USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Salem > Sketches about Salem people > Part 14
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Superstition and fanaticism persecuted the miserable witches and burnt them as heretics. An accusation made from suspicion or enmity was held to be sufficient; this was followed by a criminal trial and the trial by burning. It was no matter whether the accused confessed or not. If he admitted it he was guilty, if he denied it he was punished as a miserable sinner.
Southern France was regarded as the nursery of heresy and the Black Art, to which its location on the Mediter- ranean and in the vicinity of Spain contributed. The oldest account of the witch Sabbath lays the scene here. From the south of France the belief in magic diffused itself in two principal directions, the one towards Italy, the other towards Paris, the north of France, and Lor- raine. From Italy, where the witch mania raged, and especially in upper Italy, and where Verona was particu- larly mentioned in a pope's bull the witch fever extended itself into the Tyrol and upper Germany.
Finally, the belief having reached its acme in the fif- teenth century, it strengthened itself by diffusion and its dignity was increased by the sacred sanction. The dis- tinction of this period is that from now on they were chiefly women who were accused of witchcraft after some few men and those of high rank had been executed on those charges. Amongst the women burned at this period was Joan of Arc. The prosecution of witches was now formally sanctioned by the sorcery bull of Innocent VIII and finally through the Witch Hammer the Court of Her- esy received its full authority ; but while Innocent estab- lished and promulgated the witch prosecutions through his bull, he was not precisely the originator, for the belief in witchcraft and the executions had preceded this period.
The contents of this bull, dated Dec. 4, 1484, are as follows :
The pope expresses his grief that in many parts of Germany many persons of both sexes, forgetful of their salvation and falling away from the Catholic faith, mingle themselves with demons and paramour devils (Incubi and Succubi) and then by their aid and magical means use devilish arts to torment men and animals, affect unspeak-
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ably numerous evils, and destroy the fruits of the earth as vineyards, gardens and meadows; disastrously affect both men and women and perpetrate incalculable crimes. The pope conferred, by virtue of this bull, power on three appointed preachers to expound the word of God, in those countries, to the faithful, to hunt out heretics and to punish them by excommunication, censure and chastise- ment, by interdict and suspension, and even to hang them without any power of appeal. He commanded the right reverend brother the Bishop of Strasbourg, not by any means, either of himself or by others, to make known pub- licly to the accused the charge against him; he was not allowed to weaken or restrict the power of the said apos- tolic letters by any means whatsoever; nor to contradict nor resist the orders of the commissioners, let the rank, office, privileges, nobility, or consideration of the accused be whatsoever they might.
Through this ordinance the inquisitors had an easy time of it, for no one dared to contradict their opinion. Hith- erto, the people and the judicial authorities had acknowl- edged the power of the Pope only in matters of faith and not in matters of this kind. For some centuries men had prosecuted heretics, and many of those so accused were charged with sorcery; for, as has been stated, heresy and sorcery were in the same category; but the witch prose- cutions had not been formally recognized and the judge might be summoned to a higher tribunal to answer for his judgment, as happened to the judges in the Arras witch trials in 1459. The secular authorities up to now had been the deciding judgment, but by this bull heresy and sorcery were linked together and the secular authority was placed in subjection to that of the inquisitors.
A few years later (probably 1489) appeared the Witch Hammer, previously spoken of, which ominous work of some six hundred odd pages in quarto, is worthy of ex- amination.
THE WITCH HAMMER.
The complete title of the book is Malleus Malificarum ; its purpose was to demonstrate by means of the Scripture, and the fathers of the church, and by philosophical writ-
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ings, not only the possibility but the actuality of sorcery ; in fact, to prove it beyond all doubt. It was the code in which everything which belonged to witchcraft was clearly and fully set forth. The authors were appointed by the Pope and were styled in the sorcery bull Inquisitors. These were Jacobus Sprenger, Johannes Gremper, and Henricus, Institor in Germany. To the book was prefixed the papal bull and a testimony of approbation from the theological faculty at Cologne; also they had a diploma from the Emperor Maximilian.
