John Procter and Elizabeth, his wife; George Jacobs, Sr.; John Willard;
and Martha Carrier. They were all condemned, and, with the exception of
Elizabeth Procter, executed on the 19th of the same month.
Hutchinson describes the trial of Burroughs. After speaking of the
evidence of the "afflicted persons" and the confessing witches, he
mentions other circumstances which were thought to corroborate it: "One
was, that, being a little man, he had performed feats beyond the
strength of a giant; viz., had held out a gun of seven feet barrel with
one hand, and had carried a barrel full of cider from a canoe to the
shore." Bur[ii.297]roughs said that an Indian present at the time did
the same. Instantly, the accusers said it was "the black man, or the
Devil, who," they swore, "looks like an Indian." Another piece of
evidence was, that he went from one place to another, on a certain
occasion, in a shorter time than was possible had not the Devil helped
him. He said, in answer, that another man accompanied him. Their reply
to this was, that it was the Devil, using the appearance of another
man. So whatever he said was turned against him. Hutchinson says, "Upon
the whole, he was confounded, and used many twistings and turnings,
which, I think, we cannot wonder at." This fair and judicious writer,
like Brattle, appears in the foregoing remark to have adopted the
common scandal, put in circulation by parties interested to disparage
Mr. Burroughs. The papers in this case, that have come down to us, are
more numerous than in reference to many others among the sufferers; and
they do not bear such an impression. Mr. Burroughs was astounded at the
monstrous folly and falsehood with which he was surrounded. He was a
man without guile, and incapable of appreciating such wickedness. He
tried, in simplicity and ingenuousness, to explain what was brought
against him; and this, probably, was all the "twisting and turning" he
exhibited.
Hutchinson had the benefit of consulting all the papers belonging to
this and other trials; but neither he nor Calef seems to have noticed
one remarkable fact: many of the depositions, how many we
cannot[ii.298] tell, were procured after the trials were over, and
surreptitiously foisted in among the papers to bolster up the
proceedings. We find, for instance, the following deposition:—
"Thomas Greenslitt, aged about forty years, being deposed, testifieth
that, about the first breaking-out of this last Indian war, being at
the house of Captain Joshua Scotto at Black Point, he saw Mr. George
Burrows, who was lately executed at Salem, lift a gun of six-foot
barrel or thereabouts, putting the forefinger of his right hand into
the muzzle of said gun, and that he held it out at arms' end, only with
that finger: and further this deponent testifieth, that, at the same
time, he saw the said Burrows take up a full barrel of molasses with
but two of the fingers of one of his hands in the bung, and carry it
from the stage head to the door at the end of the stage, without
letting it down; and that Lieutenant Richard Hunniwell and John
Greenslitt were then present, and some others that are dead. Sept. 15,
'92."
Not only the date to this deposition, but its express language, proves
that it could not have been used at the trial. There is another, to the
same effect and of the same date, that is, nearly a month after
Burroughs was thrown into his grave. There are others of the same kind.
This stamps the management of the prosecutions, and of those concerned
in the charge of the papers, with an irregularity of the grossest kind,
which partakes strongly of the character of fraud and falsehood.
When it was found that there was beginning to grow up a want of
confidence in "spectre evidence" and the testimony of the afflicted
children, those con[ii.299]cerned in the prosecutions became alarmed
lest a re-action of public sentiment might take place. The persons who
had brought Mr. Burroughs to his death concluded that their best escape
from public indignation was to accumulate evidence against him after he
was in his grave, particularly on the point of his superhuman strength;
and they got up these depositions, and caused them to be put among the
papers on file. Great stress was laid, by those who were interested in
damaging his character and suppressing sympathy in his fate, upon this
particular proof of his having been in confederacy with the Devil.
