An Essay on Demonology 14

An Essay on Demonology 14

Among the confessing witches were D. Falkner, a child of ten years, A.

Falkner, of eight, and S. Carryer, between seven and eight. Sarah

Carryer's confession. It was asked by the magistrates. 'How long hast

thou been a witch?' 'Ever since I was six years old.' 'How old are you

now?' 'Near eight years old; brother Richard says I shall be eight

years old next November.' 'Who made you a witch?' 'My mother. She made

me set my hand to a book. I touched it with my fingers, and the book

was red, the paper was white.' Being questioned she said she never had

seen the black man, the place where she did it was in a pasture, and

her aunt T. and her cousins were there. They promised to give her a

black dog, but the dog never came to her. 'But you said you saw a cat

once, what did that say to you?' 'It said it would tear me in pieces

if I would not set my hand to the book.' She said her mother baptized

her, and the devil or black man was not there as she saw. She said she

afflicted people by pinching them, she had no puppets, her mother

carried her to afflict. 'How did your mother carry you when she was in

prison?' 'She came like a black cat.' 'How did you know it was your

mother?' 'The cat told me she was my mother.' This poor child's mother

was then under sentence of death, and the mother of the other two

children was in prison also, and was soon after tried and condemned.

 

The following is among the affecting instances of confessors

retracting their confessions.

 

The humble declaration of Margaret Jacobs unto the honored court now

sitting at Salem, showeth, 'That whereas your poor and humble

declarant, being closely confined in Salem jail, for the crime of

witchcraft, which crime, thanks be to the Lord, I am altogether

ignorant of, as will appear at the great day of judgment. May it

please the honored court, I was cried out upon by some of the

possessed persons, as afflicting them; whereupon I was brought to my

examination, which persons at the sight of me fell down, which did

very much startle and affright me. The Lord above knows I knew nothing

in the least degree who afflicted them; they told me without doubt I

did, or they would not fall down at seeing me; they told me if I would

not confess, I should be put down into the dungeon, and would be

hanged; but if I would confess I should have my life spared; the which

did so affright me, that to save my life, I did make the confession,

which confession, may it please the honored court, is altogether false

and untrue. The very first night after, I was in such horror of

conscience that I could not sleep, for fear the devil would carry me

away for telling such horrid lies. I was, may it please the honored

court, sworn to my confession, as I understand since, but at that time

I was ignorant of it, not knowing what an oath did mean. The Lord, I

hope, in whom I trust, out of the abundance of his mercy, will forgive

me my false forswearing myself. What I said was altogether false

against my grandfather and Mr Burroughs, which I did to save my life

and to have my liberty; but the Lord charging it to my conscience,

made me in so much horror, that I could not contain myself before I

had denied my confession; choosing rather death with a quiet

conscience, than to live in such horror. And now, may it please your

honors, I leave it to your pious and judicious discretion, to take

pity and compassion on my young and tender years, to act and to do

with me as the Lord and your honors shall see good; having no friend

but the Lord to plead my cause, not being guilty in the least measure

of the crime of witchcraft, nor any other sin that deserves death from

the hands of man.'

 

The horrid scourge of witchcraft was, by means of the imprudence, or

rather the folly, of an individual, extended to the town of Andover.

One Joseph Ballard, of that town, sent to Salem for some of the

accusers who pretended to have the spectral sight to tell him who

afflicted his wife, who was then sick of a fever. Soon after this,

fifty persons at Andover were accused of witchcraft, many of whom

were among the most reputable families. Here the nonsensical stories

of riding on poles through the air, were circulated. Many parents

believed their children to be witches, and many husbands their wives,

&c.

 

The following is the grand jury's bill against Mary Osgood.

 

'The jurors for our sovereign Lord and Lady the King and Queen

present, that Mary Osgood, wife of Captain Joseph Osgood, of Andover,

in the county of Essex, about eleven years ago, wickedly, maliciously,

and feloniously, a covenant with the devil did make, and signed the

devil's book, and took the devil to be her God, and consented to serve

and worship him, and was baptized by the devil, and renounced her

former christian baptism, and promised to be the devil's, both body

and soul, forever, and to serve him; by which diabolical covenant by

her made with the devil, she, the said Mary Osgood, is become a

detestable witch, against the peace of our sovereign Lord and Lady the

King and Queen, their crown and dignity, and the laws in that case

made and provided.'

 

The foregoing bill was grounded principally on her own confession,

the purport of which is as follows.--That about eleven years ago, when

she was in a melancholy state, upon a certain time while walking in

her orchard, she saw the appearance of a cat at the end of her house,

which she supposed was a real cat, about this time she made a covenant

with the devil, &c. She said further, that about two years agone, she

was carried through the air in company with three others, whom she

named, to five mile pond, where she was baptized by the devil, and was

transported back again through the air in the same manner in which she

went, and believes they were carried on a pole. She confesses that she

had afflicted three persons, and that she did it by pinching her bed

clothes, and giving consent the devil should do it in her shape, and

that the devil could not do it without her consent. When in court, she

afflicted several persons, as they pretended, and they were as usual

restored by her touching their hands. It was not long after, that the

said Mary Osgood, with five other women, who had, when in danger,

confessed themselves guilty, retraced their confessions, stating that

'they were blind-folded, and their hands were laid on the afflicted

persons who fell into fits; others when they felt our hands, said they

were well, and that we were guilty of afflicting them, whereupon we

were committed to prison. By reason of that sudden surprisal, knowing

ourselves perfectly innocent, we were exceedingly astonished and

amazed, consternated and afflicted out of our reason. Our nearest and

dearest friends and relations, seeing our awful situation, entreated

us to make confession, as the only way to save our lives. They, out of

tender love and pity, persuaded us to make such confession, telling us

we were witches, they knew it, and we knew it, and they knew that we

knew it, which made us think it was really so. Our understanding and

reasoning faculties almost gone, we were incapable of judging of our

condition. Some time after, when we had been better composed, they

telling us what we had confessed, we did profess we were innocent, of

such things.' The testimonials to these persons' characters, says

Governor Hutchinson, by the principal inhabitants of Andover, will

outweigh the credulity of the justices who committed, or of the grand

jury which found bills against them. Fiftythree reputable inhabitants

of Andover, addressed the court, held at Salem, stating that 'they are

women of whom we can truly give this character and commendation, that

they have not only lived among us so inoffensively as not to give the

least occasion to suspect them of witchcraft, but by their sober,

godly, and exemplary lives and conversation, have obtained a good

report in the place, where they have been well esteemed and approved

in the church, of which they are members.'

