USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Danvers > Centennial celebration at Danvers, Mass., June 16, 1852 > Part 2
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Says he, "Had Mr. Parris, instead of listening to the com- plaints of the children, and holding days of fasting and prayer, on occasions so preposterous, applied the rod as it should have been ; had the magistrates, instead of receiving the complaints, arrested the complainants as disturbers of the peace ; or had the Judges of the Court quashed the indictments, as founded on the baseless fabric of a vision, and discharged the prisoners, the evil might have been arrested, in limine. But unhappily these were efforts of reason, which lay beyond the spirit of the times."
Those who conducted these trials were not only deceived themselves, but they were willing to deceive others. They were not simply zealous; but they were corruptly furious. They introduced testimony, equally at variance with law, with common sense, and with the Scriptures. Children incapable of any comprehension of the topics about which they were inter- rogated, were in some cases the only witnesses. A venerable man was found guilty on the testimony of his own grandchild. What is worst of all, the answers desired were put into their mouths by the illegal forms of the questions proposed.
Time will not admit of a reference to each of the victims of this delusion, that had a home in Danvers. Among them were the following :- Rev. George Burroughs, (who himself had been a settled minister in the village ;) Giles Corey, and wife ; John Proctor, and wife ; Rebecca Nourse, George Jacobs, Sarah Good, John Willard. Dr. Mather estimates the whole number of arrests, at 100; the whole number executed, at 19.
I will briefly advert to a few of the cases as samples of the whole ; at the same time must say, that in the examination of the trials as preserved, I have not noticed a single error, in con- duct or opinion, in those who were accused. On the contrary,
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the more prominent were their virtues the more likely were they to be accused ; and the less chance had they for escape.
In the case of John Proctor, (whose character I feel in duty bound to vindicate from all unjust aspersions,) his only fault was a kind regard for his wife. When she was arrested and about to be carried to prison, (her health being such as to forbid her being imprisoned,) he insisted upon going with her ; whereupon, her accusers cried out against him, and he was arraigned also. Dur- ing his trial the Rev. C. Mather was in Court, (at the special solicitation of the prisoner, see his admirable letter of July 23d, 1692,) and fearing there might be some hesitation in the minds of the jury on account of his well-established character for integ- rity and piety, volunteered to testify that he himself had seen his Satanic Majesty, the Devil, whispering in the ear of the prisoner, while there in Court. To every intelligent mind the statement of such a fact carries with it its own commentary. The learned Doctor must have had the impulses of his own fears, in the eye of his mind, when he presumed to give such testimony ; not to speak of the wisdom of the judges, who permitted it to be given .*
In the case of Rebecca Nourse, a sister of the Church, of fair character, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty ; but the
* That injustice may not be done to Dr. Mather, whose greatest defect seems to have been his egregious vanity, I will quote the views of Mr. C. Rob- bins, of Boston, who appears to have examined the part acted by Dr. Mather with much kindness and discrimination. "That Cotton Mather was enchanted in the same spell with the other prominent actors in these tragic events ; that he was credulous to a ridiculous extreme ; that he was inordinately fond of the marvellous ; that he was too easily imposed upon; that his intense and undis- guised interest in every case of alleged possession, betrayed him into indis- cretions, and laid him open to censure ; and that he busied himself unneces- sarily with the trials, are facts which rest upon indubitable evidence,-are blemishes which can never be wiped away from his name. That he was under the influence of any bad motives, any sanguinary feelings; that he did not verily think he was doing God service, and the devil injury ;- the most careful examination has failed to make me believe."
Bred as he was of the blood of the Mathers and Cottons for many genera- tions ; reverenced as they had been by the people as the elect of God, before whom the people bowed at their nod, as was the custom of the times ; it is not surprising that he assumed to dictate. Humility, in those days, was not an indispensable qualification in the character of a Christian minister; on the contrary, it was a qualification rarely found in their possession. It is said, "to do all the good he could to all, was his maxim, his study, his labor, his pleasure." (Hist. of 2d Church, Boston, p. 111.)
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combined influence of the populace, the church and the clergy, brought about her execution. She was first excommunicated, then hung ; the first instance of the application of Lynch Law, to be found in the annals of New England.