In the Witch Hammer the idea of witchcraft is syste- matically determined. Witches, sorcerers, and sorceresses are people who deny God and renounce him and his grace ; who have made a league with the devil; who have given themselves up to him body and soul; who attend his assemblies and sabbaths, and receive from him poison powder and as his subjects receive commands from him to injure and to destroy men and animals; who through devilish arts stir up storms, damage the corn, the meadows and the fields, and confound the powers of nature. As the witches are more especially the object of his attention, and as they carry on more feminine avoca- tions, such as milking the neighbors' cows, making witch butter, fortune telling, etc., they are the more numerous offenders. The book is divided into three principal parts containing various chapters and episodes. The first divi- sion contains eighteen queries on everything under the head of sorcery. Some of these we will take up briefly.
"The devil is the chief person through whose aid sor- cery takes place by the divine permission. The belief in this is orthodox; the assertion of the contrary is heresy."
On the question how the devil acts in witches it is an- swered, "The devil, in fact, operates alone, as in the case of Job, but the witches are necessary instruments for his corporal actions because the devil, being a spiritual being, needs a vehicle through which to exercise his power."
A highly important question is whether in the connec- tions with the devil real children are begotten. This ques- tion is often asked in the witch trials. The question is answered succinctly in the affirmative; to doubt it were heresy.
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One of the most entertaining chapters is the answer to the query as to why women are more given to sorcery than men. It says, "The holy fathers of the church always assert that three things, whether for good or evil, know no bounds, namely the tongue, a priest and a woman. As to the tongues it is quite clear that the Holy Ghost conferred fiery tongues on the apostles; amongst preachers the tongue is like the tongues of the dogs which licked the sores of Lazarus. So there are amongst all men, amongst the clergy as well as others, wicked and unwholesome tongues. As to women it is also very clear, for the wise Solomon gives his experience of them and St. Chrysostom says: "Marriage is a very doubtful thing; for what is a woman but an enemy to friendship, an unavoidable pun- ishment, a necessary evil, a natural temptation, a desir- able misfortune, a domestic danger, a perpetual fountain of tears, a mischief of nature overlaid with a glittering varnish ?"
Seneca says: "A woman loves or hates ; there is no third course. If she weeps there is deceit afloat, for two kinds of tears bedew the eyes of women, the one kind are evi- dences of their pain, the other of their deceit and cunning. But of good wives the fame is also unbounded and men and indeed whole countries have been saved by them." The Witch Hammer then turns from this subject and draws this conclusion-that women are more addicted to sorcery than men from these causes: First, their easiness of faith ; second, from the weakness of their constitutions, by which they become more susceptible to revelations ; third, on account of their slippery tongues and their in- quisitive wits, by which they tempt the devil and get too far for him to get back again. A number of crimes are enumerated against the female sex, as squabbling, envy, stiffneckedness-this latter because they were made out of Adam's crooked rib.
Another question treats of witch midwives who injure the fruits, produce untimely births, and carry children under the chimneys or into the open air and dedicate them to the devil.
Another : Comparison of the devil's work and witches' works-the witches are worse than the devil.
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There are three kinds of men whom witchcraft cannot touch : magistrates, clergymen exercising the pious rites of the church, and saints who are under the immediate pro- tection of the angels. Of course, inquisitors and judges stand first under the protection of God.
An item from the chapter on the ceremonies of abjura- tion: "A woman in Basle had intercourse with the devil; but God took pity on her poor soul, for very shortly before the completion of this time she was happily dis- covered by us and burned. She confessed her sins very penitently."
The second part consists of two chief questions, as to how witchcraft is to be done away with. The means are physical and spiritual. Of the first, smoke is a means ; of the last, prayers and making the sign of the cross.
The third part contains the criminal code which was to be used, and consists of some thirty-five questions in which the whole process of trial from the arrest to the judgment is fully detailed.
Here are one or two of them:
Should a defence be allowed ? And if an advocate de- fended his client beyond what was reasonable should he too not be considered guilty ? No wonder there was no great zeal shown in defending those accused.
On torture: In order to bring the accused to voluntary confession you may promise her life; this promise may afterward be withdrawn.
On the discovery of a witch: Among others it is a damning thing if the accused on being brought up cannot at once shed tears.
