Southton, Shall-Hope 
 Briggs of Rye, The-Peace-of-God Knight of Bur- 
 wash, Seek-Wisdom of Worden, Much-Mercy- 
 Crier of Worden, Peaceful Harding of Leevas, 
 Gift-Weeks of Culkfield, Increase Weeks of Cruck- 
 field, Faint-not Hurst of Heathfield, Be-thankful 
 Maynan of Britling, Be-Courteous Call of Peren- 
 sey. 
 
 If anything would crucify the flesh it would seem 
 as though to be saluted daily as “ Kill-Sin Pimple” 
 or “ Safety-in-Heaven Snat”’ would do the busi- 
 ness. These were crowns of thorns which they 
 wore that the spirit might triumph over the 
 flesh. 
 
 Instead of cathedrals in which to worship, their 
 churches were plain and unadorned. Instead of 
 bishops and priests, with braided robes, every man 
 was a preacher and each congregation chose its 
 own minister. He was chosen because of his piety, 
 not because of his rank. They married and buried 
 their dead without a minister. Their chief con- 
 cern was for the living and not for the dead. Their 
 graveyards were located in the most barren and 
 cheerless spots, and they resigned their bodies to 
 the tomb with a faith and courage never equaled. 
 
 Whittier says of them: 
 
 Our vales are sweet with fern and rose, 
 Our hills are maple crowned, 
 
 But not from them our fathers chose 
 The village burying ground. 
 
30 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 The dreariest spot in all the land 
 To death they set apart, 
 
 With scanty grace from nature’s hand, 
 And none from that of art. 
 
 An age may often be judged by what it writes 
 on its tomb stones. The following epitaphs show 
 that the Puritan was no less heroic in death than 
 in life. 
 
 Pass on my friends dry up your tears, 
 I must lie here till Christ appears, 
 Death is a debt to nature due, 
 
 I’ve paid the debt, and so must you. 
 
 The Great I Am his summons sends 
 And calls us to the grave. 
 
 And like Himself thunders aloud 
 And calls us to the skies. 
 
 As you are, so were we 
 As we are, you shall be. 
 
 The fairest rose must fade and fall 
 Death loves a shining mark 
 
 When I am buried in the dust, 
 My withering limbs with Christ I trust. 
 
The Puritan 31 
 
 It has often been said these religious enthusiasts 
 were stern and exacting and cruel, but they led the 
 world in kindness and gentleness and mercy. 
 
 At that time, in the land whence they came, two 
 hundred and twenty-three offenses were punished 
 by death. They reduced the number in America 
 to fourteen. It was a cruel age. Some persons 
 were condemned to be boiled to death in oil by 
 slow degrees. The criminal was suspended over 
 a boiling cauldron and gradually lowered into it, 
 cooking his feet first. Others were buried alive, 
 and a small tube put in their mouths extending out- 
 side to prolong their torture. 
 
 The blue laws of Connecticut were the most 
 merciful laws any age has known. They abolished 
 all such horrible cruelties and sought to regulate the 
 moral life of the community upon high standards. 
 
 One has only to read a guide book of the seven- 
 teenth century in England to know how common 
 was death upon the gallows. Thus it reads: 
 
 Pass the gallows and three windmills into York, 
 a small ascent, then pass the gallows to Corkehill. 
 Pass through Hare Street with gallows on the left, 
 up a small hill with gibbet on the right. At end 
 of road cross brook and pass by gallows, at 2.3 
 leave acute way to gallows where malefactors of 
 Southworth are executed; at 8.5 you pass a gallows 
 on the left, leave Petersborough and pass gallows 
 on right, then over a stone road past gibbet on left, 
 ascend a hill and pass by a gallows, then up a steep 
 hill past gallows on the left. 
 
32 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 The Puritan insisted above all else on a decent 
 respect for the moral laws. They chose their own 
 magistrates and ministers and empowered them to 
 inflict summary punishments. 
 
 Roger Williams was banished from Salem be- 
 cause he would not obey the magistrates who de- 
 clared that every man must attend public worship. 
 He said obedience was a matter of individual con- 
 science. History records him as a martyr, yet 
 the Puritans were right. Their government was 
 founded in law, and obedience to the will of the 
 majority as expressed through their church coun- 
 cils. 
 
 They banished Anne Hutchinson and the 
 Quakers because they would not obey the law. 
 They were intolerant, of course, but it was the 
 intolerance of the majority speaking through con- 
 stituted authority. They cut off the ears of 
 Christopher Holder and John Copeland, Quaker 
 preachers, but they did not do it until after these 
 men had stirred up much dissension and had many 
 times been warned by the magistrates to leave. 
 They hung Mary Dyar, but before doing so gave 
 her a chance to leave Boston. 
 
 A page from a Massachusetts Court Docket 
 in 1656 illustrates the activity of their magis- 
 trates; 
 
 James Standish fined for being vehemently sus- 
 pected of being drunk. 
 Henry Walton fined for saying he had as leave 
 
The Puritan 33 
 
 to hear a dog bark as to hear Reverend Cobbell 
 preach. 
 
 John Studly fined for stealing his master’s ox 
 and selling it to him. 
 
 Thomas Gray of Marblehead to be whipped for 
 being overseen in drink. 
 
 John Russell whipped for beating his wife. 
 
 Hares Crumwell fined for not living with his 
 wife 
 
 William Claus whipped for spying into the 
 chamber of his master and reporting what he saw. 
 
 Mrs. Griffin fined for swearing. 
 
 Robert Edwards fined for excess in apparel in 
 wearing sleeve lace and gold buttons. 
 
 Sarah Perrige fined for wearing a silk hood. 
 
 Matthew Coe fined for hunting raccoons on the 
 Lord’s day, during public service. 
 
 Sarah Collins fined for railing at her husband 
 and calling him a “ pot gutted divell.”’ 
 
 Robert Pike fined for living here and his wife 
 in England. Ordered to go to her. 
 
 Charles Phillips fined for drunkenness three 
 times in two days. 
 
 Joseph Armitage for resisting the constable, to 
 sit in the stocks for one hour. 
 
 Thus did the magistrates regulate the everyday 
 life of the community. These judgments would 
 be sustained by a majority opinion in America 
 today. 
 
 They were very ignorant. Few could read or 
 write. There were no free schools, no lawyers, nor 
 doctors worthy of the name. The ministers and 
 the magistrates were the fountain heads of wisdom. 
 
34 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 An almanac of that day prints the common cures 
 for all ailments. 
 
 A metson to make a man’s hare groe when he is 
 bald. Take some fier flies and sum Red worms and 
 black snayles, and some hune bees, and dri them 
 and then pound them to powder and mixt them in 
 milk or water and rub them on where the hare 
 ought to bee. 
 
 To cure soar eyes—catch a live frog and lick 
 its eyes with your tongue. 
 
 To cure toothache — spit in a frog’s mouth. 
 
 To cure hooping coff—take a hare from the 
 head of a child and put it between two slices of 
 pee then feed it to the dog, The dog will git the 
 coff, 
 
 To cure ague—take a cake of barley meal and 
 mix it with children’s water, bake it, and feed it 
 to the dog. If the dog shakes you will be cured. 
 
 To cure stomake ache — inhale the cold breath 
 of a duck. 
 
 To cure gout—wrap in a deer skin the right 
 foot of a frog. 
 
 Theirs was the simple life. But it was a stage 
 in our development that was necessary. It checked 
 the pride and extravagance of the age and turned 
 the attention of the world to character building as 
 the only safe foundation for both church and state. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 SALEM 
 12 WOULD be difficult to draw a picture of 
 
 Salem as it was in 1692. It was a village then 
 of 1700 souls. Set down amid rough-hewn rocks 
 and swamps and surrounded by forests inhabited by 
 savage Indians and still more savage beasts, yet it 
 was, to many, the Tabernacle of the Most High 
 God and His “‘ dwelling place in Zion.” 
 
 Like any other town, it had a “ Main Street,” 
 (now Essex) and of course this street ran by the 
 church, for the church was the beginning and the 
 ending of all things in Salem. All other “ways” 
 led to Main Street. Some of them were only eight 
 feet wide. The wise men of the village said they 
 must be wide enough for ‘‘foot and horse and 
 cart.’ Boston was fifteen miles away, but it was 
 a four days’ journey by foot — one day by pine log 
 canoe, or astride old Dobbin. 
 ~ Each landowner was allotted an acre of ground, 
 but he could not sell it; it was his home only as 
 long as he dwelt there. He also had a common 
 interest in the common woods, and meadows, and 
 pastures. He generally owned a horse, a cow, a 
 goat, and a pig; and if fortune smiled graciously, he 
 might increase his worldly goods. Social distinc- 
 tions were determined largely by the number of 
 animals one possessed. 
 
 35 
 
36 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 When the morning dawned the bugle sounded 
 and all the inhabitants awoke; when the sun was 
 an hour high the cowherds, the goatherds, and the 
 swineherds blew their horns, and all those who had 
 stock pens let down the bars, so that their cows 
 and goats and pigs might join the several proces- 
 sions, led by the buglers and followed by the shep- 
 herd dogs, to the great pastures that were located 
 in the common at the end of the town. 
 
 The cows and goats and pigs were kept in sepa- 
 rate pastures and each owner had to pay for the 
 pasturage. Each cow wore a bell that resounded 
 through the forest. Sometimes a cross was 
 scratched upon the bell, and sometimes a piece of 
 red flannel was tied about the neck of the cow to 
 keep away the evil spirits that haunted the forests 
 and fields and pastures. 
 
 There were no public schools, but several pri- 
 vate schools were open where reading, writing, and 
 ciphering were taught. Less than half the popu- 
 lation could read or write. 
 
 Notwithstanding the moral standards of the 
 church were high, yet there were many infractions 
 of the law. At least ten per cent of the whole 
 population were arrested annually. This will be 
 better understood when it is known that only about 
 one and one-half per cent of the population of the 
 United States are now arrested annually. Several 
 murders were committed in Salem prior to 1692 
 and several persons were hung; many were con- 
 
Salem 37 
 
 victed of theft and burglary. Some of the punish- 
 ments inflicted were severe and revolting, but on 
 the whole they were mild, and it would be hard to 
 say they were not well suited to the offense. A few 
 cases taken from the records will illustrate. 
 
 Thomas Gray ran a disorderly house. The 
 Court ordered his house pulled down. Dorothy 
 Talbot beat her husband. She was ordered to be 
 chained to a post and whipped. 
 
 Mary Oliver was arrested for slandering the 
 church. She said if the Apostle Paul came to 
 Salem he would call all the inhabitants saints. She 
 was ordered to be whipped. Governor Winthrop 
 says: ‘She stood without tying and bore her pun- 
 ishment with a masculine spirit.” 
 
 Samuel Samples was convicted of burglary. He 
 was branded on both cheeks with the letter ‘““B”’ 
 and confined in prison for life with a log chained 
 to his leg. 
 
 Many were ordered to sit in the stocks for an 
 hour; others to perch upon the high stool on 
 the Lord’s day. _ Some had their ears cut off; 
 some tongues were cleft. Many were whipped 
 and branded with the first letter of the crime 
 of which they were convicted. ‘Thus was dis- 
 cipline maintained during the most trying period 
 in the life of these brave adventurers in a strange 
 land. 
 
 There were so many things to distract the minds 
 of the inhabitants just prior to the Witchcraft Trial 
 
38 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 that it is not strange that the people indulged in 
 many excesses. he wolves had greatly increased 
 in number and one-third of all the domestic animals 
 possessed by the inhabitants were annually des- 
 troyed by these beasts. The squirrels multiplied 
 to such an extent that they devoured most of the 
 corn and other crops. To catch them, hundreds of 
 cats were imported. ‘These soon became so nu- 
 merous that they were a greater pest than the squir- 
 rels had been. Then began a war of extermination. 
 Cats were slaughtered everywhere, and a bounty of 
 one pence was paid for the burial of each cat. 
 Dogs were brought in great numbers to kill off the 
 wolves; but soon they outdid the wolves in killing 
 sheep and goats, and a law was passed providing 
 that every dog that killed a sheep should be hung 
 and his master fined. 
 
 A constant dread of massacre by the Indians 
 hung over the village. Over six hundred of the 
 inhabitants had been killed and many of their 
 homes burned in the five years preceding 1692. 
 The Indians were growing more restless and threat- 
 ening. ‘They believed their lands had been wrong- 
 fully taken from them, and the various tribes 
 formed confederations to resist further encroach- 
 ments of the white man. They finally united under 
 King Phillip to wage a war of extermination 
 against the entire white population. 
 
 This was the bloodiest Indian war in our Ameri- 
 can history. The fate of all the settlements in the 
 
Salem 39 
 
 new world was at stake. It required a courage 
 never surpassed in America to resist this dreaded 
 foe. Many of the young men of Salem fell in the 
 conflict —— but the settlement was preserved. 
 
 Days of fasting and prayer became common. 
 The people believed that deliverance came only 
 through Divine intervention. The church became 
 more and more the center of all life. No one 
 could vote who was not a member of the church; 
 no one could be a magistrate, or hold any office un- 
 less he partook regularly of the Communion. It 
 was an offense against the law to be absent from 
 either the Church or the Communion. 
 
 It was a real democracy within the Church. 
 Everybody could participate in public affairs, so 
 long as he was a member of the Church. Every de- 
 tail of community life was considered in open meet- 
 ings. These meetings were nearly always held out 
 of doors. A majority vote decided the issue. 
 When Roger Williams, Ann Hutchinson, and the 
 Quakers protested against the will of the majority, 
 they were expelled. ; 
 
 The most emphasis was put on private conduct. 
 What was proper dress for anyone was the busi- 
 ness of everybody. Even the width of the brim 
 of a man’s hat was regulated by a vote of the ma- 
 jority. The length of the preacher’s coat —as well 
 as his sermons—was a matter of ordinance. 
 Courtship and marriage were encouraged, but al- 
 ways under the watchful eye of the deacons. The 
 
40) The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 moral and spiritual welfare of the children was of 
 the utmost consideration. 
 
 They had their ‘‘ dark days,”’ when the chickens 
 went to roost in the daytime. These greatly 
 alarmed the whole community; they forbode di- 
 vine wrath; the end of the world was near at hand. 
 _ They had among them many prophets and fortune 
 tellers who often aroused the public mind almost to 
 a frenzy. Three years after the witchcraft de- 
 lusion, fortune tellers and necromancers were 
 driven from Salem. 
 
 The Indians believed in Evil Spirits which dwelt 
 in the forests. ‘Their war dances were given to 
 arouse these Spirits to acts of vengeance. The 
 white settlers, coming in contact with Indian beliefs 
 and superstitions, adopted many of them. 
 
 It was a time of great uncertainty. The old 
 methods of thought and living were gone and the 
 people groped toward the light with unsteady feet. 
 One thing alone they were certain of, and that was 
 their faith in God. They were building a new 
 republic upon a sure foundation. Their eyes were 
 trained on Heaven while they grappled with the 
 stupendous problems of earth with that stern and 
 unflinching courage which alone could win in the 
 great battle for a new Heaven and a new earth. 
 
 Little progress had been made in medical science. 
 Every ill that beset them was an evidence of Divine 
 wrath. God was far away, and the Devil was near 
 to afflict for an evil thought, or an evil deed. The 
 
Salem 4] 
 
 people dwelt in small communities apart from the 
 world. There were no railroads, telegraphs, tele- 
 phones, steamboats, and newspapers, not even the 
 coaches and carriages of fifty years later. 
 _ The social life in Salem in 1692 would be dull 
 indeed to the dwellers of today. No one could 
 discuss the daily events in the world about for these 
 were unknown. The natural result was that every- 
 body discussed everybody else. It was an age of 
 gossip. he latest scandals were advertised from 
 the street corners. Everyone guilty of an offense 
 against the moral law was branded with the first 
 letter of that offense and made to sit in the stocks, 
 or stand in a public place where his shame became 
 manifest to all. Old and young strolled by to ex- 
 press their scorn, then went home to talk it over 
 with their neighbors. 
 
 An elevated stool was set up in the churches 
 where those who had broken their churchly vows 
 were compelled to sit in repentance while the wor- 
 shipers frowned, then gossiped over the latest 
 scandal. Divorce was as unknown as it was un- 
 necessary. When a man tired of his wife, he took 
 a long voyage to the South Seas, or to Europe. 
 After a little while, the wife married again and all 
 went well. Many roving sailors were ordered by 
 the stern court to bring their wives from England, 
 vr go to them upon the next sailing vessel. 
 
 It is interesting to note that most of the actors in 
 the witchcraft tragedy had been married several 
 
42 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 times. All the women who were hung, except one, 
 were either second or third time widows, or were 
 married to second or third husbands. All the men 
 but one had been two or three times married. 
 
 Many of the families involved in the trials were 
 intermarried, and there was much jealousy between 
 them. This was responsible for several trials and 
 at least two deaths upon the gallows. 
 
 There was constant strife in the church. Nearly 
 every minister of the First Church for many years 
 had trouble with his congregation. Bitter jealousy 
 arose over the choice of deacons and in the assign- 
 ment of pews. No one could sit in a pew unless 
 he had been assigned to it by the deacons. 
 
 The style of dress, for both men and women, 
 was regulated by the Church Council. Someone 
 was always breaking the style. Women for wear- 
 ing lace and silk collars and men for wearing peri- 
 wigs were made to sit upon the high stool and be . 
 frowned upon, or fined and sometimes sentenced 
 to sit in the stocks. 
 
 Children’s diseases were very common and less 
 than one-half the children born grew to maturity. 
 Smallpox was common and seldom was the village 
 without its victims. ‘There were many beggars. 
 These were mostly old women suffering from 
 mental distraction. Two of the women hung were 
 of this class. To be insane was to be possessed of 
 a devil. 
 
 The old were generally the first to be suspected 
 
Salem ~ 43 
 
 of being in league with the Devil. No doubt many 
 of them, like Sarah Good, Sarah Osborn, Bridget 
 Bishop, and Giles Corey, were often mean and 
 quarrelsome and gave occasion for much ill-feeling 
 against them. It was in the days of pioneering, 
 and a life was of little value unless it would engage 
 in subduing the forests, the fields, and the Indians. 
 For this reason, the aged were often allowed to 
 shift for themselves. 
 
 Everybody was superstitious. No one would 
 walk alone at night for fear of meeting ghosts. 
 Every empty house was haunted. Horseshoes were 
 hung over the doorways to bring good luck and to 
 drive away the spirits. They were heated and put 
 in churns to make the butter “‘come”’ and to keep 
 the witches out. Hunters carried silver bullets in 
 their belts with which to shoot the witches. Clods 
 of sanctified earth—taken from graves—and 
 splinters of oak from a gallows were placed on the 
 doorsteps of churches to keep the “‘ spooks”’ away. 
 
 The long evenings were spent in telling of ghosts 
 and haunted houses, of elfs and goblins, lately seen 
 in the forest. 
 
 Fortune telling was a common pastime. If a 
 sailor went to sea, his wife consulted the fortune 
 teller and followed his advice. Sometimes a long 
 lost husband returned to find his wife married to 
 another. Charms and amulets were worn about 
 the neck, and tricks of magic were everywhere per- 
 formed. Exhibitions of mesmerism and hypnotism 
 
44 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 were nightly performed in homes and sometimes 
 upon the public streets. The ten “Circle Girls” 
 were all eager subjects and had often been hypno- 
 tized. 
 
 It was believed that an invisible fluid passed 
 from the eye of one to the eye of another, holding 
 the other spellbound and helpless and often un- 
 conscious. 
 
 Shuttlecock and battledore were the chief amuse- 
 ment games in the household. Shuttlecock was 
 played with corks and feathers and was much like 
 the children’s play today with toy balloons. The 
 balloon was batted against the wall or ceiling and 
 not allowed to touch the floor. 
 
 Drinking rum was the common pastime of all. 
 There was much drunkenness. The records of the 
 early courts show that one-half of all the arrests of 
 that day were due to intoxication. 
 
 At least two of the judges who presided at the 
 witchcraft trials were licensed rum sellers. Some 
 of those who saw the devil after them had delirium 
 tremens. At least two were known to have mis- 
 taken the sign of the “ Blue Boar” on the outside 
 of a drinking tavern for a “‘hellish, grinning devil ”’ 
 in hot pursuit. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 THE BEGINNING OF TROUBLE 
 
 ape Re had been over twenty trials for witch- 
 
 craft in New England prior to 1692. Many 
 persons were convicted and several hung. Mar- 
 garet Jones was hung in Boston in 1648, Mrs. 
 Glover in 1688; Mary Parsons, in Springfield in 
 1651; and Mary Oliver, in Cambridge in 1650. 
 Mrs. Morse was convicted in Ipswich in 1680 and 
 sentenced to death, but was reprieved. 
 
 Governor Winthrop, a most excellent man, pre- 
 sided at the trial of Margaret Jones and signed her 
 death warrant. Governor Endicott performed the 
 same service for Ann Hibben, and Governor Brad- 
 shaw tried Mrs. Morse. Sir Matthew Hale 
 (1665) in sentencing to death two old women in 
 England said: “I have no doubt there are such 
 creatures as witches. The Scriptures affirm it, and 
 all nations have provided laws to punish them.” 
 All of these things were more or less familiar to 
 the people of Salem in 1692. 
 
 The King of England revoked the charter of 
 the Massachusetts Colony in 1691, thereby abro- 
 gating the existing laws of the colony and establish- 
 ing, as the law of Massachusetts, the Statutes of 
 James I which prescribed the death penalty for 
 witches. 
 
 Sir William Phipps, the first governor appointed 
 
 45 
 
46 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 by the King, arrived in Boston in May, 1692. He 
 found the jails full in Salem, Ipswich, Cambridge, 
 and Boston, and in order to speedily try the 
 accused he created a new court called the court of 
 “Oyer and Terminer”’ and appointed several 
 judges to preside over the same. This was an 
 illegal court, the governor having no power to 
 create courts. William Stoughton, Deputy Gov- 
 ernor, was appointed Chief Justice. The other 
 judges were: Major Bartholomew Gedney, John 
 Hathorne, Jonathan Corwin, Major John Rich- 
 ards, Wait Winthrop, Peter Sargent, and Captain 
 Samuel Sewell. Two were from Salem and four 
 from Boston. None of them were lawyers or had 
 ever studied law. They were, however, known 
 as honorable citizens. A young man recently from 
 England, by the name of Thomas Newton, was 
 appointed Attorney General. 
 
 The trouble began shortly after Reverend 
 Samuel Parris, of Boston, accepted the pastorate 
 of the First Church at Salem. He had been a 
 merchant and had operated much upon the Spanish 
 Main. Financial reverses had led him to adopt 
 the ministry. He was a man of considerable learn- 
 ing, but narrow and bigoted. His salary was 
 twenty pounds a year in money, and certain quan- 
 tities of wheat, rye, malt, pork, beef, and firewood. 
 
 Much dissatisfaction arose among the members 
 of his congregation because he obtained title from 
 the Church to the home in which he lived. Soon 
 
The Beginning of Trouble 47 
 
 the Church was divided into two warring factions. 
 
 The preacher brought with him from the South 
 Seas two Indian slaves, a man known only as 
 “Indian,” and a girl whose name was Tituba. 
 Though a slave, Tituba was well versed in all 
 the magic of the Spanish countries and performed 
 some strange and wonderful feats. She became 
 the center of attraction in the minister’s home. The 
 young girls of the village gathered nightly at the 
 parsonage to enjoy the company of Tituba and to 
 practice her arts. The time was spent in telling 
 fortunes and ghost stories, reading palms, tipping 
 tables, listening to spirit rappings, and inducing 
 hypnotic spells. : 
 
 Under the strange influence of these spells the 
 girls often became frantic and hysterical, they had 
 violent fits, crouched under chairs, beds, and tables, 
 threw firebrands about the house, and screamed 
 violently. They created wild scenes upon the 
 streets and often entered the church and disturbed 
 the meetings. There were ten girls who nightly 
 met with Tituba at the preacher’s home: 
 
 HFA DCE EE ALLIS Goda hitcls pal etore ener n ws Age 9 
 PAT ail VV 1baTS Ye city sae ta crel nie hp > yen 
 PTIET MEALS TIALS ote Poe oS alas ceeate ates ers ye 
 Leroy ecwistN ave git an ele ste se were dae SU) 
 SUL E EVV BICOL CH ¢ asctntae sar ace ates a alece rah is 
 Peters Betanel ubbDard vatox ca ee caiet ies ens oes wot? 
 TEM pict ataed gE Seen t PEP PN ae OP Undo agee RPT fOTS 
 Bsa CLC OLL a iidte dca proscisl hele bit atetaler 218 
 Re EV ARUEE agi hrs dis! scnlecs sc heer Sretare ale weer b 
 
 ara CONTIECUILLL No Wick foe on oie wy okene eras oe 
 
4S The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 Two or three older women often met with the 
 girls and did much to encourage them. They were 
 Mrs. Sarah Bibber, Mrs. Pope, and Mrs. «Ann 
 Putnam. 
 
 Only two of the girls could write their own 
 names; two were epileptic. Three were domestic 
 servants and testified against their employers, who 
 were hung largely upon their testimony. 
 
 In February, 1692, the community became so 
 aroused by the conduct of these girls that Dr. 
 Gregg was called in to find out what was wrong. 
 Not knowing of anything else to say, he declared 
 they were “bewitched.” The girls were asked 
 who bewitched them, but refused to answer. 
 
 Tituba offered a remedy. She said: 
 
 ‘Take four ounces of rye meal, mix it with 
 children’s water, roll it in a biscuit, bake it in ashes, 
 and feed it to the dog. If the dog gets sick, the 
 girls will tell who bewitched them.” 
 
 This was done—the girls began to talk, and 
 they never stopped until twenty innocent persons 
 had been hung and over two hundred imprisoned. 
 
 Nearly all who were arrested for witchcraft at 
 Salem were accused by this group of girls. Ann 
 Putnam testified in every case but one where the 
 death penalty was inflicted. Mary Walcott 
 testified in all but two. 
 
 Of the three women who met with the “Circle 
 
 Girls,’ Goodwife Sarah Bibber was by all odds 
 
The Beginning of Trouble 49 
 
 the most dangerous. She was the chief actress and 
 the girls were her understudies. She was after- 
 wards tried as a witch and, to avoid death, con- 
 fessed and was kept in prison until the end. Joseph 
 Fowler, testifying against her, said: 
 
 ‘“Goodwife Bibber lived in my house, and I did 
 observe that she was usually idle in her calling and 
 much given to tattling and tale bearing, making 
 mischief among her neighbors and very much given 
 to speak bad words and call her husband bad 
 names, and she was of a very unruly spirit.” 
 
 John Porter said of her: 
 
 ‘She was an unruly, turbulent spirit, and often 
 quarreled with her husband. She would often fall 
 into strange fits when she crost her husband. She 
 was double-tongued and called very bad names.” 
 
 Thomas Jacobs said: 
 
 ‘‘Goodwife Bibber was often speaking one 
 against another very obscenely and often wishing 
 very bad wishes and she often said if her child 
 fell into the river she would never pull it out. She 
 used to wish ill wishes to herself and to her children 
 and to others. The neighbors told me that John 
 Bibber’s wife could fall into fits as often as she 
 pleased.” 
 
 Goodwife Pope was likewise a busybody and 
 common scold. She met almost nightly with the 
 girls and was their chief hypnotist. In the trial 
 of Martha Corey, she pulled off her shoe and 
 threw it at the prisoner, then fell in a fit. She was 
 later tried and convicted as a witch. 
 
50 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 Ann Putnam, the third one of the group, was 
 the mother of Ann Putnam, Junior, who testified 
 in every case but one. There can be no doubt 
 that the twelve-year-old daughter, who was an 
 epileptic, was under the complete domination of 
 her mother who coached her before and at every 
 trial and who determined what accusations the 
 half-witted girl should make. The mother in turn 
 was influenced by her husband and his brothers, all 
 of whom held official positions in both the church 
 and village government and all of whom had 
 quarreled with most of their neighbors. 
 
 The whole group of girls and their three 
 sponsors were nearly always in court when a trial 
 was in progress. They stared wildly, threw many 
 fits, rolled upon the floor, and accused the prisoner 
 on trial of pinching them, or sticking them with pins 
 and needles. Oftentimes the confusion in the court- 
 room was so great that the court adjourned 
 to restore order. Sometimes the judges were so 
 aroused by the presence of spirits in the court- 
 room that Chief Justice Stoughton, with a large 
 switch in hand, rose and struck wildly about the 
 room, to drive the evil spirits away so that the 
 court might proceed with its work. 
 
 When an arrest was made, a preliminary exami- 
 nation was held nearly always before Judges John 
 Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin. ‘The accused 
 were then held to the Grand Jury and were later 
 tried by juries. 
 
The Beginning of Trouble 51 
 
 The evidence in most of the trials before juries 
 has mostly been destroyed. The testimony now 
 obtainable was taken before examining magistrates, 
 who reduced it to writing and filed it with the Clerk 
 of the Court. Reverend Samuel Parris often acted 
 as Clerk and wrote down the evidence. In many 
 cases, he gave only his conclusions as to what 
 transpired. He was also a witness in at least eight 
 cases and always against the accused. 
 
 After the preliminary examination, and while the 
 prisoners were in jail, a special jury was always im- 
 paneled to strip their bodies and examine them 
 carefully for devil marks. It was believed these 
 marks had been burned into the flesh by the devil’s 
 red hot iron. 
 
 The verdicts of these juries were always read at 
 the trials of the accused. In some cases the pris- 
 oner on trial protested to the judge that the marks 
 found by the special jury were natural birth marks, 
 but their protests were never heeded. When an 
 unnatural mark was discovered, the jury probed it 
 with pins and needles to see whether blood would 
 issue therefrom. Sometimes a mark discovered on 
 the first examination wholly disappeared before 
 the second. This was evidence that the devil was 
 at work trying to protect one of his own. 
 
 Many prisoners escaped from prison before 
 trial. This led to the belief that the devil aided 
 them by changing their forms and allowing them 
 to flee through cracks and crevices in the doors and 
 
52 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 windows. For this reason all were ordered to be 
 chained hands and feet and the chains riveted to 
 the floors of the jails. It is probable that their 
 escape was due to the fact that the sheriff and 
 guards were often in sympathy with their prisoners 
 and helped them to their liberty. 
 
 This was undoubtedly true of John Alden, a son 
 of John Alden of the Mayflower, who escaped 
 after his preliminary hearing and when he was sup- 
 posed to be bound with chains in his cell. 
 
 John Willard, a deputy sheriff, who had arrested 
 and imprisoned many of the accused, expressed 
 sympathy for his prisoners. ‘This led him to be 
 “cried out’’ against and he was arrested, tried, 
 and hung. 
 
 Within fifty years after the witchcraft trials, 
 most of the court records were destroyed. No one 
 has ever been able to ascertain why they were de- 
 stroyed or who destroyed them. It was generally 
 assumed the work was done by the relatives 
 of the men and women who were convicted and 
 hung. 
 
 The law of attainder was then in force, and by 
 it the blood of all these relatives was attainted and 
 their property subject to confiscation. It is only 
 natural that they should want to destroy the evi- 
 dence of their blood guiltiness. 
 
 The evidence here produced is taken largely 
 from the original documents on file in the clerk’s 
 ofice. Many of them were executed at the time 
 
The Beginning of Trouble 53 
 
 of the preliminary examinations, but some after 
 the trials. 
 
 There were no court reporters in that day, and 
 in the preliminary hearings the evidence was gen- 
 erally taken down by someone who volunteered to 
 do it. In about one-half the cases, this was done 
 by the Reverend Samuel Parris. Very little in 
 these original documents is in the form of questions 
 and answers. Most of it is in the form of recitals 
 and is always written in the third person. ‘The 
 spelling is abominable and the language used is 
 equally bad. In the following chapters, each trial 
 will be considered separately and instead of the 
 third person, the first person will be used, and much 
 of the misspelling will be eliminated to make the 
 account more readable. 
 
 Much in the preliminary hearings was common 
 to all cases. So far as possible repetition has been 
 avoided. Undoubtedly the evidence here given is 
 not all the evidence offered, but it is all that is 
 preserved. 
 
 These chapters will deal only with the men and 
 women who suffered death. ‘There were many 
 others whose trials were exceedingly interesting, 
 who were convicted and sentenced to prison, but the 
 limits of this work will not permit consideration of 
 them. 
 
CHAR LEE RiaMEL 
 THE TRIAL OF BRIDGET BISHOP 
 
 RIDGET BISHOP was the first witch tried at 
 Salem, although not the first arrested. She 
 -was about sixty years old, had been married three 
 times, and her reputation was generally bad. Two 
 of her husbands had often been arrested for trivial 
 offenses. She was accused in 1680 of being a witch 
 and was then tried and acquitted. For many years 
 she had operated a drinking tavern on the road 
 between Salem and Beverly. This was nothing 
 less than a drunken and disorderly resort, very 
 offensive to the better people of the village. 
 
 She had often been reprimanded by the church 
 for keeping her tavern open late at night. Every- 
 body drank rum and played at shovel board. In 
 attending upon her customers she always wore a 
 black cap and a red paragon bodice, braided and 
 looped up with many colors. 
 
 It was not strange that she should have been 
 the first accused of having made a covenant with 
 the devil, considering her occupation. Her trial 
 began on June 2, 1692. It was held in the court- 
 house before a jury and seven judges. There were 
 five indictments against her charging her with tor- 
 menting Mercy Lewis, Abigail Williams, Elizabeth 
 Hubbard, Ann Putnam, and Mary Walcott. The 
 evidence at her preliminary hearing was taken by 
 
 54 
 
The Trial of Bridget Bishop 55 
 
 Judges Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin, who 
 presided. 
 