 

One Dudley Bradstreet, a justice of peace in Andover, having himself

committed thirty or forty persons to prison for supposed witchcraft,

himself and wife were both accused, and they were obliged to flee for

their lives. The accusers reported, that Mr Bradstreet had killed nine

persons, for they saw the ghosts of murdered persons hover over those

that had killed them. A dog being afflicted at Salem, those that had

the spectral sight said, that J. Bradstreet, brother of the justice,

afflicted the dog and then rode upon him. He also was glad to make his

escape, and the dog was killed. Another dog was said to afflict

others, and they fell into fits when the dog looked on them, and he

was killed. At length a worthy gentleman of Boston, being accused by

some of those at Andover, sent a writ to arrest the accusers in a

thousand pound action, for defamation. From that time the accusations

at Andover generally ceased, to the unspeakable joy of the

inhabitants.

 

This tremendous storm continued sixteen months in Salem, in which was

displayed a great want of sober wisdom in some, and of moral honesty

in others, while a spirit of superstitious persecution, almost without

a parallel, generally prevailed. Nineteen innocent persons were

hanged, one pressed to death, and eight more condemned; and about

fifty confessed themselves witches, of which not one was executed.

Above one hundred and fifty were in prison, and above two hundred

more, being accused, it was thought proper to put a stop to further

prosecutions. The persons in the prisons were set at liberty, and

those who had fled returned home in peace. Experience showed that the

more were apprehended, the more were afflicted by Satan, and the

number of confessors increasing, increased the number of the accused;

and the executing of some made way for the apprehension of others,

till the numbers became actually alarming to the public, and it was

feared that Salem had involved _some innocent persons_, as all the

nineteen denied the crime to their death.

 

The late Dr Bentley of Salem, in his History of that town, published

in the Historical Society's Collections, observes, that 'the scene was

like a torrent, sudden, irresistible, and momentary. They who thought

they saw the delusion, did not expose it, and they who were deluded

were terrified into distraction. For a time no life was safe. On the

trials, children below twelve years of age obtained a hearing before

magistrates. Indians came and related their own knowledge of invisible

beings. Tender females told every fright, but not one man of

reputation ventured to offer a single report, or to oppose openly the

overwhelming torrent. Nothing could be more ridiculous than a mere

narrative of the evidence. It would be an affront to the sober world.

The terror was so great, that at the hazard of life, they who were

charged with guilt confessed it, and the confessions blinded the

judges. The public clamors urged them on, and the novelty of the

calamity deprived them of all ability to investigate its true causes,

till nineteen innocent persons were made victims to the public

credulity.' 'From March to August, 1692,' says Dr Bentley, 'was the

most distressing time Salem ever knew; business was interrupted, the

town deserted, terror was in every countenance, and distress in every

heart. Every place was the subject of some direful tale, fear haunted

every street, melancholy dwelt in silence in every place after the sun

retired. The population was diminished, business could not, for some

time, recover its former channels, and the innocent suffered with the

guilty. But as soon as the judges ceased to condemn, the people ceased

to accuse. Terror at the violence and the guilt of the proceedings,

succeeded instantly to the conviction of blind zeal, and what every

man had encouraged, all now professed to abhor. Every __EXPRESSION__ of

sorrow was found in Salem. The church erased all the ignominy they had

attached to the dead, by recording a most humble acknowledgment of

their error. But a diminished population, the injury done to

religion, and the distress of the aggrieved, were seen and felt with

the greatest sorrow.'

 

I quote the following from Judge Story's Centennial Discourse.

 

'The whole of these proceedings exhibit melancholy proofs of the

effects of superstition in darkening the mind, and steeling the heart

against the dictates of humanity. Indeed nothing has ever been found

more vindictive and cruel than fanaticism, acting under the influence

of preternatural terror, and assuming to punish offences created by

its own gloomy reveries. Under such circumstances it becomes itself

the very demon whose agency it seeks to destroy. It loses sight of all

the common principles of reason and evidence. It sees nothing around

it but victims for sacrifice. It hears nothing but the voice of its

own vengeance. It believes nothing but what is monstrous and

incredible. It conjures up every phantom of superstition, and shapes

it to the living form of its own passions and frenzies. In short,

insanity could hardly devise more refinements in barbarity, or

profligacy execute them with more malignant coolness. In the wretched

butcheries of these times, (for so they in fact were,) in which law

and reason were equally set at defiance, we have shocking instances of

unnatural conduct. We find parents accusing their children, children

their parents, and wives their husbands, of a crime, which must bring

them to the scaffold. We find innocent persons, misled by the hope of

pardon, or wrought up to frenzy by the pretended sufferings of others,

freely accusing themselves of the same crime. We find gross perjury

practised to procure condemnations, sometimes for self protection, and

sometimes from utter recklessness of consequences. We find even

religion itself made an instrument of vengeance. We find ministers of

the gospel and judges of the land, stimulating the work of

persecution, until at last in its progress its desolations reached their own firesides.'