The Penguin Book of Witches (32 page)

14
.
Already in the span of one night the supposed witch conspiracy has grown from four people (Tituba, the two Sarahs, and the “black man” from Boston), to five, to nine.

15
.
Tituba concludes her dramatic confession, which involves riding through the night on a stick and making her mark in blood in the Devil’s book, by claiming that there are nine witches total, but she knows only a few of them. Some of them live in Boston, but some of them live “here in this town.” Recall that Perkins asserts that the identification of a witch by another confessed witch is very strong, nearly conclusive, evidence of guilt. Tituba has confessed, has confirmed the guilt of accused suspects, and has opened up speculation about the other members of the invisible diabolical conspiracy in their midst. The Puritans believed in “worlds of wonder,” invisible realms of spirit that cannot be perceived. It would come as no surprise to frustrated and scared Salem Villagers that evil spirits were operating in their midst. The accusations had come about only after careful consideration of all other possibilities, including prayers, fasting, and the consultation of medical professionals. Instead of creating circumstances by which the witch trials might be contained, such as the examination of suspects in private, the community has inadvertently crafted a scenario in which fears will be heightened.

THE SUSPICION OF MARTHA CORY, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 1692

1
.
Transcribed from an image of the original document in the University of Virginia’s online Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project, http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/archives/essex/eia/large/eia01-1.jpg.

2
.
Martha Cory seems to believe that her church membership, or her being a “Gospel woman,” should suffice to prove that she couldn’t possibly be a witch.

3
.
The direct transcription of testimony is occasionally interrupted by marginal comments on the goings-on in the examination room. In this case, the court reporter Ezekiel Cheever has interrupted her by calling her a liar, and Edward Putnam has chimed in as well.

4
.
Cheever and Putnam break into the proceedings again. From such interruptions we can glean to some extent the uncontrolled and combustible atmosphere that surrounded the examinations.

5
.
“All this assembly” is a vague assertion, but nevertheless creates a strong impression of a crowd being present for Martha Cory’s examination. At the very least John Hathorne, Ezekiel Cheever, Edward Putnam, Giles Cory, and several others who either sign the document or are named therein are present.

6
.
Martha Cory’s sarcasm! She’s saying that if one of the children knew what clothes she was wearing without having seen her, it must be because the child “was wiser than anybody.”

7
.
The collected assembly here also includes the afflicted little girls, who testify to a spirit seen whispering in Martha Cory’s ear.

8
.
Martha Cory urges the magistrates not to give credence to what “distracted children” say.

9
.
In response to Martha’s dismissal of them, the afflicted girls act out even more strongly.

10
.
“Improve” in this usage means “to disapprove as bad; to disallow; to reprove, rebuke; to blame, censure, condemn.” OED, 1899.

11
.
“Crossly” might be Henry Crosby, husband of Deliverance Cory, Giles Cory’s daughter by his first marriage. See Rosenthal,
Records
, 148.

12
.
Just the number of people referenced by name in this examination adds up to thirteen people. It wouldn’t take many more to make a small crowd.

13
.
Part of the spiritual trap confronted by accused witches during the Salem episode is that lying is a mortal sin. If Cory bows to the pressure being applied to her, she will have endangered her immortal soul. This steadfastness would lead many of the Salem accused who went to their deaths without confessing to be lionized as Christian martyrs by nineteenth-century dramatists. See Rosenthal,
Salem Story
.

14
.
Hathorne points out that inconstancy of opinions is a “note of distraction,” and that the girls’ very consistency in accusing her should give weight to their accusations.

15
.
Martha Cory laughs at the magistrates and ministers, having publicly questioned their authority. In doing so she is upending the social hierarchy in place in her culture. Like Sarah Good, Martha Cory’s error here is of attitude. Her unconcealed contempt renders her threatening, and in a symbol-ridden society such as hers, could itself be taken for a sign of diabolical influence.

16
.
An uncredited member of the assembly has suggested that Martha Cory should do as Tituba has done, that is, confess and then help them discover her confederates.

17
.
Tituba’s confession is explicitly alluded to as a rationale for the spread of accusations to others.

18
.
John Hathorne is being sneaky in his questioning. He has asked her how long she agreed to serve the Devil. Was it ten years? If she says no, then he can catch her out by saying, “Ah! So if it wasn’t ten years, how long was it?” By denying the question she will inevitably be answering the question in the affirmative.