 A jury of nine women stripped the accused 
 woman in jail and examined her body for devil 
 marks. The first examination was had on June 
 second at 10 o'clock in the morning. The verdict 
 was as follows: 
 
 “Wee, whose names are underwritten, being 
 commanded by Captain George Corwin, Esquire, 
 Sheriff of the County of Essex, this second day of 
 June 1692 for to vew the bodyes of Bridget Bishop, 
 alias Oliver, Rebecca Nurse, Alice Parker, Sarah 
 Good, Elizabeth Proctor, and Susanna Martin 
 finding the first three, namely: Bishop Nurse and 
 Proctor by diligent search have discovered a preter- 
 natural exerscence of flesh not usual in women and 
 much unlike to the other three that have been 
 searched by us, and yet they were in all the three 
 women near the same place.”’ 
 
 All of the nine women signed the verdict with 
 their marks indicating that none of them could 
 write their own names. The same nine women 
 examined the same prisoners at four o'clock in the 
 afternoon of the same day and returned the fol- 
 lowing verdict: 
 
 SALEM—AT ABOUT 4 O'CLOCK IN 
 THE AFTERNOON. 
 JUNE 2, 1692. 
 
 ‘We, whose names are subscribed to the within 
 mentioned, upon a second search about three or 
 four hours distant do find the said Bridget Bishop, 
 alias Oliver, in a clear and free state from a pre- 
 
56 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 ternatural excrescence as formerly seen by us as 
 also Rebecca Nurse and Elizabeth Proctor.” 
 
 This second verdict is also signed by the same 
 women all using their marks. Both of these ver- 
 dicts were read to the jury that tried the accused. 
 
 As the preliminary trial opened, all of the girls 
 appeared and when they came in sight of the 
 accused fell to the floor in fits and said they were 
 being pinched and stuck by pins and needles by the 
 accused Bridget Bishop. 
 
 The following is the examination by Judge 
 Hathorne: 
 
 Judge: “Bridget Bishop, what do you say? 
 You here stand charged with sundry acts of witch- 
 craft made upon the bodies of Mercy Lewis and 
 Ann Putnam and others.” 
 
 Bishop: “I am innocent. I know nothing of 
 it. I have done no witchcraft.” 
 
 Judge (to the girls): ‘‘ Look upon this woman 
 and see if this be the woman that you have 
 seen hurting you.” (to Bishop) ‘‘What do you 
 say now that you see they charge you? Do you 
 confess?” 
 
 Bishop: “I never hurt them in my life. I 
 never see these persons before. I am as innocent 
 as the child unborn.” 
 
 Judge: “Is not your coat cut?” 
 
 Bishop: ‘No.’ (Whereupon the judge ex- 
 amined her coat and found that it was cut in two 
 
The Trial of Bridget Bishop S77, 
 
 ways and Jonathan Walcott said that the sword 
 that he struck at Bishop with was not naked but 
 was within the scabbard but that the rent made in 
 the coat was apparently made by the very same 
 sword as that Mr. Walcott did use.”’) 
 
 Judge (addressing Bishop): ‘‘ What contract 
 have you made with the devil?” 
 
 Bishop: “I have made no contract with the 
 devil. I never saw him in my life.” 
 
 Mercy Lewis: ‘‘Oh, Goody Bishop, did you 
 not come to my house the last night and did you 
 not tell me that you would torment me?” 
 
 Judge: “Tell the truth in this matter. How 
 come this person to be tormented and to charge you 
 with doing it?” 
 
 Bishop: “I am not come here to say I am a 
 witch and to take away my life.” 
 
 Marshall Herrick: ‘How come you into my 
 bed chamber one morning and asked me whether 
 I had any curtains to sell? She is by some of the 
 afflicted persons charged with murder.” 
 
 Judge: ‘‘ What do you say to these murders 
 you are charged with?” 
 
 Bishop: “I am innocent. I know nothing of 
 it.” (Thereupon Bridget Bishop lifted up her eyes 
 and all the girls were greatly tormented. ) 
 
 William Stacey, age thirty-six, thereupon said: 
 “About fourteen years gone I had the small pox 
 and Bridget Bishop did visitt me and profess a 
 great love for mein my affliction. After I got well, 
 
58 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 Bridget Bishop got me to do some work for her 
 for which she gave me three pence which seemed 
 to me as if it had been good money, but I had not 
 gone over three or four rods before I looked into 
 my pocket where I put the money but could not 
 find it. 
 
 ‘Sometime afterwards I met the said Bishop 
 in the street going to the mill. She asked me 
 whether my father would grind her grist. I asked 
 her why she asked me that and she answered: ‘ Be- 
 cause folks count me a witch.’ Then I told her I 
 knew my father would grind it. But being gone 
 about six rods from the said Bishop suddenly my 
 off wheel here sunk down into a hole upon plain 
 ground and I was forced to get one to help me 
 get out. Afterwards I went back to look for the 
 hole where the wheel sunk in but could not find any 
 hole. | 
 
 ‘After that in the winter about midnight I felt 
 something between my lips pressing hard against 
 my teeth and it was very cold insomuch that it did 
 wake me, and I got up and set upon my bed and 
 at the same time I did see the said Bridget Bishop 
 at the foot of the bed and it was as light as if it had 
 been day. It was either the said Bishop or her 
 shape she having then a black cat and a black hat 
 and a red coat. And the said Bishop or her shape 
 clapped her coat close to the legges and hopt upon 
 the bed and about the room and then went out. 
 
 ‘‘Sometimes afterwards I met the said Bishop 
 
The Trial of Bridget Bishop 59 
 
 by Isaac Stone’s hill and after I had passed by her 
 my horse stood still with a small load going up the 
 hill, and the cart fell down. Then I went to lift a 
 bag of grain of about two bushels but could not 
 budge it with all my might. 
 
 ‘T fully believe that the said Bishop was instru- 
 mental in the death of my daughter Priscilla about 
 two years ago. The child was a likely, thriving 
 child and suddenly screached out and so continued 
 in this unusual manner for about a fortnight and so 
 died in a lamentable manner.” 
 
 Samuel Gray of Salem, age about forty years, 
 said: “About fourteen years ago I was going to 
 bed one Lord’s Day night and after I had been 
 asleep sometime wakened up, and, looking up, saw 
 the house light as if a candle were lighted in it and 
 the door locked. Then I saw a woman standing 
 between the cradle in the room and the bedside and 
 something looked upon me so I did rise up in bed 
 and the woman vanished. Then I went to the door 
 and found it locked and then I looked out again 
 and saw the same woman whom I had seen a little 
 before in the room and she was in the same garb 
 and I said to her, ‘In the name of God what do 
 you come for?’ ‘Then she vanished so I locked 
 the door again and went to bed and then I felt 
 something come to my lips cold and thereupon I 
 started and looked up and again I did see the same 
 woman with something between her hands holding 
 it before my mouth and the child in the cradle gave 
 
60 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 a great screach as if it were greatly hurt and she 
 disappeared, and when I took the child I could not 
 quiet it in some hours. From which time the child 
 before was a very likely, thriving child it now pined 
 away and was never well although it lived some 
 months in a sad condition and so dyed. 
 
 ‘Within a week I did see the same woman in the 
 same garb and clothes and by her garb and counte- 
 nance I do testify that it was the same woman that 
 they now call Bridget Bishop, alias Oliver, of 
 Salem.” 
 
 John Hale, age fifty-six, testified as follows: 
 ‘About five or six years ago Christiane, wife of 
 John Trask, being in full communion in our church, 
 came to me to desire that Bridget Bishop, her 
 neighbor, might not be permitted to receive the 
 Lord’s supper in our church ’till she had given said 
 Trask satisfaction for some things that were 
 against her: namely, because the said Bishop did 
 entertain certain people in her house at unseason- 
 able hours in the night who were drunk and played 
 at shovel board whereby disagreement did arise in 
 their families and all the people were intoxicated 
 and the said Trask went again into the house and 
 found the same game being played and he took the 
 pieces they played and threw them into the fyre and 
 reproved the said Bishop for permitting such dis- 
 order. I gave Christiane Trask directions how to 
 proceed further in this matter and indeed I doe 
 fear if a stop had not been put to these disorders 
 
The Trial of Bridget Bishop 61 
 
 Edward Bishop’s house would have been a house 
 of great prophainess and iniquity. 
 
 ‘But the next I heard of Christiane Trask was 
 that she was distracted, and her husband told me 
 that she was taken distracted in the night after she 
 came from my house when she complained against 
 Bishop. She continued some time distracted but 
 sought the Lord by fasting and pray and the Lord 
 was pleased to restore the said Trask to her reason 
 again, but I know and now call to mind that her 
 fits and those of the bewitched at Salem Village 
 were much alike. As to the wounds which Chris- 
 tiane Trask died of I observed three deadly ones. 
 A piece of her windpipe was cut out and another 
 one about through the windpipe and gulle to the 
 veins they call jugular so that I then judged and 
 still do believe it impossible for her to do, with a 
 sharp pair of scissors, cut herself so without some 
 extraordinary work of the devil or witchcraft.” 
 
 Sam Shaltoch, age about forty-one years, testi- 
 fied as follows: “Inthe year 1680 Bridget Oliver, 
 formerly wife to old Goodman Oliver and now 
 wife to Edward Bishop, did come to my house pre- 
 tending to buy an old hog which they asked for, 
 while after she went away with it and at sundry 
 other times she came in a smooth manner and I 
 have often thought she came to make mischief. 
 
 ‘About that time our eldest child, who promised 
 as much as any other of the children, was taken 
 in a very drooping condition and as Bridget Bishop, 
 
62 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 alias Oliver, came oftener to the house he grew 
 wors and wors. As he would be standing at the 
 door he would fall out and bruise his face upon 
 the step, as if he had been pushed out by an 
 invisible hand. After that Oliver brought me a 
 pair of fleeces to dye. After that, sundry pieces 
 of lace some of which were so short I could not 
 judge they were of any use. She paid me two 
 pence for dying them and I gave them to Henry 
 Williams who lived with me and he told me that he 
 put them in his purse among some other money 
 which he locked up in a box and the purse and the 
 money was taken out from his box and he never 
 found out how afterwards. 
 
 ‘Just after this, our child was taken with a 
 terrible fit. His mouth and eys turned aside in 
 such a manner as if he was taken upon in death. 
 After this he grew wors in his fits, and he would be 
 almost always crying. For many months he would 
 be daily crying until his strength was spent, and 
 then he would fall asleep and then wake and fall 
 to crying and moaning. Ever since he has been 
 stupified and void of reason his fits still following 
 him and I cannot judge otherwise but that he is 
 bewitched and that Bridget Oliver, now called 
 Bishop, is the cause of it all.” 
 
 John Lauder of Salem, age thirty-two, testified: 
 ‘‘About seven or eight years ago I was living with 
 Mr. John Gedney of Salem and, having had some 
 controversy with Bridget Bishop about her fowles 
 
The Trial of Bridget Bishop 63 
 
 that used to come into our orchard, we argued 
 some little while. After I was gone to bed to sleep 
 and about the dead of night I felt a great weight 
 upon my breast and, wakening, looked and did 
 clearly see Bridget Bishop or her likeness sitting 
 upon my stomach and I put my arms out of the 
 bed to free myself from the great pressure. She 
 presently laid hold of my throat and almost choked 
 me and I had no strength or power in my hands to 
 rise or help myself and in this condition she held 
 me. 
 
 ‘‘Awhile after this Susana was in our orchard 
 and I was then with her and said Bridget Bishop 
 being then in her orchard which was next to ours 
 my mistress, Susana, told said Bridget that I said 
 she came one night in the dead of night and sat 
 upon my breast which she denied and I thereupon 
 to her face said it to be true and that I did plainly 
 see her and she did then threaten me. Sometime 
 after that on a Lord’s day and on the evening of 
 the said day the door being shut I did see a black 
 pig in the room coming toward me so I went 
 toward it and it vanished away. 
 
 ‘Immediately after I sat down in a narrow bar 
 and did see a strange shape come through the 
 window and come and set just above the bar. The 
 body of it looked like a munkey only the feets were 
 like a cock’s feet and a face more like a man’s than 
 a munkey’s and I became greatly frightened not 
 being able to speak or to help myself by reason of 
 
64 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 fear. So the thing spoke to me and said: ‘Iam 
 a messenger sent to you for I understand you are 
 troubled in mind and, if you will be helped by me, 
 you shall want for nothing in this world,’ upon 
 which I endeavored to clap my hands upon it and 
 said, ‘You devil, I will kill you,’ but could feel 
 no substance and it jumped out of the window again 
 and immediately came in by the porch although the 
 doors were shut, whereupon I struck at it with a 
 sticke but broke the sticke but felt no substance. 
 Then it vanished way and I opened the back door 
 and went out and coming toward the house I spied 
 the said Bridget Bishop in the orchard and, seing 
 her, [ had no power to set one foot forward but 
 returned in again and going to shut the door I 
 again did see the like character I before did see 
 within the doors in such a posture as did seem it 
 was going to fly upon me upon which I cried out, 
 ‘The whole armor of God be between me and 
 you,’ upon which it turned back but then flew and 
 put its feet against my stomach upon which I was 
 struck dumb and so continued for about three days 
 time and it also shook many of the apples from 
 the trees which it flew over.” (Note: Bridget 
 Bishop denied on the trial that she bewitched John 
 Lauder, although it was true that she had had 
 many differences with him. ) 
 
 John Blye, age fifty-seven, testified: ‘‘ Me and 
 my son, William, we were employed by Bridget 
 Bishop to help take down the cellar of the owlde 
 
The Trial of Bridget Bishop 65 
 
 house she lived in and we found in the holes in 
 the walls of the cellar several poppets made up of 
 rages and hoggs brussels with headless pinns in 
 them. This was about seven years last past.’ 
 
 Richard Coman, age thirty-two, testified: 
 ‘“ Kight years since I then being in bed with my 
 wife at Salem one night then in the latter part of 
 May or the beginning of June, I saw a light burn- 
 ing in our room I being awake and did then see 
 Bridget Bishop come into the room and two more 
 women which two women were strangers to me but 
 the said Bishop came in her red paragon bodice 
 although I did lock the door when I went to bed 
 and found it locked when I did afterwards rise up. 
 After they did appear the light was out the curtains 
 to the foot of the bed opened and I did see her 
 and presently she came and lit upon my body and 
 she pressed me so that I could not speak not so 
 much as to wake my wife although I endeavored 
 to do so. 
 
 ‘The next night they all appeared again in a 
 like manner, and the said Bridget Bishop took hold 
 of me and hauled me out of the bed. The next 
 day I, having told about what had happened, my 
 kinsman William Coman told me he would stay 
 with me and laid with me and see if they would 
 come again. He induced me to lay my sword 
 athwart my body after we went to bed and when 
 we were both awake and discoursing together all 
 the three women again came, and the said Bishop 
 
66 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 was the first as she had been the other two times. 
 When William saw that they were all come again 
 he was immediately struck speechless and could not 
 move his hands and immediately they got hold of 
 my sword and strove to take it from me but I held 
 so fast as they did not get it away and I did then 
 have liberty of speech, and did call to William, 
 also to my wife and Sarah Phillips who laid with 
 my wife who all told me afterwards they heard me 
 but had no power to speak or sturr and the first 
 that spake was Sarah Phillips and said: ‘In the 
 name of God Goodman Coman what is the matter 
 with you?’ So they all vanished away.” 
 
 Sue Sheldon, age eighteen, testified. ‘“‘On the 
 second day of June, 1692, I saw the apparition 
 of Bridget Bishop and immediately appeared two 
 little children and said they were twins and told 
 Bridget Bishop to her face that she had murdered 
 them by setting them into fits whereupon they 
 died.” 
 
 John Cook, age eighteen, testified: ‘About six 
 or seven years ago one morning as I was in bed 
 before I arose I saw Bridget Bishop standing in 
 the chamber by the window and she looked on me 
 and presently struck me on the side of the head 
 which did very much hurt me.” 
 
 John Bly testified: ‘I bought a sow of Edward 
 Bishop of Salem and was to pay the price agreed 
 upon to Jeremiah Neale of Salem and Bridget, the 
 wife of said Edward Bishop, because she could 
 
The Trial of Bridget Bishop 67 
 
 not have the money paid into her came to my 
 house and quarreled about it. Soon after this my 
 sow had some pigs and she was taken with strange 
 fits jumping up and knocking her head against the 
 fence and she could not eat nothing and all her pigs 
 soon began to foam at the mouth which Goody 
 Henderson said she believed showed them to be 
 afflicted; and she said they had theirs killed in 
 such a manner when Bridget Bishop lived with 
 them and if they did not die they used to cure 
 them by giving them Okar and immediately we 
 gave the sow Okar after which she grew better and 
 then after the space of over two hours she did 
 stop jumping and running between the houses. 
 After that she was well again and we did appre- 
 hend that she was bewitched by said Bishop.”’ 
 Elizabeth Black, age about thirty, testified: 
 ‘Being at Salem on the day when George Corwin 
 was tried and in the evening of the day coming 
 from Salem into Beverley on horseback with my 
 sister, then known by name as Abigail Woodberry, 
 riding behind me and as we were riding and had 
 come as far as Crane River Common, Edward 
 Bishop and his wife overtook us on horseback. 
 They are both in prison now under suspicion of 
 witchcraft. And they had some words of differ- 
 ence between them. We heard Edward Bishop 
 finding fault with his wife and he said he would 
 throw her into the water and she said it was no 
 matter if he did—-or words to that effect. And 
 
68 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 so we rode along all together toward Beverley and 
 she blamed her husband for riding so fast and she 
 said she would do him mischief and he answered 
 her it did not matter what she did. And then Ed- 
 ward Bishop directed his speech to us and said she 
 had been a bad wife unto him ever since they had 
 been married and reckoned up many of her bad- 
 nesses toward him and said that now of late she 
 was wors than ever she had been before and the 
 devil had come bodily into her and that she was 
 familiar with the devil and that she set up all night 
 with the devil.” 
 
 This was substantially all of the evidence that 
 was Offered in the trial of Bridget Bishop. Some 
 of this evidence was taken down by Ezekial 
 Cheever at the preliminary examination and was 
 read to the jury at the final trial. The jury was 
 made up of members of the church and were sup- 
 posed to be chosen by law from all the duly quali- 
 fied jurors. Almost immediately after the evidence 
 was submitted to the jurors by the Chief Justice 
 they returned a verdict finding the defendant guilty 
 and sentencing her to be hung on the tenth day of 
 June. The verdict was returned on June eighth. 
 Immediately after its return, Judge Stoughton 
 signed the death warrant which was addressed to 
 George Corwin, sheriff, and reads as follows: 
 
 ‘Whereupon Bridget Bishop, alias Oliver, at a 
 special court held at Salem the second day of this 
 month of June before William Stoughton, Esquire, 
 
The Trial of Bridget Bishop 69 
 
 and his Associate Justices of the said court, was 
 indicted for practicing and exercising on the nine- 
 teenth day of April last past and diverse other 
 days and times certain acts of witchcraft in and 
 upon the bodies of Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam, 
 Mercy Lewis, Mary Walcott, and Elizabeth Hub- 
 bard of Salem whereby their bodies were greatly 
 afflicted, pined, consumed, wasted, and tormented. 
 To which indictment Bridget Bishop pleaded not 
 guilty and put herself upon God. 
 
 “Whereupon she was found guilty of the of- 
 fense and witchcrafts and sentenced to death. 
 
 ‘Therefore, in the name of their majesties Wil- 
 liam and Mary, now King and Queen of England, 
 we command you that upon Friday next, being the 
 tenth day of June to conduct the said Bridget 
 Bishop from their majesties’ jail in Salem to the 
 place of execution and there cause her to be hanged 
 
 . d 4 
 until she be dead WILLIAM STOUGHTON. 
 
 The sheriff executed this writ and, in making his 
 return, said he conveyed her to the place provided 
 for her execution and caused the said Bishop to be 
 hanged by the neck until she died and he then 
 buried her at the same place. 
 
 Cotton Mather says, that on the way to the scaf- 
 fold Bridget turned and took a last look at the 
 meeting house, and as she did, a great noise oc- 
 curred in the church as if it would fall down and 
 afterwards when they went to the church to see 
 what had happened they found a great timber had 
 been removed from the roof and carried clear 
 across the church. 
 
70 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 After Bridget was hung, the road house which 
 she had conducted was torn down and several 
 poppets were found concealed in the walls. 
 It was supposed these were used to bring sickness 
 and death upon many people as well as upon cattle, 
 pigs, and other animals. 
 
 Edward Bishop testified against his wife and 
 
 gladly followed her to the gallows. Soon after 
 her death he married again. This was his third 
 matrimonial venture. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE TRIAL OF THE REVEREND GEORGE 
 BURROUGHS 
 
 REVEREND GEORGE BURROUGHS gerad- 
 uated from Harvard College in the class of 
 1670 and was called to preach in the First Church 
 at Salem in 1680. He inherited an old quarrel in 
 the church which divided the membership; re- 
 signed after two years and moved to Maine. 
 
 In 1681 his wife died at Salem and he bought 
 from John Putnam, clerk of the court and rum- 
 seller, several gallons of Canary rum to be used at 
 her funeral. This was not paid for when he re- 
 moved to Maine. Three years later Putnam 
 threatened him with arrest for debt. A meeting 
 was arranged at the church in Salem to make a 
 settlement of Burroughs’ accounts. When he left 
 Salem, the church was very poor and his salary 
 had not all been paid. He asked the church to 
 pay the debt owing to Putnam from money due to 
 him, and voluntarily returned to square up his 
 accounts, _ 
 
 When the deacons met in the church for this 
 purpose, Thomas Putnam, who was a constable 
 and brother of John, stepped forward and arrested 
 the minister and took him to the jail where he 
 remained several days before his debt was paid. 
 He was then released and returned to Maine. The 
 
 71 
 
Fz The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 church owed him much more than was owing to 
 Putnam. 
 
 He preached at Wells, Maine, until 1692, when 
 he was ‘“‘cried out against” by the “‘ Circle Girls” 
 of Salem, chief among whom was Ann Putnam, 
 daughter of Thomas Putnam, and Mercy Lewis, 
 who had been his domestic servant while he lived 
 in Salem, but who was now a servant in the family 
 of John Putnam. A warrant was issued for him, 
 and Thomas Putnam went to Maine and brought 
 him back in chains and lodged him in prison at 
 Salem. 
 
 He was a short, heavy set, black-eyed, powerful 
 man who possessed an ungovernable temper. At 
 the time he was living with his third wife. Four 
 indictments were voted against him charging him 
 with bewitching Ann Putnam, Mercy Lewis, Mary 
 Walcott, and Elizabeth Hubbard. 
 
 While in prison, his body was stripped by a jury 
 appointed for the purpose and examined for devil 
 marks. Afterwards he was given a preliminary 
 hearing before Judge Stoughton, MHathorne, 
 Sewell, and Corwin, who held him to the Grand 
 Jury. When he was brought into the court in 
 chains and saw Mercy Lewis and Ann Putnam as 
 his chief accusers he became so angry that he 
 leaped backward and knocked down many of the 
 witnesses against him. 
 
 His trial lasted several days. He was convicted 
 by a jury and sentenced to be hung on August nine- 
 
Trial of the Reverend Burroughs 73 
 
 teenth. As he stood upon the ladder of the gallows 
 he made a speech denouncing the whole affair and 
 declaring his innocence. He repeated the Lord’s 
 Prayer with such solemnity that many in the crowd 
 murmured, and Cotton Mather is said to have 
 ridden on horseback through the throng denounc- 
 ing him. ‘This statement is Sea denied by the 
 friends of Mather. 
 
 _ The chief accusations brought against him at his 
 trial were his great strength, his failure to attend 
 communion, and his cruel treatment of his three 
 wives. here is reason to believe that he was a 
 heretic and deliberately refused to follow the lead 
 of the church. He was, however, a man of ability, 
 brave and courageous. He had often fought 
 against the Indians in Maine and had received one 
 hundred and fifty acres of land as a reward for 
 his great bravery. For some reason he had tried 
 to have his third wife sign a written covenant not 
 to reveal his secrets. Apparently he was justified 
 in this, for immediately after his execution this 
 third wife seized all his property, married again, 
 and deserted several young children of Burroughs 
 by a former marriage. 
 
 After he was hung, it is said his clothes were 
 removed and an old suit put upon him. His body 
 was then dragged through the streets by a halter 
 to the place of burial and thrown into a shallow 
 hole together with the bodies of John Willard and 
 Martha Carrier, hung at the same time. 
 
74 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 So far as the record discloses, Burroughs was an 
 honorable man. His death was directly due to the 
 venom of the Putnams, with whom he had had 
 many quarrels. 
 
 The following is a memorandum of what 
 transpired at his preliminary trial. It was written 
 by the Reverend Samuel Parris: 
 
 ‘Being asked when he partook of the Lord’s 
 Supper, he said it was so long ago he could not 
 tell, yet he owned he was at a meeting one Sab- 
 bath at Boston part of the day, and the other at. 
 Charleston part of a Sabbath when the sacrament 
 happened to be at both, yet he did not partake of 
 either. He denied that his house at Casko was 
 haunted, yet he owned there were toads there. 
 He denied that he made his wife swear that she 
 could not write to his father without his approba- 
 tion. He owned that none of his children but the 
 eldest was baptized.”’ 
 
 The above examination was ‘in private, none of 
 the bewitched being present. At his entry into the 
 room, many, if not all, of the bewitched were 
 grievously tortured, 
 
 Sue Sheldon said that Burroughs’ two wives ap- 
 peared to her in their winding sheets and said that 
 man killed them. He was brought to look upon 
 Sue Sheldon. He looked back and knocked down 
 all of the afflicted who stood behind. Then he 
 looked upon Mercy Lewis and she fell into a dread- 
 
Trial of the Reverend Burroughs 75 
 
 ful and tedious fit. Then Mary Walcott, Eliza- 
 beth Hubbard, and Susan Sheldon, they all fell 
 into fits. Being asked what he thought of this, 
 he answered it was an amazing and humbling provi- 
 dence, and said: 
 
 ‘“Some of you may observe that when they began 
 to name my name they could not name it.”’ 
 
 Ann Putnam and Sue Sheldon said his two wives 
 and two children were killed by him, then all the 
 bewitched were so tortured that the authorities 
 ordered them to be taken away. 
 
 Sarah Bibber said he had bewitched her, though 
 she had not seen him personally before as she 
 knew. The verdict of a jury of seven men was then 
 read to the jury as follows: 
 
 ‘Wee whose names are underwritten, having re- 
 ceived an order from the sheriff, did search the 
 bodies of George Burroughs and George Jacobs. 
 We found nothing upon the body of the above said 
 Burroughs but what is natural. But upon the body 
 of George Jacobs we found three teets which, ac- 
 cording to our best judgment, we think is not nat- 
 ural for we run a pinn through two of them and 
 he was not sinceible of it; one of them being 
 within his mouth on the right side of his cheak, and 
 the second one upon his right shoulder blade and 
 the third upon his right hipp.”’ 
 
 The following additional testimony was given: 
 
 Samuel Weber, age thirty-six, said: ‘‘ About 
 seven or eight years ago I lived at Casko Bay and 
 George Burroughs was then minister there and, 
 
76 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 having heard much of the great strength of him — 
 the said Burroughs —he came to our house while 
 we were in discourse about the same and he then 
 told me that he had put his fingers into the bung 
 of a barrel of moleses, and lifted it up and turned 
 to the right of him and set it down again.” 
 
 Ann Putnam, age twelve, testified: ‘On April 
 20, 1692, at evening I saw the apparition of a 
 minister at which I was greviously affrighted and 
 cried out, ‘Oh, dreadful, dreadful, here is a min- 
 ister come! What are ministers converts to? 
 Whence come you and what is your name for I will 
 complain of you, though you be a minister, if you 
 be a wizard?’ Immediately I was tortured by 
 him, being racked and almost choked by him and 
 he tempted me to write in his book which I refused 
 with many outcries. And I told him I would not 
 write in his book though he tear me all to pieces, 
 but told him that it was a dreadful thing for him 
 which was a minister that should teach little chil- 
 dren to fear God should come persuading poor 
 creatures to give their souls to the devil. 
 
 “Tell me your name that I may know who you 
 are. Then he told me his name was George Bur- 
 roughs, and that he had three wives and that he 
 had bewitched the first two of them to death, and 
 that he killed Mrs. Lawson, and also killed Mr. 
 Lawson’s children because he went to the East- 
 ward with Sir Edmon and preached to the soldiers, 
 
Trial of the Reverend Burroughs 77 
 
 and that he had bewitched a great many soldiers to 
 death at the Eastward, and that he had made 
 Abigail Hobbs a witch and several more, and he 
 also told me that he was above a witch; that he 
 was a conjurer.”’ 
 
 Thomas Putnam and Ezekiel Cheever testified 
 that they were with Ann Putnam at the time she 
 met the apparition of George Burroughs and 
 heard her say what she above said to him. 
 
 The foregoing testimony of Ann Putnam was 
 given on April 20, 1692. On the third day of 
 May, 1692, she again testified as follows: 
 
 ‘George Burroughs told me that his first two 
 wives would appear to me personally and tell me 
 a great many lies but I should not believe them. 
 Then immediately appeared to me two women in 
 winding sheets at which I was greatly affrighted 
 and they turned their faces toward Mr. Bur- 
 roughs and looked very red and angry and told 
 him that he had been a cruel man to them, and 
 also told him that they should be clothed in white 
 robes in Heaven when he should be cast into Hell 
 and immediately he vanished away. As soon as 
 he was gone the two women turned their faces 
 toward me and looked as pale and told me they 
 were Mr. Burroughs’ two first wives and that he 
 had murdered them, and one told me that she 
 was his first wife and that he had stabbed her 
 under the left arm and put a piece of sealing 
 wax on the wound and she pulled aside the sheet 
 
78 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 and showed me the wound, and also told me that 
 she was in the house Mr. Paris now lives in when 
 it was done; and the other told me that the wife 
 that Mr. Burroughs now has had killed her in the 
 vessel. And they both charged me that I tell these 
 things to the magistrate before Mr. Burroughs’ 
 face and if he did not own them they did not 
 know but that they should appear there this morn- 
 ing. Also Mrs. Lawson and her daughter Ann 
 appeared to me, whom I knew, and told me that 
 Mr. Burroughs murdered them. Also appeared 
 to me another woman in a winding sheet and told 
 me that she was Goodman Fuller’s first wife and 
 Mr. Burroughs killed her because there was some 
 difference between her husband and him.”’ 
 
 Mercy Lewis testified at the trial August third 
 as follows: 
 
 ‘On the seventh of May, 1692, in the evening 
 I saw the apparition of George Burroughs whom 
 I very well know which did grievously torment me 
 and urged me to write in his book and then he 
 brought me a new fashion book which he did not 
 first bring and told me I might write in that book 
 for that was a book in the study when I lived with 
 him. But I told him I did not believe him for 
 I had often been in his study and I had never 
 saw that book there. Then he told me that he 
 had several books in his study which I never saw, 
 and that he could raise the devil, and now had 
 bewitched Mr. Shepard’s daughter. And I asked 
 
Trial of the Reverend Burroughs 79 
 
 him how he could go to bewitch her now that he 
 was kept in Salem and he told me that the devil 
 was his servant and he sent him in his shape to 
 do it. 
 
 ‘Then he threatened to kill me if I said I should 
 Witness against him, and he told me that he had 
 made Abigail Hobbs a witch and several more. 
 And I told him my life was now in the power of 
 his hand and that I would not write though he 
 did kill me, and on the ninth of May Mr. Bur- 
 roughs carried me up to an exceedingly high moun- 
 tain and showed me all the kingdoms of the earth 
 and told me that he would give them all to me if 
 I would write in his book and if I would not he 
 would throw me down and break my neck but I 
 told him they were none of his to give and I would 
 not write if he throd me down on one hundred 
 pitch forks.” 
 
 Simon Willard, age forty-two, testified: “I was 
 at the house of Mr. Robert Lawrence at Falmouth 
 in Casko Bay in September, 1689, and Mr. 
 Lawrence was commending Mr. George Bur- 
 roughs for his strength saying that none of us 
 could do what he could do for Mr. Burroughs 
 could hold out his gun with one hand and I saw 
 Mr. Burroughs put his hand on the gun to show 
 us how he held it and while he held his gun there 
 he held the gun out. Said gun was about seven- 
 foot barrel and very heavy. I[ then tried to hold 
 out said gun with both hands but could not do it.” 
 
80 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 Captain William Wormall, age forty-two, testi- 
 fied: “I was at Casko in 1689. Captain Edwin 
 Sargents was speaking of George Burroughs great 
 strength and George Burroughs being there said 
 that he had carried one barrel of moleses out of 
 a canoe.” 
 
 Sarah Vibber testified on the ninth of May as 
 follows: “I was agoing to Salem Village one 
 day and I saw the apparition of a little man like 
 a minister with a black coat on and he pincht me 
 by the arm and bid me go on with him but I told 
 him I would not. When I came to the village 
 I saw there Mr. George Burroughs, whose appari- 
 tion most grievously afflicted and tormented Mercy 
 Lewis, Elizabeth Hubbard, Abigail Williams, and 
 Ann Putnam by pinching and almost choking them 
 to death. Also, several times since George Bur- 
 roughs or his apparition has most grievously tor- 
 mented me, and I believe in my heart that Mr. 
 George Burroughs is a wizard and that he has 
 most grievously tormented me and the others.” 
 
 Elizabeth Hubbard testified: ‘ Last night there 
 appeared a little black-headed man to me in black 
 apparill. I asked him his name and he told me 
 his name was Burroughs. ‘Then he took a book 
 out of his pocket and opened it and bid me set 
 my hand to it. I told him I would not. The 
 lines in this book were red as blood. ‘Then he 
 pincht me thrice and went away. The next morn- 
 ing he appeared to me and told me he was above 
 
Trial of the Reverend Burroughs 81 
 
 a wizard for he was a conjurer, and so went away 
 but since then he has appeared to. me day and 
 night very often and urged me to set my hand in 
 his book telling me that if I would do so I would 
 be well.” 
 
