USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > The story of Essex County, Volume I > Part 19
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On the twenty-eighth of May warrants were issued against several persons, among whom I shall mention Martha Carrier, of Andover; Elizabeth How, of Topsfield; and Captain John Alden, of Boston. The case of Martha Carrier is particularly interesting and distress-
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ing because four of her own children were prevailed upon to confess that they were witches and that their mother had taught them the art of witchcraft. No wonder that the poor woman cried out in her examination that she was being wronged. Susannah Sheldon accused her of killing thirteen persons. At this she exclaimed : "It is a shame- ful thing, that you should mind these folks that are out of their wits." The courage and energy of the prisoner threw the whole courtroom into an uproar which the court record describes in these words : "The tortures of the afflicted were so great that there was no enduring of it, so that she was ordered away, and to be bound hand and foot with all expedition; the afflicted, in the meanwhile, almost killed, to the great trouble of all spectators, mag- istrates, and others." In Dr. Cotton Mather's report of this trial he concludes with these words: "This rampant hag was the person of whom the confession of the witches, and of her own children among the rest, agreed that the Devil had promised her that she should be queen of Hell."
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ARRESTING A WITCH From an engraving Courtesy of The Essex Institute
In the following quota- tion we find evidence of the good character of Elizabeth How, who was arrested on the twenty- eighth of May, and also something of the methods used to accuse people :
"The testimony of Samuel Phillips, aged about sixty-seven, minister of the word of God in Rowley, who saith that Mr. Payson (minister of God's word also in Rowley) and myself went, being desired, to Samuel Perly of Ipswich, to see their young daughter, who was visited with strange fits; and, in her fits (as her father and mother affirmed), did mention
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Goodwife How, the wife of James How, Jr., of Ipswich, as if she was in the house, and did afflict her. When we were in the house, the child had one of her fits, but made no mention of Goodwife How; and when the fit was over, and she came to herself, Goodwife How went to the child, and took her by the hand, and asked her whether she had ever done her any hurt ; and she answered, 'No, never; and, if I did complain of you in my fits, I knew not that I did so.' I further can affirm, upon oath, that young Samuel Perley, brother to the afflicted girl, looked out of a chamber window (I and the afflicted child being without doors together), and said to his sister, 'Say Goodwife How is a witch-say she is a witch'; and the child spake not a word that way. But I looked up to the window where the youth stood, and rebuked him for his boldness to stir up his sister to accuse the said Goodwife How; whereas she had cleared her from doing any hurt to his sister in both our hearing; and I added, 'No wonder that the child, in her fits, did mention Goodwife How, when her nearest relations were so frequent in expressing their suspicions, in the child's hearing when she was out of her fits, that the said Goodwife How was an instrument of mischief to the child.'"
Several witnesses say :
"We often spoke to her (Goodwife How) of some things that were reported of her, that gave some suspicion of that she is now charged with and she, always professing her innocency, often desired our prayers to God for her, that God would keep her in his fear, and support her under her burden. We have often heard her speaking of those persons that raised those reports of her, and we never heard her speak badly of them for the same; but in our hearing, hath often said that she desired God that he would sanctify the afflicted, as well as others, for her spiritual good."
She was never known to say anything against any person that accused her of witchcraft but, rather, asked God to forgive them for they were harming themselves more than they were her. Elizabeth How's father-in-law addressed a communication to the court in which he declared that "He, living by her for about thirty years, hath taken
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notice that she hath carried it well becoming her place, as a daughter, as a wife, in all relations, setting aside human infirmities, as becometh a Christian; with respect to myself as a father, very dutifully; and as a wife to my son, very careful, loving, obedient, and kind-con- sidering his want of eyesight, tenderly leading him about by the hand. Desiring God may guide your honors, . I rest yours to serve." The only evidence against this woman, besides the fits and outcries of the afflicted girls, came from the gossip of the people of the back settlements of Topsfield and Ipswich and gave evidence of the growth of absurd and brutal superstition of a period which Upham calls "the most benighted period of our history." Upham points out that the education which the first settlers had brought over from the Mother Country had gone with them to the grave. The system of public schools had not begun to take effect in the thinly settled outer districts.
