guilty of sundry acts of witchcraft. What say you to it? Speak the
truth; and so you that are afflicted, you must speak the truth, as you
will answer it before God another day. Mary Walcot, doth this woman
hurt you?—I never saw her so as to be hurt by her.
"Mercy Lewis, does she hurt you?
"(Her mouth was stopped.)
"Ann Putnam, does she hurt you?
"(She could not speak.)
"Abigail Williams, does she hurt you?
"(Her hand was thrust in her own mouth.)
"John, does she hurt you?—This is the woman that came in her shift, and
choked me.
"Did she ever bring the book?—Yes, sir.
"What to do?—To write.
"What? this woman?—Yes, sir.
"Are you sure of it?—Yes, sir.
"(Again Abigail Williams and Ann Putnam were spoke to by the Court; but
neither of them could make any answer, by reason of dumbness or other
fits.)
"What do you say, Goody Procter, to these things?—I take God in heaven
to be my witness, that I know nothing of it, no more than the child
unborn.[ii.108]
"Ann Putnam, doth this woman hurt you?—Yes, sir: a great many times.
"(Then the accused looked upon them, and they fell into fits.)
"She does not bring the book to you, does she?—Yes, sir, often; and
saith she hath made her maid set her hand to it.
"Abigail Williams, does this woman hurt you?—Yes, sir, often.
"Does she bring the book to you?—Yes.
"What would she have you do with it?—To write in it, and I shall be
well."
Turning to the accused, Abigail said, "Did not you tell me that your
maid had written?" Goody Procter seems to have been utterly amazed at
the conduct and charges of the girls. She knew, of course, that what
they said was false; but perhaps she thought them crazy, and therefore
objects of pity and compassion, and felt disposed to treat them kindly,
and see whether they could not be recalled to their senses, and
restored to their better nature: for Parris, in his account, says that
at this point she answered the question thus put to her by Abigail
thus: "Dear child, it is not so. There is another judgment, dear
child." But kindness was thrown away upon them; for Parris says that
immediately "Abigail and Ann had fits." After coming out of them, "they
cried out, 'Look you! there is Goody Procter upon the beam.'"
Instantly, as we may well suppose, the whole audience looked where they
pointed. Their manner gave assurance that they saw her "on the beam,"
among the[ii.109] rafters of the meeting-house; but she was invisible
to all other eyes. The people, no doubt, were filled with amazement at
such supernaturalism. But John Procter, her husband, did not believe a
word of it: and it is not to be doubted that he expressed his
indignation at the nonsense and the outrage in his usual bold, strong,
and unguarded language, which brought down the vengeance of the girls
at once on his own head; for Parris, in his report, goes on to say:—
"(By and by, both of them cried out of Goodman Procter himself, and
said he was a wizard. Immediately, many if not all of the bewitched had
grievous fits.)
"Ann Putnam, who hurt you?—Goodman Procter, and his wife too.
"(Afterwards, some of the afflicted cried, 'There is Procter going to
take up Mrs. Pope's feet!' and her feet were immediately taken up.)
"What do you say, Goodman Procter, to these things?—I know not. I am
innocent.
"(Abigail Williams cried out, 'There is Goodman Procter going to Mrs.
Pope!' and immediately said Pope fell into a fit.)"
At this point, the deputy, or some member of the Court interposed, if I
interpret rightly Parris's report, which is here obscurely expressed,
inasmuch as he does not say who spoke; but the import of the words
indicates that they proceeded from some member of the Court, who was
perfectly deceived:—
"You see, the Devil will deceive you: the children could see what you
was going to do before the woman was hurt.[ii.110] I would advise you
to repentance, for the Devil is bringing you out.
"(Abigail Williams cried out again, 'There is Goodman Procter going to
hurt Goody Bibber!' and immediately Goody Bibber fell into a fit. There
was the like of Mary Walcot, and divers others. Benjamin Gould gave in
his testimony, that he had seen Goodman Corey and his wife, Procter and
his wife, Goody Cloyse, Goody Nurse, and Goody Griggs in his chamber
last Thursday night. Elizabeth Hubbard was in a trance during the whole
examination. During the examination of Elizabeth Procter, Abigail
Williams and Ann Putnam both made offer to strike at said Procter; but,
when Abigail's hand came near, it opened,—whereas it was made up into a
fist before,—and came down exceeding lightly as it drew near to said
Procter, and at length, with open and extended fingers, touched
Procter's hood very lightly. Immediately, Abigail cried out, her
fingers, her fingers, her fingers burned; and Ann Putnam took on most
grievously of her head, and sunk down.)"
Hutchinson, after giving Parris's account of this examination,
expresses himself thus: "No wonder the whole country was in a
consternation, when persons of sober lives and unblemished characters
were committed to prison upon such sort of evidence. Nobody was safe."
