Part 26

Though members of the accusing circle had been demonstrative for several weeks, and probably had attracted to their bedsides or homes nearly every person in the town who could move abroad, yet, at the time of her examination, Mrs. Nurse had not been to see any of them. Her age and infirmities alone might well have excused her. But when asked why she had not visited the sufferers, she added to a statement of her years and debility, that "by reason of _fits_ that she formerly used to have," she had not been to see them. Remembrance of her own past fits--not recent--not impending fits--but fits which "she _formerly_ used to have," deterred her from going to the presence of the fit-afflicted. The question was repeated thus: "_Why_ did you never visit these afflicted persons?" _Ans._ "Because I was afraid _I should have fits, too_." Why afraid of such result? Obviously she felt a secret apprehension that her coming in contact with emanations from these mysteriously fit-afflicted ones, or into close sympathy with them, would bring upon herself again such fits as "she formerly used to have." From this comes forth spontaneously the inference that she suspected that the nature and source of her own former fits, and of those then transpiring in youthful forms, were so nearly allied, that under the general law which makes like produce its like, she was liable to have again generated within herself, in her old age, such sufferings as she had experienced some time in previous years. In our view she was correct in her supposition that she herself was constitutionally liable to just such handlings as the jumping-jack girls were receiving. Her own fears bespeak the probability that Mrs. Nurse was very impressible by mind not her own--that she was highly mediumistic; and we ascribe her persecution to her impressibility. Natural law led to designation of both this woman and her sisters as the devil's covenanted servants. Their creed blinded her persecutors to moral perceptions in certain emergencies, and made them reason falsely concerning the source and purport of spectral data. The presumed mediumistic properties of her mother, together with her own apprehension that presence with the girls might bring renewal of her own old fits, indicate that she probably was quite mediumistic. There is, however, no clear indication that she was at any time so far developed as to see or hear spirits or specters, nor that her own selfhood ever yielded up to another's use her physical organs of speech or action.

Mr. Parris, who, by request from the magistrates, took minutes of the questions and responses at the trial of Mrs. Nurse, states that the tumult in court was very disturbing, and intimates that it was difficult to furnish a very reliable account of the transactions. Also Mrs. Nurse was quite deaf and otherwise infirm, so that it is doubtful whether she always correctly understood the questions put to her, or that she held her mental faculties under such control as enabled her to give pertinent answers at all times. She is reported as expressing belief that the accusing girls were "not acting against their wills." Therein, if she was correctly understood, she differed from the court and most beholders of the children. Then the court remarked, "If you think it is not unwillingly, but by design, you must look upon them as murderers." Probably all others made that inference, and yet the accused did not. She distinctly denied that she looked upon them as _murderers_, and only called them "distracted." Crazy, and yet voluntary, seems to have been the view she took of the girls; they were voluntary, but not responsible actors. Their own wills, guided by their own intellects in disordered condition, produced the fearful allegations. This was her charitable view.

The power of human will to resist fits like those which the afflicted endured is brought up for consideration when we find enfeebled Mrs. Nurse afraid that visiting the suffering girls might induce recurrence of such fits as she "formerly used to have." She seems to have surmised the probable existence of such contagion in the air surrounding the sufferers as in her weak state she might be unable to ward off; and it is possible that memories of her own success when she was strong, in baffling fit-producers may have persuaded her that young persons possess power to withstand such operators, whether intelligent or merely physical, even though the old may not.

