Stoughton
[Footnote A: Original in office of Clerk of the Courts at Salem,
Massachusetts. Said to be the only one extant in American archives.]
[Footnote B: Some of the words in the warrant are illegible.]
June 16 1692
According to the within written precept I have taken the Bodye of the
within named Bridgett Bishop out of their Majties Goale in Salem &
Safely Conueighd her to the place provided for her Execution & Caused ye
sd Bridgett to be hanged by the neck till Shee was dead all which was
according to the time within Required & So I make returne by me
George Corwin
Sheriff
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
Perkins' definition--Burr's "Servants of Satan"--The monkish idea--The
ancientness of witchcraft--Its universality--Its regulation--What it
was--Its oldest record--The Babylonian Stele--Its discovery--King
Hammurabi's Code, 2250 B.C.--Its character and importance--Hebraic
resemblances--Its witchcraft law--The test of guilt--The water test.
CHAPTER II
Opinions of Blackstone and Lecky--Witchcraft nomenclature--Its earlier
and later phases--Common superstitions--Monna Sidonia's invocation--
Leland's Sea Song--Witchcraft's diverse literature--Its untold history--
The modern Satanic idea--Exploitation by the Inquisitors--The chief
authorities--The witch belief--Its recognition in drama and romance--The
Weird Sisters--Other characters.
CHAPTER III
Fundamentals--The scriptural citations--Old and New
Testament--Josephus--Ancient and modern witchcraft--The distinction--The
arch enemy Satan--Action of the Church--The later definition--The New
England indictments--Satan's recognition--Persecutions in Italy, Germany
and France--Slow spread to England--Statute of Henry VIII--Cranmer's
injunction--Jewell's sermon--Statute James I--His Demonologie--Executions
in Eastern England--Witch finder Hopkins--Howell's statement--John
Lowes--Witchcraft in Scotland--Commissions--Instruments of torture--Forbes'
definition--Colonial beliefs
CHAPTER IV
Fiske's view--The forefathers' belief--Massachusetts, Connecticut and
New Haven laws--Sporadic cases--The Salem tragedy--Statements of
Hawthorne, Fiske, Lowell, Latimer--The victims--Upham's picture--The
trial court--Sewall's confession--Cotton Mather--Calef and
Upham--Poole--Mather's rules--Ministerial counsel--Longfellow's
opinion--Mather's responsibility--His own evidence--Conspectus
CHAPTER V
The Epidemic in Connecticut--Palfrey--Trumbulls--Winthrop's
Journal--Treatment of witchcraft--Silence and evasion--The true
story--How told--Witnesses--Testimony--All classes affected--The
courts--Judges and jurors--The best evidence--The record--Grounds for
examination of a witch--Jones' summary--Witch marks--What they were--How
discovered--Dalton's Country Justice--The searchers--Searchers' report
in Disborough and Clawson cases
CHAPTER VI
Hamersley's and Morgan's comment--John Allyn's letter--The
accusation--Its origin--Its victims--Many witnesses--Record
evidence--The witnesses themselves--Memorials of their delusion--Notable
depositions--Selected testimonies, and cases--Katherine Harrison--The
court--The judge--The indictment--Grand jury's oath--Credulity of the
court--Testimony--Its unique character--Bracy--Dickinson--Montague--
Graves--Francis--Johnson--Hale--Smith--Verdict and sentence--Court's
appeal to the ministers--Their answer--A remarkable document--Katherine's
petition--"A Complaint of severall grieuances"--Katherine's reprieve--
Dismissal from imprisonment--Removal
CHAPTER VII
Mercy Disborough--Cases at Fairfield, 1692--The special court--The
indictment--Testimonies--Jesop--Barlow--Dunning--Halliberch--Benit--
Grey--Godfree--Search for witch marks--Ordeal by water--Cateran Branch's
accusation--Jury disagree--Later verdict of guilty--The governor's
sentence--Reference to General Court--Afterthought--John Hale's
conclusion--Courts call on the ministers--Their answer--General
advice--Reasons for reprieve--Notable papers--Eliot and
Woodbridge--Willis--Pitkin--Stanly--The pardon
CHAPTER VIII
Hawthorne--Latimer--Additional cases--Curious and vulgar testimony--All
illustrative of opinion--Make it understandable--Elizabeth
Seager--Witnesses--What they swore to--Garretts--Sterne--Hart--Willard--
Pratt--Migat--"Staggerings" of the jury--Contradictions--Verdict--
Elizabeth Godman--Governor Goodyear's dilemma--Strange doings--Ball's
information--Imprisonment--Discharge--Nathaniel and Rebecca Greensmith--
Character, Accusation--Rebecca's confession--Conviction--Double execution
at Hartford
CHAPTER IX
Elizabeth Clawson--The indictment--Witnesses--"Kateran" Branch--Garney--
Kecham--Abigail and Nathaniel Cross--Bates--Sargent Wescot and Abigail--
Finch--Bishop--Holly--Penoir--Slawson--Kateran's Antics--Acquittal.
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