By this somewhat rambling outline of the Witch Ham- mer we have some acquaintance with the conditions, the means, and the aim of the witch prosecutions.
Among the celebrated trials in Europe were the ones at Arras in France in 1459; at Mora in Sweden, 1670; and that of the nun Maria Reuata at Warzburg, Ger- many, in 1749. This was the last one in that country. Probably the last execution in Europe was at Clarus in Switzerland in 1780.
Among other books treating of witchcraft which may
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be mentioned is the Demonology of James I who was a firm believer in it. This production is in form and con- tents similar to the Witch Hammer. It is stated that he was instructed in the Black Art by a witch in return for which he gave her her life. Another work which is of especial interest to us is the "Discourse of the damned art of Witchcraft" by William Perkins referred to as "the learned pious and painful preacher of God's word at Cambridge." This work went through several editions and had a wide circulation. It is stated that perhaps he was the writer who had the greatest influence on this sub- ject in England and America during the 17th century. This work was the great authority on the subject and our interest lies in the fact that Mr. Parris who was be- yond all others the busiest and most active prosecutor at the witch trials in Salem, had a copy in his possession.
And now let us take up this report of an English trial which is one often referred to in works on this subject:
The most interesting trial is that of the Suffolk witches because Sir Matthew Hale was the Judge and Sir Thomas Browne was the medical expert witness. In this case
tried at the assizes at Bury St. Edmunds on March 16, 1664, two widows named Rose Cullender and Amy Duny were accused of bewitching young children. The main points of the evidence were these. There had been a quarrel between the accused and the parents of the chil- dren ; the accused had uttered threats against them. The children fell into fits and vomited crooked pins, and once one of them vomited a two-penny nail with a broad head ; they cried out the names of the accused in their fits; they could not pronounce the names "Lord," "Jesus" or "Christ" in reading but when it came to "Satan" or "devil" they cried, "This bites but makes one speak it right well." One of the children fell into a swoon after being suckled by one of the accused, and out of the child's blanket fell a great toad which exploded in the fire like gunpowder, and immediately afterwards the alleged witch was seen sitting at home maimed and scorched.
Evidence of finding the witch's mark was given, and then evidence of reputation, viz. :- that the accused, be-
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sides being themselves accounted as witches, had had some of their kindred condemned as such. A farmer swore that once when his cart had touched Cullender's house it overturned continually and they could not get it home. Sir Thomas Browne testified that the swoon- ing fits were natural, heightened to great excess by the subtlety of the devil co-operating with the witches. Ex- periments upon the children were then made in Court by bringing them into contact with the witches and others. These were of so unsatisfactory a nature that many pres- ent openly declared that they thought the children im- postors. The chief baron in his summing-up said that there were such creatures as witches was undoubted, for the Scriptures affirmed it and the wisdom of nations had provided laws against such persons. The report alleges that after conviction of the accused the children immedi- ately recovered.
"The result of this important trial established deci- sively the interpretation of English law, and the printed report of it was used as an authoritative text-book in the Court at Salem." (Upham).
A report of a Scotch trial is not without interest, for here we have an account of a witch Sabbath:
The confession of Agnes Sympson to King James :
"Item: Fyled and convict for samecle, as she confest before his Majesty that the devil in man's likeness met her going out in the fields, from her own house a Keith betwixt five and six at even being alone and commendit her to be at Northborrick Kirk the next night. And she passed then on horseback, conveyed by her good-son called John Cooper, and lighted at the Kirk-yard or a little be- fore she came to it, about eleven hours at even. "Hey. danced along the Kirk-yard, Geilie Duncan plaid to them on a trump, John Fien, mussiled, led all the rest, the said Agnes and her daughter followed next. Besides there were Kate Grey, George Moile's wife, Robert Guer- son, Catherine Duncan Buchanan Thomas Barnhill and his wife, Gilbert Macgil, John Macgil, Catherine Macgil with the rest of their complices, above an hundred per-
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sons, whereof there were six men and all the rest women. The women made first their homage and then the men. The men were turned nine times Widdershins about and the women six times. John Fien blew up the doors and in the lights, which were like mickle black candles stick- ing round about the pulpit. The devil started up him- self in the pulpit, like a mickle black man and everyone answered here. Mr. Robert Guerson being named, they all ran hirdie girdie, and were angry; for it was promised he should be called Robert the Comptroller alias Rob the Rowar for expriming of his name. The first thing he demandit was, as they kept all promise, and been good servants, and what they had done since the last time they convened.