What human wills can do deserves most careful notice, and was well illustrated in the case of little Elizabeth Parris. She was only nine years old, and was one of the first, if not the very first, to be distressed by fits and pinchings at the Village,--was the one whom Tituba loved, and was specially unwilling, and yet was forced, to pinch. Upham says, "She seems to have performed a leading part in the first stages of the affair, and must have been a child of remarkable precocity." Drake, in vol. iii., Appendix, says, "Parris appears to have been very desirous of preventing his daughter Elizabeth from participating in the excitement at the village. She was sent by her father, at the commencement of the delusion, to reside at Salem, with Captain Stephen Sewall. While there, the captain and his wife were much discouraged in effecting a cure, as she continued to have sore fits. Elizabeth said that the great Black-man came to her and told her, that if she would be ruled by him, she should have whatsoever she desired, and go to a _golden city_. She related this to Mrs. Sewall, who immediately told the child it was the devil, and he was a liar, and bade her tell him so if he came again; which she did accordingly.... The devil ... unaccustomed in those days to experience such resistance ... never troubled her afterwards." It is generally true, that if one strenuously resist the visitings of any spirit, whether it be Gabriel or Beelzebub, the spirit cannot long maintain close access. If the account just given, relating to Elizabeth Parris, be correct, she both saw and heard what she, the actual and unsophisticated observer of his form and features, called the "black man,"--who, as Mather states clairvoyants generally say, "resembles an Indian." But Mrs. Sewall, adopting the usage of the time, ignorantly called this semblance of an Indian "THE DEVIL." Yes, the little girl, after her removal from home and _The Circle_, and no doubt without young confederates, continued to have sore fits, and also to see and to hear with her inner organs of sense during quite a long time. "The captain and his wife were much discouraged in effecting a cure." The discouragement shows that the process of cure was slow and prolonged; eventually, however, the desired result was reached. The remedy is indicated. Will-power wrought out the cure. The patient's own will was aroused and armed with a resolute purpose to close up, and to keep constantly and firmly closed, her own spirit loopholes through which only could she see or hear the black man, or be influenced by him. A strong will, steadily set against the entrance of a disembodied spirit, or against perception of such, generally, though not always, effects its purpose. The wills of companions and advisers, if working in harmony with the resisting one, greatly increase its resisting power. Mrs. Sewall, and the captain too, no doubt kept their wills set against the visiting black man, till will-force generated an aura whose outgoing waves he could not breast, and by which the girl's inner perceptives were firmly bandaged and made dormant. Were the fits and visions which the isolated child continued to have for a time after she was sent from home nothing other than her own voluntary pranks and feignings? She was not author of them. The black man, or Indian, then acted through and upon her till it was no longer in his power to perform mighty works there because of unbelief, which had grown up and hardened into an impervious wall of seclusion.

Knowledge, gained by our personal observation in 1857, enables us to state distinctly that the late Professor Agassiz, a man strong in body, mind, and will, (while arrangements were being made for himself and several associate professors for an investigation of spirit manifestations at the Albion in Boston,) demanded for himself at the very outset, and was granted, exemption from obligation to sit in a circle. Through all the sessions which followed he kept most of the time on his feet, walking vigorously back and forth, and manifesting symptoms of great uneasiness. We then had heard that he formerly had been mesmerized, and therefore suspected that he feared that if he sat quietly down in the presence of mediums, he "should have fits too." His own account of his experiences under the hands of Rev. Chauncy Hare Townshend we have given at length in a recent work, published by Colby & Rich, Boston, entitled "Agassiz and Spiritualism." We now gladly use what seems fitting occasion to state our own belief, that his demand for personal exemption from compliance with a rule which it was customary, fair, and important to enforce upon every person present at a seance, and that his restlessness and disturbing movements all sprung from a motive much more in harmony with the high character and principles of that illustrious man, than are disparaging ones which have often been ascribed to him. In our judgment, _self-protection_ was his motive, and not design to disturb harmony, and thus frustrate manifestations. His former experience had taught him that even over his firm mental resistance another's mind had entered his body and taken it out from under his own control; therefore he well might apprehend that, if not very cautious, he again "might have fits," or might become "a Saul among prophets."

We have already substantially said that the blinding, infuriating, and bloodthirsty beliefs of former days are perhaps in no case more distinctly and deplorably manifested than in the lawless, barbarous treatment to which good Rebecca Nurse was subjected by a court and people who sought to do, and believed that they were doing, acceptable service to God, or, at least, offensive service to the devil. Spectral evidence against her, and that alone, was allowed to outweigh the merits of a long and beneficent life. The jury first brought her in _not_ guilty. This verdict, surprising the court, induced it to express apprehension that the jurors had not given due weight to certain expressions which the prisoner had uttered; whereupon _the jury itself requested permission_ to retire and hold further deliberation; and even such a privilege was granted them! They retired, reversed their verdict, pronounced her _guilty_, and she was sentenced to be hanged. Afterward the governor of the province granted her reprieve; and yet he soon revoked his own clement act. Probably neither jury, nor the governor, was convinced that she was guilty of the crime charged; nevertheless, both were forced by popular demand to let the reputation and life of this eminently good woman fall a sacrifice before infatuation and frenzy which the erroneous creed of the times engendered.

