Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1849-05-18
NUMBER Two.

1t will be remembered that the remark
able case Of E~ewitchmcnt which we mar
rated in our last, which proved fatal TO
the poor Irish Catholic Clio vcr, occurred
in 1858. 1t was probably similar in lis
nature and result 10 The cases which had
occurred before in the Province of Mas
sachusctis and in Connecticut. The VIC
lin was a miserable woman out Of the
pale Of public sympathy and her taking
off caused liulc sorrow or ihosghr. But
no case before probably met with. such
an historian. Here the famous and
wordy Of all the new England Divincs
was so deeply interested hat he exam
inod ali the details in person, kept one Of
the bewitched all winter in his own fam
lily, delivered her from Satan by three
days Of prayer and fasting, and glorifiod
the act by publishing far and wide all the
marvellous details. Doubtless there was
not q house in New England into which
this story did not penairate. And surely
the more pious and dcvout any household
might be, the more likely was Cotton
Malher to be implicitly believed in it.
1t is quite obvious that in four years
such a story from such a source would
take fast hold of the popular mind of the
colony. One wonder was not then i'm
mediately driven out by another. as in
these days of weekly and daily and al
most hourly newspapers. The wonders
Of Cotton Malher were ~pondcrcd upon
and prayed over. They were Ia ked of
day after day by parents and Children
They excited the young imagination in
the waking hours of the night. What
ever may be said of the sincerity of The
learned Cotton Mather, the common pco-
pie believed the whole as firmly as they
believed their Bibles. And why not, for
it was part and parcel of the Bible? >
The hanging Of Glover was justified, in
the view Of the people by the inspired
command. Thou shall not suffer a witch
TO live. This belief in witchcrafl was a
part of their religion, and their religion
was almost the whole OF their being
By the year 1862, the minds of The peo-
pie were fully prepared for a "prodi-
gious descent Of Devils"
Rev. Samuel Paris was the minister
of Salem village, a part of the town now
included in South Danvers, at the era of
the outbreak. He was a gentleman of
liberal education, who, as Calef n~aively
remarks" not meeting with any great en-
couragement. or advantage, in morchan-
dizing. 10 which for some time he an.
piled himself, betook himself to the work
of the ministry" As a proof that he
meant to make a better thing of preach.
ing than he had been able 10 do Of trad
ing, he prevailed upon the town. or a
part of it, acting in a town capacity, TO
grant TO him as his estate in fee sim
pie, the house and land which had been
set apart by the whole own as a parson.
age. This excellent care of himself pro-
duced a serious division in his parish.
some taking sides with him and MANY
against him. Whether The Rev. George
Burroughs, who afterwards figures in this
memorable history, was in any way mix.
ed up with this controversy, we have not
now the means Of ascertaining. But il
evidently had produced a very deep ali.
enaIion OF feeling, and placed Mr.. Paris
in a very undesirable attitude as q cler.
gyman.
1t was in February, 1899, that some of
the younger and weaker members of Mr..
Parris's family began to act in a strange
way. The physicians were resorted 10,
and pronounced them bewitched.
The parson applied himself to fasting
and prayer. An Indian man and woman
! belonging 10 his family tried their arr to