Giles Corey and Martha his wife, who lived in the western part of the town, on the estate recently occupied by the Hon. Daniel P. King, were accused and suffered death. He was eighty years old. His contempt for the entire proceedings was such, that he stood mute and refused to plead to the accusa- tions. Because he so refused, they undertook to press or extort an answer from him, and so suffering, he died under the press- ure. Thus dying, his body was denied a Christian burial, and it is said was deposited at the crotch of the roads, near Tapley's brook, as was done with the bodies of infamous malefactors. This is the only instance of the application of this kind of tor- ture, to my knowledge, in this Commonwealth. The idea is most forbidding. A grey-headed veteran thus treated, in a Christian land, and by those too who professed to have imbibed more than a common share of the spirit of Christ ! If such be a Christian spirit, how shall the opposite be described ? The very thought produces a chill of horror.
George Burroughs, who, for several years, was a pastor of the Village Parish, having removed to Portland, where he was re- spectably settled in the ministry, was cried out against by his enemies, tried, convicted, and executed with the others, August, 1692, on Gallows Hill. He is entitled to be remembered with high regard, as he had the firmness to resist the infatuations that overcame the minds of so many of his brethren. Says Mr. Willis, the historian of Portland, "there has nothing sur- vived Mr. Burroughs, either in his living or dying, that casts any reproach upon his character ; and, although he died a vic- tim of a fanaticism as wicked and as stupid as any which has been countenanced in civilized society, and which at the time prejudiced his memory, yet his character stands redeemed in a more enlightened age, from any blemish."
I have sought in vain for the part taken in these trials, by the lawyers as such. The trials appear to have been carried on before
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a special tribunal, organized for this special purpose, partaking of the powers of civil and ecclesiastical tribunals, having little or no regard to the rules of evidence, or any other proprieties ; and thus to have continued, until it broke down under the weight of its own extravagances. Messrs. Stoughton, Salton- stall, Richards, Gedney, Sewall, Winthrop and Sargent, were the seven eminent citizens selected for this purpose. They were men of high respectability. A special jury was organized before which all the cases were brought. The depositions and affidavits used, show that rules of law were entirely disregarded in the trials. A species of infatuation seems to have pervaded the minds of all concerned. The entire movement, from begin- ning to end, was an anomaly most extraordinary. I am not unmindful, that trials for like offences had been carried on in England, and on the continent of Europe, and that some of the purest jurists of the time, had participated in the trials. But such was not the fact in regard to the witchcraft of New Eng- land. These trials bear no marks of wisdom, and very few of honesty of purpose. Perhaps the reason for the appointment of a special tribunal for the trial of those accused of witchcraft was, that the Provincial Charter did not arrive until May, 1692, and no regular court was organized under it, until December following. Here then was an interval in which the regular ad- ministration of justice was suspended for the want of a proper Court ; from which a lesson is to be learned, that such experi- ments should not often be repeated.
But why do we dwell with such abhorrence upon the follies of olden time ? When in our own times, and almost in our own circles, are extravagances, quite as irrational and unintelli- gible. That there may be phenomena, from natural causes, electrical, galvanic, or otherwise, of a character to astonish and confound, I will not presume to deny, though I have not wit- nessed any such. . But that any communications with the spirits of the departed, directly or indirectly, have ever been had ; or any revelations from them, through any such agencies, I do not believe. All such pretences, under whatever name they may come, are false and deceptive, and only calculated to
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mislead. They are to be classed in the same category with witchcraft of olden time.
I am not unmindful that it is said by high authority, (Exodus xxii, 18,) " Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." There are many other things said by the same authority, which, in my opinion, were not intended literally to be regarded as rules for our guidance, without some qualification of circumstances. Suppose this rule to be followed, and the idea of a witch, then prevalent, to be taken,-what would be the consequence ? " A witch" is defined, in the Magnalia of the learned Doctor, to be "" a person that, having the free use of reason, doth knowingly sand willingly seek and obtain of the Devil, or any other god I beside the true God Jehovah, an ability to do or know strange : things, or things which he cannot by his own human abilities : arrive unto." A witch was supposed to have renounced allegi- ance to the true God, and to have promised obedience to the Devil. Some of the clergy construed the Scriptures as recog- nizing the validity of such contracts. Was it strange, then, to believe, that the persons supposed to be bewitched were moved of the Devil? Were not those who thus taught and misled those whom they taught, justly chargeable with the blood of the innocent sufferers? I have no respect for the agency of the Devil, as he is supposed to have operated in 1692, or as he is now operating in 1852; and as to good spirits ope- rating through such mediums to instruct and bless mankind, I have no faith in it.