MARY EASTY,

a woman of strong character, good common sense, and capable of comprehending both the dangers besetting any one then accused of witchcraft, and also the purport and bearings of such questions as the court was accustomed to ask, is presented in the following account.

"The examination of Mary Easty, at a court held at Salem Village, April 22, 1692, by the Wop. John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin.

"At the bringing in of the accused, several fell into fits. 'Doth this woman hurt you?' Many mouths were stopt, and several other fits seized them. Abigail Williams said it was Goody Easty, and she had hurt her; the like said Mary Walcot and Ann Putnam. John Jackson said he saw her with Goody Hobbs.

"'What do you say; are you guilty?' _Ans._ 'I can say before Jesus Christ I am free.' _Response._ 'You see these accuse you.' _Ans._ 'There is a God.'

"'Hath she brought the book to you (the accusing girls)?' Their months were stopt.

"'What have you done to these children?' _Ans._ 'I know nothing.'

"'How can you say you know nothing, when you see these tormented and accuse you?' _Ans._ 'Would you have me accuse myself?' 'Yes, if you be guilty. How far have you complied with Satan whereby he takes this advantage of you?'

"'Sir, I never complied: but prayed against him all my days. I have no compliance with Satan in this. What would you have me do?'

"'Confess, if you be guilty.'

"'I will say it, if it was my last time: I am clear of this sin.'

"'Of what sin?'

"'Of witchcraft.'

"(To the children.) 'Are you certain this is the woman?'

"Never a one could speak for fits.

"By and by, Ann Putnam said that was the woman: it was like her; 'and she told me her name.'

"(The court.) 'It is marvelous to me that you should sometimes think they are bewitched and sometimes not, when several confess that they have been guilty of bewitching them.'

"'Well, sir, would you have me confess what I never knew?'

"Her hands were clenched together, and then the hands of Mercy Lewis were clenched.

"'Look: now your hands are open, her hands are open. Is this the woman?'

"They made signs, but could not speak. But Ann Putnam, (and) afterwards Betty Hubbard, cried out, 'Oh, Goody Easty, Goody Easty, you are the woman!'

"'Put up her head; for while her head is bound, the necks of these are broken.'

"'What do you say to this?'

"'Why, God will know.'

"'Nay, God knows now.'

"'I know he does.'

"'What did you think of the actions of others before your sisters came out? Did you think it was witchcraft?'

"'I cannot tell.'

"'Why, do you not think it is witchcraft?'

"'It is _an evil spirit_; but whether it be witchcraft I do not know.'

"Several said she brought them the book, and then they fell into fits.

"Salem Village, March 24, 169-1/2.

"Mr. Samuel Parris, being desired to take in writing the examination of Mary Estie, hath delivered it as aforesaid.

"'Upon hearing the aforesaid, and seeing what we did then see, together with the charge of the persons then present, we committed said Mary Easty to their Majesty's jail.

"JOHN HATHORNE, } "JONATHAN CORWIN, } _Assists_.'"

Among the records of examinations and trials for witchcraft in 1692 we have met with none other more commendable in its apparent spirit on both sides, and in its continuous decorum, than the above; none other, also, which reveals more clearly extreme depth of public conviction that the prevalent witchcraft creed was sound to the core, and belief that spectral evidence alone might legally prove the crime charged. From aught that appears, there was something pertaining to Mrs. Easty, probably her whole general character and her intellect, which held back both court and spectators from rudeness in treatment of her, and even frequently tied up the tongues of the accusing girls. The spectacle presented by that examination was most rare and wonderful. We feel, when reading the records, that magistrates, populace, and the accusers, all--all longed for her acquittal; that none desired to, because none did accuse her of anything but having been seen as an apparition, and of being the cause of the fits which the girls were enduring. The girls named her as the cause of their fits, but seemingly with less alacrity than they did most others in like circumstances. But sympathy and respect must yield before belief; her fit-producing emanations at that day proved her to have covenanted to serve the devil. Having done that, she was _witch_, and therefore must die.

Her clear head perceived that the sufferings of the girls must owe their existence to some occult power outside of themselves, and ascribed it to "an evil spirit." Such an origin, however, did not prove to her satisfaction that the doings were witchcrafts, that is, acts performed either at the instigation or by aid of some mortal who was in covenant with the devil. She was enough in advance of her times to suspect that a spirit might work upon and among men without having formed such connection with a mortal ally as would prove one's operations to be witchcrafts. She perceived that the girls were wrought upon by some spirit, and she deemed it an evil one.

