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mentioned in court, but the accused making no cxjilnnatiou, the jury no longer hesitated toconvict. Tin* poor woman being iiiformril of the use which hud been made of her words, gave in « declaration t*-t)i«i court, that when she snid llobbs . aud her daughter were of her company, she meant no more than that i they worn prisoners a* well as her-' self, mid ought not lo be permitted to testify a gainst their fellow prisoners, mill that, being hard of hearing and Full of grief, she did I not know what the foreman of the jury said, and therefore hud no opportunity to explain her meaning. The governor, it it* said, aaw cause to grant u reprieve, but it met with violent opposition, and was recalled. On the next communion day, she was taken in ! chains to the meeting house, to bo formally excommunicated by Mr. , Noyes, her minister, nmf ivn* • Imaged with the rest on the 19th i of duly. “But her life and conver- i tuition had been such, that the j remombrance thereof, in n short; time after, wiped off nil the re-proocli occasioned by the. civil or ccclosinstisal sentence against her.At the trial of Surah Good, it is said tlmt one of the afflicted persons fell into a fit, ami, after recovery, cried out that the prisoner hud stabbed her and broke her knife in doing it; and a piece of the knife was found 0|on the afflicted person; but n young man declared, that, the dnv before, Jio broke that very knife and threw away the piece, this afflicted person being then present The court took so mush iiotilt;-o of this as to bid her tell no more lies, but went ou to use her a* a witness against other prisoners. When Surah liuod cflluo to be executed, Xnyes. her ininistor, urged her to confess, and told her she was a witch, and she knew she was a witch; to which she replied; ‘‘you are a liar -I am no more a witch thnu yon are a wizznrd, aud if you tako away my life, god will give you blood to drink. For many years aftor-wards, tlio people of Salem had n tradition, tluit the curse of this i»oor woman was verified, Mr.are five persons who have lately confessed themselves to lie witch*-*, and do accuse some of us of lieing along with them nt a -acrarnlt;*nt. since we were committed into close prison, which we know *.. I* ih-s. I wo of the five are Currier’s -ms: young men who won Id not .-omens ■ any thing till they tied them neck and heels, till the’ hloolt;i was ready to come out of their noses, and ii is credibly believed, nml re|*ortod 1 this was the occasion of making ,1110111 confess that which they never did, by reason they said one had been n witch njnontli, and another five weeks, ami that their mother hail made them so, who has been contiued here this nine weeks. My son, William Proctor, i when he was examined. Itecnu*e lie i would not confess that he iva guilty, when lie was iunocent, they tidl him neck and heels till the lt;blood gu-shod out nt his nose, and would have kept him so twenty- * four hours, if one more merciful . [than the rest had not taken pity' on him, and cause*! him to be uii-lmnnd. These actions ate very like tlio impish cruelties. They have already undone us in our estates, and that will not serve their tarns, without our innocent bio.*I. • If it vaunot lie granted that we can have our trials at Boston, we humbly lieg that yon would on-deavor to have these migintratea changed, and others in their room*;; begging also and beseeching you would l»C pleased to U hove, if not i all, some of yon at our trials,, hoping thereby you may be the j means of saving thlt;* shedding our innocent blood, desiring your, prayers to the lord in our Itehalf, | wo r*at your |«xr afflicted sor-: Yanis.When Proctor came to die, he, pleaded lianl for a little respite lt;if ; time, saying ho was not fit to die; 1 but it was refusal. He had re-, quested Vyes to prny with and for him, but that mis refused be. cause he would not confess himself a witch. His wife Iming pregnant. was reprieved.•John Willard, who was executed with the rest, at this time, was formerly employed as an officer iu arresting those accused of witch-Noyes having been choked to death craft; but I Kteumiug dissatisfied, liewith bl*K*lAt tho next ndjournmont of the court, oil the fifth of August, six persons were brought to trial and were condemned to be executed on the nineteenth of August, namely, John Proctor, Elizabeth, his wife, and John Willard, of .Salem village, George Jacobs, of Salem, Martha Carrier, of Andover, cud George Burroughs, of Wells, in the province of Maine.A short tirno before their trial, Proctor addressed a letter from the prison in Salem to the ministers of Boston, iu which he implored their intercession with tho governor in behalf of himself and the others who were Boon to bo tried for their lives. The inno-cency of our cause, ho said, “with tho oumity of our accusers, and our