The Olden Time Series, Vol. 5: Some Strange and Curious Punishments | Page 4

of the government.
As early as 1631, one Philip Ratclif is sentenced by the Assistants to
pay £40, to be whipped, to have his ears cropped, and to be banished.
What had he done to merit such a punishment as this? He had made
"hard speeches against Salem Church, as well as the Government."
"The execution of this decision," Mr. Felt says, "was represented in
England to the great disadvantage of Massachusetts." Jeffries was not
yet on the bench in England.
In 1652 a man was fined for excess of apparel "in bootes, rebonds,
gould and silver lace."
Mr. Charles W. Palfrey contributed in 1866 to the "Salem Register" the
following interesting item on the Salem witchcraft trials:
Among the many attempts to remedy the mischiefs caused by the
witchcraft delusion, the subjoined is not without interest. About
eighteen years after the memorable year, 1692, four members, a
committee of the Legislature, were sent to Salem to hear certain parties
and receive certain petitions, and the following is the record, in the
Journal, of their Report:--
October 26, 1711. Present in Council, His Excellency Joseph Dudley,
Esqr., Governor, John Hathorne, Samuel Sewall, Jonathan Corwin,
Joseph Lynde, Penn Townsend, John Higginson, Daniel Epes, Andrew
Belcher, etc., etc.
Report of the Committee appointed, Relating to the Affair of
Witchcraft in the year 1692; viz.--
We whose Names are subscribed in Obedience to your Honours' Act at
a Court held the last of May, 1710, for our inserting the Names of the
several Persons who were condemned for Witchcraft in the year 1692,
& of the Damages they sustained by their prosecution; Being met at
Salem, for the Ends aforesaid, the 13th Septem., 1710, Upon
Examination of the Records of the several Persons condemned,

Humbly offer to your Honours the Names as follows, to be inserted for
the Reversing their Attainders: Elizabeth How, George Jacob, Mary
Easty, Mary Parker, Mr. George Burroughs, Gyles Cory & Wife,
Rebecca Nurse, John Willard, Sarah Good, Martha Carrier, Samuel
Wardel, John Procter, Sarah Wild, Mary Bradbury, Abigail Falkner,
Abigail Hobbs, Ann Foster, Rebecca Eams, Dorcas Hoar, Mary Post,
Mary Lacy:
And having heard the several Demands of the Damages of the aforesaid
Persons & those in their behalf; & upon Conference have so moderated
their respective Demands that We doubt not but they will be readily
complied with by your Honours.
Which respective Demands are as follows:--
Elizabeth How, Twelve Pounds; George Jacob, Seventy nine Pounds;
Mary Easty, Twenty Pounds; Mary Parker, Eight Pounds; Mr. George
Burroughs, Fifty Pounds; Gyles Core & Martha Core his Wife, Twenty
one Pounds; Rebecca Nurse, Twenty five Pounds; John Willard,
Twenty Pounds; Sarah Good, Thirty Pounds; Martha Carrier, Seven
Pounds six shillings; Samuel Wardell & Sarah his Wife, Thirty six
Pounds fifteen shillings; John Proctor & ---- Proctor his Wife, One
Hundred and fifty Pounds; Sarah Wilde, Fourteen Pounds; Mrs. Mary
Bradbury, Twenty Pounds; Abigail Faulkner, Twenty Pounds; Abigail
Hobbs, Ten Pounds; Ann Foster, Six Pounds ten shillings; Rebecca
Eams, Ten Pounds; Dorcas Hoar, Twenty one Pounds seventeen
shillings; Mary Post Eight Pounds fourteen shillings; Mary Lacey Eight
Pounds ten shillings. The Whole amounting unto Five Hundred &
seventy eight Pounds, & twelve shillings.
(Sign'd) Jno. Appleton, Thomas Noyes, John Burrill, Nehem'a Jewett.
Salem, Septemr. 14, 1711.
Read & Accepted in the House of Represent'ves Signed JOHN
BURRILL Speak'r
Read & Concur'd in Council Consented to J. DUDLEY.

The following quaint memorandum of the expenses of the commission
is minuted in the report, viz.:--
Ye Acct of gr servts Charges 3 days a peis ourselves & horses 4.0.0.
Entertainment at Salem Mr. Pratts 1.3.0. Major Sewals attendans &
sendg notifications to all Concerned 1.0.0. ------- £6.3.0.
It is a grave error into which many modern writers have been drawn,
when alluding to Salem witchcraft, to lay the responsibility of that dire
delusion entirely upon Salem people, as if they alone were to be held
accountable for the dreadful occurrences of 1692. The laws of England
in those days, all the authorities of New England, and, with but rare
exceptions, all the people everywhere throughout the civilized world,
recognized witchcraft as a fact and believed it to be a crime. The most
learned men in England and in other countries believed fully in
witchcraft. Sir Matthew Hale had given a legal opinion on the subject;
Lord Bacon believed in witchcraft; and there are strong reasons for
thinking that Shakspeare and other great men of the time of Queen
Elizabeth and still later believed in it fully. Cotton Mather, Judge
Sewall, Peter Sargent, Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton, all belonging to
Boston, were the leaders in the proceedings against the witches of
1692.
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HUNG IN CHAINS.
In the papers that we have examined we have not found any instances
recorded of the old English law of hanging