 Thomas Greenslett, age forty years, testified: 
 ** At the first breaking out of the last Indian war I 
 was at the house of Captain Joshua Scotts at Black- 
 point and I saw Mr. George Burroughs lift a gun 
 of six feet barrel or thereabouts by putting four 
 fingers of his right hand into the muzzle of the 
 gun and hold it out at arms length and at the same 
 time I saw Burroughs take up a full barrel of 
 moleses with but two fingers in the bung and carry 
 it from the stage head to the door at the end of the 
 stage without letting it down.” 
 
 Deliverance Hobbs testified: ‘‘ Mr. Burroughs 
 was at the witches’ sacrament in Mr. Paris’ pasture 
 and he administered the sacrament to all of us.” 
 
 Hannah Harris, age twenty-seven, testified: “I 
 have lived at the house of George Burroughs at 
 Falmouth and I many times took notice that when- 
 ever I had discoursed with Burroughs’ wife when 
 he was away from home and after he returned, he 
 always scolded his wife and told her that he knew 
 what she said when he was away, and one time 
 when his wife had laid in bed about a week he 
 fell out with her and he kept her by discoursing 
 with her in the door until she fell sick and grew 
 worse at night so I was afraid she would die and 
 
§2 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 called in their neighbors. And the said Burroughs’ 
 daughter told one of the women what was the 
 cause of her mother’s illness and the said Bur- 
 roughs chide his daughter for telling and came to 
 me and told me that I should not tell.” 
 Benjamin Hutchinson testified: “‘On the twen- 
 ty-first of April Abigal Williams said there was a 
 little black minister that lived at Casko Bay who 
 told her that he had killed three wives: two for 
 himself and one for Mr. Lawson, and that he had 
 made nine witches, and that he could hold out the 
 heaviest gun in Casko Bay with one hand and no 
 ‘other man could hold out the said gun with both 
 hands. And I asked her whereabouts this little 
 man stood, and I had a three tined fork in my 
 hand and I threw it down where she said he stood 
 and she presently fell and when she arose said: 
 ‘ You have torn his cott for I heard it tear.’ ” 
 Susan Sheldon testified: ‘George Burroughs 
 brought a book to me and told me if I would not 
 set my hand to it, he would tear me to pieces. I 
 told him I would not. Then he told me he would 
 starve me to death. The next morning he told 
 me he could not starve me to death but he would 
 choke me. He told me his name was Burroughs 
 which had preached at the village. The last night 
 he came to see me he asked whether I would go 
 to the village and witness against him. I asked 
 him if he was examined. Then he told me he was 
 and I told him I would go then and he told me 
 
Trial of the Reverend Burroughs 83 
 
 he would kill me this morning. Then he appeared 
 to me at the house of Nathaniel Ingersoll and 
 told me that he had been the death of three chil- 
 dren at the Eastward and had killed two of his 
 wives. The first he smothered and he choked and 
 killed two of his own children.” 
 
 PETITION TO THE GENERAL COURT OF 
 CHARLES BURROUGHS, OLDEST SON 
 OF REV. GEORGE BURROUGHS, 
 FOR COMPENSATION. 
 
 ‘Our Dear and Honored father, Mr. George 
 Burroughs, was apprehended in April 1692 at 
 Wells and imprisoned several months in Boston 
 and Salem jails and at last condemned and executed 
 for witchcraft. 
 
 “We were left a parsell of small children help- 
 less, and a mother-in-law with one small child of 
 her own. Whereby she was not capable to take 
 care of us, by all of which our father’s estate was 
 most of it lost and expended. We cannot tell cer- 
 tainly what the loss may be but ye least we can 
 judge it was fifty pounds, beside the damage that 
 has accrued to us many ways is some hundred 
 pounds. 
 
 ‘“We earnestly pray ye attainder may be taken 
 off and fifty pounds may be restored.” 
 
 —CHARLES BURROUGHS. 
 
 In 1711 the General Court awarded the heirs of 
 George Burroughs fifty pounds. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 THE TRIAL OF GILES AND MARTHA COREY 
 ARTHA COREY was the third wife of Giles © 
 
 Corey. She was sixty-two years old and 
 Giles was eighty-one. For many years they had 
 lived on a little farm of fifty acres just outside of 
 Salem. The old man had many quarrels with his 
 neighbors and had sustained an action for libel 
 against several persons who had accused him. 
 
 He was tried seventeen years before for kill- 
 ing a man by the name of Goodell, but was 
 found not guilty. He had been fined for beat- 
 ing a man, and tried for setting fire to John 
 Proctor’s house. 
 
 All of these things had given him an unsavory 
 reputation. He gloried in his great strength and 
 even at his age could “throw” all the younger 
 men. He did not join the church until he was 
 eighty years old although his wife Martha strongly 
 urged him to do so. He believed in witchcraft but 
 Martha did not. 
 
 Martha was first arrested on March nineteenth 
 and taken to the meeting house for an examination 
 before Judges Hathorne and Corwin. 
 
 Giles followed her and several times protested at 
 her cruel treatment by Judge Hathorne. He was 
 forced to testify against her, and she was convicted 
 and sentenced to death. When Giles loudly pro- 
 
 84 a 
 
Trial of Giles and Martha Corey 85 
 
 tested he was accused and immediately placed on 
 trial. 
 
 When asked to plead ‘‘ Guilty or not guilty” he 
 refused and was at once condemned to death by 
 torture. The ancient penalty of peine forte et dure 
 was imposed upon him. It is the only case in 
 America where this penalty was ever inflicted. It 
 meant that he should be slowly pressed to death. 
 
 Under the law, if one was convicted of witch- 
 craft he was put to death and his property con- 
 fiscated, his blood and that of his descendants at- 
 tainted. His heirs could neither become citizens 
 nor hold property. Giles Corey had accumulated 
 considerable property. If he did not plead, he 
 could not legally be tried and his property could not 
 be confiscated. 
 
 The husbands of two of his daughters by a 
 former marriage testified against Martha Corey at 
 her trial. This so angered Giles that he deter- 
 mined to disinherit them. He made a will just 
 before his death, giving all of his property to his 
 sons and daughters, who had been loyal both to 
 him and his wife. This last act is characteristic 
 of his life. In order to punish disloyalty he died 
 like a Roman martyr. 
 
 He was stretched upon a slab and bound hands 
 and feet. A heavy stone was placed upon his 
 breast. Gradually other stones were added until 
 his breath was gone. 
 
 The trial of Martha reflects shame and dis- 
 
86 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 honor upon the Reverends Samuel Parris and 
 Nicholas Noyes. After her conviction these two 
 ministers called upon her in prison where she was 
 chained and asked her to confess. She refused and 
 was excommunicated. 
 
 She was hung September twenty-second, three 
 days after her husband so miserably perished. 
 During her trial, Mrs. Pope, one of the gossiping 
 old women who met with the “‘ Circle Girls,” pulled 
 off her shoe and threw it at the prisoner. 
 
 Martha Corey was a woman of excellent charac- 
 ter. From the first she did not believe in ghosts 
 or witches and strongly opposed her husband’s 
 frequent attendance upon the trials. 
 
 A horseshoe was kept suspended over every 
 door of her house leading to the outside world. 
 This counted against her at her trial, as it was 
 evidence of a belief in the power of the horseshoe 
 to keep away the evil spirits. 
 
 The following is the _,.uence now preserved: 
 
 The Reverend Samuel Parris was the first wit- 
 ness against the accused. He also wrote down the 
 testimony at the preliminary hearing. He said: 
 ‘‘T was present at the prisoner’s preliminary exam- 
 ination, and I saw that before her hands were held, 
 several of the afflicted were pincht, and when she 
 bit her lip several of them were bitten, and some 
 of the uilicted said there was a black man whisper- 
 in in her ear.” 
 
[rial of Giles and Martha Corey 87 
 
 Giles Corey, being compelled to testify, said: 
 “ Last Saturday in the evening, sitting by the fire, 
 my wife asked me to go to bed. I told her I would 
 go to prayer, and when I went to prayer, I could 
 not utter my desires with any sense, nor open my 
 mouth to speak. My wife did perceive it and came 
 toward me. After this I did according to my duty. 
 Some time last week I fitcht an ox well out of the 
 woods about noon, and he lay down in the yard. 
 I went to raise him to yoke him, and he could not 
 rise but dragged his hinder parts as if he had been 
 hip shot, but after did rise. I had a cat sometime 
 last week strangely taken and I did think she would 
 have died. Presently my wife bid me knock her 
 in the head, but I did not. Now she is well. My 
 wife has been wont to sit up after I went to bed, 
 and I have perceived her to kneel down on the 
 hearth as if she were at prayer; but I heard noth- 
 ing.” 
 
 Edward Putnam, who had for many years an 
 outstanding quarrel with Giles Corey, testified: 
 “Ann Putnam did often complain to us that 
 Martha Corey did torture her by pinching and 
 sticking her, and on the twelfth day of March I 
 went with Ezekiel Cheever to Martha Corey’s 
 house to talk with her about what we had heard; 
 but we went first to the house of Thomas Putnam 
 to see Ann Putnam and ask her what clothes 
 Martha Corey had on. When we asked Ann she 
 said she could not tell because Martha Corey had 
 
88 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 blinded her. When we got to Martha Corey’s 
 house, the first thing she asked us was, ‘What 
 clothes does she say I have on?’ and she smiled as 
 if she had showed us a trick. 
 
 ‘We had a great deal of talk with her, but she 
 seemed to be in no way concerned. She said she 
 did not think there were such thing as witches, and 
 we told her we were fully satisfied there were such 
 things, and after much discourse, too much to re- 
 late, we returned to Thomas Putnam’s house, and 
 we found that after we were gone Martha Corey 
 came again and afflicted Ann Putnam. I was pres- 
 ent when Martha Corey was examined, and she did 
 as she said she would, opened the eyes of the magis- 
 trates and ministers, for by biting her lip the 
 afficted persons were bit; then she would pinch 
 them by nipping her fingers together, and when 
 that was discovered and her hands held, she 
 afflicted them by working her foot; and when this 
 was discovered she prest upon the seate with her 
 breast and Mistress Pope was greatly afflicted by 
 great pressure upon her stomach.” 
 
 Mary Warren testified: ‘‘ While I was in Salem 
 prison I saw Giles Corey, who was then in close 
 prison, and he told me the magistrates were going 
 up to his farm and bring down a lot of witches to 
 torment me. He threatened me and said he would 
 throw me into a fit. When I saw him he was in 
 prison with a band about his waist, a white cap 
 on his head, and he was in chanes.” 
 
Trial of Giles and Martha Corey 89 
 
 Upon the trial of Giles Corey on September 
 ninth, Sarah Vibber said: ‘‘ The appearance of 
 Giles Corey has many times afflicted me. He has 
 often whipped me and cut me with a knife.” 
 
 Mary Warren and Mercy Lewis both said that 
 they were tormented by Giles Corey while he was 
 in prison and chained to the floor. 
 
 Elizabeth Woodwell testified: “I saw Giles 
 Corey at a meeting in Salem on a lecture day since 
 he has been in prison. He or his apparition came 
 in and sat in the middlemost seat of the men’s 
 seats by the post. This was the lecture day before 
 Bridget Bishop was hanged; and I saw him come 
 out with the rest of the people.” 
 
 Benjamin Gould testified: ‘‘On the sixth day 
 of April Giles Corey and his wife came to my bed- 
 side and looked upon me some time, and then went 
 away; and immediately I had two pinches upon my 
 side. Also, at another time I saw Giles Corey and 
 John Proctor, and I had such a payn in one of my 
 feet that I could not ware my sho for two or three 
 days.” 
 
 Susanna Sheldon testified: ‘‘The specter of 
 Giles Corey murdered his first wife and would have 
 murdered this one if she had not been a witch. His 
 first wife gave him nothing but skim milk.” 
 
 John Dorich, aged sixteen, testified: ‘Giles 
 Corey came to me September fifth and threatened 
 to kill me. He said he wanted some platters, for 
 he was going to a feast; and he said he had a 
 
90 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 good mind to ask my dame but he said she would 
 not let him have them, so he took the platters and 
 carried them away.” 
 
 Hannah Small testified: ‘On the twelfth of 
 September, at the widow Shaflin’s house in Salem, 
 there appeared to us a great number of witches, 
 as near as we could tell, about fifty, thirteen of 
 which we knew, who did receive the sacrament, 
 amongst which we saw Giles Corey who brought 
 us bread and wine, urging us to partake; but, be- 
 cause we refused, he did grievously torment us and 
 I believe in my heart that Giles Corey is a wizard.” 
 
 The following is an old poem, written shortly 
 alters! 692: 
 
 Come all New England men 
 And hearken unto me, 
 
 And I will tell what did befalle 
 Upon ye Gallows Tree. 
 
 In Salem Village was the place, 
 As I did heere them saye, 
 
 And Goodwyfe Corey was her name 
 Upon that paynfull daye. 
 
 This Goody Corey was a witch 
 The people did believe, 
 
 Afflicting all the Godly ones, 
 Did make them sadlie greave. 
 
 There were two pious matron dames 
 And goodly madiens three 
 
 That cryed upon this heynous witch 
 As you will quickly see. 
 
Trial of Giles and Martha Corey 91 
 
 Goodwyfe Bibber she was one, 
 And Goodwyfe Goodall two, 
 
 These were ye afflicted ones 
 By fyts and pynchings too. 
 
 She rent her cloaths, she tore her haire, 
 And lowdly she did crye, 
 
 * May Christe forgive mine enemies 
 When I am called to die!” 
 
 This Goodwyfe had a Goodman too, 
 Giles Corey was his name, 
 
 In Salem goal they shut him in 
 With his blasphemous dame. 
 
 Giles Corey was a wizzard strong, 
 A stubborn wretch was he, 
 
 And fitt was he to hang on high 
 Upon ye Locust Tree. 
 
 So when before ye magistrates 
 For tryall he did come, 
 
 He would not true confession make 
 But was completely dumbe. 
 
 “Giles Corey,” said the magistrate, 
 ‘“‘Whast thou here to pleade 
 
 To those who now accuse thy soul 
 Of crimes and horrid deed.” 
 
 Giles Corey he sayed not a word, 
 No single word spoke he. 
 
 “Giles Corey,” sayeth the magistrate, 
 “We'll press it out of thee.” 
 
 They got them then a good wide board, 
 They layde it on his breast, 
 
 They loaded it with heavy stones 
 And hard upon him prest. 
 
92 The Salem Witch Ecials 
 
 “More weight,” now sayd the wretched man, 
 “ More weight,” again he cried. 
 
 And he did no confession make 
 But wickedly he dyed. 
 
 Dame Corey lived but six days more, 
 But six days more lived she, 
 
 For she was hung at Gallows Hill 
 Upon ye Locust Tree. 
 
 Longfellow has immortalized Giles and Martha 
 Corey in his poem entitled Giles Corey of the Salem 
 Farms. 
 
 A few lines of it will not be out of place: 
 
 FROM THE PROLOGUE 
 
 ’"T was but a village then; the good man ploughed, 
 His ample acres under sun or cloud; 
 
 The good wife at her doorstep sat and spun 
 
 And gossiped with her neighbor in the sun. 
 
 The only men of dignity and state 
 
 Were then the Minister and the Magistrate, 
 
 Who ruled their little realm with iron rod, 
 
 Less in the love, than in the fear of God. 
 
 And who believed devoutly in the Powers 
 
 Of Darkness, working in this world of ours, 
 
 In spells of Witchcraft, incantatious dread, 
 
 And shrouded apparitions of the dead. 
 
 And ye who listen to the Tale of Woe, 
 
 Be not too swift in casting the first stone, 
 
 Nor think New England bears the guilt alone 
 
 This sudden burst of wickedness and crime 
 
 Was but the common madnéss of the time 
 
 When in all land, that lie within the sound 
 
 Of Sabbath bells, a Witch was burned or drowned. 
 
Trial of Giles and Martha Corey 93 
 Judge Hathorne to Martha Corey: ‘‘ Why 
 
 does your specter haunt and hurt this person?”’ 
 
 Martha Corey: “I do not know! I cannot 
 help it! Iam sick at heart!”’ 
 
 tues worey< 2 +O! Martha! WViartha + Met 
 me hold your hand!” 
 
 Judge Hathorne to Giles Corey: ‘No! Stand 
 aside, old man!” | 
 
 Mary Walcott: ‘‘Look there! Look there! 
 I see a little bird, a yellow bird perched on her 
 finger; and it pecks atme. Ah! it will tear mine 
 eyes out!” 
 
 Martha Corey: (leaning against the railing) 
 “Giles, wipe these tears of anger from mine 
 eyes; wipe the sweat from my forehead! I am 
 faint! ”’ 
 
 Giles Corey: ‘I bear witness in the sight of 
 Heaven and in God’s house here, that I never knew 
 her as otherwise than patient, brave and true, faith- 
 ful, forgiving, full of charity, a virtuous and in- 
 dustrious and good wife!” 
 
 Judge Hathorne: “Tut, tut, man! Do not 
 rant so in your speech. You are a witness, not an 
 advocate! Here, Sheriff, take the woman back to 
 prison!” 
 
 Giles Corey (when called by Judge Hathorne 
 to plead): ‘‘I willnot plead. If I deny, I am con- 
 demned already in courts where ghosts appear as 
 witnesses and swear men’s lives away. If I con- 
 
94 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 fess then I confess a lie, to buy a life which is not 
 life, but only death in life. I will not bear false 
 witness against any, not even against myself, whom 
 I count least. I have already the bitter taste of 
 death upon my lips. I feel the pressure of the 
 heavy weights that will crush out my life within 
 this hour but if a word could save me, and that 
 word were not the Truth, nay, if it did but swerve 
 a hair’s breadth from the Truth I would not say 
 itn 
 
 The Sheriff: ‘‘ Giles Corey, come, the hour has 
 struck.” 
 
 Giles Corey: “I come, here is my body; ye may 
 torture, but the immortal soul ye cannot crush.” 
 
 A Man: “Hark! Whatisthat? The passing 
 bell. He’s dead.” 
 
 Cotton Mather (at Giles Corey’s grave in the 
 Potters’ Field —the body of Corey with a heavy 
 stone upon his breast). ‘O sight most horrible! 
 In a land like this spangled with churches Evangeli- | 
 cal inwrapped in our Salvations, must we seek in 
 mouldering statute books of English Court some 
 old forgotten Law, to do such deed? Those who 
 lie buried in the Potters’ Field will rise again, as 
 surely as ourselves that sleep in honored graves 
 with epitaph! And this poor man, whom we have 
 made a victim hereafter will be counted as a 
 martyr!”’ 
 
Trial of Giles and Martha Corey 95 
 
 The following is the petition presented to the 
 General Court for financial relief by the heirs of 
 
 Giles and Martha Corey: 
 
 PETITION TO THE GENERAL COURT 
 
 Dee BE RS el7 10. BY  EUIZABE VE 
 CORY, “DAUGHTER OF GILES AND 
 MARTHA CORY, ON HER OWN BE- 
 HAGE ANDSON* BEHALE OF 7lHE 
 OTHER CHILDREN FOR COMPEN- 
 
 SATION DUE TO THE LOSS OF 
 PARENTS. 
 
 ‘Sometime in March, our honored father and 
 mother, Giles Cory and Martha his wife was ac- 
 cused for soposed witchcraft and imprisoned from 
 one prison to another; from Salem to Ipscott and 
 from Ipscott to Boston and from Boston to Salem 
 and remained in close confinement for four months. 
 
 ‘“We ware at the whole charge of their main- 
 tenance and it was so much the more by reason of 
 so many removes in all of which we could doe no 
 less than accompanie them. 
 
 ‘But that which breaks our hearts, and for 
 which we goe a mourning still, is that our father 
 was put to soe cruell and painful a death as being 
 prest to death. After our father’s death, the Sher- 
 iff threatened to seize our father’s estate and for 
 fear thereof wee complied with him and paid him 
 11 pounds six shillings in moine by all of which we 
 were greatly impoverished by being exposed to sell 
 creatures and all other things for a little more 
 than half the worth to get the money to pay, and 
 maintain our father and mother in prison, 
 
96 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 ‘But that which grieves us most is that we are 
 not only impoverished but also reproached and so 
 may be to all generations. 
 
 ‘We cannot judge our necessary expenses to be 
 less than 10 pounds.” 
 
 ELIZABETH CORY 
 Daughter of Giles Cory. 
 
 The Court allowed twenty-one pounds in full 
 satisfaction for the property loss sustained by the 
 heirs of Giles Corey. 
 
 This was paid in October, 1711. 
 
CHAR LE RX 
 THE TRIALS OF SARAH GOOD AND SARAH OSBORN 
 
 See GOOD was the first person arrested at 
 
 Salem in 1692 on a charge of witchcraft. She 
 was a distracted, melancholy old woman of nearly 
 seventy years, who had fora long time been a street 
 beggar. When she was refused alms, it was her 
 habit to scold and curse violently. 
 
 She had been married three times, but now lived 
 alone despised by everybody. John Good, of ill- 
 repute, was her last worthless husband, and he had 
 deserted her. He testified: ‘‘ My wife often ap- 
 pears to be possessed of the devil.” 
 
 On the following day, March second, Sarah Os- 
 born was arrested and charged with bewitching 
 Ann Putnam and the other “Circle Girls.’”’ She 
 was an old woman who had long been bed-ridden 
 and had often quarreled with her neighbors. She, 
 too, was a grass widow—one of her husbands 
 having mysteriously disappeared. Two or three 
 years before the witchcraft troubles she lived alone 
 on her little farm not far from the village and, 
 being anxious to find a husband, she bought old 
 Alexander Osborn for fifteen pounds, married him, 
 and set him to work on her farm. 
 
 It was the custom in those days if one in England 
 wanted to come to America, he would sell himself 
 for the cost of his transportation. In this way, 
 
 97 
 
98 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 a 
 
 widow Sarah got Osborn, a man as worthless as 
 old John Good. When his wife was on trial he 
 volunteered to testify against her. He said she 
 sold herself to the devil and would not attend 
 church or the communion. 
 
 After their arrest, both women were taken to 
 the house of Jonathan Corwin, now called the 
 ‘Witch House.” They were in chains and in the 
 custody of two constables, who made them sit 
 on an elevated platform so they could be plainly 
 seen by all. The examination was conducted 
 by Judges Hathorne and Corwin, who wrote 
 down the testimony and certified it to the Grand 
 jury. 
 
 They were later tried, convicted, and sentenced 
 to be hung, but Sarah Osborn died in jail on May 
 tenth where she had been bound in chains since her 
 arrest. Sarah Good was hung on July nineteenth. 
 
 Tituba, the Indian, was tried at the same time 
 but, having pleaded guilty, her life was saved and 
 she remained in prison until the craze was over, 
 when she was sold as a slave to pay her prison fees. 
 
 Little Dorcas Good, the five year old daughter 
 of Sarah Good, testified against her mother. She 
 was then accused of being a witch by Ann Putnam 
 and Abigail Williams and a warrant issued for her 
 arrest. [he sheriff carried her into court. Ann 
 Putnam testified that Dorcas Good bit her on the 
 arm and exhibited in court the marks of the child’s 
 teeth. The judges ordered her to be bound and 
 
Trials of Good and Osborn oD 
 
 held in jail with her mother. Here she remained 
 until after her mother’s execution. 
 
 An old record reads as follows: “To chanes for 
 Sarah Good and Sarah Osborn, 14 shillings.” 
 “To keeping Sarah Osborn from March seventh 
 till she died May tenth, 1 pd 3.” 
 
 When the prisoners were brought in all the 
 afflicted were present and many of them fell in 
 fits and were greatly tormented. 
 
 The following is the record made by Judge 
 Hathorne together with all the additional evidence 
 now preserved. 
 
 Judge Hathorne said: ‘Who is it that tor- 
 ments the girls?” 
 
 The accused said “Sarah Osborn”; then all the 
 tortured said it was both Sarah Osborn and Sarah 
 Good that did torment them. 
 
 Tituba testified: ‘Sarah Good is very strong 
 and she pulled me last night to Mr. Putnam’s 
 home and made me hurt the child. We rode ona 
 pole. I rode behind her and took hold of her. 
 We rode over the trees and path, and we could see 
 perfectly. Sarah Good told me I must kill some- 
 one with a knife and we went to kill Putnam’s 
 child. She told me she would cut off my head if 
 I didn’t do it. She came to me last night when 
 my master was in prayer, and would not let me 
 hear. She hath a yellow bird, and her ears are 
 stopped when they hear prayer. I saw her have a 
 
100 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 cat beside the bird, and another thing all over hair. 
 She makes me pinch the girls and stick them with 
 pins. She pincht me on the legs.” (Note: Here 
 she was searched and found it was so.) 
 
 Dorcas Good, five years old, testified against her 
 mother, saying: ‘‘ My mother has three birds, one 
 black and one yellow; and with these she afflicts the 
 girls.” 
 
 On the trial, Deliverance Hobbs made a con- 
 fession and said: “I was at the witches’ meeting 
 in the Reverend Sam Parris’ pasture on April 22, 
 and I saw Sarah Good there. Mr. Burroughs 
 preached.” 
 
 Joseph Herrick testified: ‘‘On the first of 
 March I, being the constable for Salem, had a 
 warrant for the arrest of Sarah Good to carry her 
 to the gaol at Ipswich, and that night I set a guard 
 to watch her at my house, namely; Samuel Bray- 
 book and Jonathan Baker; and the next morning 
 they told me that Sarah Good was gone for some 
 time from both of them, and barefoot and bare- 
 legded; and I was also informed, that night Eliz 
 Hubbard complained that Sarah Good came and 
 afflicted her, being barefoot and bare-legded, and 
 Samuel Sibley said, ‘I took notice of Sarah Good 
 in the morning and one of her arms was bloody 
 from a little below the elbow to the wrist.’”’ 
 
 William Batten, age seventy-six, said: ‘‘ A week 
 ago Susannah Sheldon being at the house of Wil- 
 liam Shaw, had her hands tied with a rope in such 
 
Trials of Good and Osborn 101 
 
 a manner we were forced to cut the string before 
 we could get her hands loosed; and when she was 
 out of her fit she told us it was Sarah Good that 
 did tye her. 
 
 ‘At this tyme there was a broome carried away 
 out of the house and put in an apple tree two times, 
 and a shirt once, and a milk tubbe. Once was car- 
 ried out of the house three poles into the woods.” 
 
 Johanna Chibbum testified: “Sarah Good’s 
 least child did tell me she was a witch and that her 
 mother did give her to the devil.” 
 
 Henry Herrick, age twenty-one, said: ‘‘ Two 
 years since, Sarah Good came to our house and 
 desired to lodge there, but my father forbid it, and 
 she went away grumbling; and we did follow her 
 lest she should lie in the barn and by smoking of 
 her pipe, should fire the barn, and seeing her make 
 a stop near the barn, we did tell her to go on. 
 About a week after, two of our cattle were re- 
 moved from their place, and several of our cattle 
 were let loose in a strange manner.”’ 
 
 Sarah Bibber said: ‘Saturday night I saw the 
 apparition of Sarah Good standing by my bedside, 
 and she pulled aside the curtain and looked upon 
 my child; and immediately the child was strake 
 with a great fit——that my husband and I could 
 hardly hold it.” 
 
 Samuel Braybrook said: ‘‘ Carrying Sarah Good 
 to Ipswich, the said Sarah Good leapt off her 
 horse three times, which was between twelve and 
 
102 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 three o’clock; and she said she would not own 
 herself to be a witch, unless she was a proud one, 
 and she said there was no evidence against her ex- 
 cept an Indian, and she kept railing against the 
 magistrates and endeavored to kill herself.” 
 
 Sarah Gadge said: ‘About two years ago Sarah 
 Good came to our house and would come into the 
 house, but I told her she could not come in be- 
 cause she had been with them that had the small- 
 pox; and with that she fell to muttering and the 
 next morning one of our cows dyed in a sudden 
 terrible and strange manner,” 
 
 Thomas Gadge said: ‘‘Some neighbors did 
 open the cow which so died and could find no 
 natural cause of said cow’s death.”’ 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 THE TRIAL OF ELIZABETH HOWE 
 
 bo eee HOWE was about seventy years 
 old at the time of her arrest. She lived with 
 her husband, who was ninety-four years old and 
 blind. For many years she had been the sole sup- 
 port of the family. So far as can be learned, she 
 was a faithful, Christian woman. She lived at 
 Topsfield, not far from Salem. She was first ar- 
 rested on the twenty-eighth day of May and taken 
 to the home of Nathaniel Ingersoll in Salem where 
 she was charged with bewitching Mary Walcott 
 and Abigail Williams. While she was in jail her 
 daughter and her old, blind husband rode on horse- 
 back twice each week to see her. 
 
 After her preliminary examination, she was sent 
 to the jail in Salem and escaped. She wandered 
 for a long time in the forests not far from Boston, 
 enduring great cold and hardship. Later, she was 
 recaptured and taken to the jail, tried before a jury, 
 and hung on July nineteenth. 
 
 At her preliminary examination before Judge 
 Hathorne, the following took place. It is certified 
 by Samuel Parris, the minister. “* When Elizabeth 
 Howe entered the room, Mercy Lewis and Mary 
 Walcott fell in a fit and Mary Walcott, soon after 
 being revived, exclaimed that the prisoner pinched 
 
 103 
 
104 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 and choked her. Ann Putnam, who was present, 
 said that she also had been hurt.” 
 
 Judge: ‘ Goodwife Howe, what do you say to 
 these?” 
 
 Howe: “If it was the last moment I was to 
 live, God knows I am innocent in this matter.” 
 
 Judge: ‘Did you take notice that whenever you 
 looked upon Mercy Lewis she was struck down?” 
 
 Howe: “I cannot help it. J am innocent.” 
 
 Judge: “Is this the first time you were ever 
 examined?” 
 
 Howe: «"* Yes,: sir.” 
 
 Judge: ‘Do younot know that once at Ipswich 
 you were examined ?”’ 
 
 Howe: ‘This is the first time I ever heard of 
 it.’ (Note: Abigail Williams here cried out she 
 was being hurt and said, “‘ She brought me a book.” 
 Ann Putnam said she stuck a pinn in her arm.) 
 
 Judge: ‘What do you say to these?” 
 
 Howe: “I cannot help it.’ (Note: Mary 
 Warren cried out that she was stuck with a pinn 
 and Abigail Williams cried out that she was pincht 
 and hadi great prints of this on her arm.) 
 
 Judge: “Have you not seen some apparition?” 
 
 Howe: ‘ No.” 
 
 Judge: ‘Those who have confessed told us 
 they used images and pinns. Now tell us what you 
 have used.”’ ! 
 
 Howe: ‘You would not have me confess to 
 
The Trial of Elizabeth Howe 105 
 
 that which I know not.” (Note: She then looked 
 upon Mary Warren and said Mary Warren 
 violently fell down.) The judge then said: 
 
 ‘Look upon this maid Mary Walcott,” her back 
 being toward Goodwife Howe. Ann Putnam said 
 she saw Elizabeth Howe upon Mary Walcott, and 
 Susanna Sheldon said it was the same woman that 
 carried her to the pond, and said the woman was 
 now upon her grasping her by the arm. 
 
 Judge: ‘You said you never heard of these 
 people before?” 
 
 Howe: “Not before the warrant served upon 
 me last Sabbath day.” John Ingersoll cried out, 
 ‘Oh, she bites,” and fell into a grievous fit. 
 
 Judge: ‘‘ What do you say to these things?” 
 
 Howe: “I am not able to give an account of 
 ir 
 
 Judge: “Could not you tell what gives these 
 such fits?” 
 
 Howe: “I could not tell. I know not what it 
 is.’ 
 
 Judge: “It is strange that you should do these 
 things and not be able to tell them.” 
 
 This is a true account of the examination of 
 Elizabeth Howe taken from my characters written 
 at the time thereof. Witness my hand — SAMUEL 
 PARRIS. 
 
 Timothy Pearley and his wife, Deborah Pear- 
 ley, testified that there was some differences be- 
 
106 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 tween Goodwife Howe and them concerning some 
 boards. ‘The night following our cows were let 
 out and, finding them the next morning, we went 
 to milk them. One of them did not give but two 
 or three spoonsful of milk, and one of the other 
 cows did not give but one-half a pint and the other 
 gave about a quart, and these cows used to give 
 from three to four quarts at a milking. Two of 
 these cows continued to give little or nothing for 
 four or five milkings, and yet they went in good 
 English pasture. Within four days, the cows gave 
 their full proportion of milk. 
 
 “One day Elizabeth Howe came to our house 
 and our daughter, Hannah Pearley, was scared. 
 and said she saw the woman go into the oven and 
 out again and then she flew into a dreadful fit. 
 When we asked her what woman she meant, she 
 told us she meant Elizabeth Howe and Goody 
 Howe used to be so loving to our daughter, Han- 
 nah Pearley. I saw them together and after 
 Goody Howe was gone I asked my daughter why 
 she was so loving to Goody Howe when they were 
 together and she told me she was afraid to do 
 otherwise or Goody Howe would kill her.” 
 
 Samuel Pearley, aged fifty-two, said: ‘‘ We have 
 a daughter ten years old and she was in a sorrow- 
 ful condition after there was a falling out between 
 James Howe and his wife. Our daughter told us 
 that it was James Howe’s wife that afflicted her 
 night and day. Sometimes she complained of be- 
 
The Trial of Elizabeth Howe 107 
 
 ing pricked with pinns. Often she said: ‘I could 
 never afflict a dog as Goody Howe afflicts me.’ My 
 wife and I did often chide her for naming Goody 
 Fiowe but our daughter would tell us that, though 
 we would not believe her, yet we would know one 
 day. 
 
 “We went to some doctors and they told us 
 she was under an evil hand. Our daughter told us 
 that when she came near the fire or water the 
 witches pulled her in and she was often sorely 
 burned. She would tell us what clothes the witch 
 wore and say, ‘Here she comes, there she goes, 
 and now she is gone into the oven,’ and when she 
 saw these sights she would fall down unto dreadful 
 fits. Our daughter continued for about three years 
 in this condition, saying that Goody Howe was the 
 cause of her sorrow. And so she pined away to 
 skin and bones and ended her sorrowful life. 
 
