Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1860-09-13
GREEN MOUNTAIN FREEMAN, SEPT. Is, 1860.

that he had seen her recover out Of her fits at
the approach Of the prisoner that he saw Jane
Wenham within three minutes of the time when
Anne Thorne had said that she threatened her
it should be worse with her than it had been
yet ; that no, hearing noise of cats crying
and screaming about the house several tines
went out and saw several of them, which made
towards Jane Wenham's house that he Salo a
cat 'oih a face like lane Wenham; that he, with
Mr.. Chauncy, was not able to force Annie
Thorne through the gate which was open, but
she went over the other way very swiftly. This,
| think was the sum Of his evidence
James Burvie was also sworn, who said,
that hearing the scratchiUgs and noises of cats,
he went out and saw several Of them that one
Of them had IL face like Jane Wenham that he
was present several times when Annie Theme
said she saw cats about her bed and more he
would have altested, but this was thought suf-
fcent by the court.
" Uriah Wright and Thomas Harvey being
sworn atteStcd the substance of their mforma-
ton above inscribed. and added that they had
asked the prisoner in what shape the devil used
t. appear to her !-and she said she fancied him
to be cat. This is short account Of the evil
dence given at the trial, which the reader mist
perceive that have desgnedly abbreviated lest
he should be clog d with the same things too
often repeated
Afterwards, the prisoner saying little for
herself, but that she was u clear woman, the
judge summed up the evidence to the jury in
short speech, and left it to them, whether it was
sufficient to take away tho prisoner life upon
the Indictment The jury desiring some time
to consider it, the court adjourned till three in
the afternoon Git being now past one, and then
the jury returned, and brought in their verdict,
that the prisoner was guilty upon the evidence.
My Lord then asked them VIII yther they found
her guilty upon the indictment for ronrasing
acHh the dccanthc shape Of a cat, the foreman
answered, We find her guilty of that Upon
this verdict the prisoner received sentence of
death, but was reprieyed till further orders. *
We have thus given Mr. Bragges report of
this most curious trial, word for word. Happily
the story Of Jane Wenham does not end here
The conclusion sounds more like fiction than
tale Of real life, nevertheless it is strictly true
Powcll-all honor to the grey-haired merry old
judge exerted himself successfully to obtain
her pardon from the Crown, and there were men
IN tlertiordshre more humane and more enlight-
ened than Sir Henry Chauncy, the Rev Mr. Gar
diner, MIR, Francis Bragge, or the grand or petty
jury who sat at the Hertfordshire spring assizes
Of l7l2. Colonel Plumer, of Gilston, the an
cestor OF the late accomplished author Of IRE
name, gave her asylum in u small cottage near
his own residence Here she was visited bv DR.
Hutchinson, who found her living "soberlv and
lnohensvely." Il will take leave to add " he
says, g that as | have had the curiosity to see
the good woman herself, | have very great as
surance that she is a plous sober woman. She
isso far from being unable to say the Lord
Prayer, that she would make me hear both the
Lords Prayer and the Creed, and other very
good prayers beside, and she spoke them with
an undisscmblcd devotion though with such lit
tie errors OF expression as those that cannot read
are subject to. | verify believe that there is no
one that reads this, but may think in their own
minds that such a storm as she met with might
have fallen upon them, if it had been their mis-
fortune to have been poor and to have met with
such accidents as she did, in such barbarous
parish as she lived In. Such Is the account
given by DR.. Hutchinson, who was one of the
King chaplains, and incumbent of the parish
OF st. James in St. Edmund's bury; we believe
that he subsequently rose to the episcopal bench.
lie speaks, 1t will be observed, from his own per-
sonal knowledge and observation. 1t is stated
IN note to Deioes work, above quoted that
"she afterwards became possessed of comfort
able subsistence, that she did great deal of
good with it to the poor, and became as much
the object OF their esteem as she had been of
their det9station.''
Such was the end of the case of Jane Wen.
ham. Would that we could say, as has fire.
quently been asserted, that this was the last
case Of a prosecution under the statute. In Ju-
ly ZIG, a substantial farmer, of the name of
Hicks, accused his wife and child (the latter
girl of nine years of age) of witchcraft. They
were tried at the assizes at Huntingdon, before
Wilmot; they were g visited by several divines;"
they confessed their crime; and, on the prose-
cution of the husband and father, the wife and
child were hanged at Huntingdon, on the 28th
of July, l7l6! We close this ghaSrly page in
the history Of legal, clerical, and domestic cru
city with horror.
The clause of the statute makes it capital felony
q Clnsnl covenant with emnlnu feed or