The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-10-03
Witchcraft in Old Salem
Remarkable Persecution in the Days When People Be-
leved the Devil Took on Human Form

a witch to say the Lords prayer r
rectly: n II ID a matter Of record
that one woman. while under exam
nation. was put to this test. when 1t
was noticed that in n place she sub
mitted some words Of her own for
OF memory was considered. ever by
some learned Judges. as a decisive
proof of guilt. Even the trial Of
throwing Il witch into the water to see
whether she would sink or swim, was
once made in Connecticut.
The scene Of the witchcraft out
break of 1892 is an elevated knoll Of
no great extent. rising among the
shaggy hills and spongy meadows that
more thickly settled part of the town
of Danrers. Mass. formerly Salem
village. 1t is indeed a quiet little
neiGhborhood to have made SO much
noise in the world. Somehow. enter
prise avoids it. leaving it. as we see
1t today. cold and lifeless. The first
appearance OF everything is so peace
full. SO divested of all hurry OF excite
ment, as to suggest a hereditary calm
"a pastoral continued from genera
ton to generation. Then. as the pur-
pose which brought hin hither comes
into his mind. the visitor looks about
him in doubt whether this can really
be the locality of that tragedy.
Yes. here are the houses that were
standing when those event took place.
still solemnly concentrating them,
as If doomed to stand eternally. This
village street is the same old highway
through which the dreadful infection
spread from house to house into the
remote corners of ancient shire. UNI
til. as We read. there were forty men
of Andover that could raise the devil
as we'll as any astrologer. Here. too,
is the site of the old meeting house. in
which those amazing scenes. the
witchcraft examinations. took place.
A little farther on now unbuilt upon,
where the parsonage with the lean-to
chamber stood. The sunken outlines
of the collar are still to be seen. and
even some relics of the house itself
remain in the outbuildings attached to
the Wadsworth mansion. which over
looks the Witch Grounds" and which
was built in the same year that the
was in this Ministry House." as it
was then called. that the circle Of
young girls met. whose denunciations,
equivalent to the death warrant of the
accused person soon overspread the
land with desolation and woe: and it
was here that the alleged midnight
oonvocations of witches met to cele-
oAoSS eieit uiilOlN SdCTdHlentS, aHO 10
renew their solemn league and owe
nant with satan by inscribing their
names in his fatal book.
Hundreds of innocent persons we're
thrown into prison. while twenty were
executed. at the instance of some
young girls of the village. who went
into commissions. real or pretended, as
soon as they were confronted with
the prisoners at the bar. The con-
victions were had upon ''specter" evil
dence-that is to say. the strange an
stdered as proof positive of the GRIM
inal power Of witchcraft in the ac-
cused-shown. too. in open court
with which they stood charged. The
statute assumed that this power could
only proceed from a familiarity or
compact with the evil one. and punish
ed it with death. The evidence. how
ever. was of two KINDS: When inter-
rogated by the magistrates the girls
first gave their evidence calmly. like
ordinary witnesses to the criminal
acts. and then went into their spasms,
which all believed Wserd caused by the
prisoners. Their inceherent rawlings
and outcries were also taken as good
and valid testimony, and are so re-
corded.
These remarkable proceedings are
not. however. without a precedent.
The tragical story of Urban Grandier
develops the same characteristics. His
popularity AS a preacher having excit-
ed the envy of the monks, they insti-
gated some nuns to play the part of
persons possessed. and in their rom
vulsions to charge Grandier with be-
ing the cause of their evil visitation.
This horrible. though absurd charge
was sanctioned by Cardinal Richelieu
on grounds of personal dislike. Gran
dier was tried. condemned. and burnt
alive. April IS. 1854. more than half
a century earlier than the proceedings
occurring at Salem.