 “When Goody Howe had a mind to join Ips- 
 wich Church, they sent to us to have us bring up 
 what we knew against her. When we declared 
 what we knew, they put a stop to her getting into 
 the church. Within a few days I had a cow which 
 was taken with running around like mad and run 
 into a great pond and drowned herself. As soon 
 as she was dead, my sons and myself towed her 
 to shore and she stunk so that we had much adoe to 
 flea her,” 
 
 Sam Phillips, age sixty-seven, the minister at 
 Rowley, testified: ‘‘ Mr. Payson and myself went 
 
108 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 to Sam Pearley’s to see his daughter who was 
 visited with strange fits and in her fits did mention 
 Goody Howe. When we were in the house the 
 child had one of her fits but made no mention of 
 Goodwife Howe. Afterwards, she said, ‘ If I com- 
 plained of Goodwife Howe, I knew it not’.” 
 
 Simon Chapman, age forty-eight, said: ‘I have 
 been acquainted with Goodwife Howe as a naybar 
 for nine or ten years and I never saw any harm 
 in her, but I found her just in her dealings and 
 faithful to her promises. When she met with an 
 affliction she praised God and said it was better 
 than she deserved. I never heard her revile any 
 person but she always pitied them and said ‘I pray 
 God forgive them now.’”’ 
 
 Isaac Cummings, age fifty, said: ‘“‘ Eight years 
 ago James Howe came to my house to borrow a 
 horse and I, not being at home, my son Isaac told 
 him I had no horse to ride on but I had a mare 
 which he thought I would be willing to lend upon 
 a Thursday. The next day being Friday, myself 
 and my wife did ride of this mare about one-half 
 mile to a naybar’s house. When we came home, 
 I turned the mare out. The next being Saturday, 
 about sunrise the said mare stood by my door and 
 I did apprehend she showed as if she had been 
 much abused by riding, and her mouth was much 
 abused and hurt with the bridle bit. I, seeing the 
 mare in such a condition, did take her and put her 
 in my barn and she would not eat or drink. I then 
 
The Trial of Elizabeth Howe 109 
 
 sent for my brother Thomas who was living in 
 Boxford. When he came, he told me he was giv- 
 ing the mare something for bots. As I could see 
 it did her no good he said he could not tell but she 
 may have the balyach. 
 
 “My brother Andros said, ‘I will take a pipe 
 of tobacco and lite it and put it in the mouth of 
 the mare.’ I told him that I thought it was not 
 lawful. Then I took a clean pipe and filled it with 
 tobacco and did lite it, and went with the pipe lit 
 to the barn. Andros, my brother, did use the pipe 
 as he said he would and the pipe of tobacco did 
 blaze and burn blue. Then I said to my brother, 
 “You should try no more,’ but he said he was going 
 to try once more which he did. Then there arose 
 a blaze from the pipe of tobacco which seemed to 
 me to cover the whole of the said mare and a blaze 
 went up toward the roof of the barn and in the 
 barn there was a great crackling as if it would fall 
 down and we had no other fire in the barn, but only 
 a candle. Then I said my brother or the mare 
 must go. 
 
 ‘The next day being the Lord’s day, I spoke to 
 my brother to come and see the mare and he came 
 and my neighbor John Hankins came to my house 
 and he and I went into my barn to see the mare. 
 Said Hankins said: ‘If I were you, I would cut 
 off a piece of this mare and burn it.’ I said, ‘ No, 
 not today,’ and then I said, ‘but if she live to the 
 tomorrow morning I may cut off a piece of her and 
 
110 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 burn it.” Presently as we spoke these words, here 
 stepped out of the barn the mare, fell down dade 
 and never stirred.” . 
 
 James Howe, father-in-law of Elizabeth Howe, 
 testified: “‘I have been living by Goody Howe 
 for about thirty years, and she has carried herself 
 well as a daughter and as a wife. In all relations, 
 she has been both careful and loving. She has been 
 obedient, and considering I am blind she has gently 
 led me by the hand.” 
 
 John Howe, brother-in-law of Elizabeth Howe, 
 said: ‘‘ The day my brother James’ wife was car- 
 ried to Salem for examination she was to my house 
 and would have me go with her to Salem. I told 
 her if she had been sent for upon any other ac- 
 count but Witchcraft I would have gone with her, 
 but on that account I would not for ten pounds. 
 But I told her ‘If you are a witch and will tell me 
 how long you have been a witch and what you 
 have done to them, then I will go with you.’ She 
 seemed very angry with me but still asked me to 
 come on the tomorrow. I told her I did not know 
 but I might come on the tomorrow. When the 
 morrow came, I was standing near my door talk- 
 ing with one of my neighbors. I had a sow with 
 six small pigs in the yard, and the sow was as well 
 as I know her ever to be and she leaped up about 
 three or four foot high and turned about and gave 
 one squeak and fell down dade. I told my neigh- 
 bor that was with me that I thought my sow was 
 
The Trial of Elizabeth Howe 111 
 
 bewitched and he lafted at me, but it proved to be 
 true for she fell down dade, and he bid me cut 
 off one of her ears which I did and my hand in 
 which I[ held the knife was numb and several days 
 after that I could not do any work and I suspect no 
 other person but my sister Elizabeth Howe.” 
 Jacob Foster, age twenty-nine, testified: ‘‘Some 
 years ago, Goodwife Howe was about to join the 
 church at Ipswich. My father was instrumental 
 in her being denied admission. Shortly after my 
 mare was turned out to grass and on Thursday I 
 went to seek her to go to lecture and I could not — 
 find her. I sought all Thursday and found her 
 not until Saturday when I found her standing lean- 
 ing against a tree. I hit her with a small whip. 
 She gave a heave from the tree and then fell back 
 to the treeagain. Then I struck her again, and she 
 did the same again. I set my shoulder to her side 
 and moved her from the tree and moved her on. 
 Then she went home and leaped into the pasture 
 and she looked as she had pined and fasted.” 
 Toseph Stafford, age sixty, said: “* My wife had 
 much trouble with Elizabeth Howe because of the 
 things that were about her, but one day Elizabeth 
 Howe came to my house and she asked our chil- 
 dren where their mother was and they said she was 
 at the next neighbor’s house and she desired them 
 to call their mother which they did. Afterwards 
 my wife told me she was startled to see Goody 
 Howe when she came home but she took her by the 
 
112 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 hand and said: ‘Goody Stafford, I believe you are 
 not ignorant of the great scandal that I live under.’ 
 After that, my wife was taken beyond reason to 
 take the part of this woman. Then Goodwife 
 Howe purposed herself to come into the church, 
 whereupon some objections arose by some unsatis- 
 fied brotheres. There was a committee appointed 
 by the leaders of the church to consider the things 
 brought in against her. My wife was more than 
 ordinarily in earnest to go to lecture at the church 
 meeting being held on that day notwithstanding 
 the many arguments I used to persuade her to the 
 contrary, yet I obtained a promise from her that 
 she would not go to the church meeting; but some 
 of the neighbors persuaded her to go to the church 
 meeting at Elder Payne’s and they afterwards told 
 me that my wife took Goodwife Howe by the hand 
 and told her that though she were contaminated in 
 the sight of men she was justified in the sight of 
 God. 
 
 "The next Saturday after this my son that car- 
 ried my wife to lecture was taken after a strange 
 manner, and the Saturday following that my wife 
 was taken with a raving frenzie expressing in a 
 raging manner that Goody Howe must come into 
 the church and that she was a perishing saint and 
 that she were contaminated before man but justi- 
 fied before God, and she continued in this manner 
 for a length of three or four hours. After that, 
 my wife fell into a kind of trance for two or three 
 
The Trial of Elizabeth Howe 113 
 
 minutes. ‘Then she came to herself, opened her 
 eyes and said: ‘I was mistaken because I thought 
 Goody Howe was a perishing saint of God but now 
 I know she is a witch, for she has bewitched me and 
 my children and we shall never be well.’ A few 
 days after that she said the cause of her changing 
 her opinion concerning Goody Howe was because 
 she appeared to her through a crevice of the clap- 
 boards which she knew no good person could do. 
 
 ‘ Rising early to kindle a fire in the other room, 
 my wife shrieked out. I ran into the room where 
 my wife was and as soon as I opened the door she 
 said, ‘ There are evil ones.’ Whereupon I replied: 
 ‘Where are they?’ Then she sprang out of bed 
 herself and went to the window and said, ‘There 
 they went out.’ She said they were both bigger 
 than she and went out the window but she could 
 not go out after. I replied: ‘Who were they?’ 
 and she said, ‘Goody Howe and Goody Oliver.’ I 
 said, ‘You never saw Goody Oliver in your life,’ 
 but she said, ‘I never saw her in my life but she is 
 represented to me as Goody Oliver of Salem that 
 hurt William Stacey of Salem.’”’ 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 THE TRIAL OF SUSANNA MARTIN 
 Gueeae MARTIN of Amesbury was about 
 
 seventy-two years old when she was arrested 
 on the second day of May, 1692, charged with 
 bewitching Mary Walcott, Abigail Williams, Ann 
 Putnam, and Mercy Lewis. She was immediately 
 taken to the house of Nathaniel Ingersoll, where a 
 preliminary examination was held before Judges 
 Hathorne and Corwin. She was afterwards tried 
 on June twenty-eighth and hung on July nineteenth. 
 She had a daughter, Mable Martin, whom Whit- 
 tier described as being very beautiful. 
 
 The following occurred at her preliminary ex- 
 amination, the same having been taken down by 
 
 Judge Hathorne: 
 
 (Note: As soon as Susanna Martin came in 
 many had fits. ) 
 
 Judge: ‘Do you know this woman ?”’ 
 
 Abigail Williams: ‘It is Goody Martin. She 
 has often hurt me. (Note: Many by fits were 
 hindered from speaking. John Indian being pres- 
 ent said he did not know her. Mercy Lewis pointed 
 at her and fell into a fit. Ann Putnam threw her 
 glove at her in a fit; then Susanna Martin 
 laughed. ) 
 
 Judge: ‘‘ What do you laugh at?” 
 
 114 
 
The Trial of Susanna Martin 115 
 
 Martin: ‘Well I may at such folly. I never 
 hurt this woman or her child.” (Mercy Lewis 
 here cried out “She hurts me and she pulls me 
 down,” then Susanna Martin laughed again. Mary 
 Walcott and Susanna Sheldon then both accused 
 her of afflicting them.) 
 
 Judge: ‘‘ What do you say to this?” 
 
 Martin: ‘I have no hand in witchcraft.’ 
 Judge: ‘“* What ails these people?” 
 Martin: ‘I do not know.” 
 
 Judge: ‘‘ What do you think?” 
 
 Martin: ‘I do not desire to speak my judg- 
 ment upon it.” 
 
 Judge: “Do you think they are bewitched ?”’ 
 
 Martin: ‘‘ No, I do not think they are.” 
 
 Judge: “Tell me your thoughts about them.” 
 
 Martin: ‘‘ My thoughts are my own when they 
 are in, but when they are out they are another’s.”’ 
 
 Judge: ‘How come it your appearance hurts 
 these?” 
 
 Martin: “Ido not know!” 
 
 Judge: ‘Are you willing to tell the truth?” 
 
 Martin ey eS a8 
 
 Judge: ‘‘Do you believe these do not say the 
 truth?” 
 
 Martin: ‘‘ They may lye for all I know.” 
 
 Judge: ‘‘ May not you lye?” 
 
 Martin: ‘I dare not tell a lye if it would save 
 my life.” (Note: Elizabeth Hubbard was here 
 afflicted, and then the marshall who was by her 
 
116 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 side said she opened her hand and the afflicted cried 
 out that they saw her upon the beam.) 
 
 Judge: ‘‘God will discover you if you be 
 guilty.” 
 
 Martin: ‘* Amen, amen, a false word will never 
 make a guilty person.” (Note: Mercy Lewis 
 cried out: ‘‘ You have been a good time coming 
 to the court today. You can come fast enough at 
 night.” ) 
 
 Martin: “No, sweetheart,” said Goody Mar- 
 tin, then Mercy Lewis and all the rest fell down 
 afflicted and John Indian fell into a violent fit and 
 cried: “She bites, she bites,” and just then the 
 defendant was biting her lips. 
 
 Judge: “Have you no compassion upon these 
 afflicted?” 
 
 Martin: ‘No, I have none.” (Note: Here 
 some cried out that there was a black man with the 
 defendant and Goody Bibber rose up against her. 
 ‘Then Abigail Williams tried to come near her but 
 could not. Neither could Goody Bibber nor Mary 
 Walcott and John Indian cried out aloud that he 
 would kill her if he came near her, but he was 
 felled down when he tried to approach her.) 
 
 Judge: “‘ Whatis the reason these cannot come 
 near you?” 
 
 Martin: “I cannot tell.” 
 
 Judge: ‘‘Do you not see how God discovers 
 your” 
 
 Martin: ‘No, nota bit.” 
 
The Trial of Susanna Martin 117 
 
 Judge: ‘All the congregation say so.”’ 
 
 Martin: ‘Let them think what they will.” 
 
 Judge: ‘ What is the reason these cannot come 
 near you?” 
 
 Martin: ‘I do not know but they can if they 
 will, or else if you please I will come to them.” 
 
 Judge: “What is that black man whispering 
 to you?” 
 
 Martin: “There is none whispering to me.” 
 
 The trial before the jury began on the twenty- 
 eighth day of June. The evidence taken at the pre- 
 liminary examination was read to the jury and all 
 the accusing witnesses were present inthe court. In 
 addition to this the following persons testified: 
 
 William Brown, age seventy, said: ‘Thirty 
 years ago my wife, Elizabeth, who is a very 
 rational woman and sober and fears God met 
 Susanna Martin near the Salisbury Mill. Just as 
 they met, Susanna Martin vanished, which very 
 much frightened my wife Elizabeth. After that, 
 Susanna Martin many times met my wife at her 
 house and my wife was much troubled until about 
 February following when she came to our house 
 and my wite said that her coming was like birds 
 pecking her leggs or picking her with the motion of 
 their wings and that it would rise up into her 
 stomach like a pricking payn as nayls and pinns of 
 which she did bitterly complain and cry out, and 
 that it would rise up in her throat like a pullet’s 
 
118 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 egg and that she would turn back her head and 
 say, ‘Witch, you shan’t choke me.’ 
 
 “In the time of this extremity the church ap- 
 pointed a day of humility to seek God in her behalf 
 and thereupon her trouble ceased and she saw 
 Goody Martin no more for a considerable time and 
 she came to the meeting and went about her busi- 
 ness as before. This continued until about April 
 following at which time summonses were sent to 
 my wife and Goodwife Osgood by the court to 
 give their evidence concerning the said Martin, 
 after which my wife told me that as she was 
 milking her cow the said Susanna Martin came 
 behind her and said to her that she would make 
 her to be the most miserable creature for defaming 
 her name at the court. And about two months 
 after that when coming home from Hampton my 
 wife would not own me but said we were devorst 
 and asked me whether I did not meet Mr. Bent of 
 Abbey in England about whom we was devorst and 
 from that time to this very day my wife has been 
 under a strange kind of distemper capable of no 
 kind of rational action. I got two doctors to come 
 and see her for her distemper and to give her relief 
 but they did both say that her distemper was 
 supernatural and no sickness of the body but that 
 some evil person had bewitched her.” 
 
 John Pressey, age fifty-three, testified: ‘About 
 two years ago I was at Amesbury Ferry upon a 
 Saturday evening and, as I was coming along the 
 
The Trial of Susanna Martin BED 
 
 field of George Martin and by a mill called 
 Goodals I was bewildered and lost my way and, 
 having wandered awhile, I came back to the same 
 place which I knew by a stooping tree. Then I set 
 out again and steered by the moon which shone 
 brite but was again lost and came back to the 
 same place. I then set out the third time in a 
 like manner and was bewildered and came back but 
 not so far as before and I knew where I was and 
 in less than one-half a mile coming along I saw a 
 light standing on my left hand about two rods out 
 of the way. The bigness of it seemed to be 
 about a half a bushel but I kept on and left 
 it and in a matter of seven or eight rods going 
 it appeared again in the near distance as before; 
 and so it did the third time but I passed on the 
 way. 
 
 ‘‘And in less than twenty rods going I saw an- 
 other light in my way and, having a stick in my 
 hand, I endeavored to stir the light out of the 
 place and gave it some smart blows with the stick. 
 The light seemed to brush up and move from side 
 to side as a turkey cock when it stretches its tayle 
 but went out of the place. Which perceiving, I 
 laid it on with my stick with all my might and 
 gave it at least forty blows and so was agoing 
 away and leave it, but as I was going my heels were 
 struck up and I laid on my bak on the ground and 
 was sliding down into a deep place so it seemed to 
 me but taking hold of some brush recovered myself 
 
120 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 and, having lost my coat which I had upon my arm, 
 went back to the light and saw my coat and took 
 it up and went home without any more disturbance. 
 Yet, I do not know any such pit to be in the place 
 where I was sliding into and when I struck the 
 light I certainly did feel a substance with the stick 
 and when I had gone about five or six rods I saw 
 Susanna Martin, then wife of George Martin, 
 standing on my left side as the light had done. 
 There she stood and looked upon me and turned 
 her face after me as I went along, but said nothing. 
 I then went home but was so seized with fear that 
 I could not speak ’till my wife spoke to me at the 
 door and I was in a condition that my family was 
 afraidofme. This story, being carried to the town 
 the next day, did excite them for Goodwife Martin 
 was in such a miserable way and in such pain that 
 they swabbed her body. 
 
 ‘“Some years after that, Susanna Martin came 
 and reviled me and my wife with some foul words 
 saying that we had taken a fool’s oath and that we 
 should never prosper for so doing. She said that 
 we would never have but two cows and from that 
 day to this we have never exceeded that number for 
 something or other has prevented it although we 
 have tried all ordinary means for obtaining more 
 by hiring cows of others and this for the space of 
 twenty years.”’ 
 
 Bernard Peach, age forty-three, testified: 
 ‘‘About six or seven years ago, I was living at the 
 
The Trial of Susanna Martin 121 
 
 house of Jacob Morall in Salisbury and, being in 
 bed on the Lord’s day night, I heard a scrabbling 
 at the window and I saw Susanna Martin, wife of 
 George Martin, come in at the window and jump 
 down to the floor. She was in her whood and scarf 
 and the same dress that she was in before at meting 
 the same day. Being come in, she was coming 
 toward my face but turned back to my feet and 
 took hold of them and drew my body into a whoope 
 and lay upon me about an hour and one-half or 
 two hours all of which time I could not stir nor 
 speak but striving to put my hand among the 
 clothes I took hold of her hand and brought it up 
 to my mouth and bit three of her fingers. 
 
 ‘After which the said Susanna Martin went out 
 of the chamber, down the stayres and out of the 
 door and as soon as she was away I called the 
 people of the house and told them what was done 
 and told them the said Martin was now out of the 
 door but the people did not see her as they said. 
 Without the door there was a bucket on the left 
 side and there was a drop of blood on the handle 
 and two more upon the snow, for there was a little 
 flight of snow, and there were the prints of her two 
 feet about a foot within the threshold but no more 
 footing did appear. 
 
 ‘Sometime after this, about three weeks, the 
 said Martin desired me to come and husk corn at 
 her house the next Lord’s day night and she said 
 if I did not come it were better that I did but I 
 
122 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 did not go being then living with Mr. Osgood of 
 Salisbury. 
 
 ‘That night I lodged in the barn upon the hay 
 and about an hour or two in the night the said 
 Susanna Martin and another came out of the shop 
 into the barn and one of them said, ‘ Here he is,’ 
 and then came toward me. I having a quarter staff, 
 made a blow at them but the roof of the barn pre- 
 vented it and they went away and I followed them 
 and, as they were going out of the window, made 
 another blow and struck them both down, but away 
 they went out of the shop window and I saw no 
 more of them. The rumor was that the said Mar- 
 tin had a broken hand at the time, but I cannot 
 speak to that upon my own knowledge.” 
 
 Jarvis Ring testified: ‘About seven or eight 
 years ago, I had been several times afflicted in the 
 night by somebody or something coming upon me 
 while I was in bed and I could never move nor 
 speak while it was upon me but sometimes made a 
 kind of noise so that folks did hear me and come to 
 me. As soon as anybody came it would be gone. 
 This it did for a long time before and since but 
 I never did see anybody clearly. But one time in 
 the night it came upon me and as at other times I 
 did see the person of Susanna Martin and she came 
 and took me by the hand and they came and lay 
 upon me fora while. After a while she went away. 
 And the mark where she bit me is still to be seen on 
 the little finger of my right hand for it was hard 
 
The Trial of Susanna Martin 123 
 
 to heal. Several times when I was asleep it came 
 but when it bit my finger I was as awake as ever I 
 was and I plainly saw her shape and felt her 
 breath.” 
 
 Joseph Ring, age twenty-seven, testified: ‘‘About 
 last September I[ was in the woods with my brother 
 Jarvis hewing timber and my brother went home 
 and left me alone to finish the hewing. As soon as 
 my brother was gone there came to me the appari- 
 tion of Thomas Hardy and by force of some im- 
 pulse I was compelled to follow him to the house 
 of Tucker which was deserted and which was about 
 one-half mile from the place I was at and in that 
 house I did see Susanna Martin and other forms 
 that I did not know and they ate at a fire and drank. 
 Susanna Martin was then in her natural shape and 
 talking as she used to do but toward the morning 
 she went from the fire and made a noise and turned 
 into the shape of a black hogg and went away and 
 so did the other two persons go away and I was 
 strangely carried away also and the first place I 
 knew was about Sam Wood's house in Amesbury. 
 
 ‘In the month of June next I met with Thomas 
 Hardy and a couple of other creatures who were 
 with him and the said Hardy demanded of me two 
 shillings and with that dreadful noise and hideous 
 shapes of those creatures and the fire ball I was 
 almost frightened out of my wits. In about one- 
 half hour they all left me and I came to the 
 Hampton home. About ten days after I came 
 
124 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 from Boston and was overtaken by a couple of 
 people on horseback who passed me and after they 
 were passed, Thomas Hardy turned round his 
 horse and came back with his horse in his hand and 
 desired me to go to Mrs. Weth’s and drink with 
 him which, being refused, he turned away to the 
 couple and they all came up together so fast that 
 it seemed impossible to escape being tread down 
 by them, but they all went pass and appeared no 
 more. 
 
 ‘‘About October following coming from Hamp- 
 ton a couple of horses with men and women on 
 them overtook me and the said Hardy being one 
 of them as before came to me and demanded two 
 shillings and threatened to tear me to pieces. Then 
 they went away and left me; and I had diverse 
 strange appearances and they did force me away 
 with them into unknown places and I saw meetings 
 and feastings and many strange sights and from 
 August last I was dumb and could not speak till 
 this last April.” 
 
 John Kimball, age forty-five, testified: ‘About 
 twenty-three years ago when I was about to remove 
 from Newbury and I bought a piece of land from 
 George Martin for which I was to pay him in 
 cash or notes upon a certain day in March and 
 when the day of payment was come Martin and his 
 wife came for the pay and I offered them their 
 choice of two cows and their choice of other cattle 
 but did reserve two cows which I was not desirous 
 
The Trial of Susanna Martin 125 
 
 to part with they being the first I ever had and 
 Martin himself was satisfied but Susanna, his wife, 
 notwithstanding that we would not pay with those 
 two cows, said: ‘You had better, for those will 
 never do you no good.’ And so it came to pass 
 that the next April following that very cow lay in 
 the fair dry yard with her head to her side but 
 starc dead; and a little while after another cow 
 died and then an ox and then other cattle to the 
 value of thirty pounds. 
 
 ‘The same year, after I came to live at Ames- 
 bury I was needed to get a dog and, hearing the 
 wife of George Martin had a bich which had 
 whelps, I went to her to get one but she, not letting 
 me have my choice, did not absolutely agree to buy 
 having heard Mr. Blesedell had one to supply me. 
 George Martin came by and asked me whether I 
 would not have one of his wife’s whelps and I 
 replied in the negative. Then Edmond Elliot said 
 that on that day he heard Susanna Martin ask 
 Martin why I was not going to take one of her 
 pups and when he told her she said, ‘If I live, I'll 
 give the puppies fever.’ 
 
 ‘Within a few days after this when coming from 
 the woods presently there did arise a little black 
 cloud and a few drops of rain fell and the wind 
 blew cold in coming between the house of John 
 Woods and the meeting house and I come upon sey- 
 eral stumps of trees by the wayside and I could give 
 no reason for it but I tumbled over the stumps one 
 
126 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 after another and, though having an extra ax upon 
 my shoulder which put me in danger, I resolved to 
 view those places again and when I[ came a little 
 below the meeting house there appeared a little in 
 ahead a puppy of a darkish color. I being free 
 from all fear, used all possible efforts to cut it with 
 my ax but could not hurt it and when I was belabor- 
 ing it with my ax the puppy seemed to give a little 
 jump and seemed to go into the ground. Going a 
 little farther, there appeared a black puppy some- 
 what bigger than the other one but as black as a 
 coal and it came against me with such force and 
 violence, and it did assault me as if it would tear 
 out my throat. I was without fear, but at last I felt 
 my heart to fall and sink under it and thought my 
 life was going out but I recovered myself and gave 
 a start up and run to the fence and called upon God 
 in the name of Jesus Christ and then it went away 
 and I made it known to nobody for fear of fretting 
 my wife. 
 
 ‘The next morning Mr. Elliot said that going 
 toward the house of said Martin to look at his oxen 
 he went in to light his pipe and the said Susanna 
 Martin asked him where he was and she said they 
 saw I was frightened last night and Elliot replied 
 that he had heard nothing of it, and asked where 
 she had heard of it. She said about the town which 
 story said Elliot having told him was all the town 
 over when I came home at night after having been 
 alone in the woods all day.” 
 
The Trial of Susanna Martin 127 
 
 Bernard Veach, age forty-two, testified: ‘“About 
 ten years ago I was living with William Osgood of 
 Dalsotieven wc. Use Creole \Vlartinisanicvand 
 desired some of their beef but they did not give 
 him any and he went away discontented and the 
 next day one of the best cows Mr. Osgood had was 
 in such a fright that two men had much to do to 
 get her into the shed and she was tied up she did 
 run and throw about so. The next day it being all 
 out of her she did go away with the other cattle 
 but came home at evening very ill having sores un- 
 der her eyes as big as walnuts and dyed the same 
 night.” 
 
 James Knight, age forty, testified: “In 1686 
 when I was going out into the woods to fetch the 
 horses I met Susanna Martin who had a little dog 
 running about her side and she took up the dog 
 under her arm but coming nearer to her she had a 
 keg under the same arm. I then looked her in the 
 face and told her that her keg was a little dog. 
 Just then, I found the horses had brought me to a 
 causeway and I could not get them over; but, there 
 being a small knoll of land near our horses run 
 around about it the greatest part of that day. At 
 length there came a little man with a yoke of oxen 
 to go over the causeway who, with some difficulty, 
 got over and at last, although I was greatly 
 frightened, I got our horses over.”’ 
 
 Robert Downer, age fifty-two, testified: ‘“Sev- 
 eral years ago Susanna Martin was brought to 
 
128 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 court for a witch. Having some words with her, 
 I told her that I believed she was a witch; that I 
 would witness against her. She seemed affected 
 and said that a she-devil would fetch me away 
 shortly but I was not much moved. At night, as I 
 lay in bed in my own house, there came to my 
 window the likeness of a cat and it took fast hold 
 of my throat and laid hold upon me a considerable 
 while and that likeness did throttle me. At length 
 I did remember that Susanna Martin had fright- 
 ened me only the day before and I said: ‘Avoid 
 thou the devil in the name of the Father and Son’ 
 and the likeness did let me go and flunked down 
 upon the floor and went out of the window again. 
 Before I had said anything about it, some of the 
 family asked me about it.”’ 
 
 Samuel Parris, Nathaniel Ingersoll and Thomas 
 Putnam all testified that they were present at the 
 preliminary examination of Susanna Martin and 
 they saw how the girls were afflicted and tortured 
 and whenever the said Susanna Martin bit her lips 
 all of these were bitten, afflicted, and knocked 
 down. 
 
 Elizabeth Hubbard, Mercy Lewis, Sarah 
 Bibber, and Ann Putnam all testified that they had 
 been pinched, bitten, and knocked down on many 
 occasions by the said Susanna Martin. 
 
 John Alkinson, age fifty-six years, testified: 
 ‘About five years ago one of the sons of Susanna 
 Martin exchanged a cow of his with me for a cow 
 
The Trial of Susanna Martin 129 
 
 which I bought of Mr. Wells, the minister, which 
 cow I took from Mr. Wells’ house. 
 
 ‘About a week after I went to the house of 
 Susanna Martin to receive the cow of the latter and 
 notwithstanding the homstringing and halting of 
 her she was so mad that we could scarce get her 
 ‘but she broke all ropes fastened to her and we 
 put the rope two or three times around a tree but 
 she broke it and ran away and when she came 
 down to the ferry we were forced to run up to our 
 arms in water she was so fierce but after much 
 adieu we got her into the boat and she was so tame 
 as any creature whatever. And Susanna Martin 
 muttered and was angry that I should have this 
 cow.” 
 
 Sarah Atkinson, age forty-eight, testified: ‘‘In 
 the spring of the year about eighteen years since, 
 Susanna Martin came to our house at Newberry in 
 an extraordinary dirty season when it was not fit 
 for any person to travel. She often came on foot 
 and so when she came into our house I asked her 
 whether she came from Amesbury on foot and she 
 said she did. I asked her how she could come this 
 time afoot and bid my children to make way for 
 her to come to the fire to dry herself. She replied 
 that she was as dry as I was and turned her coat 
 to one side and I could not perceive that the soles 
 of her shoes were wet. I was startled at it that 
 she came so far and so dry and told her that I 
 should have been wet if I had come so far on foot. 
 
130 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 She replied that she scorned to have a drabbled 
 tayle.”’ 
 
 Whittier’s poem Mabel Martin tells the story of 
 the witch’s daughter and of the curse under which 
 she suffered by reason of her mother’s having been 
 hung on the gallows tree. ‘The story has to do 
 with Mabel’s courtship and marriage to Ezek 
 Hardin, notwithstanding the scorn and _ insults 
 
 of all: 
 
 The seasons scarce had gone their round, 
 Since curious thousands thronged to see 
 Her mother at the gallows tree. 
 
 The school boys jeered her as they passed, 
 And when she sought the house of prayer 
 Her mother’s curse pursued her there. 
 
 I dare not breathe my mother’s name, 
 A daughter’s right I dare not crave 
 To weep above her unblest grave! 
 
 Let me not live until my heart, 
 With few to pity and with none 
 To love me, hardens into stone. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 THE TRIAL OF REBECCA NURSE 
 
 NE of the saddest of the Witchcraft trials was 
 ' that of Rebecca Nurse. There had been much 
 litigation between the Nurse and Putnam families 
 over the title to some land. Early in 1692 Mrs. 
 Nurse, then seventy-one years of age, and her two 
 sisters, Mary Esty, fifty-eight, and Sarah Cloyse, 
 fifty-five, were charged with being witches. Their 
 principal accusers were [Thomas and John Putnam. 
 The sisters were all members of the First Church. 
 While Mrs. Nurse was locked in the Salem jail, a 
 jury of women was appointed to examine her. 
 They reported they found “Certain unnatural 
 marks,” upon her body. ‘The jury found her not 
 guilty. Immediately the spectators crowded about 
 the judge and demanded a verdict of guilty. The 
 jury retired to its room and came back with a ver- 
 dict of guilty. The judge immediately sentenced 
 her to be hung on July nineteenth. After her sen- 
 tence, the governor, sure of her innocence, par- 
 doned her; then the crowd surrounded the goy- 
 ernor’s house and threatened him. Whereupon 
 he revoked the pardon and she was hung on July 
 nineteenth. She was a woman of irreproachable 
 character, possessing all of the finest Christian 
 virtues. | 
 After her execution her body was secretly thrown 
 131 
 
132 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 into the crevices of the rocks on Witch Hill and 
 was recovered by her sons the next night. 
 
 With her sisters, she was excommunicated 
 from the church after her conviction. 
 
 She now lies buried in the old family lot in the 
 center of a grove of waving pines. A few years 
 ago a beautiful monument was erected on this 
 spot, in memory of her. John G. Whittier was 
 asked to write an appropriate inscription for it 
 and wrote: 
 
 A Christian martyr, who for truth could die, 
 When all about thee owned the hideous lie. 
 The world redeemed, from superstition’s sway, 
 Is breathing freer for thy sake today. 
 
 She was charged with bewitching Ann Putnam, 
 Mary Walcott, Elizabeth Hubbard, and Abigail 
 Williams. Her preliminary examination was held 
 before Judges Hathorne and Corwin on March 24, 
 1692. The evidence was taken down by Judge 
 Hathorne and was certified as follows: 
 
 The prisoner was heavily bound in chains. 
 
 Judge Hathorne, addressing one of the girls: 
 “What do you say? Is this woman hurting you?” 
 
 ‘Yes, she bit me this morning.” 
 
 Judge: “Abigail Williams, have you been hurt 
 by this woman?” 
 
 “Yes.”’ (Ann Putnam here cried out that she 
 was hurt.) 
 
 Judge: “Goody Nurse, what do you say?” 
 
 Nurse: ‘I can say before my Heavenly Father 
 
The Trial of Rebecca Nurse 133 
 
 I am innocent and God will clear me.” (Note: 
 Then Hen Kenny rose up to speak.) 
 Judge: ‘Goodman Kenny, what do you say?” 
 
 Then he said that since this Nurse came into the 
 house he was seized with an amazed condition. 
 
 Judge: ‘Here are not only these, but there is 
 the wife of Mr. Thomas Putnam, who accuse 
 you.” 
 
 Nurse: “I am innocent and clear and have not 
 been able to go out of doors for eight or nine 
 days.” 
 