Mary Bradbury, of Salisbury, was another against whom a war- rant was issued. I will not tell of her examination, but simply remark that she was one of the better families and of the higher social classes. Her case and that of Rebecca Nourse show plainly that the accused persons were not always of the lower classes of society. Upham affirms that the victims were mostly of the upper classes.
Captain John Alden was the son of John Alden, who was one of the first founders of Plymouth Colony. His is the only account we have by one who had actually been a defendant in a witchcraft trial.
"John Alden, Sr., of Boston, in the county of Suffolk, mariner, on the twenty-eighth day of May, 1692, was sent for by the magistrates of Salem, in the county of Essex, upon the accusation of a company of poor distracted or possessed crea- tures or witches; and, being sent for by Mr. Stoughton, arrived there on the 31st of May, and appeared at Salem Village before Mr. Gedney, Mr. Hathorne, and Mr. Corwin.
"Those wenches being present who played their juggling tricks, falling down, crying out, and staring in people's faces, the magistrates demanded of them several times, who it was, of all the people in the room that hurt them. One of the accusers pointed several times at one Captain Hill, there pres- ent, but spake nothing. The same accuser had a man stand- ing at her back to hold her up. He stooped down to her ear; then she cried out, 'Alden, Alden afflicted her.' One of the
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magistrates asked her if she had ever seen Alden. She answered, 'No.' He asked her how she knew it was Alden. She said the man told her so.
"Then all were ordered to go down into the street, where a ring was made; and the same accuser cried out, 'There stands Alden, a bold fellow, with his hat on before the judges; he sells powder and shot to the Indians and French, and lies with the Indian squaws and has Indian papooses.' Then was Alden committed to the marshal's custody, and his sword taken from him; for they said he afflicted them with his sword. After some hours, Alden was sent for to the meeting-house in the Village, before the magistrates, who required Alden to stand upon a chair, to the open view of all the people.
"The accusers cried out that Alden pinched them then, when he stood upon the chair, in the sight of all the people, a good way distant from them. One of the magistrates bid the marshal to hold open Alden's hands, that he might not pinch those creatures. Alden asked them why they should think that he should come to that village to afflict these persons that he never knew or saw before. Mr. Gedney bid Alden to con- fess, and give glory to God, and hoped he should never gratify the Devil; but appealed to all that ever knew him, if they suspected him to be such a person; and challenged any one that could bring in anything on their own knowledge, that might give suspicion of his being such an one. Mr. Gedney said he had known Alden many years, and had been at sea with him, and always looked upon him to be an honest man; but now he saw cause to alter his judgment. Alden answered, he was sorry for that, but he hoped God would clear up his innocency, that he would recall that judgment again; and added that he hoped that he should, with Job, maintain his integrity till he died. They bid Alden look upon the accusers, which he did, and then they fell down. Alden asked Mr. Gedney what reason there could be given why Alden's looking upon him did not strike him down as well; but no reason was given that I heard. But the accusers were brought to Alden to touch them; and this touch, they said, made them well. Alden began to speak of the providence of God in suffering these
Essex-15
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creatures to accuse innocent persons. Mr. Noyes asked Alden why he should offer to speak of the providence of God: God by his providence (said Mr. Noyes) governs the world, and keeps it in peace; and so went on with discourse, and stopped Alden's mouth as to that. Alden told Mr. Gedney that he could assure him that there was a lying spirit in them; for I can assure you that there is not a word of truth in all these say of me. But Alden was again committed to the marshal, and his mittimus written.
"To Boston Alden was carried by a constable; no bail would be taken for him, but was delivered to the prisonkeeper, where he remained fifteen weeks ; and then, observing the man- ner of the trials, and evidence then taken, was at length pre- vailed with to make his escape. Per John Alden."
When the delusion had abated John Alden gave himself up. He was bound over to the Superior Court at Boston in April, 1693, and, as no one appeared to prosecute, he and some one hundred and fifty others were discharged by proclamation.