"At his command they opened up three graves, two within and one without the Kirk and took off the joints of their fingers toes and neise, and parted them among them; and the said Agnes Sympson got for her part a winding sheet and two joints. The devil commandit them to keep the joints upon them while they were dry and then to make a powder of them to do evil withal. Then he com- mandit them to keep his commandments, which were to do all the evil they could. Before they departed they kissed his breech. He (the devil) had on him ane gown and ane hat which were both black; and they that were assembled part stood and part sate; John Fien was ever nearest the devil at his left elbock. Graymarcal keeped the door.1
We come now to a consideration of Witchcraft in this country. Just when the first case of witchcraft arose in New England is not quite definite. It is stated by Hutchinson that it was in 1645 in Springfield, but it is not certain that he has not confounded the Springfield case of 1651 with this date.
The first execution was that of Margaret Jones at Charlestown in 1648. She was accused, found guilty and hanged. If any records ever existed they were destroyed.
1 From The Confessions of Certain Scotch Witches, taken out of an authentic copy of their trial at the Assizes held at Paisley in Scotland, Feb. 16, 1678, touching the bewitchment of Sir George Maxwell .- Demonologia, by J. S. F., London, 1833.
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The journals of Governor Winthrop contain an account -- probably the best-of this case.
In 1649 Mary Parsons, wife of Hugh Parsons of Springfield, was found guilty of slander for circulating a report that the Widow Marshfield was practicing Witch- craft; in 1651 Mary Parsons was herself accused of the practice and was tried in Boston that same year and acquitted of the charge. Hugh Parsons, her husband, was tried and acquitted in 1652.
John Bradstreet of Rowley was tried in 1652 on a charge of "familiarity with the devil." On examination it was found he had lied and as this was his second of- fence he had the choice of paying a fine or being whipped.
Ann Hibbins of Boston in 1655 was found guilty by a jury but the judges refused to receive the verdict. She was then turned over to the General Court who found her guilty and she was sentenced to be hanged by Gov. John Endicott. The sentence was carried out even though she was a sister of Deputy Governor Bellingham
Ann Cole of Hartford, Conn., in 1662, together with a man and his wife by the name of Greensmith, was con- cerned in something for which a charge of witchcraft was brought against them. She made some sort of a confes- sion and the Greensmith woman confessed that a demon had had carnal knowledge of her with much seeming de- light to herself. Two were executed and one condemned, but probably not hanged.
The case of Elizabeth Knapp of Groton occurred in 1671. She was subject to moods and violent physical reactions, including fits, in which she would cry out, "money, money," offered as an inducement to yield obedi- ence, and "sin and misery," for refusal to obey the wishes of her visitant. She charged the Rev. Samuel Millard, who has left a record of this case, together with some others of his parish, with being her tormentors.
It is of interest to compare the accounts of these cases with those of Upham. He says: "Hutchinson mentions a case of witchcraft in Hartford in 1662, where some women were accused, and after being proceeded against until they were confounded and bewildered, one of them made the
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most preposterous confessions, which ought to have satis- fied everyone that her reason was overthrown; three of them were condemned and one, certainly-probably all- executed. . . . Another case is mentioned by him as hav- ing occurred, in 1671, at Groton, in which the party con- fessed, and thereby avoided condemnation."
The first important case in Essex County was that which occurred in the family of William Morse of Newbury in 1679. There were living together, Morse, his wife and a grandson about twelve years of age. Many strange things happened in the house, according to the testimony of Morse. A man by the name of Powell told Morse that he had seen the boy do the things-and it was a fact that they did not happen when the boy was absent. None the less, Morse turned on Powell and charged him with witch- craft, of which charge he was acquitted. Complaint was then made against Mrs. Morse and she was tried and con- victed. A reprieve was granted, and in 1681 a new trial was voted by the House of Deputies. The records do not show whether or not she was tried again or how she ob- tained her freedom, but she was not executed.
