The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-05-16
Witchcraft in Eerly Days.

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Society observed forefahters' day with
q public meeting, held in the Hancock
Congregational Church. The special
feature was an address by John Fiske,
of Cambridge, on "The Salem Witch
craft" who spoke as follows:
"The sixteenth and seventeeth cen.
turies were the fourishing ages Of the
witchcraft doiusion. Witchcraft in
the early ages was considered one Z. !
tho greatest of crimes, tas much SO as |
murder, robbery, or any other serious
offense against the law, and the belief
in it was shared by tho whole human
race until the latter part Of the sew
enteenth century.
"In England in 1864 two women
were tried before Sir Matthew Hale,
charged With bewitching several girls
and a baby, and they were put to
death, for at that time the evidence
seemed perfectly rational. In 1915,
in Genoa, 500 peoyle were burned to
death on the charge Of witchcraft. It
was the proud boast of noted exc
cutioner in Northern Italy at that
time that in fifteen years he had as
sisted in burning 900 persons charged
with sorcery. In Scotland, between
1860 and 1900, 5000 persons were put
to death, an average Of 200 q year.
The last execution for witchcraft in
England took place in 1912, in Scot
land in 1922, in Germany in 1749 and
in Spain in 1881.
"Oa the whcle, it is remarkable
80 few were sentenced to death DUR
ing the sixty years after the settle
ment of Boston, there being but
twelve in all. The first case was that
of Margaret Jones Of Charlestown, in
1648. This woman had some advanced
ideas in regard to the practice of medi-
cine, curing by herbs, barks, etc., and
so gained tho enmity Of some of the
doctors. She was accused of being in
league with the devil, and was con-
victed and hanged. On the day of
her execution a terrific gale happened
in Connecticut, blowing down trees
and doing other damage, and this Gov.
Winthrop deemed evidence Of her
guilt.
In 1856 Mrs. Ann Hutchinson was
tried before Gov. Endicott, found
guilty and hanged on Boston Common.
In the next twenty or thirty years
there we're number of cases tried,
and, strange to say, number of those
charged with the crime we're acquitted.
John Bradstreet Of Rowley was ao-
cused of intimacy with the devil and
sentenced to pay fine or be whipped.
"A noted case was that Of woman
employed by the Goodwin family in
1888, in the fact that Cotton Mather
took an active interest in the case.
The woman confessed, thinking that
clemency would be shown her, but she
was hanged"
Prof. Fiske gave brief resume Of
Mather' life, and said that early mis-
torians had not done him justice, and
that his memory had been held up as
that Of one who, more than any other
man, stimulated the delusion Of witch
craft. This, the speaker said, was
not 80, and the first man to do him
justice was tie poet LoDgfellow, in
1853, and, later, William Frederic
Poole, the latter giving most accur-
ate view OF the case.
The speaker then came to the Salem
cases. He said that in 1892 the cir
cumstances favored an outbreak Of
witcboraft. Everything in Massaehu-
sets was going wrong; it was believed
that the devil was in their midst and
the reverscs in Indian wars and other
Affections had wrought the minds of:the
colonists up to high pitch.-Boston
Herald.