The account of John Alden gives an illustration of how the girls were prompted by interested people. This incident is probably not unique. The wife of an honest and earnest man in Andover by the name of Joseph Ballard became sick of a fever and after the usual method for curing her had proved ineffectual, it was decided that she was bewitched. Her husband posted to Salem Village to get some of the afflicted children to come up and say who it was who was bewitch- ing her, for they were thought to have that power. Two of them came-one of whom was Ann Putnam-and succeeded in having some fifty of the inhabitants put in jail-several of whom were later hanged. After the magistrate of Andover, Mr. Dudley Bradstreet, the son of the old Governor, had sentenced these people, he declined to go any farther. He and his wife had to flee for their lives. John Brad- street, the brother of the magistrate, was accused of having bewitched a dog. The dog was executed. There was no limit to the extent to which these accusations would go; every one was in a state of fear. The jails and prisons were crowded to overflowing. Even a dog's life was not safe.
Soon after the new Governor arrived on May 14, a new Council was appointed, which took the place of the Assistants. William
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Stoughton became Deputy Governor. The representatives in the Council from Essex County were: John Hathorne, Jonathan Cor- win, Samuel Appleton, Robert Pike, and Bartholomew Gedney. The witchcraft proceedings went on as before, but the magistrates who acted on these occasions were reenforced by Mr. Gedney, who pre- sided. It might have been expected that Sir William Phips would have seen through the witchcraft business, but he thought he was not well enough acquainted with what had gone on, so he "went along with" the leading men of his Council. To conduct the witchcraft trials a special court of Oyer and Terminer was appointed, con- sisting of William Stoughton, the Deputy Governor, as chief jus- tice, with Nathaniel Saltonstall, of Haverhill; Major John Rich- ards, Mr. Wait Winthrop, Captain Samuel Sewall, and Mr. Peter Sargent, all of Boston, and Major Bartholomew Gedney, of Salem, as associate judges. Saltonstall withdrew early from the group, and Jonathan Corwin took his place. It will be noted that the people had no part in the appointment of this court, from whose decisions there would be no appeal.
The court held its meeting in the town house which stood in the middle of what is now Washington Street, in Salem, and opened the first week in June, 1692. Bridget Bishop was the first and only per- son tried at the first session. The same type of testimony was used at her trial as that used at her examination. Even bits of lace on her clothing were held against her as not becoming those of a plain and honest woman. She was sentenced for having bodily afflicted Ann Putnam, Abigail Williams, Mercy Lewis, Mary Walcot, and Eliza- beth Hubbard, of Salem Village. She was hanged on June 10.
The court met again on the 29th of June and sentenced to death Sarah Good, Sarah Wildes, Elizabeth How, Susannah Martin, and Rebecca Nurse. They were all executed on the 19th of July. The court was very much affected by the reputation of Rebecca Nurse as a good, pious woman in her community, so in spite of the many accusa- tions that had been brought against her, the court returned a verdict of "Not Guilty." The mob at the trial immediately broke out into the wildest clamor, broke benches, and threatened to pull the house down and pull the jurors to pieces. It is only natural under the circum- stances that the acquittal was withdrawn and a sentence of death speedily given. Even then the Governor wished to grant a reprieve,
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but the sentiment of the town was so much against this good woman that the Governor was prevailed upon to withdraw the reprieve. Mr. Noyes, the pastor of the Salem Church excommunicated the old lady. She was hanged on Witches' Hill, and her body cast with the rest into the crevices of the rocks. It was not lawful to bury an executed person.
The next meeting of the court was on August 5. George Bur- roughs, John Procter, Elizabeth Procter, George Jacobs, Sr., John Willard, and Martha Carrier, of Andover, were all sentenced and with the exception of Elizabeth Procter-who was with child -- they were all executed on August 19. When Mr. Burroughs was upon the ladder leading to the execution platform he was allowed to make a prayer, which so affected many of the on-lookers that it seemed as though the execution might be hindered. Dr. Cotton Mather stepped into the breach and convinced the people that Burroughs was no ordained minister and they should not be deceived by his prayer. John Procter conducted himself so well in his last few hours and so deeply impressed the minds of some of the people by his courage and dignity that he gave a blow to the witchcraft delusion. Twenty of his neighbors in the Village had testified in his behalf, and some thirty-five brave souls of Ipswich, headed by the Reverend John Wise, of Ips- wich, had testified as to the unblemished character of John Procter and his wife.