 Judge: ‘‘Mr. Putnam, give in what you have 
 to say.’ (Note: Then Edward Putnam gave in 
 his relate.) 
 
 Judge: “Are you an innocent person relating 
 to this witchcraft?”? (Note: Here Thomas Put- 
 nam cried out, ‘“ Did you not bring the black man 
 with you?”’) 
 
 Nurse: “Oh, Lord! help me.” And then she 
 spread out her hands and all the afflicted were 
 greatly vexed. 
 
 Judge: “Do you see what a condition these are 
 in when your hands are loose? The persons are 
 afflicted.” 
 
 Nurse: ‘‘ The Lord knows I have not hurt them. 
 I am an innocent person.” 
 
 Judge: ‘“‘Itis fearful for all to see these things, 
 and you, an old person contracting with the devil, 
 and yet to see you standing there with dry eyes 
 when there are so many wet ones. You would do 
 
134 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 well if you are guilty to confess and give glory to 
 God.” 
 
 Nurse: ‘lamas clear as the child unborn.”’ 
 
 Judge: “‘ How come you are sick?” 
 
 Nurse: “Iam sick to my stomach.” 
 
 Judge: “‘ Have you any reasons?” 
 
 Nurse: ‘I know naught but old age.” 
 
 Judge: “These testify they see a black man 
 whispering in your ear and appearing about you.” 
 
 Nurse: “It.is all falsei? 
 
 Judge: ‘‘ Why do you never visit these afflicted 
 people?”’ 
 
 Nurse: ‘Because I was afraid I should have 
 fits too.” 
 
 (Note: Upon the motion of her hands the af- 
 flicted were seized with fits. ) 
 
 Judge: “Is it not a fact that when you are exer- 
 cised these persons are afflicted?” 
 
 Nurse: ‘I have nobody to look to but God.” 
 (Note: Again upon stirring her hands the af- 
 flicted persons were seized with violent fits of tor- 
 ture. ) 
 
 Judge: “Do you think these afflicted persons 
 are bewitched ?”’ 
 
 Nurse: “I do think they are.” (Note: Sam 
 Parris then read what he had taken from Thomas 
 Putnam’s wife in her fits.) 
 
 Judge: ‘What do you think of this ?”’ 
 
 Nurse: ‘I cannot help it. The devil may ap- 
 pear in my shape.”’ 
 
The Trial of Rebecca Nurse 135 
 
 “This is a true account of the summary or pre- 
 liminary examination, but by reason of great noyses 
 by the afflicted many fits are pretermitted. Nurse 
 held her neck on one side and Elizabeth Hubbard 
 had her neck set in that posture whereupon Abigail 
 Williams set up Goody Nurse’s head or her neck 
 would be broken when Aaron Wey observed that 
 Elizabeth Hubbard was immediately right. : 
 
 Reverend Sam Parris being desired to take 
 the examination of Rebecca Nurse as given. Upon 
 hearing the aforesaid and seeing what we then did 
 see together with a large number of persons we 
 committed Rebecca Nurse, wife of Goodman 
 Nurse of Salem, to the goale at Salem as per a mit- 
 timus then given out.”’ 
 
 JONATHAN CORWIN 
 JOHN HATHORNE 
 
 Ann Putnam testified: ‘I saw the apparition of 
 Goody Nurse, and she did afflict me, but I did not 
 know what her name was then. I know where 
 she used to sit in our meetings house, but since then 
 she has grievously afflicted me by biting, pinching, 
 and striking me and urging me to write in her book, 
 and several times since I saw the person of Re- 
 becca Nurse come and hurt Mercy Lewis, Mary 
 Walcott, and Abigail Williams.” 
 
 Mary Walcott testified, ‘I saw the apparition 
 of Rebecca Nurse, wife of Francis Nurse, but she 
 did not hurt me until the twenty-fourth of March 
 being the date of her examination, but then her ap- 
 parition did most grievously torment me during the 
 times of her examination and also several times 
 
136 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 since then. She has most grievously afflicted me 
 by biting, pinching, and likewise chokingme, urging 
 me to write in her book and saying she would kill 
 me. On the evening of May third she told me she 
 had a hand in the death of Benjamin Hallon, John 
 Harrold, and Rebecca Shepard and several others. 
 I saw her hurt the bodies of Abigail Williams, Ann 
 Putnam, Mercy Lewis, and Elizabeth Hubbard.” 
 
 Elizabeth Hubbard testified: ‘‘I saw the ap- 
 parition of Rebecca Nurse and she did not hurt me 
 until the twenty-fourth of March when she was ex- 
 amined. Then she did but look upon me, and she 
 stroke me down and almost choked me and several 
 times since she has most grievously afflicted me by 
 pinching and almost choking me and urging me to 
 write in her book.” 
 
 Abigail Williams testified: ‘‘ Many times in the 
 month of March last past I have been exceedingly 
 perplexed with the apparition of Rebecca Nurse, 
 by which I have been badly afflicted and often 
 pincht and almost choked and tempted sometimes 
 to leap into the fire and sometimes to subscribe in 
 the book which the apparition brought. I saw the 
 apparition at the sacrament sitting next to George 
 Burroughs, the man with the high crowned hat, at 
 the far end of the table, and it confessed several 
 times to me that she is guilty of committing several 
 murders together with her sister Goody Cloyse 
 upon old Goodman Heywood, Benjamin Hallon, 
 and Rebecca Shepard.” 
 
The Trial of Rebecca Nurse 137 
 
 Sara Vibber testified: “ I saw the apparition of 
 Rebecca Nurse most grievously torture and afflict 
 the bodies of Mary Walcott, Mercy Lewis, and 
 Abigail Williams, by pinching and almost choking 
 them to death, but I did not know that she hurt me 
 until the twenty-seventh of March, 1692, and then 
 she did most grievously torment me by pinching and 
 almost choking me.” 
 
 Samuel Parris, Nathaniel Ingersoll, and Thomas 
 Putnam all signed a written affidavit which was 
 read and which was as follows: 
 
 ‘Ann Putnam, Mary Walcott, and Abigail Wil- 
 liams were several times grievously tortured at the 
 trial of Rebecca Nurse before the Honorable 
 Magistrates on the twenty-fourth of March, and 
 when she appeared with her hands at liberty, some 
 of the afflicted were pincht, and at the motion of 
 her hands and fingers some of them were tortured, 
 and some of the afflicted then and there afirmed 
 that they saw a black man whispering in her ear, 
 and birds fluttering by her. On the eighteenth of 
 June we were at the house of Jonathan Putnam 
 who was very ill and after awhile Mercy Lewis 
 came into the house and was presently struck dumb, 
 but being told to hold up her hand, if she saw any 
 of the bewitched afilicting Jonathan Putnam 
 whereupon she presently lifted up her hand, and 
 she fell into a torture, and when said Mercy Lewis 
 came to herself she said she saw Goody Nurse and 
 Goody Carrier holding said Jonathan’s head.” 
 
138 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 Jonathan Childen testified: ‘‘ The apparition 
 of Goody Nurse and Goodman Harwood did ap- 
 pear to me, and the said Harwood did look Goody 
 Nurse in the face and say to her that she did mur- 
 der him by striking the breath out of his body.” 
 
 Edward Putnam testified: ‘On the twenty- 
 fifth day of March Ann Putnam Senior, was bitten 
 by Rebecca Nurse, and about two o’clock of the 
 same day Ann Putnam was struck with Goody 
 Nurse’s chanes, the mark being in a kind of a 
 round ring and three straight streaks across the 
 ring. She had six blows with a chane inside of 
 one-half an ower, and she had one remarkable, 
 one with six strakes across one arm. I saw the 
 mark of both the bite and chane.”’ 
 
 Sarah Holton testified: ‘About this time three 
 years past my deare and living husband Benjamin 
 Holton was as well as I ever knew him in my life 
 until one Saturday morning Rebecca Nurse, who 
 now stands charged with witchcraft, came to our 
 house and fell a railing at him because our piggs 
 got into her fields, though the piggs were yoaked 
 and more were down in their fields, from all we 
 could see, but she continued railing and scolding 
 a great while and began calling to her son, Ben- 
 jamin Nurse, to go and git a gun and kill our piggs, 
 and yet none of them got out of the field, and my 
 poor husband gave her never a misbeholding word, 
 and in a short time after this my poor husband 
 going out in the morning as he was coming in again 
 
The Trial of Rebecca Nurse 139 
 
 was taken with a strange fitt, being struck blind a 
 while and struck down two or three times, so that 
 when he came to himself he told me he thought he 
 would do nothing any more, and all summer after 
 he continued in a languishing condition, being much 
 payned at the stomach, and was struck blind for 
 about a fortnight and was taken with a strange and 
 violent fit when we thought he would have died, 
 and the doctor that was with him could not find 
 what his distemper was, and he was again very 
 cheerly, but by midnite he was again most violently 
 sesed upon with a violent fit until the next night 
 about midnite he departed this life by a cruel 
 death.” 
 
 Ann Putnam, wife of Thomas Putnam, testified: 
 ‘On the first day of June, 1692, the apparition of 
 Rebecca Nurse did fall on me and almost choke 
 me, and she did tell me that now she was come out 
 of prison she would follow me all day long, and 
 would kill me if she could, just as she had killed the 
 others, and she also told me that she and her sister 
 Goody Cloyse and Edward Bishop had killed 
 young John Putnam’s children because young John 
 Putnam had said they were witches as their mother 
 was before them, and because they could not avenge 
 themselves on him, they killed his children, and 
 immediately there did apear to me these children 
 in winding sheets which called me Aunt, which did 
 most grievously fright me and they told me they 
 were my sister’s children and that Goody Nurse 
 
140 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 and Mistress Carrier and an old thin woman at 
 Boston had murdered them and charged me to go 
 and tell this thing to the magistrates or they would 
 tear me to pieces, for they did cry for vengence. 
 Also there did appear to me my own sister Bayley 
 and three of her children in winding sheets and told 
 me that Goody Nurse had murdered them.” 
 
 John Putnam and Hannah Putnam testified in 
 writing: ‘‘Our child who died about the middle of 
 April, 1692, was as well and thriving a child as 
 any ‘till it was about eight years old, but a little 
 while after that then I, John Putnam, reported 
 some things which I had concarning the mother of 
 Rebecca Nurse, Mary Esty, and Sarah Cloyse, and 
 I myself was taken with a strange kind of fits but 
 was delivered from them, and shortly after this 
 our poor young child was taken about midnight 
 with strange and violent fits which did most griev- 
 ously affright us, whereupon we sent for our mother 
 Putnam in the mght. Immediately, as soon as she 
 came and see our child, she told us that she feared 
 there was an evil hand upon it, and also as fast as 
 possible could be, we got a docktor to it but all 
 he did gave it no relief, and did it no good, but it 
 continued in strange and violent fits for about two 
 days and two nights and then departed this life by 
 a cruel and violent death, enough to break a stony 
 heart, for to the best of our understanding it was 
 over five hours a dying. 
 
 ‘And we also testify that on the twenty-fourth 
 
The Trial of Rebecca Nurse 141 
 
 of March at the judges’ examination of said Goody 
 Nurse we often saw the said Ann Putnam, Abigail 
 Williams, and Elizabeth Hubbard struck down 
 upon the closing of said Nurse’s eye upon said Abi- 
 gail Williams, Ann Putnam, and Elizabeth Hub- 
 bard and the said Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam, 
 and Elizabeth Hubbard were then afflicted accord- 
 ing to the motions of said Nurse’s body. At the 
 time of the examination when said Nurse did 
 clinch her hands, bite her lips, or hold her head 
 aside Ann Putnam, Elizabeth Hubbard were set 
 in the same posture, and to their great torture and 
 affliction.” 
 
 John Tarbell testified: ‘On the twenty-eighth 
 day of March I was at the house of Thomas Put- 
 nam and discoursed of many things, and I asked 
 them this question: ‘Whether the girls that was 
 afflicted did first speak of Goody Nurse before 
 others mentioned her,’ and they said she told them 
 she saw the apparition of a woman that sat in her 
 grandmother’s seat, but did not know her name, 
 and I replied and said, *‘ But who told her it was 
 Goody Nurse?’ Mercy Lewis said it ‘was Goody 
 Putnam that said it was Goody Nurse.’ Goody 
 Putnam said it was Mercy Lewis that said it was 
 Goody Nurse, and they turned it upon one another 
 saying it was you and it was you, that told her.”’ 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 THE TRIAL OF MARY EASTY 
 Meas EASTY, Rebecca Nurse, and Sarah 
 
 Cloyse were sisters. There had long been an 
 outstanding feud between their father and Thomas 
 Putnam, the father of Ann Putnam, and although 
 the three sisters were married—and no longer 
 dwelt with their father—they were relentlessly 
 pursued by the unprincipled Putnams who con- 
 trolled the politics of the village. 
 
 All of the women were convicted. Mrs. Nurse 
 and Mrs. Easty were hung, and Mrs. Cloyse was 
 in the gaol awaiting execution when the Court 
 went out of business. These three sisters were 
 of good character and faithful members of the 
 church. 
 
 Mrs. Easty was fifty-eight years of age and the 
 wife of Isaac Easty of Topsfield. She had seven 
 children. She was arrested on May twentieth and 
 taken to the house of Thomas Beadle in Salem 
 where she was examined before Judge Hathorne 
 and Judge Corwin. She was charged with tor- 
 menting Mercy Lewis, Ann Putnam, Elizabeth 
 Hubbard, and Mary Walcott. 
 
 The following is the preliminary examination: 
 ‘Doth this woman hurt you?” Many mouths 
 were stopt. Abigail Williams said it was Goody 
 Easty hurt them. The like said Mary Walcott and 
 142 
 
The Trial of Mary Easty 143 
 
 Ann Putnam. John Jackson said he saw her with 
 Goody Hobbs. 
 
 ‘What do you say, are you guilty?”’ 
 
 ‘Before Christ Jesus I am free.” 
 
 ‘You see these accuse you!” 
 
 ’Chereis-a:God!.” 
 
 ‘Hath she brought the book to you?”’ 
 
 Their mouths (the witnesses) were stopt. 
 
 “How far have you complied with Satan?” 
 
 ‘‘T have never complied but prayed against him 
 all my days! What would you have me do?”’ 
 
 ‘Confess if you be guilty!” 
 
 ‘Lam clear-of this sin.”- 
 
 “Of what sin?” 
 
 ‘Of witchcraft.” 
 
 ‘Are you certain this is the woman?”’ 
 
 Never a one could speak for fits. By and by 
 Ann Putnam said that it was the woman. Her 
 hands were clincht together and then Mercy 
 Lewis was clincht. 
 
 “Look now, your hands are open. Her hands 
 are open!” 
 
 “Ts this the woman?”’ 
 
 They made signs but could not speak. ‘Then 
 Betty Hubbard cried out, “Oh, Goody Easty, 
 Goody Easty, you are the woman!” 
 
 Judge: ‘Put up her head, for while her head 
 is bowed the necks of these are broken. What do 
 you say of this?” 
 
 “Why, God will know!” 
 
144 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 ‘Nay, God knows now.” 
 
 ‘Do you not think it is witchcraft ?”’ 
 
 ‘Tt is an evil spirit, but whether it be witchcraft 
 I do not know!” 
 
 Several said she brought them the book, then 
 they fell in fits. Mr. Sam Parris being desired to 
 take in writing the examination of Mary Easty, it 
 is delivered thus: 
 
 JOHN HATHORNE 
 JONATHAN CORWIN 
 
 At her trial, which began August third, the af- 
 flicted girls testified. In addition the following 
 witnesses testified. Sarah Vibber said, “I saw 
 Mary Easty upon John Norton’s bed when he was 
 ill, and said Easty flew out upon me and afflicted 
 mes 
 
 Mary Walcott said: “I saw the appirition of 
 Goody Easty come and pinch and choke me. She 
 told me she had blinded our eyes. I saw her ap- 
 parition at John Putnam’s house choking Mercy 
 Lewis and pressing upon her breast with her hands, 
 and I saw her put a chane about her neck, and 
 choke her and she told me she would kill her that 
 night if she could.” 
 
 Samuel Abbey, age forty-five, said: ‘On the 
 twentieth of May I went to the house of Constable 
 John Putnam, and when I came there Mercy Lewis 
 lay on the bed in a sad condition and continuing 
 speachless for about an hour. The woman desired 
 me to go to the Thomas Putnam’s and bring Ann 
 
The Trial of Mary Easty 145 
 
 Putnam, to se if she could se who it was that hurt 
 Mercy Lewis. I went and found Abigail Williams 
 and Ann Putnam and brought them to see Mercy 
 Lewis, and as we were going along the way both 
 of them said they saw the apparition of Goody 
 Easty, and she was afflicting Mercy Lewis, who 
 continued the greater part of the day in such tor- 
 ture as no tongue can express but not able to speake 
 but at last said: ‘Dear Lord, receive my soule,’ 
 and again said, ‘ Lord, let them not kill me quitt,’ 
 but at last she came to her self and said Goody 
 Easty said she would kill her before midnight. And 
 again she fell very bad and cried, ‘Pray for sal- 
 vation of my soule for they will kill me.’”’ 
 
 Edward Putnam, age thirty-eight, said: “I saw 
 the prisoner, now at the bar, torture Mercy Lewis, 
 and I looked for nothing else but present death for 
 two days and nights and we thought sometimes her 
 mouth and teeth were banded shut until such time, 
 as we heard Mary Easty was laid in irons. On 
 the second day of Goody Easty’s examination, 
 Mercy Lewis, Mary Walcott, and Ann Putnam 
 were so grievously choked that the honored magis- 
 trate could not proceed to the examination until 
 they desired me to go to prayer, and in prayer time 
 and sum time afterwards they remained in this 
 sad condition, and when they could speak they all 
 with one accord said it was Mary Easty who tor- 
 tured them.” 
 
 Samuel Smith, age twenty-five, said: ‘I was one 
 
146 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 night in the house of Isaac Easty and I was so far 
 as I know too rude of discourse, and Goody Easty 
 said to me I would not have you be so rude of dis- 
 course, for I might rue it hereafter, and as I was 
 a going home that night a quarter of a mile from 
 said Easty’s house by a stone wall, I received a 
 little blow on my shoulder with which I know not 
 what, and the stone wall rattled very much which 
 affrighted me and my horse also was aftrighted 
 but I cannot give any reason for it.” 
 
 Margaret Reddington, age seventy, said: 
 ‘Three years ago I was at Goody Easty’s house 
 talking about an infirmity I had and presently I fell 
 into a most sollom condition and the day before the 
 Thanksgiving we had, I was exceedingly ille and 
 that night Goody Easty appeared to me and offered 
 me a pece of fresh mete and I told her ’twas not 
 fete for the dogs, and I would have none of it and 
 then she vanished.” 
 
 While lying in prison, Mary Easty and her sister 
 Sarah Cloyse petitioned the Court in their behalf. 
 It was in part as follows: 
 
 “We two sisters, Mary Easty and Sarah Cloyse, 
 humbly request the Honorable Court that since we 
 are neither able to plead our own cause nor is coun- 
 sel allowed to those in our condition, that you 
 would please be of counsel to us, to direct us 
 wherein we may stand in need. 
 
 ‘And whereas in the presence of the Living God 
 we speak, before whose awful Tribunal we know 
 we shall ere long appear and humbly beseech that 
 
The Trial of Mary Easty 147 
 
 those persons who have the longest and best knowl- 
 edge of us may testify for us, such as Mr. Capen 
 the pastor and those of the town who are ready to 
 say something for us on behalf of the seven chil- 
 dren of one of us, Mary Easty. 
 
 “And we pray that the testimony of witches or 
 such as are afflicted may not be improved to con- 
 demn us without other legal evidence. We hope 
 the Honored Court and jury will not be so tender 
 of the lives of such as we are who have for many 
 years lived under the unblemished reputation of 
 Christianity and will not condemn us without a 
 fayre and equal trial of what may be sayd for us 
 as well as against us.” 
 
 Mary Easty petitioned the Governor in her own 
 behalf after her conviction. In it she says: 
 
 ‘‘T was confined a whole month upon the same 
 account that I am condemned now, then cleared; 
 and your Honors know two days later I was cried 
 out upon and now I am condemned to die. The 
 Lord above knows my innocence and in the great 
 day it will be known to men and angeles. I petition 
 your Honors, not for my own life, for I know I 
 must die and my appointed time is set, but that 
 no more innocent blood may be shed. I do not 
 question but your Honors does the utmost in your 
 powers in the discovery of witches and would not 
 be guilty of innocent blood for the world, but I 
 know you are wrong, and may the Lord in His 
 ereat mercy direct you, and examine some of these 
 afflicted ones, and keep them apart sometime, for 
 I am confident some has belyed themselves and 
 others as will appear, if not in this world I am sure 
 in the world to come whither I am going.” 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 THE TRIAL OF MARTHA CARRIER 
 
 ARTHA CARRIER lived at Andover and 
 
 was fifty years old at the time of her trial. 
 
 She had eight children, four of whom, all under 
 
 twelve years of age, were accused of being witches. 
 
 They were arrested and imprisoned with their 
 mother, and testified against her. 
 
 Mrs. Carrier was a woman of unusually fine ap- 
 pearance. She had black eyes which, it is said, 
 afficted everybody in the court room. 
 
 Her children testified that she often appeared to 
 them in the form of a black cat and tormented 
 them. 
 
 During her trial so many people in the court 
 room were afilicted that the judges ordered an 
 adjournment, until the prisoner could be blind- 
 folded and chained hands and feet. “Two of her 
 oldest sons refused to testify against their mother, 
 and were strung up by the heels until the blood 
 spurted from their mouths. 
 
 The trial was held in the meeting house before a 
 large throng of people. She was bitterly de- 
 nounced by several witnesses and charged with be- 
 ing the ‘ Queen of Witches.’ Cotton Mather in 
 his book says of her, ‘‘This rampant hag was 
 promised by the devil that she should be ‘Queen 
 of Heke Y 
 
 148 
 
The Trial of Martha Carrier 149 
 
 She was hung on August nineteenth with the 
 Reverend George Burroughs, John Proctor, 
 George Jacobs, and John Willard. 
 
 The following is her preliminary examination. 
 It was held on the thirty-first day of May at the 
 house of Nathaniel Ingersoll in Salem. Judges 
 Hathorne and Corwin presided and wrote down 
 the evidence. 
 
 Questions prepondered by Judge Hathorne: 
 
 ‘ Abigail Williams, who hurt you?” 
 
 “Goody Carrier of Andover.” 
 
 ‘Elizabeth Hubbard, who hurt you?”’ 
 
 ‘Goody Carrier.” 
 
 “Susan Sheldon, who hurt you?”’ 
 
 ‘Goody Carrier bites and pinches me, and she 
 told me she would cut my throat if I did not sign 
 her book.” 
 
 “Mary Walcott, who afflicts you?”’ 
 
 “Goody Carrier.” 
 
 Question addressed to Martha Carrier: “* What 
 do you say to these you are charged with?” 
 
 “‘T have not done it.’’ (Susan Sheldon cried 
 aloud: ‘She looks upon the black man.’) (Ann 
 Putnam exclaimed: ‘She stuck a pinn in me.’ ) 
 
 Judge: ‘ What black man is that?” 
 
 Carrier: “I know none.’ (Mary Warren 
 cried out that she was stuck with a pinn.) 
 
 Judge: ‘‘ What black man do you see?”’ 
 
 ‘‘T saw no black man but your own person.” 
 
150 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 ‘“Can you look upon these and not knock them 
 down?” 
 
 ‘They will dissemble if I look upon them.” 
 
 ‘You see, you look upon them and they fall 
 down.”’ 
 
 It.is false. The devil'is a liar.” 
 
 (Susan Sheldon cried out in a trance: “I won- 
 der why you could murder thirteen persons?”’) 
 (Mary Walcott cried: “There lay thirteen 
 ghosts,”’) and all the afflicted fell into most intoler- 
 able outcries and agonies. 
 
 Elizabeth Hubbard and Ann Putnam cried: 
 ** She killed thirteen at Andover.” 
 
 Carrier: “It is a shameful thing that you 
 should mind these folks that are out of their 
 minds.” 
 
 Judge: “Did not you see them?”’ 
 
 “Tf I did speak, you will not believe me.” 
 
 ‘You did see them?”’ 
 
 ‘You lie, lam wronged.” 
 
 ‘There is a black man whispering in her ear,” 
 said many of the afflicted. (Mercy Lewis, in a fit, 
 was well upon the prisoner, grasping her arm, and 
 the tortures of the afflicted was so great that there 
 was no enduring of it so that the prisoner was 
 ordered away and to be bound hand and foot with 
 all expedition. ‘The afflicted in the meanwhile were 
 almost killed to the great trouble of all the specta- 
 tors, magistrates, and others. As soon as she was 
 well bound they all had strange and sudden ease. 
 
The Trial of Martha Carrier 151 
 
 Mary Walcott told the magistrate that she had 
 told her that she had been a witch ‘these forty 
 
 years... / 
 
 At the trial the following testimony was given: 
 
 Benjamin Abbott, age thirty-one, testified: 
 “Last March I had some land granted to me by 
 the town of Andover near to Goodman Carrier’s 
 land, and when it came to be laid out Goodwife 
 Carrier was very angry and said she would stick as 
 close to me as the barck stoke to the tree, and I 
 would repent of it before seven years came to an 
 end, and that Doctor Prescott could never cure me. 
 She said to Ralph Farnam that she would hold my 
 nose so close to the grindstone as ever it was held 
 since my name was Benjamin Abbott. Presently 
 I was taken with a whirling in my head, and then 
 I was taken with a payn in my side which appeared 
 to be a sore, which was lancit by Doctor Prescott 
 and several gallons of corruption did run out. And 
 then one other sore did breed in my grine which 
 was lancit by Doctor Prescott also, and continued 
 very bad a while, then another sore appeared in 
 my grine, which was also cut and put me to very 
 great misery, and continued until Goodwite Car- 
 rier was taken and carried away by the constable, 
 and that very day she was taken, it grew better; 
 and so I have been well ever since, and have great 
 cause to think that said Carrier had a hand in my 
 sickness and misery.” 
 
152 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 Sarah Abbott, age thirty-two, testified: ‘‘Since 
 my husband had a parcel of land granted by the 
 town near the land of Thomas Carrier, his wife, 
 Martha Carrier, was greatly troubled and gave out 
 threatening words, and my husband, Benjamin 
 Abbott, has not only been afflicted in his body as 
 he said, but also strange and unusual things have 
 happened to his cattle, for some have died suddenly 
 and strangely which we could not tell any reason 
 for, and one cow died suddenly, and some of the 
 cattle would come out of the woods with their 
 tongues hanging out of their mouths, in a strange 
 and affrighted manner, and many such things which 
 we could never account for unless it should be the 
 effects of Martha Carrier doing it.” 
 
 John Rodgers, age fifty, testified: ‘About seven 
 years ago Mr. Carrier, being a nigh neighbor and 
 there happening to be some differences betwixt us, 
 she gave forth some threatening words as she used 
 to do, and in a short time I had two large lusty 
 sows that were lost, and I found one them nigh 
 Carrier’s house with both ears cut off, and the other 
 sow I never heard of to this day. 
 
 ‘And the same summer, to the best of my re- 
 membrance, [| had a cow which used to give a good 
 mess of milk twice a day and of a sudden she would 
 give little or none every morning, though at night 
 she gave as formerly, and this continued about a 
 month. One night three of us watched the cow all 
 the night, yet I got no milk in the morning of her. 
 
The Trial of Martha Carrier 153 
 
 About the month’s end she gave milk as formerly 
 she did, by all of which I did in my conscience be- 
 lieve then, and have done so ever since, and do yet 
 believe that Martha Carrier was the occasion of 
 those incidents by means of witchcraft, she being a 
 very malicious woman.” 
 
 Phoebe Chandler, age twelve, testified: ‘About 
 a fortnight before Martha Carrier was sent for to 
 Salem to be examined, upon the Sabbath day when 
 the psalm was singing, she took me by the shoulder 
 and shook me in the meeting house and asked me 
 where [ lived, but I made her no answer not doubt- 
 ing but that she knew we had lived next door to 
 my father’s house on one side of the way. And 
 that day when Martha Carrier was seized, my 
 mother sent me to carry some beer to those that 
 were at work in the lot and when I come within 
 the fence there was a voice in the bushes which I 
 thought was Martha Carrier’s voice which I know 
 well, but | saw nobody, and the voice asked me 
 what I did there and whither I was going and 
 threatened me so that I ran as fast as I could to 
 those at work and told them what I had heard. 
 
 ‘‘About an hour and a half or two hours after 
 my mother sent me again to the workmen, and 
 coming from there and passing by where I heard 
 that voice before, I heard the same voice over my 
 head saying I would be poysned within two or three 
 days, which accordingly happened, for I went to my 
 sister's farm the same day and on Friday following 
 
154 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 about one-half of my right hand was greatly 
 swollen and exceedingly paynful and also part of 
 my face, which I could never account for how it did 
 come, and continued very bad for several days, 
 and several times since then I have been troubled 
 with a sore here upon my body, and upon my leggs, 
 when I have been going about so that I could 
 hardly go, which I told my mother, and the last 
 Sabbath day was the seventh night. I went to 
 meeting very well in the morning and went to my 
 place where I used to sit. The minister not being 
 come, Richard Carrier, son of Martha Carrier, 
 looked very earnestly upon me and took my hand 
 which had formerly been poysend, and I had a 
 strong burning at my stomach, and was struck so 
 deaf that I could not hear any of the prayer.” 
 
 Bridget Chandler, age forty, mother of Phoebe, 
 testified that her daughter complained on the day 
 as above expressed. 
 
 Allen Toothake, age twenty-two, testified: “I 
 heard Martha Carrier say that Benjamin Abbott 
 would wish he had not that land so near their 
 house; that she would stick as cloths to him as the 
 barck to the tree. And about last March Richard 
 Carrier and myself had some difficulties and said 
 Carrier held me down to the ground to beat me. I 
 asked him to let me rise. When I was up I went 
 to strike at him but I fell down flatt upon my back 
 to the ground and had no power to stir hand nor 
 foot. And then I saw Martha Carrier get off 
 
The Trial of Martha Carrier 155 
 
 from my breast but when I was risen up I saw none 
 of her. 3 
 
 ‘I was wounded in the warre. Martha Carrier 
 told me I should never be cured before she was 
 buried. I know my wound is nearly four inches 
 deep, but since she had been taken I am nearly 
 cured and [| have more ease than I have had in half 
 a year before. Sometimes, when Martha Carrier 
 and I had some differences, she would clap her 
 hand at me and say I should get nothing by it, and 
 so within a day or so I lost a three-year-old heffer, 
 next a yearling, then a cow; and then I had some 
 differences again and lost a yearling and I know not 
 of anything natural that cause the death of the 
 above creatures, but I have always averred it hath 
 been the malice of Martha Carrier.” 
 
 Sam Prestol, age forty-seven, testified: ‘About 
 two years since I had some differences with Martha 
 Carrier which also happened several times before, 
 and soon after I lost a cow in a strange manner 
 being cast upon her back with her heels up when 
 she was very lusty it being in June. And within a 
 month after this the said Martha Carrier had some 
 differences again, at which time she told me I had 
 lost a cow lately and it would not be long before 
 I should lose another, which accordingly came to 
 pass for I had a cow which was well kept with 
 English hay and I could not perceive she ailed 
 anywhere, and yet she pined and quickly laid down 
 as if she were asleep and died.” 
 
156 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 Francis Dane testified for Martha Carrier and 
 said: ‘I have lived about forty-four years in the 
 town of Andover and have been often among the 
 inhabitants, and in my healthful years, often in 
 their habitation. I know there was a suspicion of 
 Goodwife Carrier among some of us before she 
 was apprehended, but I believe many innocent per- 
 sons have been accused and imprisoned. It has 
 been a trouble to me to see how often to many it 
 has been said, ‘You are a witch, you are guilty,’ 
 and more than this hath been said, charging per- 
 sons with witchcraft and telling they must go to 
 prison, and this I fear has caused many to suffer. 
 Our sinnes are ignorance wherein we thought we 
 did well, yet this does not excuse us when we know 
 we did amiss.” 
 
CHAPTER OXVI 
 THE TRIAL OF GEORGE JACOBS SENIOR 
 
 Ce JACOBS, Senior, was about seventy- 
 
 five years old. He had been feeble for a long 
 time and went about leaning on two canes. These 
 canes are now on exhibition in the Essex Institute 
 in Salem. He was a farmer and owned ten acres 
 of land about two miles from Salem. His son, 
 George Jacobs, Junior, had been sued by Nathaniel 
 Putnam for the loss of two horses which it was 
 claimed Jacobs drove into the river where they 
 were drowned. The suit was decided against 
 Jacobs. Jacobs, Senior, testified in favor of his 
 son. He was arrested on May tenth, on complaint 
 of Thomas Putnam, who accused him of bewitch- 
 ing his daughter, Ann Putnam, and several other 
 girls. 
 
 At the same time, George Jacobs, Junior, his 
 wife and daughter Margaret, and Mrs. Jacobs the 
 wife of George Jacobs, Senior, were arrested and 
 lodged in the Salem jail. Jacobs, Junior, and his 
 wife escaped from the jail and were never tried. 
 Margaret, his daughter, made a confession and 
 was the chief witness against her grandfather. Be- 
 fore the day of Jacobs’ execution she denied her 
 confession and then became violently insane and 
 was never tried. Sarah Jacobs, the wife of George 
 Jacobs, Senior, was convicted but never sentenced. 
 
 157 
 
158 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 Shortly after her husband was hung she was re- 
 leased from prison and married John Wildes, 
 whose wife Sarah was hung as a witch on July 
 nineteenth. 
 
 Jacobs was hung on August nineteenth. It is 
 said his body was dug up in the night after the 
 execution by his son, George, who had returned in 
 disguise and witnessed his father’s death. It was 
 hidden away for some time afterwards buried on 
 the little ten acre farm. All Jacobs’ property was 
 seized by the sheriff. His wife’s wedding ring was 
 torn from her finger. 
 
