NEW CHAPTERS IN THE WARFARE OF SCIENCE. 13 



to occur to any one that a bitter old feud between the Rev. Mr. 

 Parris and the family of the accused might have prejudiced the 

 children, and directed their attention toward the woman. No ac- 

 count was made of the fact that her life had been entirely blame- 

 less ; and yet, in view of the wretched insufficiency of proof, the 

 jury brought in a verdict of not guilty. As they brought in this 

 verdict, all the children began to shriek and scream, until the 

 court committed the monstrous wrong of causing her to be in- 

 dicted anew. In order to warrant this, the judge referred to one 

 perfectly natural and harmless expression made by the woman 

 when under examination. The jury at last brought her in guilty. 

 She was condemned ; and, having been brought into the church 

 heavily ironed, was solemnly excommunicated and delivered over 

 to Satan by the minister. Some good sense still prevailed, and 

 the Governor reprieved her ; but ecclesiastical pressure and popu- 

 lar clamor were too powerful. The Governor was induced to re- 

 call his reprieve, and she was executed, protesting her innocence 

 and praying for her enemies.* 



Another typical case was presented. The Rev. Mr. Burroughs, 

 against whom considerable ill will had been expressed, and whose 

 petty parish quarrel with the powerful Putnam family had led to 

 his dismissal from his ministry, was named by the possessed as 

 one of those who plagued them, one of the most influential among 

 the afflicted being Ann Putnam. Mr. Burroughs had led a blame- 

 less life, the only thing ever charged against him by the Putnams 

 being that he insisted strenuously that his wife should not go 

 about the parish talking of her own family matters. He was 

 charged with afflicting the children, convicted, and executed. At 

 the last moment he repeated the Lord's Prayer solemnly and 

 fully, which it was supposed that no sorcerer could do, and this, 

 together with his straightforward Christian utterances at the exe- 

 cution, shook the faith of many in the reality of diabolical pos- 

 session. 



Ere long it was known that one of the girls had acknowledged 

 that she had belied some persons who had been executed, and 

 especially Mr. Burroughs, and that she had begged forgiveness ; 

 but this for a time availed nothing. Persons who would not con- 

 fess were tied up and put to a sort of torture which was effective 

 in securing new revelations. 



In the case of Giles Cory the horrors of the persecution culmi- 

 nated. Seeing that his doom was certain, and wishing to preserve 

 his family from attainder and their property from confiscation, 

 he refused to plead. He was therefore pressed to death, and, 

 when in his last agonies his tongue was pressed out of his mouth, 

 the sheriff with his walking-stick thrust it back again. 



* See Drake, " The Witchcraft Delusion in New England," vol. iii, p. 34 et seq. 