On the 9th of September the court met again. Martha Corey, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Dorcas Hoar, and Mary Bradbury were tried and condemned. On the twenty-second the first four were hanged. On the 17th Margaret Scott, Wilmot Reed, Sam- uel Wardwell, Mary Parker, Abigail Faulkner, Rebecca Eames, Mary Lacy, Ann Foster, and Abigail Hobbs were tried and condemned. On the twenty-second the first four were hanged. Sir William Phips had granted a reprieve to Abigail Faulkner, of Andover, after she had been thirteen weeks in prison, and ordered her discharged on the ground of insufficient evidence. Samuel Wardwell had joined the group of confessors, but he later took back his confession and was hanged. Ann Foster died in prison. After the prisoners had been swung off on the 22d of September, Mr. Noyes had turned to the bodies and said, "What a sad thing it is to see eight firebrands of Hell hanging there." These were the last of the executions on Witches Hill, or Gallows Hill.
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A few days before these final executions Giles Corey had suffered a different kind of death. He had seen the uselessness of pleading "Not Guilty" to a court who took the evidence of spirits in whom he did not believe. If he plead and then was condemned, his property would have been forfeited to the State, and he wanted to leave it to his children. The tradition is that Corey was laid on the ground, bound hand and foot, and stones piled on his body until his tongue protruded from his mouth. It is said that an official forced Corey's tongue back into his mouth with his cane. Corey was literally pressed to death, but he never yielded. His bravery and resolute stand against an injustice had great effect on the minds of the people.
The court adjourned intending to meet in October, but it never met again. After the executions of September 22, the popular excitement dwindled. It is not known exactly why, but it is probable that people felt that the afflicted girls had gone too far. They had attempted to cry out against the Reverend Samuel Willard, but they met with a rebuke by the court and were silenced. Increase Mather, the presi- dent of Harvard College, did not go as far as did his son, Cotton, in backing the proceedings, and even a member of his family was accused. The wife of Sir William Phips was cried out upon because she sym- pathized with those who suffered persecution. It is said that she wrote an order demanding the release of a prisoner. Jonathan Cor- win sat with Hathorne as an examining magistrate and Assistant, but he had never taken an active part in the cases. He may not have been sure that the proceedings were correct. Probably the accusing girls learned of this because they cried out repeatedly against his mother- in-law, a respectable resident of Boston. The grip of the girls on the whole community was finally broken by their accusation in Octo- ber of Mrs. Hale, the wife of the minister of the First Church in Beverly, a woman whose character and life of service were without blemish. The whole community became convinced that the afflicted girls had perjured themselves. There are few, if any, other instances in history of a change of public opinion that was so sudden, so rapid, and so complete. The end of the proceedings was probably brought about by the action of some Andover people who. when it appeared that public sentiment was changing, began actions for slander against the accusers.
A permanent and regular tribunal was appointed to succeed the Special Court. It was called the Superior Court of Judicature.
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Twenty cases were tried, but only three persons were condemned and they were never executed. In these trials the idea of "spectral evi- dence" was thrown out.
All were acquitted who came up for trial in the next three months, and in May, 1693, Governor Phips by proclamation freed all those who were held on the charges of witchcraft. The number may have been as high as one hundred and fifty. But none were freed until they had paid all charges, board, jailer's fees, and the fees of the court of all kinds. We can well imagine the conditions of many of the families of the accused. In 1710, or shortly thereafter, the General Court reimbursed the living sufferers and the descendants of those who had died.
In the trials conducted by the Special Court Mr. Stoughton, the chief justice, held the view that the Devil could employ only the apparitions of those who had made a compact with him. Others held that the Devil could use the apparitions of innocent people without their knowledge. This was called "Spectral Evidence." Mr. Stough- ton established his view as a rule of the court. Therefore, it became impossible for the jury to return anything other than a verdict of "Guilty," because anyone whom the afflicted girls claimed they had seen doing the work of the Devil could not be innocent.
