Rome Free Academy - De O Wain Sta Yearbook (Rome, NY)

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20. wife had some trouble in their different beliefs and Giles made some statements which led to witch. She examined, condemned and later Her shows her faithful dependence on Martha’s accusation as a was executed. examination her the was Father, but she doubted witchcraft that enough to convict her. After Giles Corey saw the effect of a few thoughtless words, he repented of Heavenly existence of and his part of his wife’s accusation and expressed himself very strongly in re- gard to the proceedings. Soon after he the witch hunters. He refused to plead either “guilty” or “‘not was taken by guilty” and he was placed in a dark cell with a weight on his chest which slowly pressed out his life. But the most cruel of the executions was that of Rebecca Nurse. She was a with no fellowmen. gentle old thought of lady of seventy, harming her There had been some dispute between the Nurses Nurses another family, so the must suffer their Rebecca bore her trouble with heavenly and for claims. patience, always protesting her inno- cence. The jury were so much impressed by her conduct that they brought in a verdict of ‘Not Guilty”. But the mob, like that which cried out to Pilate of old to crucify Christ, would not be satisfied with this judgment. ‘The and Nurse ecuted. Not with even the Reverend Nicholas Noyes excom- municated her the church, and believed that he had destroyed her soul verdict was reversed Rebecca was ex- satisfied this, from as well as her body. Three other mem- bers of the Nurse family were executed before the fearful excitement died out. We cannot follow all the victims of the delusion, but we see that it grew worse as it proceeded. In their fury, they arrested a wee child of four. She was imprisoned for months, but they did not execute her. The family of the Tuer SENIOR ANNUAL. Proctors was persecuted as a whole, but not all of them were executed. ‘Two of the semblance. few points of re- the and the Irish Both condemned have a These are Martin Bishop. accused buxom widow, Susannah Bridget different from most of those woman, were as witches. They were not remarkable for their piety and neither of them was afraid of judge and jury. Susannah was condemned for her neatness. It was given as evidence against her that she went through the muddy streets on a rainy day and arrived at a neighbors house neat and dry; therefore she must be in communication with the evil one. the martyred, and these two died with the Pious or impious accused were others. There is the case of Martha Carrier, whose children were confined with her. They terrified into against their mother, thus bringing her to the gallows. Elizabeth How wasexecuted had the making little ones love her. were testifying simply because she power of At length the accusers grew so bold as to mention a minister, the Reverend George Burroughs, a former pastor of the church at Salem village. Fearful stories were told of his past life and he Mr. roughs took his troubles as the will of the Almighty, but he made a speech that he Many were affected by his speech and prayer, was even accused of murder. 3ur- saying was innocent. but the accusers said the black man wa s telling what to and Cotton Mather made a speech which removed all doubt from their half-relented minds. him say The holy man was executed with the others. Among those most active in pursuing Reverend Mr. Parris Nicholas Noyes of One always thinks of Cotton Mather in connection with the delusion. Some authorities affirm that he witches were the the Salem. and Reverend was

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Tuk SENIOR ANNUAL. 19. worshippers of Satan and workers of his There is nothing more startling than the arts. to a superstitious person mysterious sounds of a wilderness, unless it be the awe-inspiring stillness of the forest. Is it that these with witchcraft taught them same strange colonists, in their creed, when brought face to face they could not that Satan Since they with things explain, should come believe had among them? witchcraft, they found excuse for execut- ing witches in the Scripture injunction, ‘Tho shalt not suffer a witch to live”. At the time of the delusion the Rev- erend Samuel Parris was pastor of a church in Salem village, now Danvers. His nine year old daughter Elizabeth, with her cousin, Abigail Williams, and other the habit of passing the winter evenings by studying palmistry and Influenced by these studies, the children make believed in several playmates, was. in other magic. began to gestures and utter loud, As these actions continued, the parents became anxious and sent for a physician. At that time little was known of nervous and that the physician announced that the girls had been bewitched. The colony was now thrown into a general excitement. ‘The girls were much pleased by the attention paid them and they performed before the villagers who flocked to see them. The three children did not at first accuse anyone, but as they began to hear suggestions to the effect that some- one was bewitching them, they finally persuaded themselves that this was the truth. Then they were asked who had bewitched them, they cried out ‘‘Good”, “Osburn”, “‘Tituba”. We can hardly believe that no one thought that these girls might be playing a part. As their accusations grew more dreadful they added fainting, raving and sobbing to their accomplishments. At first, they strange incoherent cries. diseases hysterics, so said that they were merely pinched by later they told of visions in saw murders committed by witches; which they the accused. Sarah Good, Sarah Osburn and Tituba were arrested soon after their accusations. The first two were unfortunates of the village, while the latter was a super- stitious Indian woman whom Mr. Parris had brought from the West Indies. By reading the examination one can readily see the innocence of Sarah Osburn and Mrs. have had a firm belief in the guilt of the Good, but the judges seemed to prisoners. It is possible that there was more justice in Tituba’s arrest, for she had filled the minds of the children with Her testimony was much enlivened by herimagination. We can almost here her telling of flying and creeping things, the black dog, and the yellow bird. She endeavored to free her- self from suspicion by throwing blame superstitious ideas. on others. Let us see what it was thought that these witches could do. A witch was believed to have sworn allegiance to the devil. As soon as she had completed this compact, she set about tormenting others. It was thought that she had imps in the form of spiders, which she could send where she could not go. If neither herself nor her imps couid go, she had only to make a rag puppet and treat this as she wished to treat the person represented. The girls would complain that pins were pricking their flesh and they even pro- duced these pins in court as proof of the witches’ design upon them. The story of the Coreys is very path- etic. Martha Corey a Christian woman, pure and devout in her manner of living, and she did not believe in the power of witches. Giles Corey, her husband, was deeply interested in the subject and he attended all the meetings of the witch persecutors. Husband and cats, dogs and was

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THE SENIOR ANNUAL. 21. deeply interested in witch hunting for his own private ends, while others state that he believed that he was doing God’s will in exterminating Satan's agent. It is not for us to judge. God alone knows the motive which agitated the leaders in witch persecution. There is no doubt that some used witchcraft asa means of taking revenge for family feuds or other not like to personal malice, but we do glance at such inhumanity. There were a few who dared to deny a belief in witchcraft, but the majority of for their daring. these were punished Among these were Martha Corey, John Proctor and Joseph Putnam. John was executed but Joseph Putnam escaped. The terrible spell was at last bro ken by the accusation of Mrs. Hale, wife of the Her husband had been active in punish- the pastor of church at Beverly. ing others, but he knew the innocence of his wife and he worked to prove it, The whole colony saw the folly of ac- cusing this lovely woman and from that rr [he Governor forbade the state courts to try The and time the accusers lost their power. witchcraft. crowded prisons of Salem. any more cases of Boston Cambridge were opened and prisoners were given their rightful freedom. It fact that all of the their they confession of notable con- is a either maintained inno- the into a demned cence to last, or if were persuaded guilt, they denied it before death came. Ann Putnam, one of the three girls who about all of the fessed her sin and guilt in brought trouble, con- later years, but the Parris family seem to have be- lieved in witchcraft until the end. It is melancholy this the clouds of superstition have rolled away, the the has triumphed over refreshing to turn from period and note how leaving us in sunshine and free atmosphere of twentieth century. Humanity super- stition and inhumanity, and we have to be thankful for at the I am sure that none of us much indeed present day. count it least among our blessings that we have our glorious country with its watchword of freedom. “Freedom forever! Truce with oppression—never, oh, never! By our own birthright—gift granted of Heaven; Freedom for heart and lip, be the pledge given!”