These accusations continued to multiply, until they were checked by their own extravagance .* The arraignment of
* Dr. Mather says, (Vol. II, 413, § 11,) " By these things you may see how this matter was carried on, viz., chiefly by the complaints and accusations of " the afflicted, bewitched ones, as it was supposed, and then by the confession . of the accused, condemning themselves and others. Yet experience shewed, the more there were apprehended, the more were still afflicted by Satan ; and the number of confessors increasing, did but increase the number of the ac- cused ; and the executing of some, made way for the apprehending of others: for still the afflicted complained of being tormented by new objects, as the former were removed. At last, it was evidently seen that there must be a stop put, or the generation of the children of God would pass under that condemna- tion. Henceforth, therefore, the juries generally acquitted such as were tried, fearing they had gone too far before ?" "Considering the confusion this mat- ter had brought us into, it was thought safer to under do than to over do, espe- cially in matters capital, where what is once compleated, cannot be reprieved."
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Mrs. Hale, wife of the minister of Beverly, and of Mrs. Proctor, wife of John Proctor, beforenamed, ladies eminent for their vir- tues, opened the eyes of jurors and judges to reflect, that their own time might soon come.
The jurors before whom the accused were tried, with one accord, acknowledged their error in acting upon such evidence, or rather without any evidence ; and the judges, particularly the excellent Chief J. Sewall,* continued to lament their mistakes while they lived.
Whether Justices Hawthorne and Corwin, the magistrates who conducted the preliminary examinations, ever made the amende honorable, does not appear. Perhaps, as they were judges of an inferior court only, a correction of errors was not deemed an essential part of their duty. This is certain, the higher law of common sense gained the ascendency, and false interpretations of the laws of Moses were soon in a measure corrected. The Devil was deposed.
I have dwelt long upon this antiquated topic, because justice to the memory of those who died without blemish, together with the unaccountable propensity of the human mind, even at the present time, to give credence to irrational absurdities and visionary fancies, forbid my saying less. I am not insensible that my views of the subject are extremely imperfect. Nothing less than an entire volume would do justice to it. All the facts deserve to be gathered and chronicled, as a warning to future generations. Had not those in high life participated so fully, it would, ere this, have been done. "Dog wont eat dog," is
" A maxim true As human wisdom ever drew."
REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS.
Passing over events of a temporary character, let us glance for a moment to the period immediately preceding the Revolu-
* The Hon. Samuel Sewall, afterwards Chief Justice of the Court, and a magistrate of sterling integrity, was accustomed annually to ask the prayers of the church and congregation at the Old South Church, where he worshipped, for the pardon of his offence in the part he took in condemning those charged with witchcraft. He was not so mealy mouthed as some of the present day, who would charge the error entirely to the times, and take no part of it to themselves. Such men would hang witches, or do anything else that expediency might prompt.
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tion, when trifles light as air were big with the fate of nations. The refusal to use a paper with a government stamp upon it, was interpreted treason. The sale of a little tea, for the use of the ladies, involved loss of caste and imprisonment. The charge of an exorbitant price for a pound of cheese, public posting, by order of the town, as faithless to one's country.
· The seeds of jealousy planted at the time of the granting of the Act of Incorporation, whereby the right of representation was restricted, were never eradicated. It was not the value of the privilege withheld, but the manner in which it was done, that excited the indignation of the people. His majesty had given special instructions that no more towns should be incor- porated, with the privilege of choosing their own representatives. Our fathers were jealous of their rights, especially when in- fringed by the power over the water ; and there were those on this side of the water who took good care to keep this jealousy enkindled. The Adamses, the Otises, the Quincys, the Pick- erings, were not silent, and did not live in vain in those days. The spirit they infused, pervaded every artery of the body politic.