All things considered, it may perhaps be said, that, filled as the
witchcraft proceedings were throughout with folly and outrage, there
was nothing worse than this examination, conducted by the
deputy-governor and council, on the 11th of April, 1692, in the great
meeting-house of the First Church in Salem. It must have been a scene
of the wildest disorder, par[ii.111]ticularly in the latter part of it.
No wonder that the people in general were deluded, when the most
learned councillors of the colony countenanced, participated in, and
gave effect to, such disorderly procedures in a house of worship, in
the presence of a high judicial tribunal, and of the then supreme
government of the colony!
Benjamin Gould gave his volunteer testimony without "advisedness," and
quite incontinently. He brought out Goodman Corey before the managers
were quite ready to fall upon him; and he antedated, by a considerable
length of time, any such imputation upon Goody Griggs. It was well for
Elizabeth Hubbard to have been in a trance, so that she could not hear
the mention of her aunt's name. The council seems to have adjourned to
the next day, at the same place, when Mr. Parris "gave further
information against said John Procter," which, unfortunately, has not
come down to us. The result was, that Sarah Cloyse, John Procter, and
Elizabeth his wife, were all committed for trial, and, with Rebecca
Nurse, Martha Corey, and Dorcas Good, were sent to the jail in Boston,
in the custody of Marshal Herrick.
The proceedings of the 11th and 12th of April produced a great effect
in driving on the general infatuation. Judge Sewall, who was present as
one of the council, in his diary at this date, says, "Went to Salem,
where, in the meeting-house, the persons accused of witchcraft were
examined; was a very great assembly; 'twas awful to see how the
afflicted persons[ii.112] were agitated." In the margin is written,
apparently some time afterwards, the interjection "_Væ!_" thrice
repeated,—"Alas, alas, alas!" What perfectly deluded him and Danforth,
and everybody else, were the exhibitions made by the "afflicted
children." This is the grand phenomenon of the witchcraft proceedings
here in 1692. It, and it alone, carried them through. Those girls, by
long practice in "the circle," and day by day, before astonished and
wondering neighbors gathered to witness their distresses, and
especially on the more public occasions of the examinations, had
acquired consummate boldness and tact. In simulation of passions,
sufferings, and physical affections; in sleight of hand, and in the
management of voice and feature and attitude,—no necromancers have
surpassed them. There has seldom been better acting in a theatre than
they displayed in the presence of the astonished and horror-stricken
rulers, magistrates, ministers, judges, jurors, spectators, and
prisoners. No one seems to have dreamed that their actings and
sufferings could have been the result of cunning or imposture. Deodat
Lawson was a man of talents, had seen much of the world, and was by no
means a simpleton, recluse, or novice; but he was wholly deluded by
them. The prisoners, although conscious of their own innocence, were
utterly confounded by the acting of the girls. The austere principles
of that generation forbade, with the utmost severity, all theatrical
shows and performances. But at Salem Village and the old town, in the
respective meeting-houses, and at Deacon[ii.113] Nathaniel Ingersoll's,
some of the best playing ever got up in this country was practised; and
patronized, for weeks and months, at the very centre and heart of
Puritanism, by "the most straitest sect" of that solemn order of men.
Pastors, deacons, church-members, doctors of divinity, college
professors, officers of state, crowded, day after day, to behold feats
which have never been surpassed on the boards of any theatre; which
rivalled the most memorable achievements of pantomimists,
thaumaturgists, and stage-players; and made considerable approaches
towards the best performances of ancient sorcerers and magicians, or
modern jugglers and mesmerizers.
The meeting of the council at Salem, on the 11th of April, 1692,
changed in one sense the whole character of the transaction. Before, it
had been a Salem affair. After this, it was a Massachusetts affair. The
colonial government at Boston had obtruded itself upon the ground, and,
of its own will and seeking, irregularly, and without call or
justification, had taken the whole thing out of the hands of the local
authorities into its own management. Neither the town nor the village
of Salem is responsible, as a principal actor, for what subsequently
took place. To that meeting of the deputy-governor and his associates
in the colonial administration, at an early period of the transaction,
the calamities, outrages, and shame that followed must in justice be
ascribed. Had it not taken place, the delusion, as in former instances
and other places here and in the mother-country,[ii.114] would have
remained within its original local limits, and soon disappeared. That
meeting, and the proceedings then had, gave to the fanaticism the
momentum that drove it on, and extended its destructive influence far
and wide.
