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

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 the remains of executed criminals in chains as having been carried into effect in our country. But from some investigations of Mr. James E. Mauran, of Newport, R.I., we learn that on March 12, 1715, one Mecum of that town was executed for murder and his body was hung in chains on Miantonomy Hill, where the remains of an Indian were then hanging, who had been executed Sept. 12, 1712. Mecum was a Scotchman, and lived at the head of Broad Street. A negro was hanged in Newport in 1679, and his remains were exposed on the same hill.
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A BOOK ORDERED TO BE BURNED BY THE COUNCIL IN 1695.
The "Salem Observer" of Feb. 14, 1829, quotes from the Rev. Dr.