Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-07-26
The Descendants of ga Witch.

On the 18th inst, at Salem, Mass, a re-
union of the descendants of Rebekah
Nurse was held in the ancient homestead.
About 200 persons were in attendance.
AS first reunion Of the family, says the
Boston Advertiser, the affair was very
successful. The old homestead is
twO-and-half STORED mansion with old
fashioned lean-tO and gabled roof
1t stands to-day midway between
| Pine and Collins streets, near
the old Tapley Carpet Factory. The
timbers are of oak and the rafters
of heWn saplings. The roof is boarded
! lengthwise, and a mammoth chimney
occupies the centre of the house.
With the exception of a modern addi-
ton in the rear the house is apparently
unchanged in appearance since the date
| of its erection, about the year 1860, and
stands as it stood in the dark DAYS of
1892, when its mistress, denounced as
witch by Ann Putnam, Abigail Williams.
Mercy Lewis and other childish cOadiu-
tors of the Rev. Samuel Paris, was
dragged forth from its hOspitable protec-
ton, on the oath of March of that year,
and lodged in the custody of Lieutenant
Ingersoll. South of the house, but a short
distance from it, the body of Goody
Nurse was laid in the little family bury
ing-grouDd beneath an unmarked
mound. The precise spot is now I'M
known, but within the Enclosure are
the graves of her sOn-in-law, John Tar
bell, who died in 1715, at the age of SO, and
of his son, Jonathan, who died in 171S, at
the age of 26. There are other ancient
mOss-covered stones, whose Inscriptions
have become wholly illegible. The
Nurse farm originally comprised over
300 acres of land in Salem village, which
were conveyed to Francis Nurse the hus-
band of Rebekah, by Townsend Bishop,
who received them as part of a grant
from the town of Salem.
Mrs. Nurse was the daughter of Will
liam Toune, and is described as a woman
of lovely Christian character, a pious
and devOut member of the First Church
at Salem. She was the mother of eight
children, four sons and four daughters,
and at the time of her execution had
reached the allotted three score and ten.
and was in the full enjoyment of beau
! tiful old age. The warrant against her
charging her with witchcraft was issued
March %, 1892, and she was arrested and
passed preliminary examination March
"a, 1892 She firmly asserted her inno-
cence, saying, 81 can say before
my eternal Father / am inno-
cent, and God will clear my in
nOcency," which pious exclamation
moved the presiding Justice to say:
''Here is never a one in the assembly but
| desires 1t, but If you be guilty, pray God
discover you" AS sample of the ridicu-
lous character of the evidence against
her, Goodman Kenney is recorded as tes-
tifying that since he had been in the court
room with the prisoner che had been
seized twice with an amazed condition"
Being remanded TO the Jail, she was again
brought before Judges Hathorn and Cor
win, in the Court of Oyer and Terminer,
and after long trial, the evidence of
which was taken down by the Rev. Sam
uel Paris sin characters" she was ac-
quilted. This unexpected verdict caused
an immediate clamOr among the ''afflict-
ed" The Judges charged the jury with
having let slip portion of the PRISONS
testimony when two of her fell0W-prisOn-
ers testified against her, when she said:
"What do these persons give in evidence
against me now? They used to come
among us" The jury again met and came
IN, when Thomas Fisk desired that the
prisoner should put her sense upon her
words, and she making no answer, the
jury went out and came In with verdict
of guilty. Afterward there was a
reprleVe by the Governor, but at the
solicitation of certain friends this
was Withdrawn, and on the 10Th
of July, 1892, Goody Nurse suffered
martyrdOm on GallOws Hill, in Salem,
probably at place now known as (Which
Square" The Province rendered tardy
reparation in I'LL, when the Great and
General Court ordered that the sum of
f25 be paid to the seven heirs of 'Rebekah
Nurse, who suffered" Many tributes
were paid at yesterdays gathering to the
witch's memory, and the sum of 1925 was
raised toward the erection of a suitable
monument in the little family burial
ground, while further 5000 was pledged
as soon as the subscription was raised to
$500.