The next step in the proceedings is one of the most remarkable features
in the case. It is, in some points of view, more suggestive of
suspicion, that there was, behind the whole, a skilful and cunning
management, ingeniously contriving schemes to mislead the public mind,
than almost any other part of the transaction. Mary Warren, as has been
said, was a servant in the family of John Procter. She was a member of
the "circle" that had so long met at Mr. Parris's house or Thomas
Putnam's. She was a constant attendant at its meetings, and a leading
spirit among the girls. She did not take an open part against her
master or mistress at their examination, although she acted with
avidity and malignity against them as an accusing witness at their
trials, two months afterwards. It is to be noticed, that Ann Putnam and
Abigail Williams, at the examination of Elizabeth Procter, April 11,
accused her of having induced or compelled "her maid to set her hand to
the book."
On the 18th of April, warrants were got out against Giles Corey and
Mary Warren, both of Salem Farms; Abigail Hobbs, daughter of William
Hobbs, of Topsfield; and Bridget Bishop, wife of Edward Bishop, of
Salem,—to be brought in the next forenoon, at about eight o'clock, at
the house of Lieutenant Nathaniel[ii.115] Ingersoll, of Salem Village.
How Mary Warren became transformed from an accuser to an accused, from
an afflicted person to an afflicter, is the question. It is not easy to
fathom the conduct of these girls. They appear to have acted upon a
plan deliberately formed, and to have had an understanding with each
other. At the same time, occasionally, they had or pretended to have a
falling-out, and came into contradiction. This was perhaps a mere
blind, to prevent the suspicion of collusion. The accounts given of
Mary Warren seem to render it quite certain that she acted with
deliberate cunning, and was a guilty conspirator with the other
accusers in carrying on the plot from the beginning. No doubt, it
frequently occurred to those concerned in it, that suspicions might
possibly get into currency that they were acting a part in concert. It
was necessary, by all means, to guard against such an idea. This may be
the key to interpret the arrest and proceedings against Mary Warren. If
it is, the affair, it must be confessed, was managed with great
shrewdness and skill. She conducted the stratagem most dexterously. All
at once she fell away from the circle, and began to talk against the
"afflicted children," and went so far as to say, that they "did but
dissemble." Immediately, they cried out upon her, charged her with
witchcraft, and had her apprehended. After being carried to prison, she
spoke in strong language against the proceedings. Four persons of
unquestionable truthfulness, in prison with her, on the same charge,
prepared a deposition[ii.116] to this effect: "We heard Mary Warren
several times say that the magistrates might as well examine Keysar's
daughter that had been distracted many years, and take notice of what
she said, as well as any of the afflicted persons. 'For,' said Mary
Warren, 'when I was afflicted, I thought I saw the apparitions of a
hundred persons;' for she said her head was distempered that she could
not tell what she said. And the said Mary told us, that, when she was
well again, she could not say that she saw any of the apparitions at
the time aforesaid." I will now give the substance of her examination,
which commenced on the 19th of April. Mr. Parris was, as usual,
requested to take minutes of the proceedings, which have been
preserved:—
"_Examination of Mary Warren, at a Court held at Salem Village, by John
Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin, Esqrs._
"(As soon as she was coming towards the bar, the afflicted fell into
fits.)
"Mary Warren, you stand here charged with sundry acts of witchcraft.
What do you say for yourself? Are you guilty or not?—I am innocent.
"Hath she hurt you? (Speaking to the sufferers.)
"(Some were dumb. Betty Hubbard testified against her, and then said
Hubbard fell into a violent fit.)
"You were, a little while ago, an afflicted person; now you are an
afflicter. How comes this to pass?—I look up to God, and take it to be
a great mercy of God.
"What! do you take it to be a great mercy to afflict others?
"(Now they were all but John Indian grievously afflicted,[ii.117] and
Mrs. Pope also, who was not afflicted before hitherto this day; and,
after a few moments, John Indian fell into a violent fit also.)"
"Well, here" (Mr. Parris, the reporter, goes on to say) "was one that
just now was a tormenter in her apparition, and she owns that she had
made a league with the Devil." The marvel was, that, having before been
a sufferer, as one of the afflicted accusers, she had then, at that
moment, appeared in the opposite character, and owned herself to have
become a confederate with the Evil One. Having established this
conviction in the minds of the magistrates and spectators, the point
was reached at which she completed the delusion by appearing to break
away from her bondage to Satan, assume the functions of a confessing
and abjuring witch, and retake her place, with tenfold effect, among
the accusing witnesses. The manner in which she rescued herself from
the power of Satan exhibits a specimen of acting seldom surpassed. The
account proceeds thus:—
"Now Mary Warren fell into a fit, and some of the afflicted cried out
that she was going to confess; but Goody Corey, and Procter and his
wife, came in, _in their apparition_, and struck her down, and said she
should tell nothing."