How else could it have happened, that simultaneously, from all parts of the State, came up resolutions of similar import. Doubtless these resolutions expressed the feelings of the people ; but they probably had a common origin. Although messages were not then circulated by lightning, or handbills published through the daily press, still, messengers were not wanting, nor prompters to tell the people what to say. James Otis, John Adams, Joseph Warren, Samuel Adams, Timothy Pickering, and many others, were intent on securing the freedom of the colonies.
In 1765, it was deliberately resolved, in town-meeting assem- bled, " that the inhabitants were greatly incensed by the burdens attempted to be imposed upon the people, and were ready to resist to the uttermost."
In 1768, Dr. Holten, delegate to a convention holden at Faneuil Hall, the cradle of Liberty, in Boston, was specially instructed "to look well to the rights of the people." With
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such marked ability did he then discharge this duty, that he thereby laid the foundation for a distinction more prominent, and an influence more pervading, than any other citizen ever acquired. While he lived, to hesitate to yield assent to the opinions of Dr. Holten, was by many deemed political heresy. The ardor of his feelings and the purity of his life gave an au- thority to his views that could not be resisted .*
In 1772, Messrs. Wm. Shillaber and others were appointed a committee of vigilance. The manner in which their duty was discharged shows them to have been a vigilant committee,- regulating not only what men should say and do, but what they should eat and drink, and what should be paid therefor. If those who would reform the manners of the age, as to diet and regimen, would seek precedents, they may readily find them in the records of those days. Our fathers were a law-abiding people,-provided always, they had a voice in the making of the laws,-not otherwise. They were sensitive and jealous of their rights in the extreme. The spirit of Robinson, of Peters, of Williams, of Endicott, of Bradstreet, and of Winthrop, per- vaded their entire nature. They felt that they were born to be frec, and they suffered no opportunity for securing this privi- lege to escape without improvement.
So marked were these characteristics, that, in 1774, a regi- ment of royal troops was quartered on yonder plain, in front of the then residence of the Royal Governor Gage,-for, be it remembered, that twice in our history was Danvers the resi- dence of the royal governors. So ardent was the patriotism of the citizens at this time, that it is not improbable the first bursting forth of the flame of liberty was here apprehended. So correctly did they augur coming events, that, in February next following, less than two months previous to the battle of Lexington, the first onset by the British was aimed at Danvers. . Col. Leslie, with his regiment, came from Boston for the pur- pose of destroying cannon and military stores supposed to be deposited at Danvers. Without doubt, such deposits were here.
-* See remarks following, by Rev. J. Warburton Putnam, for a more com- plete view of the life and character of this estimable citizen.
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In those days, patriots had to have their eyes open in all direc- tions. They had to watch their enemies at home and abroad. The tories were on the watch, ready at all times to give in- formation of every movement.
While Col. Leslie was parleying with parson Barnard and others, about crossing the North Bridge in Salem, near the line of Danvers, Mr. Richard Skidmore (familiarly known as Old Skid) took care to trundle off the cannon, upon the carriages he himself had made. So the brave Colonel returned to Boston, with his first lesson distinctly conned, that a yankee was not to be caught napping. This excursion was on the Lord's day, Feb. 26th, 1775. The troops landed at Marblehead, while the people were at church in the afternoon, and it is worthy of special notice, as the resistance here experienced was the first resistance to British arms. As Gov. Kossuth recently happily remarked at our own monument, in allusion to this event, " the men of Danvers were ready to fight, and this is quite as good as fighting. Would the people of the United States just say to the Czar of Russia, what the people of Danvers said to Col. Leslie, I think the Czar of Russia would do as Col. Leslie did, go back again, and thus my own beloved Hungary would be free."
Had it not have been for the pacific wisdom exercised on that occasion, by Messrs. Barnard, Pickering and others, Salem would have been the theatre on which the first blood for liberty would have been shed, and thereby she would have plucked the feathers from the caps of Lexington and Concord .*
The men of Danvers were there. Messrs. Rev. Clergy, Wadsworth and Holt, were there seen in the ranks of the mili-
* Rev. J. W. Hanson, in his History of. Danvers, (page 86,) says " This was the first resistance, bloodless indeed, but determined, which was made on the part of the people of this country to the encroachment of foreign aggres- sion. In the town of Salem, nearly two months before the battle of Lexington, the people of Danvers, joined by those of Salem, opposed and beat back the foe, and established their title to the quality of determined bravery. But for the calmness and discretion of Leslie the English commander, North Bridge, at Salem, would have gone ahead of the North Bridge at Concord, and Salem itself have taken the place of Lexington ; and February 26th would have stood forever memorable in the annals of the Republic. The British under Leslie numbered 140. The Americans under Pickering numbered 50."
