RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Witchcraft
cution and executions, it is not surprizing that the infection should have found lodgment in the colonies where contact with Indian su-
4. Early perstition was so close.’ The legal pro-
Prosecu- visions already cited are an index of tions in the public official opinion. The first victim
Colonies. in the colonies, so far as extant testimony goes, was Alse Young (not Mary Johnson) in Windsor, Conn. (in all probability the case referred to by J. Winthrop, History of New England, ed. J. Savage, ti. 374, Boston, 1853). Margaret (or Martha) Jones, against whom suspicion was raised in part by her skill in the use of healing herbs, was hanged in Boston in 1648; and Ann Hibbins, widow of a reputable merchant of the same city, was executed June 19, 1656. Mrs. Bassett suffered the death penalty at Stratford, Conn., in 1651, Mrs. Knapp at Fairfield in the same colony in 1653 (this was a particularly malignant case); Nathaniel and Rebecca Greensmith were hanged at Hartford in Jan., 1662, the wife after a ‘‘ confession ”” in which she implicated her husband. The most important case, however, not in itself but because it was in great part the inciting cause of the Salem outbreak, was that of Mrs. Glover, executed in Boston Nov. 16, 1688, for bewitching the four children, aged, respectively, thirteen, eleven, seven, and five, of a Boston mason named Goodwin. The account of the antics of these children, and of part of the legal proceedings which followed, given by Cotton Mather (Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcraft and Possession, Boston, 1689) illustrates the hold which this belief had among the intelligent, as well as the credulity which could induce belief in impossible happenings. These children, according to Mather, barked like dogs and purred or mewed like cats; they fell into strange contortions; one of them cried out that she was being strangled, or that a chain bound her leg, or that she was in an oven, while the physical manifestations of choking, lameness, or perspiration were evident to bear out the statements. ‘‘ Yea, they would fly like Geese; and be carried with an incredible Swiftness thro’ the air, having but just their Toes now and then upon the ground, their Arms waved like the Wings of a Bird’’—so reports Mr. Mather! One of the children manifested an unnatural precocity and pertness in her intercourse with Mr. Mather, who undertook to exorcise her, playing upon his antipathies with astounding cunning. The children accused Mrs. Glover, a woman of violent temper, and the result was her conviction and execution. Between 1646 and 1688 twelve persons were executed for this offense in New England (W. F. Poole, in J. Winsor’s Memorial Hist. of Boston, ii. 133, Boston, 1881), and this is only a small proportion of prosecutions some of which resulted in acquittal, though in all cases a stigma was attached which probably remained for life.
The Goodwin case was naturally much discussed, and application of the laws of psychology suggests its relationship to the Salem episode. This subtle influence was enforced by the explicit statements of men in high esteem to the effect that Satan was making, in the situation so favorable to him in New England because of the newness and wildness
of the country, a strenuous assault on mankind. The manifestations around which the Salem persecutions centered began in the home of
5. The the Rev. Samuel Parris, minister of the Salem _ village since 1689. He had in his fam- Episode; ily his daughter Elizabeth (nine years
Early Stage. of age; she was early removed to an-
other place), his niece Abigail Williams (eleven years), and a slave called Tituba. With these there used to meet in the afternoons of the winter of 1691-92 a circle composed as follows: Ann Putnam (twelve), Mary Walcott, Mercy Lewis, and Elizabeth Hubbard (seventeen), Elizabeth Booth and Susannah Sheldon (eighteen), Mary Warren and Sarah Churchill (twenty), all unmarried, and Mrs. Putnam, Mrs. Pope, and a woman named Wenham, all of middle age. The object of the meeting was the practise of palmistry, fortunetelling, magic, and spiritualism. Before the winter was over these persons began to display before others certain curious actions, crawling under chairs, assuming queer postures, making strange outcries, falling into fits, and writhing as though in great agony. The village physician already named, Dr. Griggs, being called in diagnosed the case as one of witchcraft. Itseems at least credible that this gave the circleits cue. The news spread concerning the doings, witnesses increased in numbers, and the excitement mounted. The exhibitions were no longer confined to the houses of the minister and the families to which the members of the circle belonged, but took place in public, even in the church, the services of which were interrupted by the “ afflicted ” with outcry or assertion of the occurrence of something unseen by the congregation. Under the assumption that Satan was at work, the children went unrebuked, and their impudence grew. Some members who seem to have retained their sense of the fitness of things were incensed and stayed away from church, thereby becoming marked characters and some of them figuring in the subsequent prosecutions as defendants. Mr. Parris called in for consultation the neighboring ministers, who witnessed some of the performances and accepted Dr. Griggs’ diagnosis. The little world was now aflame, and the question naturally arose, who was accountable for the behavior of the circle. Questioning educed the statement from the girls that the witches were Sarah Good, Sarah Osburn, and Tituba. The magistrates entered upon their duties, the accused were examined, the assumption of guilt being at the basis of the examination. Tituba “‘ confessed,’ while the others strenuously maintained their innocence. During these and the following trials the girls appeared to suffer whenever the accused looked toward them. Soon new culprits were sought, Martha Corey was accused, and in her examination and all her subsequent acts was manifested as a woman of unusual ability and strong common sense. Her husband was put on the stand and adduced some trivial circumstances which were interpreted as substantiating the charge, but were clearly the result of the current ferment. So it went, and person after person was accused until it seemed that no station, calling, or character was exempt from peril of accusation.
Witchcraft Witherspoon