Increase Mather said, that, in his judgment, it was conclusive evidence
that he "had the Devil to be his familiar," and that, had he been on
the jury, he could not, on this account, have concurred in a verdict of
acquittal; and Cotton Mather, feeling the importance of making the most
of Mr. Burroughs's extraordinary strength, gives way to his tendency to
indulge in the marvellous, as follows:—
"God had been pleased so to leave this George Burroughs, that he had
ensnared himself by several instances which he had formerly given of
preternatural strength, and which were now produced against him. He was
a very puny man, yet he had often done things beyond the strength of a
giant. A gun of about seven-foot barrel, and so heavy that strong men
could not steadily hold it out with both hands,—there were several
testimonies given in by persons of credit and honor, that he made
nothing of taking up such a gun behind the lock with but one hand, and
holding it out, like a pistol, at arms' end. Yea, there were
two[ii.300] testimonies, that George Burroughs, with only putting the
forefinger of his right hand into the muzzle of a heavy gun, a
fowling-piece of about six or seven foot barrel, did lift up the gun,
and hold it out at arms' end,—a gun which the deponents thought strong
men could not with both hands lift up, and hold at the butt end, as is
usual."
It is further observable, in reference to the foregoing deposition from
Greenslitt, that it was given six days after the condemnation of his
mother, Ann Pudeator, and a week before her execution. Cotton Mather
says that he "was overpersuaded by others to be out of the way upon
George Burroughs's trial," six weeks before. He did not fail, however,
to come to Salem to be with his mother at her trial and until her
death, and being here was compelled to give his deposition. His
mother's life was at the mercy of the prosecutors; and he was tempted,
in the vain hope of conciliating that mercy, to gratify them by making
the statement about Burroughs a month after his execution, and whom it
could not then harm. What he said was probably no more than the truth.
It has been found that the power of the human muscles can be cultivated
to a surprising extent; and the feats ascribed to Burroughs, without
making much allowance for a natural degree of exaggeration, have been
fully equalled in our day.
Calef gives the following account of his execution:—
"Mr. Burroughs was carried in a cart with the others, through the
streets of Salem, to execution. When he was upon the ladder, he made a
speech for the clearing of his[ii.301] innocency, with such solemn and
serious expressions as were to the admiration of all present. His
prayer (which he concluded by repeating the Lord's Prayer) was so well
worded, and uttered with such composedness and such (at least seeming)
fervency of spirit, as was very affecting, and drew tears from many, so
that it seemed to some that the spectators would hinder the execution.
The accusers said the black man stood and dictated to him. As soon as
he was turned off, Mr. Cotton Mather, being mounted upon a horse,
addressed himself to the people, partly to declare that he (Mr.
Burroughs) was no ordained minister, and partly to possess the people
of his guilt, saying that the Devil often had been transformed into an
angel of light; and this somewhat appeased the people, and the
executions went on. When he was cut down, he was dragged by a halter to
a hole, or grave, between the rocks, about two feet deep; his shirt and
breeches being pulled off, and an old pair of trousers of one executed
put on his lower parts: he was so put in, together with Willard and
Carrier, that one of his hands, and his chin, and a foot of one of
them, was left uncovered."
Cotton Mather, not satisfied with this display of animosity, at a
moment when every human heart, however imbittered by prejudice, is
hushed for the time in solemn silence, attempts, in an account
afterwards given of Mr. Burroughs's trial, to blacken his character by
an elaborate dressing-up of the absurd stories told by the accusers,
and a perverse misrepresentation of the demeanor of the accused. He
relates with apparent glee what was regarded as a wonderful achievement
of adroitness on the part of Chief-justice Stoughton in trapping Mr.
Burroughs, and putting the laugh upon him in Court.[ii.302]
"It cost the Court a wonderful deal of trouble to hear the testimonies
of the sufferers; for, when they were going to give in their
depositions, they would for a long while be taken with fits, that made
them quite uncapable of saying any thing. The chief judge asked the
prisoner, who he thought hindered these witnesses from giving their
testimonies; and he answered, he supposed it was the Devil. The
honorable person then replied, 'How comes the Devil so loath to have
any testimony borne against you?' Which cast him into very great
confusion."
