The Witchcraft Delusion in Colonial Connecticut (1647-1697) | Page 2

and twelve in the aforenoon of the same day you safely conduct the sd Bridgett Bishop als Olliver from their Majties Goale in Salem aforesd to the place of execution and there cause her to be hanged by the neck until she be dead and of your doings herein make returne to the Clerk of the sd Court and precept And hereof you are not to faile at your peril And this shall be sufficient warrant Given under my hand & seal at Boston the Eighth of June in the ffourth year of the reigne of our Sovereigne Lords William & Mary now King & Queen over England Annoque Dm 1692 Wm. 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. Hugh Crotia--The court--Grand jury--Indictment--Testimony--Confession-- Acquittal--Gaol delivery--Elizabeth Garlick--A sick woman's fancies--"A black thing at the bed's featte"--Burning herbs--The sick child--The ox' broken leg--The dead ram and sow--The Tale burning

CHAPTER X
Goodwife Knapp--Her character--A notable case--Imprisonment--Harsh treatment--The inquisitors--Their urgency--Knapp's appeal--The postmortem desecration--Prominent people involved--Davenport and Ludlow--Staplies vs. Ludlow--The court--Confidential gossip--Cause of the suit--Testimony-- Davenport--Sherwood--Tomson--Gould--Ward--Pell--Brewster--Lockwood--Hull-- Brundish--Whitlock--Barlow--Lyon--Mistress Staplies--Her doings aforetime-- Tashs' night ride--"A light woman"--Her character--Reparation suit--Her later indictment--Power of the delusion--Pertinent inquiry

CHAPTER XI
Present opinions--J. Hammond Trumbull--Annie Eliot Trumbull--Review--Authenticity--Record evidence--Controversialists--Actual cases--Suspicions--Accusations--Acquittals--Flights--Executions--First complete roll--Changes in belief--Contrast--Edwards--Carter--"The Rogerenes"--Conclusion--Hathorne--Mather
THE WITCHCRAFT DELUSION IN COLONIAL CONNECTICUT

CHAPTER I
"First, because Witchcraft is a rife and common sinne in these our daies, and very many are intangled with it, beeing either practitioners thereof in their owne persons, or at the least, yielding to seeke for helpe and counsell of such as practise it." A Discovrse of the Damned Art of Witchcraft, PERKINS, 1610.
"And just as God has his human servants, his church on earth, so also the Devil has his--men and women sworn to his service and true to his bidding. To win such followers he can appear to men in any form he pleases, can deceive them, enter into compact with them, initiate them into his worship, make them his allies for the ruin of their fellows. Now it is these human allies and servants of Satan, thus postulated into existence by the brain of a monkish logician, whom history knows as witches." The Literature of Witchcraft, BURR.
Witchcraft in its generic sense is as old as human history. It has written its name in the oldest of