What is given here in _Italics_, as an "_apparition_," was of course
based upon the declarations of the accusing witnesses. It was an art
they often practised in offering their testimony. They would cry out,
that the Devil, generally in the shape of a black man, appeared to them
at the time, whispering in the[ii.118] ear of the accused, or sitting
on the beams of the meeting-house in which the examinations were
generally conducted. On this occasion, they declared that three of the
persons, then in jail in some other place, came in their apparitions,
forbade Mary Warren's confession, and struck her down. To give full
effect to their statement, she went through the process of tumbling
down. Although nothing was seen by any other person present, the
deception was perfect. The Rev. Mr. Parris wrote it all down as having
actually occurred. His record of the transaction goes on as follows:—
"Mary Warren continued a good space in a fit, that she did neither see
nor hear nor speak.
"Afterwards she started up, and said, 'I will speak,' and cried out,
'Oh, I am sorry for it, I am sorry for it!' and wringed her hands, and
fell a little while into a fit again, and then came to speak, but
immediately her teeth were set; and then she fell into a violent fit,
and cried out, 'O Lord, help me! O good Lord, save me!'
"And then afterwards cried again, 'I will tell, I will tell!' and then
fell into a dead fit again.
"And afterwards cried, 'I will tell, they did, they did, they did;' and
then fell into a violent fit again.
"After a little recovery, she cried, 'I will tell, I will tell. They
brought me to it;' and then fell into a fit again, which fits
continuing, she was ordered to be led out, and the next to be brought
in, viz., Bridget Bishop.
"Some time afterwards, she was called in again, but immediately taken
with fits for a while.
"'Have you signed the Devil's book?—No.'[ii.119]
"'Have you not touched it?—No.'
"Then she fell into fits again, and was sent forth for air.
"After a considerable space of time, she was brought in again, but
could not give account of things by reason of fits, and so sent forth.
"Mary Warren called in afterwards in private, before magistrates and
ministers.
"She said, 'I shall not speak a word: but I will, I will speak, Satan!
She saith she will kill me. Oh! she saith she owes me a spite, and will
claw me off. Avoid Satan, for the name of God, avoid!' and then fell
into fits again, and cried, 'Will ye? I will prevent ye, in the name of
God.'"
The magistrate inquired earnestly:—
"'Tell us how far have you yielded?'
"A fit interrupts her again.
"'What did they say you should do, and you should be well?'
"Then her lips were bit, so that she could not speak: so she was sent
away."
Mr. Parris, the reporter of the case, adds:—
"Note that not one of the sufferers was afflicted during her
examination, after once she began to confess, though they were
tormented before."
She was subsequently examined in the prison several times, falling
occasionally into fits, and exhibiting the appearance of a
long-continued conflict with Satan, who was supposed to be resisting
her inclination to confess, and holding her with violence[ii.120] to
the contract she had made with him. The magistrates and ministers
beheld with amazement and awe what they believed to be precisely a
similar scene to that described by the evangelists when the Devil
strove against the power of the Saviour and his disciples, and would
not quit his hold upon the young man, but "threw him down, and tare
him." At length, as in that case, Satan was overcome. After a
protracted, most violent, and terrible contest, Mary Warren got
released from his clutches, and made a full and circumstantial
confession.
Whoever studies carefully the account of Mary Warren's successive
examinations can hardly question, I think, that she acted a part, and
acted it with wonderful cunning, skill, and effect.
This examination, beginning on Tuesday, the 19th of April, continued
after she was committed to prison in Salem, at the jail there, for
several days, and was renewed at intervals until the middle of May.
After she had thoroughly broken away from Satan, she revealed all that
she had seen and heard while associating with him and his confederate
subjects: her testimony was implicitly received, and it dealt death and
destruction in all directions. It is a circumstance strongly confirming
this view, that Mary Warren was soon released from confinement. It was
the general practice to keep those, who confessed, in prison, to retain
in that way power over them, and prevent their recanting their
confessions. She is found, by the papers on file, to have acted
afterwards, as a capital witness,[ii.121] against ten persons, all of
whom were convicted, and seven executed. Besides these, she testified,
with the appearance of animosity and vindictiveness, against her master
John Procter, and her mistress his wife; thus contributing to secure
the conviction of both, and the death of the former. In how many more
cases she figured in the same character and to the same effect is
unknown, as the papers in reference to only a very small proportion of
them have come down to us. The interpretation I give to the course of
Mary Warren exhibits her guilt, and that of those participating in the
stratagem, as of the deepest and blackest dye. But it seems to be the
only one which a scrutiny of the details of her examinations, and of
the facts of the case, allows us to receive. The effect was most
decisive. The course of the accusing children in crying out against one
of their own number satisfied the public, and convinced still more the
magistrates, that they were truthful, honest, and upright. They had
before given evidence that they paid no regard to family influence or
eminent reputation. They had now proved that they had no partiality and
no favoritism, but were equally ready to bring to light and to justice
any of their own circle who might fall into the snare of the Evil One,
and become confederate with him. No dramatic artist, no cunning
impostor, ever contrived a more ingenious plot; and no actors ever
carried one out better than Mary Warren and the afflicted children.