 Rebecca Jacobs, the wife of George Jacobs, Jun- 
 ior, fled with her husband, leaving six small chil- 
 dren to be supported by charitable persons. A 
 fine painting of the trial of Jacobs is exhibited in 
 the Essex Institute. 
 
 The preliminary examination of George Jacobs, 
 Senior, took place on May tenth and eleventh be- 
 fore Judges Hathorne and Corwin and, so far as 
 the same is preserved, was as follows: 
 
 Judge: “Here are them that accuse you of 
 witchcraft.” 
 
 Jacobs: “ Well, let us hear who they are and 
 what they are.” 
 
 Judge: “ Abigail Williams.” (Jacobs laught. ) 
 “Why do you laugh?” 
 
 Jacobs: ‘‘ Because I am falsely accused. Do 
 you think this is true?” 
 
Trial of George Jacobs Senior 159 
 Judge: ‘What do you think?” 
 
 macobs: je ch never! didjtiyy 
 
 Judge: “ Who did it?” 
 
 Jacobs: ‘Don’t ask me.” 
 
 Judge: “Sarah Churchill accuses you. There 
 slienisy. 
 
 Jacobs: ‘“‘I am as innocent as a child born to- 
 night. I have lived in Salem thirty-three years. If 
 you can prove that I am guilty, I will lye under 
 es 
 
 Sarah Churchill: “Last night I was afflicted at 
 Deacon Ingersoll’s and Mary Walcott said it was 
 a man with two staves, it was my master.’”’ (Note: 
 Sarah Churchill had been a servant in the home 
 ot the accused. ) 
 
 Jacobs: “ Pray do not accuse me, your worship. 
 You must judge rightly.” 
 
 Judge: ‘‘ What book did he bring to you, 
 Sarah?’ 
 
 Sarah: ‘‘ The same the other women brought.” 
 
 Judge: “The devil can go in any shape.” 
 
 Sarah: ‘‘He appeared to me on the other side 
 of the river and hurt me.” 
 
 Judge: ‘Look there, she accuseth you to your 
 ficemmusitinot trucs. 
 
 Jacobs: ‘I never wronged no man in word or 
 deecdie 
 
 Judge: “Here are three evidences.” 
 
 Jacobs: ‘‘ You tax me for a wizard, you may as 
 well tax me for a buzzard.” 
 
160 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 Judge: “Is it no harm to afflict these?” 
 
 Jacobs: “I never did it.” 
 
 Judge: “But how comes it to be in your ap- 
 pearance?” 
 
 Jacobs: ‘The devil can take any likeness.”’ 
 
 Judge: ‘‘ Not without their consent.” 
 
 Jacobs: “Please, your Worship, I am silly 
 about these things as the child born last night.” 
 
 Judge: ‘You argue you have lived so long, but 
 Cain might have lived long before he killed Abel 
 and you might have lived long before the devil got 
 you.” 
 
 Jacobs: ‘‘ Christ hath suffered three times for 
 mer 
 Judge: ‘ What three times ?”’ 
 
 Jacobs: ‘‘ He suffered the cross and gale.”’ 
 
 Sarah Churchill: ‘You might as well confess 
 if you are guilty.” 
 
 Jacobs: “Have you heard that I have any 
 witchcraft?” 
 
 Sarah: ‘I know that you live a wicked life.”’ 
 
 Jacobs: ‘Let her make it out.” 
 
 Judge: ‘“ Doth he ever pray in his family?” 
 
 Sarah: ‘ Not unless by himself.” 
 
 Judge: ‘‘ Why do you not pray in your fam- 
 ily?” 
 
 Jacobs: “I cannot read.” 
 
 Judge: ‘“‘ Well, but you may pray for all that. 
 Can you say the Lord’s Prayer? Let us hear 
 you!” 
 
 , to ee ee 
 
Trial of George Jacobs Senior 161 
 
 Sarah: ‘‘He might in several parts, but he 
 could not repeat it right after Mary Mialls.” 
 
 Judge: ‘Sarah Churchill, you said when you 
 wrote in that book you were showed your master’s 
 name.” 
 
 Saran sve eres, sire’ 
 
 Judge: ‘‘If she says so, what do you say?” 
 
 Jacobs: “The devil may present my like- 
 ness.” 
 
 Judge: “ Were you not frightened, Sarah, when 
 the likeness of your master came to you?” 
 
 Sarahis\: Yes. 
 
 Jacobs: ‘“‘ Well, burn or hang me, I will stand 
 in the truth of Christ.” 
 
 Judge: ‘Do you know nothing of getting your 
 son, George, and his daughter, Margaret, to 
 sign?” 
 
 Wacobs2 No. 
 
 (On the second examination, May eleventh, the 
 following occurred) : 
 
 The bewitched fell into most grievous fits and 
 screakings when the accused came in. 
 
 Judge: “Is this the man that hurts you?”’ 
 
 Abigail Williams cried out: “This is the man,” 
 and fell into a violent fit. 
 
 Ann Putnam said: “This is the man that hurts 
 her and brings her the book, and she should be as 
 well as his granddaughter.” 
 
 Judge: ‘‘ Mercy Lewis, is this the man?”’ 
 
162 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 Mercy: “ This is the man.”’ After much inter- 
 ruption by fitts she said, “* He almost kills me.” 
 
 Elizabeth Hubbard said the man never hurt her 
 until the day he came upon the table. 
 
 Judge: “Mary Walcott, is this the man?” 
 
 After much interruption by fitts, she said: *‘ This 
 is the man. He used to come with two staves and 
 beat me with one of them.” 
 
 Judge: ‘‘ What do you say? Are you not a 
 witch?” 
 
 Jacobs: ‘No, if I were to dye presently!” 
 
 Mercy Lewis went to come near him but fell into 
 great fits. (Note: The judge here read the testi- 
 mony of Mercy Lewis and then asked: ‘‘ What 
 do you say to this now?’’) 
 
 Jacobs: ‘‘ Why, it is false.” 
 
 Ann Putnam said: ‘Yes, you told me you had 
 been so for forty years.” 
 
 Ann Putnam and Abigail Williams had each of 
 them a pin stuck in their hands, and they said it was 
 this old Jacobs. 
 
 (Note: ‘he judge here read the testimony of 
 Abigail Williams), and then asked: ‘Are you not 
 the man that made a disturbance at a lecture in 
 Salem?” 
 
 Jacobs: “No great disturbance. Do you think 
 I use witchcraft?” 
 
 Judge: “ Yes, indeed.’ 
 
 Jacobs: ‘No, I use none of it.’ 
 
 The foregoing is all of the preliminary examina- 
 
Trial of George Jacobs Senior 163 
 
 tion now preserved. ‘The prisoner was sent to jail 
 where he remained until August fourth, when his 
 trial was begun before a jury and six presiding 
 judges. The first evidence offered was that of 
 George Herrick, who said: 
 
 “Last May, by order of their Majesties’ jus- 
 tices, I went to the prison in Salem to search the 
 body of George Jacobs, Senior, and William Donn- 
 ton, gaol keeper, and Joseph Neale, constable, was 
 with me in the search. We found under the right 
 shoulder of said Jacobs a tett about a quarter of 
 one-inch long or better with a sharp point drupeing 
 downwards. So I took a pinn from said Donnton 
 and run it through the said tett but neither watter, 
 blood, nor corruption nor any other matter we 
 found, and so we make return.” 
 
 William Donnton saith: “Said Jacobs was not 
 in the least senceble in what we had done for after 
 I had made return to the magistrates I told the said 
 Jacobs and he knew nothing before.” 
 
 Mary Warren, Elizabeth Hubbard, Mary Wal- 
 cott, Ann Putnam, and Sarah Churchill all testified 
 that George Jacobs had often afflicted them. 
 
 Sarah Vibber said: “I saw George Jacobs at 
 the gallows when Goody Oliver was hung, and I 
 saw the black man help him up, and I saw him 
 afflict Mary Walcott and beat her with his staves.” 
 
 John Dovitch, age sixteen, said: “ John Small 
 and his wife, Anna, formerly of Salem, but now 
 dead, did both appear to me and told me that they 
 
164 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 would tare me to peces if I did not go to Mr. 
 Hathorne and tell him that George Jacobs, Senior, 
 did kill them, and also Mary Warren’s mother did 
 appear to me this day with a white man and told me 
 that Goodwife Parker and Oliver did kill her, and 
 also Sarah Proctor, Joseph Proctor, and John 
 Proctor all afflict me every day, and all threaten to 
 tare me in peces if I do not sign a booke. Also a 
 woman who lives in Boston at the uper end of town 
 whose name is Mary. She goes in black clothes 
 and hath but one eye with a crooked neck and she 
 says there is none in Boston like her. She did af- 
 flict me but says she will not any more.” 
 
 Mercy Lewis testified: ‘On April twentieth, at 
 about midnight, the apparition of an old, gray- 
 headed man told me his name was George Jacobs 
 and he had two wives. He tormented me and 
 beat me with a stick and he has continued doing so 
 ever since. He said he would kill me because I 
 testified against his maid and compelled her to con- 
 fess. He beat me so hard that he almost putt all 
 my bones out of jouynt ’till my strength and hartt 
 was ready to fail, but being upheld by an Almighty 
 hand I endured his tortures. He offered to give 
 me gold and many fine things if I would write in 
 his book, but I told him I would not if he would 
 give me all the world. In my hartt I believe 
 George Jacobs is a most dreadful wizard.” 
 
 Joseph Flint testified: ‘‘I was at the house of 
 Mr. Thomas Beadles in May when the magistrates 
 
Trial of George Jacobs Senior 165 
 
 were examining George Jacobs and his grand- 
 daughter, Margaret and, understanding she had 
 confessed, I went into another room where George 
 Jacobs was and told him his granddaughter had 
 confessed and he asked me what she had confessed. 
 I told him she had confessed she was a witch. 
 Whereupon Jacobs said that she was charged not 
 to confess, and when I asked him who charged her 
 he made a stop and at last said if she were innocent 
 and yet confest she would be accessory to his 
 death.” 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 THE TRIAL OF JOHN AND ELIZABETH PROCTOR 
 
 J OHN PROCTOR was a prosperous farmer liv- 
 ing with his wife, Elizabeth, in Salem. On 
 April eleventh, Mrs. Proctor was arrested by John 
 Putnam, constable, and taken to the home of Dea- 
 con Ingersoll for examination. Her husband fol- 
 lowed and resented many insults hurled at her by 
 the judges. Whereupon he was immediately ar- 
 rested and placed in irons. Both husband and 
 wife were tried on August fifth, and sentenced to 
 death. 
 
 Proctor asked for a writ of habeas corpus but 
 was refused. Mary Warren, his servant, was one 
 of the “ Circle Girls.” She had been punished by 
 Proctor some time before and made to stay at 
 home and spin. This probably resulted in Proc- 
 tor’s death. 
 
 Both he and his wife were members of the 
 church but, for some reason, Proctor had neglected 
 to attend prayer meeting and was regarded as a 
 backslider. He was hung, with five others, on 
 August nineteenth. His wife was about to become 
 a mother and Proctor pleaded for her on this ac- 
 count. Her execution was postponed, and she died 
 in prison. 
 
 On the gallows, Proctor prayed loudly to be 
 spared. He said he was too wicked to die. He 
 
 166 
 
Trial of John and Elizabeth Proctor 167 
 
 begged Reverend Nicholas Noyes, who was pres- 
 ent, to pray for him, but Noyes refused. 
 
 He was the wealthiest of all those who were 
 hung. On the day of his arrest, the sheriff went 
 to his home and seized all his property, including 
 cattle, sheep, and goats, and shipped them to the 
 West Indies. 
 
 In 1711 the colony of Massachusetts voted five 
 hundred seventy-eight pounds to be paid to the 
 heirs of the men and women who had been exe- 
 cuted. One hundred fifty pounds of this was given 
 to the Proctor heirs because of their greater loss. 
 
 In 1722, Phillip English openly charged in the 
 church that Reverend Nicholas Noyes killed Proc- 
 tor and his wife. For this accusation, he was ar- 
 rested and fined twenty pounds. 
 
 The Proctors had three daughters, one of whom 
 confessed herself a witch and testified against the 
 other members of the family. 
 
 The jury which examined the body of Proctor 
 reported: ‘Having searched the body of John 
 Proctor now in gaol we do not find anything to 
 further suspect him.” 
 
 Proctor had been involved in rather serious 
 trouble with several of his neighbors. He had once 
 acted as a referee between Giles Corey and John 
 Gloyd and decided against Corey. At another time 
 his house burned down and he caused Giles Corey 
 to be arrested and accused him of setting fire to the 
 house. After a long trial, Corey was acquitted. 
 
168 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 Proctor and wife were confined in the Boston 
 gaol for several months. He filed a petition for 
 a change of venue from Salem and asked to be tried 
 in Boston. This angered his judges, who promptly 
 denied his motion. 
 
 After his conviction and while awaiting execu- 
 tion, he wrote to Increase Mather, then President 
 of Harvard College, the following letter: 
 
 “Here are five persons who have lately con- 
 fessed themselves to be witches, and do accuse some 
 of us of being along with them at a sacrament. 
 Since we were committed into close prison at the 
 time, we all know what they said to be lies. 
 
 ‘Two of the five are Carrier children, young 
 men who would not confess anything until they tied 
 their necks and heels together till the blood was 
 ready to come out of their mouths. 
 
 “My son, William Proctor, because he would 
 not confess they tied his neck and heels till the 
 blood gushed out of his nose.”’ 
 
 Elizabeth Proctor testified against her husband. 
 In all probability, it was this that saved her from 
 the gallows. 
 
 The following is the only evidence available at 
 this time: 
 
 ‘Proctor met Sam Sibley and asked how things 
 were going at the village. Sibley said they were 
 very bad last night. Proctor replied: ‘I will go 
 up and fetch my jade home.’ (Meaning Mary 
 Warren, his servant. )”’ 
 
Trial of John and Elizabeth Proctor 169 
 Sibley asked him why he talked so and he said, 
 
 “If these girls are left alone we will all be devils 
 and witches. They ought all be sent to the whip- 
 ping post. When she first had fits I kept her close 
 to the wheel and threatened to thrash her, but now 
 she is out again and must have fits.” 
 
 Abigail Williams said, ‘I saw Proctor sitting in 
 the magistrate’s lap.’ John Indian cried out to 
 the dog under the table to come out because Good- 
 man Proctor was on his back. 
 
 The Reverend Samuel Parris testified to the 
 great torment inflicted upon all the girls by 
 Proctor. Then all became dumb and writhed in 
 great agony upon the floor. 
 
 Samuel Parris requested that he be permitted to 
 take the examination in writing. 
 
 Stephen Bettford testified: “On April third, 
 about midnight as I was in the bed at the house of 
 James Darling at Salem I, being partly awake, saw 
 standing in the chamber Elizabeth Proctor, whom 
 I well knew, and I[ was in very great payn in my 
 neck and could not stir my head nor spake a word, 
 but I cannot say it was she who hurt me, and for 
 two or three days after I could not stir my neck 
 but moved my whole body.” 
 
 William Royment testified: “I being at the 
 house of Lieutenant Ingersoll some time in March, 
 there discoursing concerning several persons sus- 
 pected of being witches, I was saying that I heard 
 that Goody Proctor was to be examined tomorrow, 
 
170 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 and Goody Ingersoll replied she did not believe it. 
 Then one of the afflicted persons being there pres- 
 ent, cried out: ‘Goody Proctor, Goody Proctor 
 an old witch. We'll hang her!’ Goody Ingersoll 
 sharply reproved her and then they seemed to make 
 a jest of it.” 
 
 Elizabeth Booth testified: ‘‘On the eighth of 
 June Father Lan Shafting appeared to me and said 
 Elizabeth Proctor killed him because my mother 
 would not send for Doctor Gregg to give him fisik 
 and also because she was not sent for when he was 
 first taken sicke. 
 
 ‘ Robert Stone, Senior, also appeared to me and 
 told me that John Proctor and Elizabeth, his wife, 
 killed him because they had some difference and 
 also at the same time Robert Stone, Junior, ap- 
 peared to me, and told me that John Proctor and 
 his wife killed him because he took his father’s 
 part. 
 
 ‘On the same day Hugh Jones appeared to me 
 and told me that Elizabeth Proctor killed him be- 
 cause he had a keg of sider from her which he had 
 not paid for. 
 
 ‘‘And Elizabeth Shaw appeared to me and told 
 me that Elizabeth Proctor and John Willard killed 
 her because she did not use those doctors she ad- 
 vised her to. And John Fulton appeared to me 
 and told me that Elizabeth Proctor killed him be- 
 cause he would not give her aples when she sent 
 for them. 
 
Trial of John and Elizabeth Proctor 171 
 
 “And Doctor Zeruble Endicot appeared to me 
 and told me that Elizabeth Proctor killed him be- 
 cause they differed in their judgments about 
 Thomas Veries’s wife, and likewise he said Eliza- 
 beth Proctor would have killed Doc Endicot’s wife 
 but could not, but lamed her a good while.” 
 
 Note: The foregoing statements were sepa- 
 rately made and signed by Elizabeth Booth, an 
 eighteen year old girl who could not write her own 
 name. All the parties named as having appeared 
 to her were dead. Some had been dead over ten 
 years. Yet this evidence was accounted worthy 
 of consideration by the learned judges. 
 
 Joseph Bayley testified: ‘On the twenty-fifth 
 of May last myself and my wife being bound to 
 Boston on the road I came in sight of the house 
 where John Proctor did live and there was a hard 
 blow strook on my breast which caused great payn 
 in my stomach, and amazement in my head, but I 
 did see no person near me only my wife behind me 
 on the same horse, and when I came against John 
 Proctor’s house I did see John Proctor looking out 
 of the window and his wife did stand just inside. 
 I told my wife of it and she did look but could see 
 nothing but a little maid. I saw no maid. 
 
 ‘Afterwards about a half a mile from the house 
 I was taken speechless for some short time. My 
 wife did ask me several questions and desired me if 
 I could not speak to raise my right hand which I 
 did and immediately I could speak as well as ever 
 
172 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 I could and soon I received another blow on my 
 breast which caused much payn and I could not sit 
 on my horse, and when I did alight off my horse I 
 saw a woman coming towards us about fifteen pole 
 from us but did not know who it was. My wife 
 could not see her and when I got up on my horse 
 again there stood a cow where I saw the woman. 
 Then we went to Boston without any further moles- 
 tation but after I came home again I was pincht 
 and nipt by some invisible thing for sum time, but 
 now through God’s goodness I am well again.” 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 THE TRIAL OF ANN PUDATOR 
 NN PUDATOR was the widow of Jacob 
 
 Pudator, and was of French descent. She 
 had five children. She was what is known as a 
 ‘* Malefick,”’ one who does evil for evil’s sake. She 
 went about much from house to house, pretending 
 to be a friend, when in fact she was seeking an op- 
 portunity to do an injury. 
 
 It was frequently said of her that she sat in her 
 chimney corner and stuck pins and needles into pop- 
 pets. This caused the sleeping babes in all the 
 neighborhood to have fits and old men and women 
 to have colic and rheumatism. She would send 
 an apple or a plate or other gift to a neighbor and 
 as soon as the gift was touched, ill health, unhappi- 
 ness, and sometimes death would follow. She was 
 arrested on May twelfth, and hung September 
 twenty-second. 
 
 The record of her preliminary examination is 
 partly preserved. It began on July second, before 
 Judges Hathorne and Corwin. 
 
 Judge: ‘Did you bring her the books?” 
 
 Answer: ‘‘I never saw ye woman before.” 
 
 Lieutenant Joe Neal was then asked what he 
 knew about this woman. He said: “She has al- 
 ways been an ill carriaged woman, since my wife 
 
 173 
 
174 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 has been sick of ye small pox, this woman has 
 come to my house pretending kindness and I was 
 glad to see it. She asked me whether she might 
 use our morter which was used for my wife and | 
 consented to it, but afterwards repented of it, for 
 ye nurse told me my wife was ye wors for she was 
 very ill of a flux which she had not had before, and 
 since she has dyed.”’ 
 
 Elizabeth Hubbard said she had seen the pris- 
 oner hurt Mary Walcott. 
 
 Judge: “Pudator, what did you do with the 
 ointment you had in ye house?”’ 
 
 Answer: ‘ [never had ointment or oil but meat 
 tried out in my house since ye husband dyed.” 
 
 Joseph Neal testified she had nearly twenty jars 
 that had ointment or grease in them. 
 
 Pudator said it was grease to make soap of. 
 
 Judge: ‘Why did you put them in so many 
 things when one would have held all?” 
 
 Answer: “It was neats foot oil I had in the 
 house.’ 
 
 Here Mary Warren fell into fits and was only 
 restored when Pudator took her by ye wrists. 
 
 Sarah Churchill then said that Pudator choked 
 her and pinched her and stuck pins into her, and 
 brought poppets to her and compelled her to stick 
 pins into it to torment other persons. 
 
 Mary Warren testified that Pudator often stuck 
 her with pins and it was either her or her apparition 
 which was the cause of John Turner’s falling off 
 
The Trial of Ann Pudator 175 
 
 ye cherry tree to his great hurt and which amazed 
 him in his head and almost killed him and she was 
 the cause of Neal’s wife’s death and also she killed 
 her husband and John Best’s wife. 
 
 John Best said: ‘My mother several times in 
 her sickness complained that Ann Pudator of 
 Salem bewitched her and she believed she would 
 kill her before she was dun with her. Several 
 times I went into the woods to fetch my father’s 
 cowes and I[ did drive Goody Pudator’s cow back 
 from our cowes and I, being alone, she would 
 chide me when I came home from driving the cowes 
 back, for this reason I do believe said Pudator to 
 be a witch.” 
 
 Sam Pickworth said: “I was coming along 
 Salem street about six weeks ago when | saw a 
 woman near Captain Higginson’s house which I 
 supposed to be Ann Pudator, and in a moment of 
 time she passt me as swift as if a burd flew past 
 me and I saw said woman go into Ann Pudator’s 
 house.” 
 
 Sarah Churchill said: ‘Goody Pudator brought 
 me a book to sign and I did know her at that time 
 to be the same as the prisoner at the bare. She told 
 me she killed John Trask’s child. One time George 
 Jacobs was with her and he called her a ‘bitch, 
 witch,’ and ill names, and Ann Pudator brought 
 three images like Mercy Lewis, Ann Putnam, and 
 Elizabeth Hubbard and they brought me thorns 
 and I stuck them in the images and she told me the 
 
176 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 persons whose likeness they were would be afflicted, 
 and the other day I saw Goody Oliver sit on her 
 knee.” 
 
 Doctor Roger Toothaker was called to examine 
 several of the afflicted and later testified against 
 several prisoners, including Ann Pudator. On May 
 eighteenth, he was arrested and accused of being 
 a wizard. He was convicted and sentenced to 
 prison to be kept in irons. The chief witness 
 against him, in addition to the afflicted girls, was 
 Thomas Gage, age thirty-six, who said: ‘Some- 
 time last spring Doctor Toothaker was in my house 
 in Beverly and we discoursed about John Mar- 
 shall’s childe in Salem that was then sick and hav- 
 ing unwonted fits and likewise another childe of 
 Phillips White’s of Beverly who was then strangely 
 sick. 
 
 ‘| perswaded Doctor Toothaker to go and see 
 the said children and said ‘Toothaker said he had 
 seen both already and his opinion was they were 
 under a eville hand and further said Toothaker 
 said that his daughter had kild a witch, and I askt 
 him how she did it and he sayd that his daughter 
 had learned something from him. I asked by what 
 means he did it and he said that there was a certain 
 person complained of being afflicted by another 
 person that was suspected by the afflicted person 
 and he said that his daughter got some afflicted per- 
 son’s wine and put it into an earthern pott and 
 stopt the pott very close and putt said pott into a 
 
The Trial of Ann Pudator 177 
 
 hott oven and stopt up the oven and the next 
 morning the child was dead. He said other 
 things which I have forgotten.” 
 
 Ann Pudator was one of the last eight who were 
 hung on September twenty-second. Seven of these 
 were old, defenseless women. ‘There is nothing to 
 show that any of them were of ill-repute. 
 
 It is probable that Ann was a busybody such as 
 may be found in every community. She was prob- 
 ably too much interested in other people’s business. 
 This is a grievous fault, but one not deserving the 
 death penalty, 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 THE TRIAL OF JOHN WILLARD 
 J OHN WILLARD was a deputy sheriff and had 
 
 a wife and three children. He had imprisoned 
 several persons accused of witchcraft, and was 
 heard by some to express sympathy for some of 
 them. ‘This aroused resentment against him, and 
 he became frightened and went to his grandfather, 
 Bray Wilkins, and asked the old man to pray for 
 him. The grandfather, who was eighty years old, 
 said he did not have time to pray. The next day 
 John Willard, Bray Wilkins, his wife, and his son 
 John rode on horseback to Boston to attend the 
 election. On their return they stopped at a tavern 
 and Bray Wilkins became very sick. Mercy Lewis 
 and Mary Walcott were sent for to find out what 
 was the matter with him. As soon as they ar- 
 rived at the house they fell into fits and cried, 
 ‘See John Willard on his,grandfather’s belly!” 
 Willard was arrested and lodged in jail, but es- 
 caped a few days later and was overtaken forty 
 miles away. He was condemned and hung on 
 August nineteenth. Old Bray Wilkins died, and 
 the coroner’s verdict was, “‘ Bray Wilkins came to 
 his death by being strangled and choked to death 
 by the specter of John Willard.” 
 
 There were seven indictments against Willard. 
 He was charged with bewitching Bray Wilkins, 
 178 
 
The Trial of John Willard 179 
 
 Mercy Lewis, Mary Walcott, Susan Sheldon, and 
 Ann Putnam. 
 
 John Putnam was a constable at Salem and he 
 was directed to arrest John Willard, the deputy 
 sheriff. ‘Che return on his report reads: ‘‘I went 
 to the house of John Willard and made search for 
 him, and in several other houses and places but 
 could not find him. His relatives and friends then 
 gave me an account that to their best knowledge he 
 was fleed.”’ 
 
 Susan Sheldon testified: ‘ John Willard afflicts 
 me both day and night and tempts me to set my 
 hand to the book, but I would not. He said he 
 would slap me, and suddenly a sore wound came 
 on my side. Then Elizabeth Colson stabbed at 
 me right near the other side so that I speate blood. 
 Then Goody Proctor appeared to me and temted 
 me to set my hand to the book.” 
 
 Hannah Putnam, age thirty, said: “The shapes 
 of Samuel Fuller and Lydia Wilkes this day told to 
 me, at my house, where they appeared to me in 
 winding sheets, that if I did not go and tell Mr. 
 Hathorne that John Willard had murdered them, 
 they would tare me to pieces. I know where they 
 were living, and it was exactly their resemblance 
 and shapes. At the same time the apparition of 
 John Willard told me he had killed Samuel Fuller, 
 Lydia Wilkes, Goody Shaw, and Fuller’s second 
 wife, and Aaron Way’s child and Ben Fuller’s child 
 and my child Sarah, six weeks old, and Phillip 
 
180 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 Knight’s child, and Cheever’s children and Ann 
 Elliott and Isaac Nichols; and if Mr. Hathorne 
 would not believe me, Samuel Fuller and Lydia 
 Wilkes shapes would appear to the magistrates. 
 Joseph Fuller’s apparition came to me also the 
 same day and told me that Goody Corey had killed 
 him, and the specter told me that vengence was 
 cried out for.” 
 
 Sam Parris, Nathaniel Ingersoll, and Thomas 
 Putnam testified: “Elizabeth Hubbard, Mary 
 Warren, Ann Putnam, and John Indian were ex- 
 ceedingly tortured and hurt at the examination of 
 John Willard before the magistrates on the eight- 
 eenth of May, and whenever he looked upon 
 Elizabeth Hubbard she was knocked down, and 
 they all saw at the examination a black man whis- 
 pering to him in his ear. And Susan Sheldon could 
 not come near to Willard, but she was knocked 
 down; and Mary Warren, when in a fit, was carried 
 to him and as soon as she grasped his arm she was 
 immediately well. And several of the afflicted also 
 told diverse of those he had murdered and who 
 rose up against him. John Willard could not re- 
 peat the Lord’s Prayer, when we asked him to do 
 so, though he made manifold assays.” 
 
 Susan Sheldon testified: ‘I was at Natt Inger- 
 soll’s house and the apparitions of these four per- 
 sons appeared: William Shaw’s first wife, Widow 
 Cook, Goodman Jones, and his child; and among 
 these came the apparition of John Willard, and 
 
The Trial of John Willard 181 
 
 these four said to him he had murdered them, and 
 then they turned as red as blood, and turning about 
 to look on me they turned as pale as death, and 
 these four told me to tell Mr. Hathorne. Willard, 
 hearing them, pulled out a knife, saying if I did he 
 would get my blood. 
 
 ‘The same day there appeared to me Elizabeth 
 Colson and she took a book and would have me 
 set my hand to it, and I would not. Then she 
 proffered me a black peace of money and said I 
 might touch it, and I would be well. On May 
 tenth, there appeared to me the same apparitions 
 and another with them in the likeness of a man, and 
 they said I should go and tell Mr. Hathorne of it. 
 Then Willard said he would break my head and 
 stab my leggs if I should go. Then there appeared 
 to me a shining man who told me I should go and 
 tell what I had heard and seen to Mr. Hathorne, 
 and this Willard being there, told him if I did he 
 would cut my throat. At this same time and place 
 this shining man told me that if I did go to tell this 
 to Mr. Hathorne I should be well going and com- 
 ing, but I should be afflicted there. ‘Then I said to 
 the shining man, ‘ Drive Willard away and I would 
 believe what he said, that he might not choke me.’ 
 The shining man held up his hand and Willard 
 vanished away. 
 
 ‘“‘ About two weeks after the same appeared to 
 me again and the said Willard with them, and I 
 asked them where their wounds were, and they 
 
182 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 said there would come an angel from Heaven and 
 would show them. And forthwith the angel came 
 and I asked what the man’s name was that ap- 
 peared to me last and the angel told me his name 
 was Southart. And the angel lifted up his winding 
 sheet, and out of his left side she pooled a pitch 
 fork tang; and likewise she opened all the winding 
 sheets, and showed me all their wounds, and told 
 me to tell Mr. Hathorne of it. And I told him to 
 hunt Willard away, and I would, and he put up 
 his hand and he vanished away. 
 
 ‘On the evening of the same day came to me the 
 apparition of these three: John Willard, Eliza- 
 beth Colson, and one old man which I knew not, 
 who tempted me with their books and money and 
 afflicted me sorely all the fore part of the night. 
 I saw this Willard suckle the apparition of two 
 black pigs on his breast, and this Colson suckled, 
 as it appeared, a little bird. This old man which I 
 knew not, suckled a black snake. Then Willard 
 tempted me again with his book. I said to Wil- 
 lard, ‘How long have you been a wizard?’ He 
 told me thirty years.” 
 
 Henry Wilkins testified: ‘On the third of May 
 last, John Willard came to my house and entreated 
 me to go with him to Boston, which I consented to 
 do. My son, Daniel, was much troubled because 
 I consented to go with him, and he said he thought 
 it would be well if the said Willard was hanged; 
 
 but after I was gone my son was taken very sick, 
 
The Trial of John Willard 183 
 
 and the doctor said he was sick from some preter- 
 natural cause and would not give him any fisik.” 
 
 Bray Wilkins testified: ‘‘ John Willard came to 
 my house greatly troubled and desired me to pray 
 with him. I told him I was then going from home, 
 and could not stay but if I should come home be- 
 fore night I should not be unwilling. But it was 
 night when I got home and I did not answer his 
 desire. After that, my wife and I went to Boston 
 at the last election, when I was as well as in many 
 years before. When we came to my brother Rich- 
 ard Way’s house at noon there were many friends 
 to dine there, Mr. Lawson and his wife and several 
 more, when John Willard came into the house with 
 my son Henry and he looked on me with such force, 
 as I never did see before, and I did but step into the 
 next room, and I was taken in a strange condition, 
 and I could not dine nor eat anything. I cannot 
 express the misery I was in. I was like a rock. I 
 told my wife I was afraid Willard had done me 
 wrong. Mr. Lawson and others were all amazed 
 to know what to do with me. 
 
 ‘There was a woman accounted skillful, and she 
 came to help me. She used means she had used be- 
 fore, but they did not help me. Then she asked 
 if any evil person had done me damage and I said 
 I could not say. I laid this way three or four days 
 in Boston, and when I came home some of my 
 friends came to see me (and at this time John 
 
 Willard had run away). One of the afflicted per- 
 
184 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 sons, Mercy Lewis, was there and she said, ‘ There 
 is John Willard, upon his grandfather’s belly.’ I 
 continued so in payn for many days until said John 
 Willard was in chanes, and then I had considerable 
 ease,” 
 
 Willard and Proctor were hung at the same 
 time. It is said both cried and begged for only 
 another day in which to prepare for death. 
 
 Their loud lamentations caused many in the 
 crowd to weep, and some fainted. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 THE TRIAL OF SAMUEL WARDWELL 
 
 AMUEL WARDWELL was an inoffensive 
 man of about fifty-five years of age. He lived 
 in Andover and owned a little farm. For many 
 years he had been a fortune teller, strolling about, 
 reading palms and solving life’s mysteries from the 
 broken tea leaves in the bottom of the cup. His 
 hobby seemed to be to pick out suitable lovers for 
 all the love-sick in town. Many idle rogues be- 
 came fortune tellers and magicians and ‘roamed 
 everywhere. ‘The laws of England and some of 
 the colonies prescribed punishments for those who 
 assumed to read the future. The chief complaint 
 against Wardwell was that his predictions too 
 often came true. This proved that he was a 
 wizard. 
 
 He was arrested on September first, and lodged 
 in the Salem jail charged with bewitching Mary 
 Sprague, a sixteen year old girl, who said he 
 pinched her and knocked her down. 
 