judges, aud jury, whom nothing but our innocent blood will servo their turn, having oondemnod us already l*ofore our trial*, being so much Incensed and enraged against us by tlio devil, make* us IkiI.I to l**g mid implore your favorable assistance of thiB our humbe petition to his excellency; that if it be our innocent blood may lie spared, which undoubtedly otherwise will Ih shed, if tin* lorn doth not mercifully step in. The magistrates, ministers, juries, nml all the people imgiuioral. being so mncli en-ragotpand incensed against us by the delusion of tho .lovil, wliioli wo can term no other, .by rowon we know in our own conscience wo are all innocent persons. Heredeclined the service, and was him self immediately after accused of boing a ivitch. He eseu|e*I as fains Nnelinn, about forty miles from Salem, but was taken and paid for tho forfeit of hi* diHobcdieuco and want of faith with his lifo.At the original examination of Marthn Carrier, two of her children had been tortnrod into n onn-feseion against her; but Cotton Mather says this evidence was not produced against tlm prisoner, at the trial, inonmueh as tln-ro was evidence enough to proceed upon. At the end of his report of her trial, this unhappy mau makes thefollowing “memorandum. This rampant hog. Martha Carryor, waa tho poreon. of%Jiom tho confession* of tho witches and of her own children, among tho rest, agreed that the devil had prouiisod hor, she should In* queen of Imll.'” The confession of her daughter, n child of seven years old, is still preserved.« I'UIVIThou Shull \.»i Haller n tlit'-ti 10 Uir. hMMlfrf. Clinunal Trill*.(I Minn'yl fi*u M ter/t, |“•. When tlilt;‘ tir.-it iiKjuiiy it made into the oircnmatanco* of niii'li as may lie under tho just Hiisnicion nf witchcrafts, we could wish tlmt there may In' admitted . ns little n» possible »( such noise, niiniumv, olid 0|snness, jib may too hastily expire them that are examined, and tlmt there may l* nothing used as a test for the trial of the suspected, the lawfulness whereof may bo doubted by the people of god; but that the directions given by such judicious writers as Perkins ami Bernard may bo observed.fi. Presumptions whereupon poisons may be committed, and, much more, convictions whereupon poisons may be condemned, as guilty of witchcrafts, ought certainly to lie more considerable than barely the accused person’s being represented by n spectre unto the afflicted; inasmuch af it is nu undoubted and a notorious thing, that a dieinon may, by god's |cr-. mission, appear, even to ill pur-i poses, iu the shape of an innocent,; yea and a virtuous man. Nor can J wo esteem alterations made in the sufferers, by a look or touch of the j accused, to lie an infallible eyi- j deuco of guilt, but frequently liable to l»e abused by the devil's legerdemain.7. We know not whether *oine ' remarkable affronts given the j devils, by oUl* disbelieving thosO : testimonies whose whole force ami strength is from thorn alone, may | not put a i»eriod unto the progress ; of the dreadful calamity liegnn ( upon us, iu the accusation of so many persons, whroof some, we; hope, are yet clear from the great ■ transgression laid to their charge, j“8. Nevertheless, wo cannot but j humbly recommend, unto the j government, the speedy and vigorous prosecutions, of such as have rendered themselves obnoxious, according to the directions given iu the laws of god, and the whole- I some statutes of the English nation, for the detection of witch-craft*.More attention was paid to the ' last article of this return than to j nuy of the otbors. The oxquiaite ! caution proposed received but little attention; the prosecutions1 were carried on with all possible vigor. Accordingly, when the court again met on tlm thirtieth of dune, hve women were brought to trail, namely, Sarah Good and lloltocca Nurse, of Salemn village. Snsnnnnh Martin, of Amesbury, Elizabeth How, of Ipswich, and Snrnb Wilder, of Tojiefield. They wore condemned, and exocuted on the nineteenth of duly. There »as no difficulty with nuy but Knhccca Nurse. She was a member of the church, aud of II good character; us to her the jury brought in a verdict of not cuilty. The* accusers made a great clamor, mid the court expressed much die* satisfaction. Tlmy said the jury must have disregarded the word* the prisoner used, when l«. remain witnesses, Mrs. Iloblis mid her' daughter, ap|Hm«*i| ng/iiust her, which wen*; what! do lliese |**i--solis give in evidence against me non' they used to come among us;'- which, in tile opinion of the court, ivifci .•• .1 I ,i *vit* i mooting. The jury ugiiiii retired, but could not tell how to bike liei against her, (the foreman a ward# said this,) ''till she had a farther opportunity to put her seuso upon them, if aho would take it; and the word* wore againricm.* toit uiTt in ictri.
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