The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1930-10-03
HISTORY
MYSTERIES
unsoIved Riddles That Still Puzzle
Authorities Here and Abroad -
Why Were the Witches
Burned?

"Ho was responsible for the be-
w ginning of the "witchcraft ma
mia" which spread over the Massachu-
setts colony in the latter part of the
Seventeenth century, as result of
which nineteen innocent persons were
executed and hundreds imprisoned
and tortured?
No one has ever been able satisfac-
torily to explain this phenomenon,
save on the ground of religious hys-
terra, founded upon the line from
Exodus which states "Thou shalt not
permit witch to live? But the real
beginning of the American witchcraft
delusion has never been discovered,
except for the fact that in 1892 Rev.
Samuel Paris noted that his daughter
Elizabeth, aged nine, and his niece,
Abigail Williams, aged eleven, were
"acting strangely" as he phrased it.
The children developed the habit of
creeping under tables, uttering pecu-
liar noises and otherwise disturbing
the calm of the Puritan settlement
peculiarities which would hardly be
noticed at the present time but which
the ColOniSts considered as manifes-
tations of the power of the devil.
In view of the general belief in
wltchcraft, supported by the decisions
of some of the greatest legal authori-
ties of England implying the existence
of witchcraft and indicating the va
rious degrees with which it might be
practiced. the young girls were not
punished for mischievous conduct, but
were pitied as the victims of the evil
one and urged to give the names of
the humans whe had acted as the
emissaries of Satan. Finally, after
continued pressure from their elders,
they blamed an Indian slave named
Tituba; Goody Osborn, bed-ridden
woman whose mind was afflicted by
many troubles, and Sarah Grand. a
forlorn and friendless creature who
was looked upon as being little better
than a vagrant.
After a prolonged examination of
the children, Doctor Griggs, a local
physician, declared that they were not
suffering from any ordinary or ply
steal aiment but that they were pos
sessed by the devil, undoubtedly pro-
jected by the persons whom they
named" Viewing the whole matter in
the light of present-day knowledge, 1t
Is practically certain that the three
women had had nothing to do with
the strange" actions of the children,
but the public mind was so super
stitious and susceptible at the time
that almost the entire settlement lent
willing ears to the story of the pos
sessed ones" and, In March, 1892. the
preliminary trial of the suspected
witches was held.
AS was only natural, the accused
did not receive fair treatment NO
counsel was allowed to plead for them
and the judge even bullied them In or
der to force confession of their deal
ings with Satan. The children assert
ed that they were in intense pain
whenever they looked at the witches
and that they had also been choked,
beaten and pinched by the three WON
en- In order to make them more amen
able TO the mandates Of the evil one.
Who prompted this evidence or
through what delusion 1t had become
fixed In their mind, the writer's on
| the witchcraft period at Salem have
never been able to throw any light
save that it was probably founded on
nothing more than a childish fond
ness. for holding the center Of the
stage, coupled by the ideas which had
been literally forced upon them by
their elders.
But their account of the witch
craft" was believed and the excite
ment it caused spread like forest
fire. Hundreds of persons of both
sexes were accused of having had In
tercourse with Satan and were thrown
into prison. Nineteen were hanged
one, an aged man, was pressed TO
death, and two more died in prison
before the witchcraft madness had run
its course.
Finally, the Colonists awoke to the
horror of their delusion and bitterly
repented their stringent measures tc
put down the forces of darkness" as
they were alluded to, but 1t was long
time before the public mind entirely
recovered from It's witchcraft par.
alysis, apparently induced by nothing
more than the strange actions of two
children.
"a by the Wheeler syndicate.l