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tia, with their guns ready for battle, under the command of the brave Samuel Eppes. When the alarm was sounded, the ser- mon was cut off, and the concluding prayer, with the doxology, were deferred to a more convenient season. Then, men not only slept upon their arms, but carried them to meeting. The best of men were ready to fight. All were soldiers,-none too good for service. Their country's rights, not their own aggran- dizement, were the objects for which they watched without ceasing.
BATTLE OF LEXINGTON.
Thus continued the town, in a state of constant preparation and alarm, until the morning of April 19th, 1775, an era most marked in the annals of Danvers. Then, every man capable of bearing arms, from the stripling of sixteen to the veteran of sixty years, was seen trotting at the rate of four miles an hour, to the field of duty and of glory,-with what effect, the return- ing wagons on the following day, loaded with the dead and wounded, too plainly told. Seven of the young men of Dan -. vers, whose names are registered on yonder monument of gran- ite, quarried in our own hills, the corner stone of which was laid by Gen. Gideon Foster, their commander, on the sixtieth anniversary, then became entitled to the inscription, " Dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori." As many more received marks of distinction from the enemy, that they carried with them to their graves.
Think of it, my friends! Suppose your father, son, or brother, one or all, as was the case with some families at that time, to have been thus exposed, when the distant thunder of conflicting arms came echoing over the hills, and the lightning flash of artillery illumined the western horizon, you will be able to appreciate the price paid by your fathers for the liberties you now enjoy.
The impulse given at Lexington was never suspended. The funeral knell of those, whose lives were thus sacrificed, constantly resounded in the ear. As a specimen of the feeling that then pervaded the entire community, I beg leave to recite an anec-
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dote of an event that occurred on that morning, which I had from the Colonel himself, and therefore it may not be ques- tioned .*
BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL.
On the 17th of June, next following, (a morning not unlike the present, when the grass was waving in abundance on the plains, ) Captains Foster, Flint, Page, Porter, and others of Dan- vers, were found in the post of danger, at the bloody ramparts of Bunker Hill, under Gen. Putnam, the commander,-himself of Danvers. There they stood, shoulder to shoulder, side by side, with Warren, Stark and Prescott, the motto of Patrick Henry on their helmets, colors not to be mistaken, “ Give us Liberty, or give us Death !"
Shall it be said, my friends, that Danvers did nothing towards securing our freedom ?- Danvers, that poured out her best blood in the midst of the fight ? of one, who had rather die than stoop, though cautioned to do so,-one, who, when questioned where he should be on the day of battle, replied, "Where the Enemy is there you will find me!" All who know our country's history must be aware that I refer to the brave Captain Samuel Flint, who fell fighting, sword in hand, on the mounds of Bennington, in the prime of life and vigor of manhood; leaving descendants, whose highest pleasure it should be to imitate the patriotism of their grandfather, and the amiable virtues of their father,-the late Hon. D. P. King.
On the 18th of June, 1776, it was voted, in town meeting, " if the Honorable Congress, for the safety of the United States,
* When the troops from Salem, under the command of Col. Timothy Pick- ering, were on their way to meet the enemy, (the Danvers companies having started ahead by permission,) they halted at the Bell Tavern, now Monument, to arrange their places ; and while thus stopping, Hasket Derby, one of the soldiers, stepped into friend Southwick's, the house opposite, with whom he was acquainted, where Mrs. Southwick said to him, Friend Derby, thee knows that my principles will not allow me to do anything to encourage war ; but as there is a long and tedious march before thee, and thee and those with thee may be in need of refreshment, this batch of bread, just taken from the oven, thee may take, if thee please,-for it never can be wrong to feed the hungry. And she put into his knapsack a cheese urso. The same facts have been affirmed to me by her son Edward, who, with the soldier from Salem, lived to be men of the greatest wealth and influence in their respective towns.
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