Devil; Witchcraft -- Great Britain; Witchcraft -- United States
It would be impossible to give, within the limits of this volume, an
account of all the trials of the Salem witches. Suffice it to say that the
little clique who met at the house of the Rev. S. Parris continued to
accuse their neighbours all round. The following is a list taken from the
‘Records of Salem Witchcraft, copied from the original Documents.
Privately printed for W. Elliot Woodward, Roxbury;’ Massachusetts, 1864.
Those in italics were hanged; the fate of the others except in two or
three instances I know not:
_Sarah Good_,* Sarah Osburn (died in gaol), Tituba, Indian (sold), _Martha
Corey_,* _John Procter_,* Dorcas Good, _Rebecca Nurse_,* Elizabeth
Procter,* (pleaded she was _enceinte_), Mary Warren, Bridget Bishop,
_Abigail Hobbs_,* _Sarah Wilds_,* Philip English, _Susannah Martin_,
Elizabeth Hart, _Dorcas Hoar_,* _George Jacobs_,* _John Willard_,* _Ann
Pudeater_, Rebecca Jacobs, Roger Toothaker, _Mary Eastey_,* Sarah Procter,
Susannah Roots, Benjamin Procter, _Martha Carrier_,* _Elizabeth How_,*
William Procter, _Wilmott Reed_, Elizabeth Fosdick, Elizabeth Paine, Mary
Ireson, _George Burroughs_,* _Abigail Faulkner_,* _Ann Foster_,* _Mary
Lacey_,* _Rebecca Eames_,* _Samuel Wardwell_,* _Mary Parker_,* _Mary
Bradbury_,* Giles Corey,* (pressed to death), _Alice Parker_, _Margaret
Scot_.
Who can say, after reading the above list, that, if the Devil were in
anyone at Salem, he was not in that precious lot of ‘afflicted children’?
In fact, people began to fight shy of them; they even accused a member of
Increase Mather’s family, and made charges against Mrs. Hale, wife of the
Minister of the First Church in Beverley, so that their testimony at last
received no credence. After the Sessions of September 22, no one was
hanged, even if convicted; and in April, 1693, the Governor-General, by
proclamation, gave freedom to all suspects that were in confinement, and
in 1711 a reversal of attainder was granted in those cases marked with an
asterisk, and compensation made to their representatives to the amount of
£578 12s.
APPENDIX.
LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED AND USED IN THIS WORK.
Harl. MSS., 1766, f. Dan John Lydgate’s Translation (or Paraphrase) of
John Boccace de Casu Principum, in English Verse: done by the command of
Duke Humfrey, about the beginning of the Reign of Henry the Sixth.
Tboeck van den leuen ons heeren ihesu christi. Gheraert de leeu.
Tantwerpen, 1487, 4to.
Von den unholden oder hexen. Molitor (Ulrich). Rütlingen, 1489, 4to.
Registrum hujus operis libri cronicarum in figuris et ijmagibus ab inicio
mūdi. Schedel (Hartmannus), A. Koberger. Nuremberge, 1493, fol.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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