From what fell from him, at the preliminary examination, it is evident
that it did not occur to him as a possibility that human nature could
be capable of the guilt of such a wilful fabrication and imposture on
the part of the "afflicted children." He beheld their sufferings, and
he knew his own innocence. He felt, whatever his theological creed
might have been, that a Devil was required to explain the mystery. The
apparent sufferings of the accusing witnesses convinced Court, jury,
and all, of the guilt of the accused. The logic of the chief-justice
was perfectly absurd. For, if the Devil caused the sufferings, he was
an adverse party to the prisoner. This, however, overthrows the whole
theory of the prosecution, which was that the prisoner and the Devil
were in league with each other. But the judge, jury, and people, all
equally blinded and stupefied by the delusion, did not see it; and they
chuckled over the alleged confusion of the prisoner. All thoughtful
persons will concur in Mr. Burroughs's opinion, that, if ever a
diabolical power had possession[ii.303] of human beings, it was in the
case of the wretched creatures who enacted the part of the accusing
girls in the witchcraft proceedings. In his account of the trial,
Mather makes statements which show that he was privy to the fact, that
testimony, subsequently taken, was lodged with the evidence belonging
to the case. The documents prove that it was done to an extent beyond
what he acknowledges.
Considering that none dared to show the least sympathy with the persons
on trial, that they had none to counsel or stand by them, that the
public passions were incensed against them as against no other persons
ever charged with crime,—it being vastly more flagrant than any other
crime, a rebellion against heaven and earth, God and man; a deliberate
selling of the soul to the Arch-enemy of souls for the ruin of all
other souls,—in view of all these things, it is truly astonishing,
that, by the documents themselves, proceeding, as in almost all cases
they do, from hostile and imbittered sources, we are compelled to the
conviction, that, in their imprisonments, trials, and deaths, the
victims of this savage delusion manifested—in most cases eminently, and
in all substantially—the marks, not only of innocent, but of elevated
and heroic minds. A review of what can be gleaned in reference to Mr.
Burroughs at Casco Bay and Salem Village, and a considerate survey and
scrutiny of all that has reached us from the day of his arrest to the
moment of his death, have left a decided impression, that he was an
able, intelligent, true-minded man; ingenuous,[ii.304] sincere, humble
in his spirit; faithful and devoted as a minister; and active,
generous, and disinterested as a citizen. His descendants, under his
own name and the names of Newman, Fowle, Holbrook, Fox, Thomas, and
others, have been numerous and respectable. The late Isaiah Thomas,
LL.D., was one of them.
From the account given of John Procter, in the First Part, it is
apparent that he was a person of decided character, and, although
impulsive and liable to be imprudent, of a manly spirit, honest,
earnest, and bold in word and deed. He saw through the whole thing, and
was convinced that it was the result of a conspiracy, deliberate and
criminal, on the part of the accusers. He gave free utterance to his
indignation at their conduct, and it cost him his life.
A few days before his trial, he made his will. There is no reference in
it to his particular situation. His signature to the document is
accurately represented among the autographs given in this work. It was
written while the manacles were on him. Notwithstanding the danger to
which any one was exposed who expressed sympathy for convicted or
accused persons, or doubt of their guilt, a large number had the
manliness to try to save this worthy and honest citizen. John Wise, one
of the ministers of Ipswich, heads the list of petitioners from that
place. The document is in his handwriting. Thirty-one others joined in
the act, many of them among the most respectable citizens of that town.
Mr. Wise was a learned, able, and enlightened man. He had a free
spirit, and was per[ii.305]haps the only minister in the neighborhood
or country, who was discerning enough to see the erroneousness of the
proceedings from the beginning. The petition is as follows:—
"_The Humble and Sincere Declaration of us, Subscribers, Inhabitants in
Ipswich, on the Behalf of our Neighbors, John Procter and his Wife, now
in Trouble and under Suspicion of Witchcraft._
"TO THE HONORABLE COURT OF ASSISTANTS NOW SITTING IN BOSTON.
"_Honored and Right Worshipful_,—The aforesaid John Procter may have
great reason to justify the Divine Sovereignty of God under these
severe remarks of Providence upon his peace and honor, under a due
reflection upon his life past; and so the best of us have reason to
adore the great pity and indulgence of God's providence, that we are
not exposed to the utmost shame that the Devil can invent, under the
permissions of sovereignty, though not for that sin forenamed, yet for
our many transgressions. For we do at present suppose, that it may be a
method within the severer but just transactions of the infinite majesty
of God, that he sometimes may permit Sathan to personate, dissemble,
and thereby abuse innocents and such as do, in the fear of God, defy
the Devil and all his works. The great rage he is permitted to attempt
holy Job with; the abuse he does the famous Samuel in disquieting his
silent dust, by shadowing his venerable person in answer to the charms
of witchcraft; and other instances from good hands,—may be arguments.
