The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-01-22
a STRANGE PROPOSITION.

There is movement on foot In Salem,
Mass, to erect q monument in honor of
the victims of the witchcraft craze
which swept over that town in 1892.
This is a singular proposition, and, if
carried out, the monument would stand
unique among human memorials. AS
the victims aforesaid were not particu-
larly deserving in themselves and never
did anything worthy of commemora-
ton, the monument could only stand as
a memorial of the folly. fanatioism and
injustice of those who prosecuted them
to death. Yet the latter were not, at
heart, bad people. They were simply
very narrow, very bigOted and blinded
by a superstition which prevailed ex-
tensively in that age.
The wltchcraft craze and the persecu-
ton and execution of alleged witches
were not confined to Salem. The same
superstition prevailed in England and
in different forms in continental coun-
tries. No doubt it found its way from
England to the colonies. Perhaps it had
its origin in the Old Testament injunc-
ton exodus Xxx, 1S): Thou shalt not
suffer witch to i've" There are traces
OF belief in witches during all the ages.
In 1884 Pope Innocent VIII issued bull
ordering the arrest of persons suspected
of witchcraft. In the fifteenth and six
teenth centuries hundreds of persons
were burned at the stake for this cause
in different countries of Europe. 1t was
a crime recognized by the laws of Eng
land for five hundred years. In 1897
twenty -four persons were burned as
witches at Aberdeen, Scotland, and
twenty-seven more in 1917. A great
many were hanged in England. Sir
Matthew Hale, now regarded as one of
the fathers of English Jurisprudence,
was firm believer in witchcraft and
tried many cases. AS late as 1855 Black
stone, author of the celebrated commen-
tarieS, wrote:
To deny the possibility. nay. acNual OK.
lstence OF witcbcraft and sorcery is at
once fatty to contradict the revealed word
of God In various passages both OF the Old
and New Testament; and the thing itself
is truth to which every nation in the
world hath, in it's time, borne testimony
or by prohibitOry laws which at least sup
pose the possibility of commerce with evil
spirlts.
Blackstone adds that "these acts con-
tinued in force until lately, to the terror
of all ancient females in the kingdom.
and many poor wretches were sacrificed
thereby to the prejudice of their neigh
bors, and their own illusions, not few
having, by some means or other. con-
fessed the fact at the gallows."
In view of the almost universal prev
alence of this belief and of severe penal
laws against witchcraft in other So
called civilized countries of that period,
it is not at all surprising that it should
have prevailed among the settlers in
the new world and have broken out in
the form of terrible persecution. In
| Judging of the PuritaDs who hanged
witches we must put ourselves in their
place. They cannot be judged by the
| light of the nineteenth century nor held
to the standard of modern ethics. They
thought they were doing God service.
Who shall say that much wrong and in
justice are not even now practiced under
the same delusionq Nor was the super
stition confined to the Puritans. Trials
for witchcrafJ occurred in Virginia and
North Carolina about the same time.
The outbreak i'm Salem was due to
charges brought against certain persons
by some young girls who claimed that
they were tortured and driven by the
Z
| Public sentiment among the colonists
| seemed to be in an inflammable state,
and, once begun, the charges ran like
wild fire. Any person who had grudge
against another could prove case of
witchcraft. Although most of the per-
sons convicted were of the common sort,
| there was one educated person, a
preacher, among the victims. This was
| the Rev. George Burroughs, who was
executed with others at Salem, August
| 10, 1899. He was arrested while preach
| ing. HIS trial, like all the rest, was
farce and the evidence against him of
| the most childish character. But, as in
| all the cases, the court was organized to
convict. On the day of his execution
Judge Sewall, of Boston, a member of
the court, wrote:
This day George BurrouRhs. JohnWillard,
| John Proctor, Martha Carrier and George
| Jacobs were executed at Salem. a very great
| number of spectators being present. Mr..
Cotton Mather was there MIR. Sims Hale.
| Noyes. Cheever etc. All of them said they
| were innocent, Carrier and all Mr.. Mather
| said they all died by a righteous sentence.
| MIR. Burroughs by his speech. prayer and
| presentation of his innocence did much to
| move unthinking persons, which occa aions
| their speaking hardly concerning his being
| executed.
The court which tried the alleged
witches was composed of nine persons,
and while they were not oil lawyers,
they were among the ablest men in the
colony and none stood higher in the
social scale. In all the cases tried the
testimony was of the most frivolous
and, from a legal standpoint, con-
temptible character. The accused were
treated with great severity and, really,
allowed no chance whatever for defense.
| They were convicted in advance. Twen-
ty-one persons. in all, were convicted
and hanged. Years afterward. when
the craze had passed and the people had
| Gonna IN their sepsea fhey oraatlv Il a..