 After a few days in jail, he confessed that he was 
 a wizard and could charm even the cattle and pigs 
 so that they would follow him anywhere. A few 
 days later he denied his confession, and was 
 promptly brought to trial. His wife and daughter 
 testified against him and told of his strange antics. 
 
 He was convicted and hung on September 
 
 185 
 
186 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 twenty-second, along with seven others. He made 
 a farewell speech from the gallows and while doing 
 so the executioner smoked a pipe in his face. 
 Wardwell coughed and the crowd cried: “The 
 devil chokes him!” 
 
 His wife and daughter were also convicted but 
 because of their confessions were not hung. Mrs. 
 Wardwell later died in prison. 
 
 The following is all of Wardwell’s confession 
 now preserved: 
 
 ‘‘T used, when any creature came into my field, to 
 bid the devil take it; and when I was a young man I 
 could make all my cattell come round about and 
 follow me. 
 
 “Once I saw some catts together with the ap- 
 pearance of a man who called himself ‘A Prince of 
 the Air,’ and he promised me I should be a captain 
 if I would honor him, which I promised to do. The 
 reason I was discontented was because I was in love 
 with a maid named Barker who slighted my love. 
 The first appearance of the catt was behind Cap- 
 tain Bradstreet’s house. ‘The next week a black 
 man appeared in the day time in the same place and 
 called himself, ‘Prince and Lord,’ and told me I 
 must worship him, and said I should never want for 
 anything. And whenever after that I went to 
 prayer in my family the devil was angry. I signed 
 his book by making a mark like a square with a 
 black pen which the devil brought to me. 
 
 ‘I told the devil I would serve him until I was 
 fifty years old. The first person that I afflicted was 
 Martha Sprague, and the devil put me up to it. I 
 did it by pinching my coat and buttons when I was 
 
The Trial of Samuel Wardwell 187 
 
 angry. I was baptized by the black man in Shaw’s 
 River alone, and was dypt all over.” 
 
 When asked what he thought ought to be done 
 with him, he said: ‘I think I ought to dye for 
 itt 
 
 Martha Sprague, age sixteen, testified: ‘Sam 
 Wardwell afflicted me many times by pinching and 
 sticking me with pinns and striking me down. And 
 I also have seen him afflict Rose Foster and her 
 mother, and I verily believe he is a wizard.” 
 
 Mary Warren and Mary Walcott both testified 
 that the prisoner afflicted them. 
 
 Ephraim Foster, age thirty-four, testified: ‘I 
 heard Sam Wardwell, prisoner now at the bar, tell 
 my wife she should have five girlls before she 
 should have a son, which thing is come to pas. And 
 I heard him tell Dorty Eams her fortune, and I 
 heard said Dorty say after that she believed Ward- 
 well was a witch or els he could never tell what he 
 did. And I took knotes that said Wardwell would 
 look in their hand, and then would cast his eyes 
 down upon the ground, always before he told any- 
 thing. This I have seen and heard severall times 
 and about severall persons, and he could make cat- 
 tell come to him when he pleased.” 
 
 Thomas Chandler, age sixty-five, testified: “I 
 have often heard Sam Wardwell of Andover tell 
 young persons their fortunes, and he was much 
 adicted to that, and made sport of it.” 
 
 Joseph Ballard, age forty-one, testified: “My 
 
188 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 brother John Ballard, told me that Sam Wardwell 
 told him, that I had reported that he had bewitched 
 my wife. These words were spoken before I had 
 any knowledge of my wife’s being afflicted with 
 witchcraft. After that I, meeting with Sam Ward- 
 well, prisoner at the bar, told him that I doubted 
 that he was guilty of hurting my wife, for I had 
 no such thoughts, nor had spoken such wordes of 
 him, or any other person, and therefore I do not 
 know that you are guilty, the said Wardwell, he 
 had spoke it to my brother.” 
 
 Abigail Martin, age fifteen, testified: ‘“* Last 
 winter Sam Wardwell being at my father’s house 
 with John Farnam, I heard said John Farnam ask 
 said Wardwell to tell his fortune which he did, and 
 he told him that he was in love with a girll, but 
 should be crost, and should go to the southward, 
 which said Farnam owned to be true. Said Ward- 
 well further told him he was like to be shot with a 
 gun, and should have a fall off from his horse, 
 which said Farnam after owned he told right. 
 
 ‘And I heard him tell Jeanes Briges his fortune 
 that he loved a girll fourteen years old, which 
 said Briges owned to be the truth, but could not 
 imagine how Wardwell knew, for he never spake 
 of it. And John Briges, father of said Jeanes 
 Briges, said he heard Jeanes say, ‘I wonder how 
 he could tell so true.’” 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 THE TRIAL OF SARAH WILDES 
 oo WILDES was the wife of John Wildes 
 
 and was about seventy years old when she was 
 arrested by her son, Ephraim Wildes, a deputy con- 
 stable, and taken to the house of Deacon Ingersoll 
 for examination before Judge Hathorne. She had 
 three children—two daughters and her son, 
 Ephraim. One daughter was married to Edward 
 Bishop. All were arrested about the same time 
 and taken with eleven other women to the Boston 
 jail. 
 
 All the ‘ Circle Girls,” together with Goodwives 
 Bibber, Pope, and Putnam, were present at her 
 preliminary trial at Deacon Ingersoll’s and were 
 greatly tortured. Some of them caused so much 
 confusion that Captain Howe seized Mrs. Wildes 
 and dragged her from the room. Then all the 
 afflicted fell into fits and cried, ‘‘ See her there upon 
 the beam!”’ 
 
 Two little daughters of Martha Carrier less 
 than ten years old testified they saw the prisoner at 
 the witches’ sacrament in the minister’s pasture, 
 and she rode to the meeting with their mother, 
 mounted on a broomstick. 
 
 Mrs. Wildes, Edward Bishop her son-in-law, 
 and her two daughters were all convicted and 
 bound in chains, Bishop and his wife escaped and 
 
 189 
 
190 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 fled to New York, but Goody Wildes was hung 
 on July nineteenth, with Sarah Good, Rebecca 
 Nurse, Elizabeth Howe, and Susanna Martin. 
 
 A few years before, John Wildes had a fight 
 with a man by the name of Gould who was a rela- 
 tive of John Putnam. The first accusation against 
 Mrs. Wildes came from a spiteful old woman by 
 the name of Mary Reddington, who was a sister 
 of Thomas Putnam. 
 
 Sarah Wildes was a faithful, conscientious Chris- 
 tian woman. Her husband, John Wildes, did not 
 mourn long after her death. In less than a year 
 he married Sarah Jacobs, the widow of George 
 Jacobs, who was hung as a wizard on August 
 nineteenth. 
 
 Upon the trial of his wife he testified: ‘‘ I heard 
 that Mary Reddington did raise a report that my 
 wife bewitched her and I went to the house of John 
 Reddington and told him I would arrest him for 
 his wife defaming my wife. He said for me not 
 to do it as it would waste his estate and in time 
 she wouldn't do it. I got my brother Averill to 
 go to said Mary Reddington and he told me she 
 said she knew no harm my wife had done.” 
 
 Eph Wildes, age twenty-seven, her son, testified: 
 ‘About four years ago there was some likelihood 
 of my having one of Goody Simonds daughters, 
 and as the maid told me her mother and father 
 were very willing I should have her, but some- 
 time after I had a hint that Goody Simonds had 
 
The Trial of Sarah Wildes 191 
 
 said that she believed my mother had done her 
 wrong, and I went to her and took Mark Howe, 
 that is now dead, and before both of us she denied 
 that ever she had any grounds to think any harm 
 of my mother only from what Goody Reddington 
 had said, and after that I left the house and went 
 no more, and ever since she has been angry with 
 me and now will reward me. I being constable 
 was required to arrest Deliverance Hobbs, and the 
 woman did show a very bad spirit when I seized 
 her, and she looked like she had revenge in her 
 face. She looked melancholy on me, as for my 
 mother, she always instructed me in the Christian 
 faith, and she was always of God since I was old 
 enough to take instruction.” 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 THE TRIAL OF WILLMOT REED 
 ILLMOT REED of Marblehead, the widow 
 
 of a fisherman, was about sixty-five years 
 old. She had been sick a long time, and was broken 
 down and feeble. She was arrested on May thirty- 
 first, and taken to the home of Nathaniel Inger- 
 soll in Salem for examination. 
 
 The evidence was heard by Judges Hathorne 
 and Corwin, and was by them written down. Like 
 Martha Carrier, she was supposed to have an evil 
 eye, with which she struck down all whom she 
 looked upon. She was convicted and hung with 
 seven others on September twenty-second. She was 
 one of those of whom the Reverend Nicholas 
 Noyes said, “There hangs eight fire-brands of 
 Hell.” She was a Christian woman of good 
 reputation. 
 
 The judges certify as follows: 
 
 “When the examinant was brought in Mercy 
 Lewis, Mary Walcott, and Abigail Williams fell 
 into fits. Mercy Lewis said, ‘This woman hath 
 pincht me.’ Mary Walcott said, ‘This woman 
 brought the book to me.’ Ann Putnam saith she 
 seen her hurt Mercy Lewis and Mary Walcott the 
 last fast day. 
 
 ‘Elizabeth Hubbard said she brought the book 
 
 192 
 
The Trial of Willmot Reed 123 
 
 to her and told her she would knock her in the 
 head, if she would not write. 
 
 ‘Elizabeth Booth fell into a fit and Mary Wal- 
 cott and Ann Putnam said it was this woman 
 afflicted her. 
 
 ‘Susan Sheldon was ordered to go to the pris- 
 oner but was knockt down before she came to her 
 and being so carried to said Reed in a fit was made 
 well after said Reed had grasped her arm. 
 
 ‘Elizabeth Hubbard delt with after the same 
 manner. 
 
 ‘The prisoner was bid to look upon Elizabeth 
 Hubbard by the magistrates, and upon casting her 
 eye upon said Hubbard, the same Hubbard was 
 knockt down. 
 
 ‘Abigail Williams and John Indian being car- 
 ried to the prisoner in a grievous fit were made well 
 by her grasping their arms. The prisoner being 
 askt her opinion in the case all she would say is 
 ‘my opinion is they are in a sad condition.’””’ 
 
 Upon the trial on September fourteenth, Ann 
 Putnam testified: ‘‘I was for a long time afflicted 
 by a woman who told me her name was Reed and 
 she came from Marblehead. Whenever she lookt 
 upon me she would knock me down. I saw her or 
 her appearance most grievously afflict Mary Wal- 
 cott, and I believe she is a witch.” The other 
 girls testified to about the same thing. 
 
 Charity Pitman, age twenty-nine, testified: 
 ‘About five years ago, Mrs. Syms having lost some 
 
194 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 linen which she suspected Martha Laurence, the 
 girl which then lived with Willmot Reed, took, de- 
 sired me to go with her to Willmot Reed’s and de- 
 mand the same. 
 
 ‘Having many words about the same, Mrs. 
 Syms told her that if she would not deliver them, 
 she would go to Salem to Mr. Hathorne and get 
 a warrant for her servant girl, upon which the 
 said Reed told her in my hearing that she wished 
 she might never have ease of nature if she did not 
 go, and some short time after that I observed that 
 the said Mrs. Syms was taken with a distemper of 
 the dry balyach, and so continued many months, 
 during her stay in the town, and was not cured 
 whilst she tarried in the country.” 
 
 Sarah Dod testified: ‘I heard Mrs. Syms 
 threaten to have Willmot Reed before the magis- 
 trate, and the said Reed said she wisht Mrs. Syms 
 might never have any way to ease nature if she did 
 it, and soon after that it fell out with Mrs. Syms as 
 Willmot Reed had said.” 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 THE TRIALS OF MARY AND ALICE PARKER AND 
 MARGARET SCOTT 
 
 ia three women were arrested on Septem- 
 
 ber second and hung on September twenty- 
 second. Mary Parker was a quarrelsome old 
 widow of Andover. 
 
 Her preliminary examination took place before 
 Major Bartholomew Gedney, where she was ac- 
 cused of bewitching Martha Sprague. Much 
 emphasis was placed upon her evil eye through 
 which nearly all in the court room were instantly 
 knocked down. 
 
 Mary Warren was present and holding up her 
 hand, exhibited a large pin run through it from 
 which the blood was flowing. Instantly blood 
 flowed from the mouths of several girls and all fell 
 in fits. 
 
 John Wesgale testified: ‘Eight years ago I 
 was with a company at the house of Sam Beadle, 
 and Mary Parker came in and scolded her husband. 
 I took his part and when I went home she followed 
 after me and railed at me and called me a rogue 
 and bid me mind my own business, and pretty soon 
 I saw a black hogg running towards me with its 
 mouth open, and I ran and fell down upon my hipp, 
 and my knife run into my hipp up to the haft, and 
 when I got up my stocking and shoe was full of 
 
 195 
 
196 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 blood, and I was forced to crawl all the way home, 
 and the hogg followed me, and I, having a stout 
 dog, when it saw the hogg it ran away leaping 
 over the fence yelping. Which hogg I now ap- 
 prehend was the devil and that Goody Parker was 
 the cause.” 
 
 John Bullock testified: ‘‘ Last January I saw 
 Mrs. Parker lay out upon the snow and durt and I 
 did desire to help her so she would not perish, but 
 one of my neighbors said not to touch her because 
 she had that kind of fits, but I did take her upon 
 my shoulder and carry her home, but a little way 
 going I let her fall upon a place of stones, which 
 did not awake her, so I thought she was dead. 
 Then I carried her to her house, and while we were 
 taking off her clothes, she did rise up in bed and 
 laugh in our faces.” 
 
 Sam Shattock testified: ‘Goodwife Parker 
 came to my house and fauned upon my wife with 
 very smooth words. Right after that our child was 
 taken in a very strange manner. It seemed as if his 
 vitalls would have broak out his breast boon, be- 
 cause he was droun together to the uper part of 
 his brest, his neck and eyes droun, and they would 
 never come right again. The doctor and others 
 did believe he was bewitched. The next day we 
 cut off some of his hairs to boyle, which they said 
 we should do, and the child did shreek out as if he 
 was tormented. We put his hairs into a skillet over 
 a fire which stood on the hearth and as soon as the 
 
The Trials of Parker and Scott 197 
 
 company were gone it was thrown down and we 
 could see no creature in the room.” 
 
 Little can now be learned of Alice Parker. She 
 was not a sister, but was related to Mary Parker. 
 Her husband was a mariner, and she was given to 
 over-much talking. 
 
 Martha Dutch, whose husband was a seaman 
 and who had been gone a long time, testified that 
 Alice Parker told her that her husband would never 
 return for he had died abroad a long time agoe. 
 
 She is known to have been a fortune teller, but 
 seems to have been alone in the world. Nothing 
 was allowed to her heirs from the sum voted by 
 the Colony to the legal heirs of those who had been 
 hung on the charge of witchcraft. 
 
 The chief witnesses against her were Thomas 
 Putnam, Mary Walcott, and Mary Warren. 
 
 Margaret Scott was likewise a lonesome old 
 widow. No evidence taken at her trial seems to 
 have been preserved. She left no heirs, and the 
 Colony made no award on account of her death. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 THE TRIAL OF DORCAS HOAR 
 
 G8 of the most interesting trials was that of 
 
 Dorcas Hoar. She was not hung, but con- 
 victed and died in prison while awaiting execu- 
 tion. 
 
 She was a professional fortune teller and was 
 one of the first accused. She had a book on palm- 
 istry but in most cases she told fortunes by reading 
 the wrinkles over the eyes. Her preliminary ex- 
 amination opened on May second before Judge 
 Hathorne. 
 
 The ‘Circle Girls’? had so many fits that the 
 trial was postponed from day to day. Reverend 
 Samuel Parris reported the evidence. 
 
 After telling of the prolonged fits of the girls, 
 he proceeds: 
 
 Judge: “Dorcas Hoar, why do you hurt 
 these?” 
 
 mioay: silnever nurt thems 
 
 Judge: ‘They charge you with killing your 
 husband.” 
 
 Hoar: “I never did it.” 
 
 Judge: ‘‘ You sent for Goody Gale to cut your 
 head off?” 
 
 Hoar: ‘I never sent for her for that.” 
 Susan Sheldon: ‘‘She came to me with two 
 cats.” 
 
 198 
 
The Trial of Dorcas Hoar 199 
 
 Hoar: “TI never saw you before.”’ 
 
 Judge: ‘“‘ What black cats were those you 
 lacie) 
 
 Plogr: 2 had none,” 
 
 Mary Walcott: “A black man is whispering in 
 fiervear,.’ 
 
 bloare)) ©,.you are liars 17 
 
 Judge: ‘You are not to speak after that man- 
 ner in the court.” 
 
 Hoar: “I will speak the truth as long as I 
 live.” 
 
 Mary Walcott said there was a black man whis- 
 pering in her ear and he told her never to con- 
 fess. 
 
 Goody Bibber said: ‘I seed black man with 
 her,” and she fell in a fit. 
 
 Judge: ‘‘ What do you say to these cats that 
 suck your breast?” 
 
 Hoar: ‘I had no cats. I never sucked any- 
 one but my child.” 
 
 Abigail Williams cried: ‘‘ There is a blue bird 
 gone into her back.”’ 
 
 The Marshall struck and several bystanders 
 said they saw a fly like a miller. 
 
 Judge: ‘‘ What do you see, Goody Bibber?”’ 
 Goody Bibber was taken dumb. 
 
 Judge: ‘‘They say the devil is whispering in 
 your ear.” 
 
 oars tcannot help uty’ 
 
 Judge: ‘‘ What book have you?”’ 
 
200 The Salem Witch Trials 
 Hoar: ‘I have no book but the Lord’s book.” 
 
 ‘“O!” said the afflicted, “one is whispering in 
 hereary 
 (Note: Immediately all were afflicted and fell 
 down. ) 
 
 Judge: ‘Why did you threaten they would be 
 rubbed?” 
 
 Hoar: “I did not speak about rubbing.” 
 
 Judge: “This is unusual impudence to threaten 
 before authority.” 
 
 Mary Walcott, Abigail Williams, and Elizabeth 
 Hubbard were carried toward her, but they could 
 not come near. 
 
 Judge: ‘Why can’t they come near you?” 
 
 Hoar: ‘I cannot help it.” 
 
 Samuel Parris says: ‘‘ This is a true account 
 without wrong to any party.”’ 
 
 Upon the trial of her case on July second, before 
 _a jury many witnesses testified, but only a brief 
 summary will here be given. 
 
 Rachel Tuck testified that three years before 
 Dorcas Hoar was very sick and she went to sit 
 at her bedside one night, but in the night Dor- 
 cas Hoar disappeared from the bed, and they 
 later found her all dressed and sitting outside the 
 house. 
 
 John Hale said: “ Dorcas Hoar had long been 
 a fortune teller, and several years ago she told her 
 own fortune. She said she would live poorly so 
 
The Trial of Dorcas Hoar 201 
 
 long as her husband lived, but said he would die 
 soon and then she would live better. 
 
 ‘She told me she had a book of palmistry and 
 there were rules to know what should be come to 
 pass. I told her it was all evil. But fourteen 
 years ago I discovered that her children were steal- 
 ing goods out of my house and I had a daughter 
 who said she knew it but dared not tell because 
 Dorcas Hoar was a witch and would kill her. 
 
 When Dorcas Hoar was a prisoner in Boston I 
 talked with her. She told me that she told for- 
 tunes by a certain streak under the eye. She said 
 she never saw the devil but once and that was after 
 old Thomas Tuck dyed about ten yearsago. After 
 that he came back to speak to her about some land, 
 but she said she got scared at his ghost and ran 
 away.” 
 
 Joseph Morgan testified: “Goody Hoar did 
 tell my fortune. She said I should dye before my 
 wife, and my oldest daughter would not live to be 
 a woman. She said I should sit on the jury to 
 search the body of Goodman Hoar, he dying very 
 suddenly, and when I did sit on the jury and de- 
 sired to have his body stript she flew out of the 
 room in a great passion and said: ‘Do you think 
 I killed my husband, you wretches?’”’ 
 
 Edward Hooper testified: ‘I was at Dorcas 
 Hoar’s house when John Neal brought a hen to the 
 said Hoar’s which he had killed doing damages to 
 his master’s corn. Then the said Hoar said to the 
 
202 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 said Neal, he should be the worse for it before the 
 week was out.” 
 
 Maria Gage testified: ‘Dorcas Hoar told her 
 my child would not live long, and I asked how she 
 knew, for the child was well then. About a month 
 after my child was taken sick and dyed suddenly, 
 and when I asked Dorcas Hoar how she knew, she 
 said she knew a doctor and he gave her a doctor’s 
 book so she could tell.” 
 
 Thomas Putnam and Edward Putnam both testi- 
 fied against the prisoner. 
 
CHAPTER XXV 
 CONFESSIONS 
 PRES were many who confessed. The main 
 
 effort of the prosecution was to prove the 
 guilt of the accused, and the best way to prove it 
 was to have them admit it. 
 
 It soon developed that none who confessed were 
 hung. Therefore confessions were of daily oc- 
 currence. Fifty-five were recorded. Most of these 
 were written in the gaol while the prisoners were 
 awaiting trial. Samuel Wardwell confessed and 
 afterwards denied it and was hung. At first, the 
 confessions came after the most cruel torture. The 
 first was from ‘Tituba, the slave of Reverend 
 Samuel Parris, whom she said severely beat her 
 with an iron rod to compel a confession. She was 
 convicted and confined in chains for several months. 
 Her husband, John Indian, betrayed her and testt- 
 fied against her. All the others who confessed 
 were convicted and confined in prison until the lat- 
 ter part of 1692, when the prison doors were 
 thrown open and all released. 
 
 These confessions show how familiar the parties 
 were with the whole witchcraft delusion in Europe. 
 The witches’ sacrament in Reverend Samuel Parris’ 
 pasture, and the disguises of the devil are strangely 
 like the doings at North Berwick. 
 
 203 
 
204 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 Confession of Tituba: 
 
 ‘Did you ever see the devil?” 
 
 ‘* He came to me and bid me serve him.” 
 
 “Who have you seen?”’ 
 
 ‘Four women sometimes hurt the children.” 
 
 “Who are they?” 
 
 “Goody Osborn, Sarah Good, and [| do not 
 know the others.” 
 
 ‘When did you see them?” 
 
 ‘Last night in Boston.” 
 
 ‘What did they say to you?” 
 
 ‘They said, ‘Hurt the children.’ No, there is 
 four women and one man that hurt them and they 
 lay it on me.” 
 
 ‘Did you hurt them?” 
 
 ‘Yes, but I will not any more.” 
 
 ‘What have you seen?”’ 
 
 ‘‘An appearance that said ‘ Kill the children.’ ”’ 
 
 ‘What is this appearence ?”’ 
 
 ‘‘Sometimes it is like a hogg and sometimes 
 like a great dog.” 
 
 ‘What did it say to you?”’ 
 
 “The dog said ‘Serve me,’ and he had many 
 pretty things he would give me.” 
 
 ‘What else have you seen?”’ 
 
 ‘Two rats, a red rat and a black rat.” 
 
 ‘What did they say to you?”’ 
 
 ‘They said, ‘Serve me.’”’ 
 
 “Did you not pinch Elizabeth Hubbard this 
 
 morning ?”’ 
 
Confessions 205 
 
 ‘The man made me pinch her.” 
 
 ‘‘ Did you go to Thomas Putnam’s last night and 
 hurt the children?” 
 
 ‘They pull me there and tell me, ‘ Kill her with 
 a knife.” 
 
 ‘How did you go?” 
 “We ride upon sticks and are there pres- 
 ently.” 
 
 ‘Did you go through the trees or over them?” 
 
 ‘We see nothing.” 
 
 “Why did you not tell your master?” 
 
 ‘T was afraid they would cut off my head.” 
 
 ‘What attendant hath Sarah Good?” 
 
 “A yellow bird.” 
 
 ‘What meat did she give it?” 
 
 ‘Tt sucked between her fingers.” 
 
 “What hath Sarah Osborn?” 
 
 “A yellow dog with a head like a woman with 
 two legges and wings.” 
 
 “What else have you seen with Osborn?”’ 
 
 ‘Another hairy thing, it goes upright like a man 
 and has only two leggs.”’ 
 
 ‘“Did you see Sarah Good afflict Elizabeth Hub- 
 bard?” 
 
 ‘T saw her set a wolf upon her to afflict her, and 
 at another time I saw a cat with Good.” 
 
 ‘“What clothes does this man go in?” 
 
 “He goes in black clothes. A tall man with 
 white hair.” 
 
 “How doth the woman go?” 
 
206 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 ‘In a white whood and a black whood with a 
 top knot.”’ 
 
 ‘Who is it that hurts these people now ?”’ 
 
 ‘IT am blind now, I cannot see.” 
 
 Deliverance Hobbs and her daughter Abigail 
 early confessed, and their testimony was used 
 against several of the accused. Her confession was 
 also taken in gaol, while she was bound in fetters. 
 She said: “I was at a meeting of witches yester- 
 day morning and there were present Proctor and 
 his wife, Goody Nurse, Giles Corey and his wife, 
 Goody Bishop, and Burroughs, the preacher. He 
 told us to bewitch all in the village, but to do it 
 gradually, assuring us we would prevail. He ad- 
 ministered the sacrament with red bread, and red 
 wine like blood. I saw Osborn, Sarah Good, 
 Goody Wilds, and Goody Nurse distribute the 
 bread and wine, and a man in a long crowned hat 
 sat next the minister, and they sat at a table and 
 filled out the wine in tankards. 
 
 “T did not eat or drink but all the rest did, 
 therefore they threatened to torment me. ‘The 
 meeting was in the pasture by Mr. Parris’ house. 
 I saw Abigail Wiliams run out to speak to the 
 others, then I was struck blind and could see no 
 more. Goody Wilde told me if I would sign the 
 book she would give me some clothes and would 
 not afflict me any more. I saw Goodman Corey 
 and a woman from Boston trying to break my 
 daughter’s neck.”’ 
 
Confessions 207 
 
 Abigail Hobbs was examined in prison on April 
 twentieth and May twelfth. At the first examina- 
 tion, she confessed that she had been at the great 
 witches’ meeting in Parris’ pasture and partook 
 of the sacrament. In her last examination the fol- 
 lowing occurred: 
 
 ‘Did Burroughs bring you any of the poppets 
 of his wives to stick pinns into?” 
 
 ‘“T don’t remember.”’ 
 
 ‘Have you known any who have been killed by 
 witchcraft ?”’ 
 
 66 INGe, 
 
 “How came you to speak to Mr. Burroughs 
 wives?” 
 
 ‘T don’t know.”’ 
 
 ‘“Have you afflicted any one?” 
 
 NCS. 
 
 ‘“What did you stick into them?”’ 
 
 = horns: 
 
 ‘“Did some of them dye?” 
 
 “Yes, Mary Lawrence.” 
 
 ‘Where did you stick the thorns?”’ 
 
 ‘“T do not know.” 
 
 “Was it about the middle of her body? ”’ 
 
 “Yes, I stuck it right in.” 
 
 ‘“What provoked you?”’ 
 
 ‘“Some words she spoke.” 
 
 ‘“Who brought the image to you?” 
 
 “Mr. Burroughs.” 
 
 “Tow did he bring it to you?”’ 
 
208 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 ‘In his own bodily person.” 
 
 “What did he say to you?” 
 
 ‘“He told me he was angry with the family.” 
 
 ‘‘How many years ago was it?”’ 
 
 ‘ Before the Indian War.” 
 
 ‘“ How did you know Burroughs was a witch?”’ 
 
 ‘T don’t know.” 
 
 ‘Did the maid complain about payn where you 
 stuck her?” 
 
 ‘Yes, but I don’t know how long she lived.” 
 
 “Who brought those poppets to you?””’ 
 
 ‘Mr. Burroughs.” 
 
 “What did you stick into them?” 
 
 ‘‘Pinns he gave me.” 
 
 ‘“Did you keep those poppets?”’ 
 
 (6 No.”’ 
 
 ‘Were they men, women, or children you 
 killed?” 
 
 ‘They were boys and girls.”’ 
 
 ‘“Were you angry with them?” 
 
 ‘Yes, but I don’t know why?” 
 
 ‘Did you know Burroughs’ wife?”’ 
 
 6 Ves2 
 
 ‘Did you know of any poppets pricked to kill 
 her’? 
 
 ‘No, John Proctor told me better to afflict than 
 be afflicted, and then I should not be hanged. He 
 brought me a poppet and a thorn to afflict Ann 
 Putnam last Friday.” 
 
 Ann Foster, a widow of Andover, confessed and 
 
Confessions 209 
 
 testified against several of the accused. She said: 
 ‘The devil appeared to me several times in the 
 shape of a bird as I never saw the like before, and 
 I have had the gift of striking the afflicted down 
 with my eye ever since. I know the bird was the 
 devil, because he came white and vanished away 
 black. The devil told me I should have this gift if 
 I would believe him, and he told me I should 
 have prosperity. He came to me three times, al- 
 ways as a bird, and the last time was about a half 
 a year since and sat upon a table.- He had two 
 leggs and great eyes, and Carrier’s wife came to 
 me about three weeks ago and persuaded me to 
 hurt these people. One time I bewitched a hogg of 
 John Lovjoys to death, and [ hurt some persons in 
 Salem. Goody Carrier wanted me to bewitch two 
 children of Andrew Allins, and she had two pop- 
 pets made and stuck pinns in them to bewitch the 
 said children by which one of them dyed and the 
 other was very sick. 
 
 ‘“‘ Carrier came to me and wanted me to go to the 
 meeting of witches. So we got upon sticks and 
 went said journey; and I saw Burroughs, the min: 
 ister, there, and he spake to all of us. There was 
 about twenty-five persons there met together and 
 I tied a knot in a rag and threw it into the fire to 
 hurt Timothy Swan, and I hurt the rest by squeez- 
 ing poppets and almost choked them. When we 
 rode on a stick to the meeting the stick broke as 
 we were carried in the aire above the tops of the 
 
210 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 trees and we fell, and I hung fast about the neck 
 of Goody Carrier and we were presently in the 
 village and my legge was much hurt. I heard some 
 of the witches say there was three hundred and 
 five in the whole country, and that they would ruin 
 this village. 
 
 ‘There was present at the meeting two men 
 besides Burroughs. One of them had gray hare 
 and used to tend public meetings to worship God. 
 About three or four years agoe Martha Carrier 
 told me she would bewitch James Hobbs’ child to 
 death, and the child dyed in twenty-four hours.”’ 
 
 Mary Lacy was the daughter of Ann Foster and 
 she likewise confessed, and gave testimony against 
 the others. She said: ‘“ Me and my Mother Fos- 
 ter and Goody Carrier rode upon a pole to Salem 
 meeting and the pole broke a little way off from the 
 village. About three or four years agoe I saw 
 Mistress Bradbury, Goody Howe, and Goody 
 Nurse baptized by the old serpent at Newberry 
 Falls, and he dipped their heads in the water and 
 then said they were his. There were six baptized 
 at the time who were some of the Chief or Higher 
 Powers, and they might be near about a hundred in 
 the company at that tyme. 
 
 ‘The devil carried me in his arms to Newberry 
 Falls. If I take a ragg, clout, or any such thing 
 and roll it up together, and imagine it to represent 
 such and such a person, then whatever I do to the 
 
Confessions 211 
 
 rage or clout so rouled up, the person represented 
 will be in a like manner afflicted.” 
 
 Both Ann Foster and Mary Lacy, her daughter, 
 died in prison after their conviction. After the 
 death of the mother, her son, Abraham Foster, 
 was compelled to pay the keeper of the prison, two 
 pounds and ten shillings before he could secure the 
 body for burial. 
 
 Abigail Hobbs had been demented for a long 
 time and committed suicide shortly after making 
 her confession. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI 
 THE END OF THE ROAD 
 
 HE illegal court of ‘‘Oyer and Terminer” be- 
 
 gan on May 27, 1692, when its judges were 
 appointed. It adjourned on September twenty- 
 fourth, of the same year, never to meet again. In 
 one hundred twenty days it had put to death twenty 
 people. Over two hundred were arrested, many 
 were convicted, and over one hundred remained in 
 prison when the court adjourned. Eight of these 
 were under sentence of death. Its last and crown- 
 ing act was the hanging of seven old women and 
 one man on September twenty-second. These were 
 all hauled in a single cart to the place of execution. 
 Apparently the only reason why more were not 
 hung on that day was because the cart was full. 
 
 Wardwell was the only man in the cart on that 
 day. His wife was convicted, and was at that time 
 in the jail awaiting execution. Both had confessed, 
 but the wife, seeing her husband’s fate, allowed her 
 confession to stand. 
 
 Just before the cart reached the gallows, on its 
 last trip, it was halted for some mysterious reason. 
 Some said the devil did it. Others said it was an 
 angry God. ‘The people were beginning to think 
 again. Governor Phipp’s wife was now accused. 
 Mrs. Hall, the wife of the minister, was charged 
 with being a devil emissary. 
 
 212 
 
The End of the Road 213 
 
 In Andover, Justice Dudley Bradstreet issued 
 forty warrants for witches before he became con- 
 vinced that many innocent persons were being ac- 
 cused. He refused to issue more warrants and 
 was accused of bewitching a dog. 
 
 A new court of Common Pleas was created and 
 met first in November, then adjourned to January 
 5, 1693, when it tried twenty-one persons on the 
 charge of witchcraft. All were acquitted but three. 
 These were sent to jail and later pardoned. 
 
 In May, 1693, Governor Phipps issued: a par- 
 don to all in jail. This included over one hundred 
 persons. Some were not released for months after- 
 wards because they could not pay their jail fees. 
 
 Whittier says of this time: 
 
 The smith filed off the chains he forged, 
 The jail bolts backward fell, 
 
 And youth and hoary age came forth, 
 Like souls escaped from hell. 
 