Any attempt to fix the blame in these proceedings may be risky, but certain facts do stand out. As early as April II the affair attained more than local significance when the Deputy Governor and magis- trates opened court in Salem. Later justices were brought in from Boston and other places, so that the blame cannot be laid wholly on the people or magistrates of Salem or of Salem Village. Mr. Stough- ton, with his view of the power of "spectral evidence" made any other verdict than that of "Guilty" impossible. Mr. Stoughton was from Dorchester.
In this fight against the Devil the clergy would be expected to bear the brunt of the fight. We have seen how enthusiastically Dr. Cot- ton Mather, of Boston; Mr. Parris, of the Salem Village Church; and Mr. Noyes, of the Church in Salem, entered into the "fight." It seems probable that if Mr. Parris had not been so eager to promote the proceedings, they would not have reached such great proportions. Surely, to the people of Salem, the ministers appeared as public bene- factors in freeing the country of this blight.
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The imagination of the public had been thoroughly aroused by the sufferings of the girls. As these girls began to hurl their accusations, their imagination was fed until it became a passion. The evidence of the girls was taken as absolutely true by all those that were thought in a position to judge, and anyone was allowed to take part in the court proceedings if he were against the accused persons. A court scene such as that when a verdict of "Not Guilty" was returned against Rebecca Nurse illustrates the hysteria at its height. Reason was tossed to the winds. Mob thinking had destroyed the willing- ness to reason. One accepted what he heard without questioning either its character or its source. A modern counterpart of this kind of thing would be the reaction of the public mind to war propaganda. The minority might see through the delusion, but the majority would be carried away by the hysteria of the moment and fall right in behind the band.
The doctors must bear their share of responsibility for fostering the delusion. They held the almost universal belief in witchcraft and could be counted on to say that a person whose illness they could not fathom was afflicted by the evil hand.
What about the "afflicted girls," whose troubles started the whole affair in Salem Village? It must be remembered that they who were between the ages of eleven and twenty had been studying magic, mes- merism, and necromancy under the able tutelage of Tituba during the long winter evenings of 1691 and 1692 in the home of Mr. Parris. When they began to be very able in performing the "tricks of their trade," Mr. Parris became alarmed and summoned a meeting of the ministers of the surrounding district. These ministers, the doctors, and others concurred in the opinion that the girls were bewitched. It took some persuasion to get the girls to name any one who was afflict- ing them, but they soon overcame their reticence. These girls were just at the age when dramatics appealed to them. Here they were given the chance to create their own drama and to carry it just as far as they wanted. The whole community furnished them with material in the form of gossip that they could weave into their narrative. As they came to realize how successful they were, the desire to go on pos- sessed them the more. Then suddenly they found that they had gone too far. Their acting had become apparent. They were ceasing to be the main characters, as others were using them to carry out personal
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spites. They may have been deranged, but that derangement was not permanent. It is disappointing that we are not told what happened to the girls, but it is probable that they were recognized as children who had been misled. The memory of the untold suffering that they had inflicted may have been viewed as punishment enough.
After the proceedings were over and when the minds of the people had had time to right themselves, the man whom the public chose to vent its feelings upon was the Reverend Samuel Parris. This may imply that the people thought that it was he who had been largely responsible for the curse that had visited them. He was driven from the Village in 1697. After meager service in Newton, Concord, and Dunstable, he died in Sudbury in 1720.
On January 14, 1697, a general fast day was declared by order of the General Court to ask pardon from God for the errors of his people in doing what they had done during the delusion. On that same day Judge Samuel Sewall handed in his confession and had it read from the pulpit. He desired to take the blame and shame for what had transpired through the work of the Court of Oyer and Terminer at Salem. The jury of plain men who had done their duty as they saw it at the time, confessed that they had not seen that duty as they should and prepared a long statement to that effect. These confessions are unique in the story of similar outbreaks throughout the world. This is the only case where any one of the actors in the tragedy had the courage to admit that he was wrong.
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