News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-12-18
HORRORS OF WITCHCRAFT.
An InterestinR Pnper Yefore the New
ENGLAND Society of BrOOkiyn.


England Society of Brooklyn.
Witchcraft was made unusually in
terestiDg to a large audience of ladies
and gentlemen by the Rev. John W.
Chadwick, in Brooklyn, where the New
England Society, of that city, held its
fifth public meeting.
Among the many causes which led to
the Salem witchcraft, in 1892, the Rev.
Mr.. Chadwick mentioned the superstl-
ton of the times, the doctrines taught,
the lonely situation of the place, with
its gloomy, unexplored surroundings,
the animosities which arose from con-
hicting claims, parish chickering's, op-
pressive taxes, and innumerable quar-
rels which died ont and were brought
to life again by witchcraft. He traced
its beginning from separation from
the mother church, which was per-
mitted for convenience sake, and the
dissensions that arose until the Rev.
Samuel Paris brought to critical point
the bitterness which had been growing
during the terms of his three predeces-
sors in the new church. The two
Indian servants of this minister were the
teachers of the "ten afflicted children,
of whom only three were children, who
met at his house at first to have good
time in testing necromantic arts, which
in time worked on their imaginations
until they would utter incoherent sounds
and fall upon the ground writhing in
agonies. Then the doctors gravely pro-
nounced them bewitched, as they now
attribute to malaria diseases they cannot
understand. These children were ex-
hibited free of charge; they walked
through the village or burst out in
church with some remarkable cry. And
finally, when asked who were influencing
them, they pointed out the supposed
witches, like Sarah Good and Sarah
Osborne. The accused grew in number.
Paris was Jealous in his denunciation of
witchcraft, his enemies became the en-
emies of the "aflicted children" and
family quarrels all produced their VIC
Tins. The Boston Judges arrived and
were convinced, the belief spread and
was accepted everywhere, and execu-
tions followed each other until the death
of a woman like Rebecca Nurse and of
man with the excellent character of
Giles Corey, and the courage of few
A.,1or,nr ahoa1xal L. I,
wave until May, 1893, when $50 persons
accused of witchcraft were discharged.
Treating the subject generally, the
speaker said that the belief in WITCH
craft was one of the most universal traits
of the human mind. 1t was prevalent
among the Greeks, Romans, Jews and
early Christians. In Germany during
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
100,000 persons were executed in 100
years for witchcraft. At Toulouse. in
France, 400 died at single execution.
in Geneva 500 in three months, and one
Judge boasted that he had condemned
800 persons for the same cause. Luther
condemned witches, and so did John
Wesley among the Methodists in the
eighteenth century. Every witch ex-
ecuted at Salem was executed under
a law of JamesI. Supported by popular
opinion, by the traditions of the past,
and openly by men like Cotton Mather.
and men with the truthfulness of dispo-
sition, the vigor of intellect, and the
penetrating judgment of Mathew Hale.
it was wonder, the speaker thought,
that Salem witchcraft did so little harm.
"Viewed in this light" he concluded.
"there is nothing in all this to make us
think less reverently of the Puritan
fathers