 There were a few trials for witchcraft in Massa- 
 chusetts after this. Mary Watkins was tried in 
 Boston in 1693 and the jury found her an “ignor- 
 amus.”’ 
 
 Great excitement arose the same year in Boston 
 over the case of Margaret Rule. She performed 
 some strange and wonderful feats which attracted 
 Cotton Mather, who personally investigated her 
 case. He was convinced she was “‘ ensnared by the 
 devil,” and some one was guilty of bewitching her. 
 Robert Calef, who also lived in Boston, called to 
 
214 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 see Margaret and was equally convinced that she 
 was not bewitched but was an imposter. The com- 
 munity accepted his conclusion, and the trouble was 
 over. 
 
 When Calef, a few years later, wrote a book 
 on the subject of the witch trials, he could not get 
 it published in America, and it was published in 
 London. When it appeared in Boston, Increase 
 Mather, then President of Harvard College, had 
 it publicly burnt on the college campus. 
 
 There were a few trials for witchcraft in New 
 England after 1693, but no one was hung and but 
 few were convicted. The effect of the awakening 
 of Salem was felt around the world. England, 
 influenced by the experience in her colonies, hung 
 her last witch in 1716; Scotland in 1722; Germany 
 in 1793; Switzerland in 1780, and Spain in 1781. 
 Thus did the world awaken from a delusion which 
 had deluged it with innocent blood. Thus were 
 witch fires extinguished forever in civilized lands. 
 
 Then began the days of repentance. A jury that 
 sat in several cases signed a most humble prayer. 
 It was in part as follows: 
 
 ‘We hereby confess that we were not able to 
 understand the mysterious delusions of the Powers 
 of Darkness. We hereby express our deep sorrow 
 for our error and most humbly beg the forgiveness 
 of Almighty God for Christ’s sake. And we do 
 declare that none of us would do such things again 
 for the whole world.”’ 
 
The End of the Road 215 
 
 It is hard to draw aside the curtain and reveal 
 the horror of the witchcraft trials and not shudder 
 at the awful cruelty of the times which enacted such 
 a tragedy. But in the light of witchcraft persecu- 
 tions in Europe, we can find much comfort in the 
 thought that no witches were ever burned in Amer- 
 ica, while this was the universal punishment every- 
 where else in the world. Many cruel things were 
 done at Salem, yet there was nothing done that 
 compared with the tortures by the witch finder 
 Matthew Hopkins and his crew of inhuman mon- 
 sters, who went from town to town in Europe, ex- 
 acting from hundreds of people large fees as a 
 reward for his services in bringing their enemies to 
 the stake. He stripped his victims, shaved them, 
 thrust pins and needles into their bodies. He 
 wrapped them in sheets with the big toes and 
 thumbs tied together and threw them into the 
 water. If an accused could not shed a tear at his 
 command, she was a witch. 
 
 The only consolation that history offers is that 
 this diabolical wretch was himself accused, tor- 
 tured, and burnt. 
 
 The Puritans of New England fought the battle 
 for a benighted world and won a lasting victory for 
 conscience and the right. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII 
 MINISTERS AND MAGISTRATES 
 
 Longfellow said of the people of early New 
 England: 
 
 The only men of dignity and state, 
 Were then the Minister and the Magistrate. 
 
 T WOULD be hard to state which of these two 
 
 functionaries was the most powerful at Salem 
 in 1692. ‘The magistrates were appointed by the 
 Governor and commissioned by the King. The 
 ministers were chosen by their separate congrega- 
 tions and represented more directly the voice of 
 the people. 
 
 Nine judges presided at the different witch trials 
 in Salem. Two lived in Salem, four in Boston, and 
 three dwelt in adjoining towns. They were far re- 
 moved from the people of Salem, and felt they 
 were responsible only to the Governor and the 
 King. 
 
 Chief Justice George Stoughton had studied for 
 the ministry but two years before. Under the old 
 charter he became a candidate for judge and failed 
 to receive a single vote. This grew out of the fact 
 that in 1688 he had been appointed a special judge 
 and sat with the notorious Dudley in the witch trial 
 of Mrs. Glover at Boston and with Dudley signed 
 
 216 
 
Ministers and Magistrates AY) 
 
 the death warrant for this crazy old washer- 
 woman. 
 
 He was the last one of the judges to repent. 
 When the Governor in 1693 pardoned all of the 
 convicted witches, Stoughton, who was holding 
 court in Boston, suddenly left the bench, exclaim- 
 ing: ‘‘ Who is it who obstructs the course of jus- 
 tice? I know not! We were in a way to have 
 cleared the land of these. The Lord be merciful 
 to the country!” 
 
 To ease his conscience, he is said in his old age 
 to have contributed toward the building known as 
 Stoughton Hall to Harvard College. 
 
 He often hurled a switch about the court room 
 during the witch trials to drive the evil spirits away. 
 Calef says at one time he broke the switch by 
 striking too hard. 
 
 He was a man of ability, but a bigot of the 
 worst type. There is a tradition that his grand- 
 father was hung as a wizard. 
 
 Samuel Sewall was a man of a different type. 
 He was a graduate of Harvard. Honest, but weak 
 and vacillating, he was greatly moved at the horror 
 of the executions, but was afraid to protest. He 
 presided in the trials day after day with a tortured 
 soul, and when it was all over he hurried home, 
 bolted the door, drew the curtains, and gave him- 
 self up to sorrow and repentance for his awful 
 crime. When the first general fast day came, he 
 
218 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 arose in the pulpit of the old North Church of 
 Boston in the presence of a large assembly and read 
 a most humble confession. Every year after that 
 he publicly observed a day of fasting and prayer in 
 humble contrition for the wrong he had done. 
 
 He remained a judge for many years after that 
 and was admired by all for his high character and 
 honest purpose. He was married three times and 
 had fifteen children, only five of whom lived to 
 maturity. 
 
 Whittier, in his prophecy of Samuel Sewall, 
 says: 
 
 He wears the look of a man unbought 
 
 With a haunting sorrow that never slept 
 
 As the circling year brought ’round the time 
 Of an error that left the sting of crime 
 When he sat on the bench of the Witchcraft Courts, 
 With the laws of Moses and Hale’s Reports, 
 And spoke in the name of both the word 
 That gave the witch’s neck to the cord 
 
 And piled the oaken planks, that pressed 
 The feeble life from the warlock’s breast! 
 All the day long, from dawn to dawn 
 
 His door was bolted, his curtain drawn; 
 
 No foot on his silent threshold trod, 
 
 No eye looked on him, save that of God. 
 
 Major Bartholomew Gedney was known as a 
 brave and pious man. He participated in the In- 
 dian Wars and was a doctor by profession. He 
 was a member of the First Church of Salem, and 
 was acquainted with all of the accused tried before 
 
Ministers and Magistrates 219 
 
 him. He rana store in the village and had a license 
 to sell rum. He permitted his servant, a rogue by 
 the name of Louder, to testify before him against 
 several of the accused. He caused the arrest of 
 John Alden, of Boston, son of the Mayflower John 
 Alden, and charged him with being a wizard be- 
 cause Alden had sold some ammunition to the In- 
 dians. He conducted a preliminary examination of 
 Alden in the public square and bitterly assailed 
 him, later ordering him to prison in chains where he 
 remained for five months, then escaped to New 
 York. He was later captured and kept in jail until 
 the final pardon. 
 
 Gedney was utterly unfit for the task assigned 
 to him. Nothing in his record shows him to have 
 been other than a vain, shallow sycophant. 
 
 Major Nathaniel Galtenstall was a soldier of 
 fortune. His father had been knighted by the 
 King and the son had left a castle by the sea, to 
 find his fortune in the New World. He was a 
 Tory, not in sympathy with Puritan ideals, and only 
 redeemed himself by resigning, after the first witch 
 had been hung. 
 
 Judge John Hathorne was the great grand- 
 father of Nathaniel Hawthorne. He sat in most 
 of the preliminary trials. His questions show that 
 he was a firm believer in witchcraft. He presumed 
 all the accused guilty before their trials began. He 
 constantly refused to allow any one to testify in 
 behalf of the prisoner. His treatment of some of 
 
220 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 the prisoners is the most shameful exhibition in 
 our American History. 
 
 The other judges, Corwin, Richards, Winthrop, 
 and Sargeant were weak men. Corwin had been 
 a retail liquor dealer since 1656. He lived in 
 Salem and was a member of the First Church. He 
 was a weak tool of Judge Hathorne, and never 
 exercised a will of his own. The name is now 
 Curwin. 
 
 Judge Richards was a butcher and was appointed 
 because of his friendship for Increase Mather. 
 As late as 1701 Judge Richards caused an old 
 woman to be arrested charged with being a witch. 
 
 Winthrop and Sargeant came of good families, 
 but knew nothing about legal procedure. 
 
 Governor William Phipps, who appointed the 
 judges, was a firm believer in witchcraft, and is 
 said to have often directed the course of the trials. 
 He was the master of a ship and had been knighted 
 by King James. One day he consulted a fortune 
 teller and was told where to look for a Spanish 
 wreck that contained much treasure. When he 
 found the treasure, he paid the fortune teller 200 
 pounds. After he had pardoned all the convicted 
 in 1693, he hastily went to England and permitted 
 their release from prison only upon the payment 
 to his secretary of thirty shillings each. When his 
 wife was accused of being a witch, the prosecutions 
 soon stopped. 
 
 Such is the sordid story of the magistrates. 
 
Ministers and Magistrates 2a 
 
 While they did not start the witchcraft craze, they 
 did nothing to stop it, but violated every known 
 principle of the law to bring about twenty deaths 
 of innocent people. 
 
 The story of the ministers is not much more to 
 their credit. Reverend Samuel Parris is the center 
 of the group. He began his ministry at Salem by 
 driving a sharp bargain with some of the deacons. 
 This was the beginning of trouble. He deliberately 
 continued the quarrel by preventing the confirma- 
 tion of Deacon Ingersoll and certain others. 
 
 When the real trouble began, he sent his nine 
 year old daughter from home, then encouraged 
 the other girls in their wild hysteria. He volun- 
 teered to take down the testimony at the trials, then 
 testified against the accused. He appeared as a 
 witness in eight different trials, and in every one 
 he vigorously denounced the accused and in no 
 instance offered consolation and help. 
 
 He excommunicated Rebecca Nurse and Martha 
 Corey after their convictions. His church records 
 of 1692 recite: 
 
 ‘Sister Martha Corey was taken into church 
 April 27, 1690, was examined on March 27, 1692, 
 and condemned to gallows yesterday for witch- 
 craft. This day in public by general consent, she 
 is excommunicated out of the church.” 
 
 He had been a student at Harvard. His true 
 character was finally revealed and he was driven 
 in disgrace from Salem. 
 
2o7 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 Reverend Nicholas Noyes was next in the order 
 of infamy. He testified in several trials, always 
 against the accused. When poor old John Proctor, 
 standing on the gallows, cried aloud for some one 
 to pray for his lost soul he turned to Noyes, but 
 this hard-hearted wretch turned away with scorn 
 upon his lips. 
 
 When Bridget Bishop was about to swing into 
 eternity, Noyes tormented her soul with cries of 
 ‘Witch! Witch!” The only reply was: 
 
 ae OUATe aciance 
 
 When Martha Corey was on trial, Noyes testi- 
 fied that she had always practiced witchcraft on his 
 congregation. 
 
 When the last eight witches were hung, Noyes, 
 standing at the foot of the gallows exclaimed: 
 ‘There swings eight fire-brands of Hell.” 
 
 Then there was Deodat Lawson, who succeeded 
 George Burroughs as the preacher of the First 
 Church. He was a powerful man, possessed of 
 great learning and very eccentric. After he had 
 preached a few weeks, he discovered that he was 
 in the midst of a hornet’s nest, and departed sud- 
 denly for England. Every preacher for a long 
 time had experienced trouble with this congrega- 
 tion. Factional quarrels were of such long standing 
 that they had become feuds. 
 
 Lawson remained in Europe until April, 1692, 
 when he returned to Salem. He was invited to 
 preach in his old pulpit. The first witch had just 
 
Ministers and Magistrates 1. 
 
 been tried and Lawson took occasion to inflame the 
 public mind by denouncing from the pulpit those 
 who were accused. He declared that the devil was 
 abroad in the land, and must be subdued. His ser- 
 mon had a wonderful effect on the community and 
 was printed and distributed in London. 
 
 Reverend John Hale of Beverly testified against 
 Bridget Bishop. When Bridget asked him to be 
 permitted to partake of the communion in his 
 church, he refused. He said he thought she was 
 possessed by a devil. 
 
 Reverend Joseph Green wrote the confession of 
 Ann Putnam and several other girls. Ann was 
 only twelve years old, and yet her confession writ- 
 ten by Green told of marvelous flights through the 
 air on a pole and of slipping through key holes and 
 cracks in the doors and windows. 
 
 History has laid most of the blame for the Salem 
 tragedy at the door of Cotton Mather. Bancroft, 
 Peabody Upton, and Quackenbos have painted this 
 minister of the gospel as black as Caesar Borgia. 
 They obtained their information largely from 
 Robert Calef, an enemy of Mather’s. } 
 
 It would not be true to say that Cotton Mather 
 was in no wise to blame for the witchcraft persecu- 
 tions, nor would it be fair to say that he took a 
 leading part in them. His name does not appear in 
 any of the original records of these trials either as 
 a prosecutor or as a witness. There is nothing to 
 show that he ever attended any of the trials at 
 
224 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 Salem, except his own statement that he was pres- 
 ent at one only. 
 
 In 1692 he was the leading minister in the New 
 World. He preached from the largest pulpit in 
 Boston and was undoubtedly the most influential 
 man in America. He entered Harvard College at 
 eleven and graduated at fifteen. When the trouble 
 arose at Salem he was but twenty-nine years old, 
 had written 382 books, and possessed the largest 
 library in this country. 
 
 His father, Increase Mather, was President of 
 Harvard College and was influential in all the af- 
 fairs of Church and State. The younger Mather 
 was a firm believer in witchcraft and often. 
 preached on the subject in the old North Church. 
 In doing so, he but followed the teachings of the 
 great Martin Luther and Richard Baxter, and was 
 followed by Charles Wesley, who said in 1768: 
 ‘The giving up of witchcraft is in effect the giving 
 up of the Bible.” Mather believed that the In- 
 dians found in the New World were the remnants 
 of the ten lost tribes of Israel and were possessed 
 of the devil. He was sure that the frequent at- 
 tempts of the Indians to destroy the white settlers 
 was only the devil seeking to overthrow the New 
 Church whose foundations were laid at Salem. He 
 preached that Christ would come the second time, 
 and set up his church at Salem, and then would be 
 waged that last great battle which would decide the 
 fate of the world. If he lived today some people 
 
Ministers and Magistrates 225 
 
 would call his malady “ dementia precox.” He 
 Was erratic and unstable. He saw visions and 
 dreamed dreams which were strange even in his 
 day. 
 
 In his “ Biblia Americana”’ he says: 
 
 ‘The country west of the Alleghenies is filled 
 with wild turkeys that weigh sixty pounds each and 
 wild pigeons that fly to the moon. Rattlesnakes 
 are so powerful and venomous that they can bite 
 an ax handle and break it. Wail stones are five 
 times larger than hen’s eggs and often lay upon 
 the ground three or four feet deep. Women are so 
 healthy and live so long they often see over one 
 hundred of their children and grandchildren.” 
 
 Most of his writings are without merit because 
 of his exaggerations. He kept sixty fasts a year, 
 and spent much of his time praying and fasting. 
 He had three wives and fifteen children. Only two 
 of his children survived him, one of them feeble- 
 minded. His third wife died insane. 
 
 It is not strange that such a man entered with 
 all the fervor of his being into every question which 
 then troubled the public mind. He was bigoted, 
 vain, and conceited. His ambition to become 
 President of Harvard College, succeeding his 
 father, made him over zealous. He was the scribe 
 for all the churches in New England and presided 
 at their conferences. 
 
 After the execution of Bridget Bishop the court 
 adjourned and asked the ministers at Boston for 
 
226 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 further advice. Cotton Mather reported to the 
 court that the ministers had no doubt of the exist- 
 ence of witchcraft, but said he: ‘Be very careful 
 about receiving spectral evidence.”’ 
 
 When the gallows had finished its work, great 
 indignation was expressed toward all who had 
 participated in the trials. Mather was bitterly 
 assailed. He often expressed sorrow for what 
 had been done and consecrated his remaining years 
 to works of charity and helpfulness. During this 
 time, an epidemic of smallpox broke out and hun- 
 dreds died. As a member of the Royal Society of 
 London, Mather had learned of the use of vaccina- 
 tion as a preventive of the dread disease. He 
 urged its use. Doctor Adams, grandfather of 
 President John Adams, alone would undertake the 
 dangerous job of inoculation. It is said Mather 
 traveled from door to door with the doctor, aiding 
 the sick and dying. 
 
 Representing, as he did, the highest intelligence 
 in America, his responsibility was great, but meas- 
 ured by his time his conduct was not unusual. He 
 was sincere. His delusion was the common mad- 
 ness of the time. He was not an active participant 
 in the trials, except as his sermons encouraged those 
 who, for the time being, had in their hands the 
 administration of the law. Some of the judges 
 were members of his church. They were weak and 
 pliable and no doubt were much influenced by his 
 sermons. 
 
Ministers and Magistrates 227 
 
 He thoroughly disliked Reverend George Bur- 
 roughs, and is said to have been present in the 
 crowd about the gallows when Burroughs was 
 hung. He says in his book: ‘I regret that I ever 
 knew him.” 
 
 It is said that after the execution, a banquet was 
 given by Judge Hathorne in Salem, in honor of 
 the occasion, and Cotton Mather was the chief 
 guest and speaker. 
 
 Increase Mather, the father of Cotton, was then 
 President of Harvard College. He had two years 
 before been sent to England to negotiate a new 
 charter for the colony. His work was not very 
 successful. The new charter deprived the colony 
 of many liberties it had previously enjoyed. The 
 King granted to Mather the right to name the first 
 Governor and the judges under the new charter. 
 Governor Phipps, while nominally appointed by the 
 King, was the real choice of Mather. 
 
 While the witchcraft trials were in progress, 
 Mather remained in Europe. He believed in 
 witches and made no effort to stop the prosecutions. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII 
 FIXING THE BLAME 
 W HENEVER a great tragedy is enacted, 
 
 someone tries to fix the blame. Events are 
 measured best when time has shed its light upon 
 them. So it is with the witchcraft trials. 
 
 Cotton Mather blamed only the devil for what 
 had happened. He was sure the witches were 
 guilty and deserved to be hung because they had 
 sold themselves to Satan, who was the enemy of 
 all mankind. Robert Calef, who was present and 
 witnessed some of the trials, was also sure the 
 devil had a hand in it, but he thought the “‘ bigoted 
 and fanatical ministers” of Boston and Salem were 
 his chief agents. 
 
 Bancroft blames Increase Mather, who, being 
 authorized to appoint the civil officers, appointed 
 Governor Phipps, an unfit man, and weak and 
 spineless judges of the new court of ‘‘Oyer and 
 Terminer.”’ He also censures Cotton Mather, his 
 son, whom he describes as ‘a vain, shallow hypo- 
 crite’’ bent only on promoting his own interest. 
 Most of our school histories charge the whole 
 thing to religious bigotry which took the form of 
 persecutions for heresy. 
 
 Looking back over two hundred and thirty years, 
 we can see a little clearer than they saw. Just as 
 the multitude cried: ‘‘ Crucify him! Crucify him!” 
 
 228 
 
Fixing the Blame 229 
 
 two thousand years ago, so the multitude in 1692 
 cried out for the blood of Rebecca Nurse. After 
 she had been tried and acquitted, the crowd mur- 
 mured, and she was tried a second time. When 
 she was convicted and pardoned the crowd cried 
 louder than ever, and the Governor withdrew his 
 pardon and sent her to the gallows. 
 
 There is no evidence that soldiers were used or 
 were necessary to enforce the judgments of this 
 illegal court. ‘The executions took place in the 
 open, in the presence of great multitudes of people. 
 So far as it appears, no one protested. It would 
 seem as though the decrees of the court were the 
 unanimous verdicts of the people. Of course, this 
 does not relieve the Governor, the judges, and the 
 ministers of their responsibility as leaders of the 
 community, but it does tend to show that they were 
 following public sentiment. 
 
 There is no doubt that the trouble arose pri- 
 marily through an excess of religious zeal. ‘The 
 Puritans had broken away from all old restraints 
 and were seeking God in new and untried ways. 
 The times were dark and the outlook gloomy. Evil 
 was everywhere. Crimes and disorders were fre- 
 quent. Jealousy and hate were common. Back- 
 biters and scandal mongers dwelt on every street. 
 If Salem was to become the New Jerusalem, the 
 habitation of God in the New World, something 
 must be done to drive out the devil. Who could 
 doubt his presence? He was evil itself! What 
 
230 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 was wrong with Bridget Bishop, Sarah Good, 
 Sarah Bibber, and Sarah Osborn? Did they be- 
 long to the Devil? They certainly were devilish. 
 
 Bridget ran a drinking tavern and “kept late 
 hours.”’ 
 
 The other three women were backbiting scandal 
 mongers, despised by everybody. These were the 
 first accused. After their first success the girls 
 became infatuated. ‘They enjoyed the notoriety. 
 They were hypnotized. It is possible they were 
 self-hypnotized. Itis more probable the hypnotists 
 were found among those who wanted to get even 
 with somebody. 
 
 No one can believe, after an impartial reading 
 of the testimony, that the conduct of these girls, 
 day after day, was the result of a deliberate plot 
 against anyone. They were nearly always hys- 
 terical and frequently became rigid and uncon- 
 scious. What it was that induced this condition, 
 no one can certainly tell. They believed it was the 
 power of an “‘evil eye”’ which struck them down. 
 There was nothing new in this belief. St. Paul, 
 in writing to the Galatians, said: ‘‘Oh, foolish 
 Galatians, who hath bewitched you? Before whose 
 eyes hath Jesus been crucified?” 
 
 Pliny wrote of certain people who killed their 
 enemies by looking at them. Tully tells of women 
 who have two apples in one eye with which they 
 can do all kinds of mischief. Plutarch writes of 
 those who have poison in their eyes with which 
 
Fixing the Blame 231 
 
 to fascinate their friends and punish their ene- 
 mies. 
 
 Peter Cartwright, in telling his camp meeting 
 experiences, says he often saw one hundred people 
 “knocked down” by a single sermon. The hyp- 
 notic eye and voice of the preacher did the busi- 
 ness. 
 
 One may be hypnotized by himself, by another, 
 or by a group. There is no doubt but that each 
 one of the “Circle Girls” exercised a hypnotic 
 influence over the other. When one fell in a fit, 
 the others followed suit. 
 
 The writer, when a boy, witnessed scores of 
 people, at an old-time revival camp meeting, shout- 
 ing, kicking, rolling on the ground under the 
 mourners’ benches, and against trees, in a wild de- 
 lirium. They were under the influence of a hyp- 
 notic spell and were utterly irrational and irre- 
 sponsible. 
 
 The “ Holy Rollers” are religious maniacs who 
 throw themselves into fits at will. They often lose 
 consciousness in their excess of zeal to save their 
 souls from a hell of their own imagination. 
 
 The Flagellantes in Europe rejoiced in their own 
 torture until the law forbade their practices. 
 Hysteria is always contagious. It is like the mob 
 spirit, dangerous because it is unreasoning and 
 fanatical. One who is possessed with it is always 
 sure he is right and will ignore all the ordinary 
 rules of common sense to secure his object. 
 
232 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 These ‘‘ Circle Girls”” were not wise enough to 
 plot. Their emotions were first played upon by 
 someone else than by themselves. ‘Their impor- 
 tance was magnified by the unusual attention shown 
 them by the judges and ministers. As soon as the 
 group was separated and some of the girls impris- 
 oned the accusations ceased. 
 
 It is interesting to follow the subsequent history 
 of these girls. As far as can be traced, most of 
 them married and settled down to humdrum life. 
 Ann Putnam, Junior, five years later was read- 
 mitted to the church from which she had been 
 excommunicated. She was an epileptic. Sarah 
 Bibber was undoubtedly insane at the time she met 
 with the girls. Bridget Bishop was a raving 
 maniac on the day she was hung. She became 
 insane after her conviction. Mrs. Good and Mrs. 
 Wardwell were both feeble-minded. Deliverance 
 Hobbs was what the psychiatrists would call a 
 border line case. Her mother, Abigail Hobbs, 
 committed suicide while insane. 
 
 No better opportunity could have been offered to 
 the man who wanted to get even with his neighbor 
 than to have his neighbor accused of being a witch 
 ora wizard. It was only necessary to whisper this 
 in the ear of one of these girls. What an oppor- 
 tunity for the Putnams! Thomas Putnam was 
 Clerk of the Court. Ann Putnam, Senior, and Ann 
 Putnam, Junior, were his wife and daughter. Ann, 
 Junior, twelve years old, testified in all but one 
 
Fixing the Blame 233 
 
 of the cases. Ann, Senior, testified in several of 
 them. Thomas signed the complaints and testified 
 in nearly one-half of them. John Putnam, a 
 brother of Thomas, a deputy sheriff, was a com- 
 plainant and witness in many cases. Two other 
 brothers, Edward and Johnathan, were always 
 active in the prosecutions. 
 
 They seem to have had trouble with nearly 
 every one in town. So far as the record discloses, 
 this family was as wicked as Matthew Hopkins, 
 the witchfinder, and their motive was much the 
 same. They were the political leaders of Salem 
 and owed their leadership to Increase Mather and 
 the infamous Governor Andros and his hireling 
 Joseph Dudly. The family name of Putnam was 
 restored to honor in our American Revolution by 
 the heroic work of old Israel Putnam, a lineal 
 descendant. 
 
 The same is true of the Hathornes. A more 
 despicable creature never sat on a bench in 
 America than Judge Hathorne. History has in a 
 measure erased the stigma and written across it 
 the never-to-be-forgotten name of his great-great- 
 grandson, Nathaniel Hawthorne. 
 
 There were many others who participated in the 
 witchcraft prosecutions whose motives are hard to 
 define. The whole community was under a spell. 
 
 To witness nineteen persons hung and one cruelly 
 tortured to death, all in three months, in a little 
 town of only 1,700 people would upset the reason 
 
234 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 of almost any normal man or woman. Reason 
 was not dead. It was only paralyzed. When it 
 recovered, it had solved a world problem with such 
 swiftness and thoroughness that no similar tragedy 
 has ever since been enacted. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX 
 DAMAGES AWARDED 
 
 N OCTOBER 17, 1711, the province of 
 Massachusetts appropriated five hundred and 
 seventy-eight pounds and twelve shillings to be paid 
 to the heirs of those who had been executed in 
 1692 at Salem, and at the same time removed the 
 attainder from all such heirs, thus restoring to them 
 the full rights of citizenship that had been taken 
 from them by the conviction and death of their 
 parents. 
 
 Considerable trouble arose in the distribution 
 of this fund. Many of the heirs claimed larger 
 damages than were allowed. The amount was 
 divided upon the basis of the financial losses sus- 
 tained, and was as follows: 
 
 Heirs of Elizabeth Howe ....... 12 pounds 
 ‘“* George Jacobs ......... 79 
 ee MeARUV LAT eT aSt Vins kext ahs pikes 20 tase 
 San fe A Dateien hr. se as ee 
 “ —“ George Burroughs ...... OU en 
 “  ~— Giles Corey & Wife..... Ales 
 Memeo ke checcas NUTS. wale ices ae We ne 
 ee eon VV Welards, eote ste ZO Reet 
 em Tohn ie roctor-ec; Wite. ¢ al o0 tees 
 ome eSarah> Wildes. oo let re He 14a 
 en oe CroOG Ht, aR oti ers SUG 
 aun Vi artha.Cartiervaiete: stat 7 “ 
 
 «  & Samuel Wardwell & Wife. 36 “ 
 235 
 
236 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 The heirs of those who were convicted, and died 
 in prison were also allowed damages. They were: 
 
 Heirs of Abigail Hobbs ......... 10 pounds 
 Sin oan: EAE OE OStERS ak eo a eee Orson 
 Trevi Rebecca: bealnts aikict «a e.ckts ee es 
 tit da AA Dipak aiknerss Gia AU ae 
 Neo ae VA DORCAS SETOAE vehta’4 s oita stale pA = 
 ieee CMV RTO SP AISC ce ptaeal eat Sot Gh ka th 
 OOF Mary i Latey tie. pees S iat: 
 hae, CEA: Dead Durty; a tabie S ZO ote 
 
 Some who were convicted and hung, and others 
 who died in prison after conviction, were not al- 
 lowed anything. It must be presumed they had no 
 legal heirs at that time. Among these were: 
 Sarah Osborn, Margaret Scott, Alice Parker. 
 
 A great many persons petitioned the govern- 
 ment for allowances on account of the imprison- 
 ment of their relatives. The total amount asked 
 was over 1,000 pounds. It is interesting to note 
 that these petitions are nearly all signed by marks 
 only. 
 
 Some of the petitions are very interesting. Ben- 
 jamin Proctor, the son of John Proctor who was 
 executed, says: 
 
 ‘“Forasmuch as I was the eldest son of my father 
 and worked hard with my father ’till I was about 
 thirty years old, and helped bring up all my 
 father’s children, by all his wives, one after an- 
 other, your petitioner thinketh he deserves a 
 greater share than the rest of the family.” 
 
Damages Awarded 237 
 
 Three of the heirs of Reverend George Bur- 
 roughs petitioned as follows: 
 
 “We, the children of Mr. George Burroughs, 
 late of Wells, who suffered at Salem, offer a few 
 lines relating to our case on account of our mother- 
 in-law’s conduct and carriage towards us. After 
 our father was taken away, our mother-in-law laid 
 hands upon all she could secure (the children were 
 generally unable to shift for themselves) and what 
 she could lay hands on was her own without any 
 ran but her own daughter to share with her. 
 
 ay it please your honors, there were seven chil- 
 dren more besides to bring up, the eldest of which 
 was but fifteen at that time, and we had to shift 
 for ourselfs without anything so much as a remem- 
 brance of our father, though some of us can re- 
 -_ member considerable in the house besides his li- 
 ~ brary which she sold and received the money for, 
 then let it out at interest, and was afterward re- 
 ceived by another husband and not one farthing 
 bestowed on any child but her own. She has al- 
 ready received too much and the children too little. 
 We were turned out into the wide world to shift 
 for ourselves, without a sixpence to remember our 
 father with when dead and gone.” 
 
 Major Samuel Sewall had much to do with dis- 
 tributing this fund. He was one of the judges who 
 presided at all the trials but seems to have come 
 through it all with the respect and confidence of 
 even the relatives of the condemned. 
 
CHAPTER XXX 
 
 EXPENSE ACCOUNTS 
 
 hci were many interesting expense ac- 
 counts filed with the Clerk of the Court in 
 1692. Among them was one of Deacon Ingersoll, 
 in whose home many of the court sessions were 
 held. It began with the arrest of Sarah Good on 
 
 March 1, 
 
 Mar. 
 
 1692. A few items are as follows: 
 
 Ist To Magistrates’ dinner 
 ANN OTN ae ae 8 shillings 
 “ To 43 Cakes, 6 Ots. Sider 2° “ 
 “To 2 Constables, 2 Qts. 
 
 MIGEines oe tats ut ate 9 pence 
 SOE O RUM RE coe ete ee ke 6. Aer 
 “To Marshall and _ his 
 
 horse, 1 pot Sider..... Gino’ 
 
 “ To Magistrates horse 
 
 drink and_ entertain- 
 
 ment on examination . 
 
 of Goodwife Corey... 6 shillings 
 “ ‘To Magistrates’ horses 
 
 drink and_ entertain- 
 
 ment upon examination 
 
 of Goodwife Nurse... 4 “ 
 “To Constable Herrick 
 
 drink & board ...... 6 pence 
 
 . 22 To Magistrates, ministers 
 
 and attendance dinners.16 shillings 
 “For 8 horses hey and 
 
 ot 
 “For marshalls & assist- 
 ance & drink........ + s 
 238 
 
Expense Accounts 239 
 
 Apr. 22 Ditto for drink for the 
 
 guard upon the commit- 
 
 ted? persons: go2 20. ©. 3 shillings 
 For drink and victuals 
 
 next morning for guard 
 
 of woman committed 
 
 to Boston Gaol...... Bialik 
 For conveyance of Bur- 
 
 roughs and other pris- 
 
 oner and victuals..... OEE he, 
 
 May 18, 
 19 For drink of guard in 
 
 watching Willard, Car- 
 
 rier and others....... 16 shillings 
 May 20 To sider for magistrates 
 
 and attendance....... 5 se 
 May 20 To drink for magistrates 
 
 ane victuals. soi ve 5 i 
 
 May 24 To attendance supper and 
 drink next morning... 5 
 
 May 24 Upon examination of 
 Proctor and_ several 
 others victuals and 
 drink for magistrates. .10 
 
 66 
 
 Thomas Manning filed an account as follows: 
 
 To mending and ponting one fetters 1 shilling 
 To John Howard 1 pare fetters.... 5 
 To John Jackson, Senior, 1 pare 
 TOLECT OMe ee ey ts route etnies 5 
 To John Jackson, Junior, 1 pare 
 TEULCIS ICES. ene tints os. te eres tence 
 
 Isaac Little has an account: 
 
 To 18 pounds iron for fetters for the 
 prisoners @ 4 d a pound...... 6 shillings 
 
 To expense and time to git 3 pares 
 of fetters made for the two Jack- 
 sons and John Howard........ Z 
 
240 The Salem Witch Trials 
 
 John Harris charges the County of Essex: 
 
 For providing a jury to make search 
 upon Corey and his wife, Esty, 
 How, Clois, and Mistress Brad- 
 bury ois tous: eww aaleie ssbb sae eke 4 shillings 
 
 For horse and man to guard me with 
 the wife of John Wildes and the 
 Widow Pudeator from Ipswich to 
 Salem myself and guard ........ 9 
 
 THE END 
 
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