This noble woman was wife of Isaac Easty of Topsfield, fifty-eight years old, and mother of seven children. After her conviction and sentence, and when hope of escaping the dire penalty had fled, she addressed an admirable letter to those then in power. The same inborn susceptibilities which made her a victim may also have permitted a free influx of uplifting power which raised her above narrow, selfish, and domestic views, and prompted her, in moods generous and lofty, to appeal, in behalf of the whole people of the land, for a stop in the course which the civil authorities were pursuing. We judge the letter to be her own production, and deem it indicative of good mental powers and of elevated philanthropy.

"_The humble petition of Mary Easty unto His Excellency Sir William Phips, and to the honored Judge and Bench now sitting in judicature in Salem, and the reverend Ministers, humbly showeth_, That, whereas your poor and humble petitioner, being condemned to die, do humbly beg of you to take it into your judicious and pious consideration, that your poor and humble petitioner, knowing my own innocency, blessed be the Lord for it! and seeing plainly the wiles and subtilty of my accusers by myself, cannot but judge charitably of others that are going the same way of myself if the Lord steps not mightily in. I was confined a whole month upon the same account that I am condemned now for, and then cleared by some of the afflicted persons, as some of Your Honors know. And in two days' time I was cried out upon (by) them, and have been confined, and now am condemned to die. The Lord above knows my innocency then, and likewise does now, as at the great day will be known to men and angels. I petition Your Honors not for my own life, for I know I must die, and my appointed time is set; but, the Lord he knows it is, that if it be possible, no more _innocent blood_ may be shed, which undoubtedly cannot be avoided in the way and course you go in. I question not but Your Honors do to the utmost of your powers in the discovery and detecting of witchcraft and witches, and would not be guilty of innocent blood for the world. But _by my own innocency I know you are in the wrong way_. The Lord in his infinite mercy direct you in this great work, if it be his blessed will, that no more innocent blood be shed! I would humbly beg of you that Your Honors would be pleased to examine these afflicted persons strictly, and keep them apart some time, and likewise to try some of these confessing witches; I being confident there is several of them has belied themselves and others, as will appear, if not in this world, I am sure in the world to come, whither I am now agoing. I question not but you will see an alteration in these things. They say, myself and others having made a league with the devil, we cannot confess.... The Lord above, who is the searcher of all hearts, knows, as I shall answer it at the tribunal seat, that I know not the least thing of witchcraft: therefore I cannot, I dare not belie my own soul. I beg Your Honors not to deny this my poor humble petition from a poor, dying, innocent person. And I question not but the Lord will give a blessing to your endeavors."

Calef says, that, "when she took her last farewell of her husband, children, and friends," she "was, as is reported by them present, as serious, religious, distinct, and affectionate as could well be expressed, drawing tears from the eyes of almost all present." We can readily credit that account to its fullest possible import; for her deportment and language, throughout all the scenes in which she is presented, bespeak a strong, clear, discriminating intellect, a true and brave heart, elevated and generous sentiments, firm faith in God, and broad charity toward man. A most welcome child found entrance to some bright home above when her tried spirit gained release from its mortal form.

SUSANNA MARTIN.

The person bearing the above name was a widow residing in Amesbury, who had been tried for witchcraft more than twenty years before, and therefore obviously in 1692 was well along in life. Her answers in court, however, bespeak a prompt, self-possessed, shrewd, and seemingly merry prisoner. A few of her replies, together with the questions which elicited them, are as follows:--

"Ann Putnam threw her glove at her in a fit. 'What do you laugh at?' said the court. _Ans._ 'Well I may at such folly.'

"'Is this folly to see these so hurt?' 'I never hurt man, woman, or child.'

"'What do you think ails them?' 'I do not desire to spend my judgment upon it.' 'Do you think they are bewitched?' 'No; I do not think they are.' 'Well, tell us your thoughts about them.' 'My thoughts are mine own when they are in; but when they are out they are another's.' 'Who do you think is their master?' 'If they be dealing in the black art, you may know as well as I.' 'How comes your appearance just now to hurt these?' 'How do I know?' 'Are you not willing to tell the truth?' 'He that appeared in Samuel's shape can appear in any one's shape.'"