Herein are written the names of all persons in anywise involved in the
witchcraft delusion in Connecticut, with the consequences to them in
indictments, trials, convictions, executions, or in banishment, exile,
warnings, reprieves, or acquittals, so far as made known in any
tradition, document, public or private record, to this time.
MARY JOHNSON. Windsor, 1647.
There is no documentary or other evidence to show that Mary Johnson was
executed for witchcraft in Windsor in 1647. The charge rests on an entry
in Governor Winthrop's _Journal_, "One ---- of Windsor arraigned and
executed at Hartford for a witch." WINTHROP'S _History of New England_
(Savage, 2: 374).
No importance would have attached to this statement, which bears no date
and does not give the name or sex of the condemned, had not Dr. Savage
in his annotations of the _Journal_ (2: 374) asserted that it was "the
first instance of the delusion in New England," and without warrant
added, "Perhaps there was sense enough early in the colony to destroy
the record."
In all discussions of this matter, it has been assumed or conceded (in
the absence of any positive proof), by such eminent critics and scholars
as Drake, Fiske, Poole, Hoadley, Stiles, and others, that Winthrop's
note was based on rumor or hearsay, or that it related to the later
conviction and execution of a woman of the same name, next noted, and
the errors as to person, time, and place might easily have been made.
Pages:
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153