Besides the unsearchable footsteps of God's judgments, that are brought
to light every morning, that as[ii.306]tonish our weaker reasons; to
teach us adoration, trembling, dependence, &c. But we must not trouble
Your Honors by being tedious. Therefore, being smitten with the notice
of what hath happened, we reckon it within the duties of our charity,
that teacheth us to do as we would be done by, to offer thus much for
the clearing of our neighbors' innocency; viz., that we never had the
least knowledge of such a nefandous wickedness in our said neighbors,
since they have been within our acquaintance. Neither do we remember
any such thoughts in us concerning them, or any action by them or
either of them, directly tending that way, no more than might be in the
lives of any other persons of the clearest reputation as to any such
evils. What God may have left them to, we cannot go into God's pavilion
clothed with clouds of darkness round about; but, as to what we have
ever seen or heard of them, upon our consciences we judge them innocent
of the crime objected. His breeding hath been amongst us, and was of
religious parents in our place, and, by reason of relations and
properties within our town, hath had constant intercourse with us. We
speak upon our personal acquaintance and observation; and so leave our
neighbors, and this our testimony on their behalf, to the wise thoughts
of Your Honors.
Jno. Wise. Nathanill Perkins. Benjamin Marshall. William Story.
Senr. Thomas Lovkine. John Andrews Jur. Reinalld
Foster. William Cogswell. William Butler. Thos. Chote. Thomas
Varny. William Andrews. John Burnum Sr. John Fellows. John
Andrews. William Thomsonn. Wm. Cogswell Jur. John Chote Ser. Tho.
Low Senr. Jonathan Cogswell. Joseph Procter. Isaac
Foster. John Cogswell Ju. Samuel Gidding. John Burnum
junr. John Cogswell. Joseph Evleth. William Goodhew. Thomas
Andrews. James White. Isaac Perkins. Joseph Andrews."
[ii.307]
I have given the names of the men who signed this paper, as copied from
the original. It is due to their memory; and their descendants may well
be gratified by the testimony thus borne to their courage and justice.
Their neighbors living near the bounds of the village presented the
following paper, in the handwriting of Felton, the first signer. From
the appearance of the document, it seems that a portion of it, probably
containing an equal number of names, has been cut out by scissors.
"We whose names are underwritten, having several years known John
Procter and his wife, do testify that we never heard or understood that
they were ever suspected to be guilty of the crime now charged upon
them; and several of us, being their near neighbors, do testify, that,
to our apprehension, they lived Christian-like in their family, and
were ever ready to help such as stood in need of their help.
"Nathaniel Felton, Sr., and Mary his wife.
Samuel Marsh, and Priscilla his wife.
James Houlton, and Ruth his wife.
John Felton.
Nathaniel Felton, Jr.
Samuel Frayll, and An his wife.
Zachariah Marsh, and Mary his wife.
Samuel Endecott, and Hanah his wife.
Samuel Stone.
George Locker.
Samuel Gaskil, and Provided his wife.
George Smith.
Edward Gaskil."
In addition to this testimony in their favor, evidence was offered, at
their trial, that one of the accusing[ii.308] witnesses had denied, out
of Court, what she had sworn to in Court; and declared that she must,
at the time, have been "out of her head," and that she had never
intended to accuse them. It was further proved, that another of the
accusing witnesses acknowledged that she had sworn falsely, and tried
to explain away her testimony in Court, acknowledging that what the
girls said was "for sport. They must have some sport." But neither the
testimony in their favor from those who had known them through life,
nor the palpable and decisive manner in which the evidence against them
had been impeached and exposed, could open the eyes of the infatuated
Court and jury.
