54 



Some of tliera greA? up licentious in their habits, and all of 

 them appear to have sought obscurity. Their Avhole course, as 

 seen in their depositions, discloses much malignancy, and their 

 ignorance was so great, that of the eight accusing girls, six of 

 them signed their names with a cross. 



It was in the latter end of February, 1692, that the daugh- 

 ter of Mr. Parris, named Elizabeth, aged 9 years, together with 

 his niece, Abigail Williams, aged 12 years, were taken sick and 

 received such attention from Mrs. Parris as their case seemed 

 to require. But growing worse under her treatment, and not 

 being able to ascertain what their disease was, application was 

 made to their family physician. Dr. Gregg, living in the Vil- 

 lage. He visited them, and observed that they were afflicted 

 with a sad distemper, the name of which he could not tell. 

 Other physicians were called in, in consultation, when one of 

 them gave it as his opinion, that the children were under an 

 evil hand. It is probable that it was Dr. Gregg that supposed 

 the girls bewitched, for he had expressed the same opinion of 

 many of his patients when he could not understand their dis- 

 ease, many times before. It is highly probable that the opin- 

 ion of these physicians went far to form the belief of not only 

 Parris, but also of his ministerial friends, in the existence of 

 •witchcraft in the village. Mr. Parris appears to have been 

 much astonished, when the physicians informed him, that his 

 daughter and niece were, no doubt, under an evil hand. There 

 is evidence that Mr. Parris endeavored to keep the opinion of 

 the physicians a secret, at least, till he could determine what 

 course to pursue. At this time, Mary Sibley, a member of his 

 church, gave directions to John Indian how to find out, who 

 bewitched Betsy Parris and Nabby Williams. This was done 

 without the knowledge of Parris. The means used to make 

 this discovery, was to make a cake of rye meal, with the urine 

 of the children, and bake it in the ashes, and give it to a dog to 

 eat. Similar disgusting practices appear to have been used to 

 discover and kill witches, during the whole period of the 

 delusion. 



On the 27th of March, 1692, Mr Parris called together his 

 church, when he presented testimony against the error of sister 

 Mary Sibley, in giving direction to John Indian in an unwar- 

 rantable way, to find out witches. Upon Mary Sibley's mani- 

 festing sorrow and grief for her conduct, the brethren of the 

 church received satisfaction. By the diabolical means thus 

 used by Mary Sibley, Mr. Parris supposed the devil had been 

 raised, and seeing the apparent distressed condition of his 

 family, and not knowing what course to pursue, requested some 