In 1688 the four children of the Goodwin family in Boston began to be strangely affected, making noises like animals, being at times deaf, dumb or blind; having their limbs distorted and complaining of being pricked, punched and the like. A pious minister was called in, witchcraft was suspected and an Irish woman-Glover by name- whose daughter was laundress in the family, was taken up on the charge. The laundress had been accused by the oldest child, a girl named Martha, of stealing some linen and there had been words between the Glover woman and the children. Five ministers held a day of fasting and prayer and the woman was tried, found guilty and executed.
Another account of this case is given by Ennemoser:
"Though Increase Mather was absent he had a zealous representative in his son, Cotton Mather, a young minister of five-and-twenty, a prodigy of learning, eloquence and piety, recently settled as colleague with his father over Boston North Church. Cotton Mather had an extraor-
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dinary memory, stuffed with all sorts of learning. His application was equal to that of a German professor. His lively imagination, trained in the school of Puritan the- ology, and nourished on the traditionary legends of New England, of which he was a voracious and indiscriminate collector, was still further stimulated by fasts, vigils, prayers, and meditations, almost equal to those of any Catholic saint. Like the Jesuit missionaries of Canada, he often believed himself, during his devotional exercises, to have direct and personal communication with the Deity. In every piece of good fortune he saw an answer to his prayers; in every calamity or mortification, the especial personal malice of the devil or his agents."
In order to study these cases of witchcraft at his leisure, Cotton Mather took one of the bewitched children to his house and the devil within her flattered his religious van- ity to the extreme. After observing her antics, among which were throwing books at his head, he concluded to prepare an account of these extraordinary circumstances. This he did-he preached on the subject-and published it. Richard Baxter wrote the preface to the edition pub- lished in London, in which he declared that he who will not be convinced by all the evidence Dr. Mather presents that the child was bewitched "must be a very obdurate Sadducee."
Upham says: "There is reason to believe that it (i. e., this affair) originated the delusion in Salem. It occurred only four years before. Dr. Mather's account of the whole transaction filled the whole country; and it is probable that the children of Mr. Parris's family undertook to re- enact it."
Here is an account of a trial in Pennsylvania, taken from Upham:
"William Penn presided in his judicial character at the trial of two Swedish women for witchcraft; the grand jury acting under instructions from him having found bills against them. They were saved, not in consequence of any reluctance to proceed against them arising out of the alleged crime, but only from some technical defect in the indictment."
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Another account, probably of the same trial: "The Swedes who emigrated to the banks of the Delaware took with them all the terrors and superstitions which the wild and gloomy Scandinavian had engrafted upon Christian- ity, and a woman was accused of witchcraft by them in 1681. The case was brought to trial; William Penn sat as judge; and the jury, composed principally of Quakers, found the woman "guilty of the common fame of being a witch ; but not guilty as she stood indicted." There were no more cases of witchcraft in Pennsylvania."
SALEM WITCHCRAFT.
Upham says "The experiment of bringing supernatural- ism to operate on human affairs, to become a ground of action in society and to interfere in the relations of life, and the dealings of men with each other, was as well tried upon this people as it ever could or can be anywhere," and again, "As the fullest, most memorable and by the notice it has ever since attracted throughout the world, the pre- eminent instance and demonstration of this supposed in- iquity was in the crisis that took place in Salem Village in 1692, it justly claims a place in history." Again, "There was something in the affair as it was developed here that has arrested the notice of mankind and clothed it with an inherent interest, beyond all other events of the kind that have elsewhere or ever occurred."
To attempt to give you any detailed account of the witchcraft trials in Salem would be beyond the limits of this paper ; there are, however, some things connected with it that I should like to bring to your attention. The ac- counts state that in the family of the Rev. Samuel Parris, pastor of the church in Salem Village, were two negroes, John Indian and his wife Tituba, who were slaves brought by him from the West Indies where he had formerly lived. Upham says of them that "They may have originated the Salem witchcraft." During the winter of 1691-92, a group of young girls had been in the habit of meeting at Mr. Parris's house with his daughter and a niece who lived there, for the purpose of telling fortunes and be- coming proficient in charms, magic and the like, and these children were willing listeners to the two negroes who
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