After his conviction, he requested, in vain, time enough to prepare
himself for death, and make the necessary arrangements of his business
and for the welfare of his family; and the statement has come down to
us, that Mr. Noyes refused to pray with him, unless he would confess
himself guilty. The following letter, addressed by him to the ministers
named, in behalf of himself and fellow-prisoners, gives a truly
shocking account of the outrages connected with the prosecutions. It
illustrates the courage of the writer in exposing them, and is a
sensible and manly appeal and remonstrance. There is ground for
supposing that the ministers addressed were known not to be entirely
carried away by the delusion. The fact that Mr. Mather—meaning, of
course, Increase Mather—is the first named, corroborates other evidence
that he was beginning to entertain doubts about the propriety[ii.309]
of the proceedings. Of the Rev. James Allen, much has been said in
connection with the Townsend-Bishop farm. He had been a clergyman in
England, and was silenced by the Act of Uniformity, in 1662. He came to
New England; and, after officiating as an assistant to the Rev. Mr.
Davenport, in the First Church at Boston, for six years, was ordained
as its preacher in 1668. He was of independent fortune, and
subsequently took a leading part with those opposed to the party that
had favored the witchcraft prosecutions. He must have known Rebecca
Nurse quite intimately, and much of the influence used in her favor,
and which almost saved her, may be attributed to him; there was a
particular intimacy between him and Increase Mather, and together they
held Cotton Mather somewhat in check, occasionally at least. The Rev.
Joshua Moody had been settled in the ministry at Portsmouth, New
Hampshire. In the maintenance of the principles of religious liberty he
suffered a long imprisonment, and was afterwards exiled by arbitrary
power. He was then invited to the First Church in Boston, where he
preached from 1684 to 1693, when he returned to Portsmouth. He died in
1697. By his active exertions, Mr. and Mrs. English were enabled to
escape from the jail at Boston. The Rev. Samuel Willard, pastor of the
Old South Church in Boston, was one of the most revered and beloved
ministers in the country. His publications were numerous, learned, and
valuable; consisting of discourses, tracts, and volumes. His "Body of
Divinity" is an elaborate and systematic[ii.310] work, comprising two
hundred and fifty lectures on the Assembly's Catechism. That Procter
was not in error in supposing Mr. Willard open to reason on the subject
is demonstrated by the fact, that the "afflicted girls" were beginning
to cry out against this eminent divine. The Rev. John Bailey was one of
the ejected ministers who had here sought refuge from oppression in the
mother-country. He was a distinguished person, associated with Mr.
Allen and Mr. Moody in the ministry of the First Church at Boston.
Cotton Mather made him the subject of the strongest eulogium in his
"Magnalia." Procter addressed his letter to these persons because he
believed them to be superior in wisdom and candid in spirit. It cannot
be doubted that the good men did what they could in his behalf, but in
vain.
"Salem Prison, July 23, 1692.
"_Mr. Mather, Mr. Allen, Mr. Moody, Mr. Willard, and Mr. Bailey._
"Reverend Gentlemen,—The innocency of our case, with the enmity of our
accusers and our judges and jury, whom nothing but our innocent blood
will serve, having condemned us already before our trials, being so
much incensed and enraged against us by the Devil, makes us bold to beg
and implore your favorable assistance of this our humble petition to
His Excellency, that if it be possible our innocent blood may be
spared, which undoubtedly otherwise will be shed, if the Lord doth not
mercifully step in; the magistrates, ministers, juries, and all the
people in general, being[ii.311] so much enraged and incensed against
us by the delusion of the Devil, which we can term no other, by reason
we know, in our own consciences, we are all innocent persons. Here are
five persons who have lately confessed themselves to be witches, and do
accuse some of us of being along with them at a sacrament, since we
were committed into close prison, which we know to be lies. Two of the
five are (Carrier's sons) young men, who would not confess any thing
till they tied them neck and heels, till the blood was ready to come
out of their noses; and it is credibly believed and reported this was
the occasion of making them confess what they never did, by reason they
said one had been a witch a month, and another five weeks, and that
their mother made them so, who has been confined here this nine weeks.
My son, William Procter, when he was examined, because he would not
confess that he was guilty, when he was innocent, they tied him neck
and heels till the blood gushed out at his nose, and would have kept
him so twenty-four hours, if one, more merciful than the rest, had not
taken pity on him, and caused him to be unbound.