Salem Witchcraft, Volumes I and II: With an Account of Salem Village and a History of Opinions on Witchcraft and Kindred SubjectsUpham, Charles Wentworth
History
Salem Witchcraft, Volumes I and II: With an Account of Salem Village and a History of Opinions on Witchcraft and Kindred Subjects
Upham, Charles Wentworth
Salem (Mass.) -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775; Witchcraft -- Massachusetts -- Salem -- History -- 17th century
"The Deposition of Sam: Parris, aged about thirty and nine
years.—Testifieth and saith, that Elizabeth Parris, Jr., and Abigail
Williams, and Ann Putnam, Jr., and Elizabeth Hubbard, were most
grievously and several times tortured during the examination of Sarah
Good, Sarah Osburn, and Tituba, Indian, before the magistrates at Salem
Village, 1 March, 1692. And the said Tituba being the last of the above
said that was examined, they, the above said afflicted persons, were
grievously distressed until the said Indian began to confess, and then
they were immediately all quiet the rest of the said Indian woman's
examination. Also Thomas Putnam, aged about forty years, and Ezekiel
Cheever, aged about thirty and six years, testify to the whole of the
above said; and all the three deponents aforesaid further testify,
that, after the said Indian began to confess, she was herself very much
afflicted, and in the face of authority at the same time, and openly
charged the abovesaid Good and Osburn as the persons that afflicted
her, the aforesaid Indian."
By comparing these depositions with the other documents I have
presented, it will be seen how admirably the whole affair was arranged,
so far as concerned the part played by Tituba. She commences her
testimony by declaring her innocence. The afflicted children are
instantly thrown into torments, which, however,[ii.32] subside as soon
as she begins to confess. Immediately after commencing her confession,
and as she proceeds in it, she herself becomes tormented "in the face
of authority," before the eyes of the magistrates and the awestruck
crowd. Her power to afflict ceases as she breaks loose from her compact
with the Devil, who sends some unseen confederate, not then brought to
light, to wreak his vengeance upon her for having confessed. Tituba, as
well as the girls, showed herself an adept in the arts taught in the
circle.
All we know of Sarah Osburn beyond this date are the following items in
the Boston jailer's bill "against the country," dated May 29, 1692: "To
chains for Sarah Good and Sarah Osburn, 14 shillings:" "To the keeping
of Sarah Osburn, from the 7th of March to the 10th of May, when she
died, being nine weeks and two days, £1. 3_s._ 5_d._"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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