Daily national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1854, 1854-01-02

been condemned 10 death There, in the court
house, are still preserved some Of the pins with
which the Salem witches were sworn to have
tormented their victims, and many Of the ORR
gnal legal proceedings against them are still
there, torn and darkened by age. Years ago,
used often to mako demands upon the good
nature Of the clerks oi the courts, by my re
peated requests to look ut these quaint docu
ments, and y troopo Of us schooIboys often spent
a holyday afternoon in poring over the faded
yellow parchments. ltlnust have been strange
sight to the clerk, II he ever thought Of it. TO
see the bright eyed, fresh checked urchins de-
ciphering with curiosity tho solemn records Of
their great-grandfathcrS guilt; but sadly fear
that that worthy fnnctionary's head was sci.
dom tronblcd by any thought more profound
than that Of getting shilling apiece for his
signatures to legal documents Of more modern
courts than those which tried the witches.
passage in one Of these witch papers particu-
larly impressed itself upon my memory. II
was, | think, an order from the sheriff TO his
deputy in which he was commanded 10 take
ono Of the poor witches and hang hcr by the
neck till she be dead and buried ? and, If
recollect Alright, the deputy sheriff subjoined
his testimony that he had executed tho orders
Of his superior.
And there, too, in the upper part Of the city,
sharply defined against the sky rises, bleak
and barren, tho Gallows Hill. la my school
days, | have often wandered over it, and lain
down on the turf where imagined that our
ancestors executed their victims imagined
say; for no one knows the exact spot on the
hill where any of them were put to death. As
if by some fit dspensation Of fatality, no houses
have till lately been erected on this Gallows
Hill but it has ever stood solitary and unu-
l,Ls us.r khn s.x,fv
almost two hundred years ago. But Of late
years, superstition has proved no barrier to
profit, and little cottages are gradually being
planted along the hillside, and will before long
cover even the summit
What qnainter SUBJECTS them could have
employed Hawthorne's pen, than he found in
ancient Salem city The witch-judges' cham
bcrs where the courts We're held, the legal REQ
urds Of the trials, the place Of the executions,
the bleak hill where the almost sanity George
Burroughs suffered, while grim Cotton Mather
rode around thescaffold, haranguing the people,
and proclaimng to them that the heroic bear
ing Of the prisoner only showed that the devil
often transformed himself into on angel of
light All tho scenery Of the witch tragedy is
in Salem still Only the actors are wanting,
and their gravc-stones have hardly yet moul-
dered away.
And in the old town there are thousand
other relics of the Puritan age Of New Eng.
land the tangled knot Of narrow, crooked
streets, laid out, they say, according to the cow
paths; the quaint, many-gabled houses stock
cd with stiff-backed, puritanically- agonizing
chairs, the low rooms crossed and recrossed by
the heavy oaken beams of the framework; and
any quantity Of furniture which not only pur-
ports to have been "brought over in the May
flower, but which attests by its venerable as
pect, that it did indeed come from England in
some nearly as ancient conveyance as that ia
nous vessel And there beneath where now
stands gay stone church. tradition says that
the gentle Lady Arabela lies, the daughter Of
an Earl OF lincoln, who fors0ok her all in the
Old World family, friends, wealth, high social
position-and came, among the first settlers
to New England, with her husband, Richard
johnson, for the sake Of religious freedom, and
soon died, her tender frame unable to endure
the cruel hardships Of the rough settlers life
the same gentle Lady Arabela whose story
Hawthorne has told in his Grandfathers Chair.
And in Salem many dim legends Of the old
times still linger. Mr.. Upham, in his we'll
known Lectures on Witchcraft, speaking Of
the existence Of traditionary tales concerning
the experiments OF our ancestors in diobierie,
says:
1T il not probable that larger number Of
traditions Of the kind are to be found, within
similar limits in any part Of the world, than in
the county Of Essex
And he remarks, still further, that this is es-
pecially the case in the sea fsring towns which
line the coast Of tho county. But not alone
legends Of faats in witchcraft Other ancient
tales are still told there. remember one,
which may prove not uninterestiug to the read
ere Of the House Of tho Seven Gables
Near the corner Of Essex and Bcckford
streets ia Salem, stood, until lately, q large
square house. built scores Of years ago, in which
il Is said that q PyncLeon family once lived,
the head Of which wa named Gervaise, or
Godfrey. He had an only daughter-Alice--
very young, and very bsautiful, with whom q
young physician Of the town had fallen in love.
The physician was poor, and the father was
proud and the lady was forbidden to entertain
any thoughts Of her lover, and was imprisoned
in her chamber, until nt last she pined away
and died. On the day Of the funeral, her father,
passing hurriedIy down the paved Main street.
met the lover, and tanntiugly asked him, be-
fore the crowd, TO become one Of her pall-bear.
ers; but the answer returned by the physician
was, That he could not hear upon his shcul-
ders that which lay 30 near his heart
IL cannot be difficult 10 trace here in the
father, the daughter, and tho LIVER, Hawthornes
Gervayss and Alice Pynoheon and Matthew
Maule Even the name Of tl,s lady has becu
preserved but over the old story his beautiful
fancy has thrown wierd charm, and has wo-
ven from il most romantic tale
The curse of old Matthew Manle recognise
as suggested by the account Of one Of n mum
bcr OF women who were brought to trial for
wischcraft, on Juna 30sh, 1892 Hutchinson,
in his History Of the Province Of Massachusetts,
Bay, says
Gone of these women being told ut her exc
cution, by the minister, Mr.. Noyes, that he
knew she was a witch, and therefo-e advised
her to confess she replied, that he fcj and that
she acas no more uifch than he cos q wizard;;
and if he took array her hfs God mould gipe
him blood 10 drink
And, in n note, he adds =