The Arkansaw traveler., 1886-02-13
witehcraft in the American Colonies

Witehcraft in the American Colonies Inter Ocean.l
 The belief in witches and witchcrafl was very general in early colonial times There was much excitement in England during the reign of King James l. on the subject, and the excitement naturally spread to this country. In Virginia there were several instances of witchcraft which were disposed of by ducking the victims. In Pennsylvania, we fad the only witchcraft case recorded in I683 A woman vas tried, on perfectly trlual ev- idence, for bewitching COWS and geese. The council, presided over by Penn, found the woman not guilty according to the ter ns of the indictme 1t, but guilty of common fame as a witch; and she was bound in the sum of LIoo to good behavior. In the colonies lnere were re- puted witches, but only in Massachusetts was the extreme measure of putting them to death adopted. Previous to the ex- traordinary excitement about the Salem witches there had been several executions oa this charge in the Massachusetts colo nies. The latest instance had been the hanging of an Irish woman in Boston in I688 accused of bewitching four children. During the winter of I6oI o2 company, consisting of young girls, was in the habit of meeting at the house of the clergy man, MT. Paris. of Salem Village, to practice the arts of necromancy and magic. They soon began to exhibit strange actions, falling into contortions and spasms The village physician be ing applied to, said the children were be- witched, and council of clergymen held on the subject, agreed with him. When the children were questioned they ac- cused three women, one of them an In- dian, of having bewitched them. These persons were brought before the magis
 trates for examination March I, 1902
 The excitement in the village became very great, and spread itself throughout all the neighboring country; other chil- dren became affected and many persons, at first only the old and poor, and friend less, but afierward some of the most up- right and respectable persons in the town, who endeavored to stem the tide of pop ular delusion by protesting against 1t, were accused of being witches. A special court was opened the first week in June for the trial of the cases, and several sessions were held, the last open ing September 9. Nineteen persons-six of them men, including one clergyman, and thirteen women-were hanged dur ing the four months following upon the first meeting of the court. Another man, who stood mute at his trial, refusing to plead, was subjected to the penalty of peine forte ct dure, that is, was pressed to death with heavy weights placed upon his body. A reaction of public senti- ment now set in, and though another court was held during the next January, at which three persons were condemned to death none of these was executed, and in May the governor set free all the ac. cused persons then in jail to the number of one hundred and fifty. Clergymen and judges who had been, year before, eager for the punishment of the witches, now confessed themselves at fault, and repented the share they had taken in the prosecutions. No similar excitement ever recurred in any of the colonies.