THE ACCUSATION OF REBECCA NURSE, THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 1692

1
.
Norton,
In the Devil’s Snare
, 47.

2
.
Norton,
In the Devil’s Snare,
61.

3
.
Transcribed from an image of the original document in the University of Virginia’s online Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project. http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/archives/ecca/medium/ecca1072r.jpg.

4
.
An obsolete usage of “amazed,” defined by the OED as “driven stupid; stunned or stupefied, as by a blow; out of one’s wits.” OED, 1884.

5
.
Demon?

6
.
Though the accusations against Rebecca Nurse stemmed from children, Ann Putnam Jr. and Abigail Williams, it is the subsequent accusations from girls in their late teens like Elizabeth Hubbard and Mary Walcott that draw the serious attention of the court. See Norton,
In the Devil’s Snare,
63.

7
.
“Professor” can be understood to mean a professor of the faith. Rebecca Nurse was a covenanted church member in Salem Town, though she attended meetings in Salem Village because it was closer to her home. The Rebecca Nurse homestead in Danvers, Massachusetts, remains extant and is open for tours in the summertime.

8
.
Hathorne wants to know if Rebecca Nurse could be a witch without knowing it.

9
.
And.

10
.
In the aftermath of the Salem panic, apologists would insist that the girls had indeed been bewitched but were mistaken in their attribution of who was responsible.

11
.
Belie, that is, tell a lie against myself.

12
.
Shorthand.

13
.
“Praetermitted” means “passed by, disregarded, overlooked; omitted.” OED, 2007. The recorder is remarking that the scene of Rebecca Nurse’s examination was so wild and noisy that much of the commentary was impossible to hear, and therefore left out of the court record.

WARRANT FOR THE APPREHENSION OF RACHEL CLINTON, WITH SUMMONS FOR WITNESSES, AND OFFICER’S RETURN, TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 1692

1
.
Rachel Clinton’s earlier witch trials and overall unfortunate life receive thorough treatment in John Putnam Demos’s
Entertaining Satan
. She is notable not only for her dramatic plunge down the class hierarchy but also for her tendency to express her anger in physical confrontation.

2
.
Transcribed from an image of the original document in the University of Virginia’s online Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project. http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/archives/Suffolk/ small/S001A.jpg.

3
.
“Unlike the Salem Village arrest warrants, bond (‘recognizance’) for prosecution is posted here. Such bonds were a normal part of the legal process in Massachusetts Bay, and why bond was not required in the original cases is a matter of speculation. However, it may be that if bond had been required at the outset there would have been fewer complaints and the spread of the episode might not have occurred.” See Rosenthal,
Records
, 164.

DEPOSITION OF THOMAS KNOWLTON JR. VERSUS RACHEL CLINTON

1
.
Transcribed from a document in Witchcraft Collection, unbound manuscripts, #4620, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.

2
.
Probably “scolding.”

3
.
Pricked? Pinched? The subsequent use of “pins” suggests “pricked.”

4
.
Probably “Rachel.”

BRIDGET BISHOP, TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 1692

1
.
Norton,
In the Devil’s Snare,
112–13.

2
.
Transcribed from an image of the original document in the Univer- sity of Virginia’s online Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project. http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/archives/ecca/medium/ecca1125r.jpg.

3
.
Bridget Bishop sustained a conviction years earlier for arguing with her second husband, Thomas Oliver. See Norton,
In the Devil’s Snare,
359, note 2. Norton also notes that previous accounts of the Salem crisis conflate Bridget Bishop of Salem Town with another “Goody Bishop,” whose first name was Sarah, and who lived in Salem Village. Reportedly, the two are unconnected.

4
.
Hathorne is challenging the accused to prove she isn’t a witch without her own knowledge.

5
.
Parris makes careful note of additional commentary interjected into the testimony by bystanders.

THE NOTORIOUS GILES CORY, TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 1692

1
.
Norton,
In the Devil’s Snare,
277.

2
.
Ibid.

3
.
Robert Calef,
More Wonders of the Invisible World
, quoted in Samuel Drake, ed.,
The Witchcraft Delusion in New England, vol. 3
(Roxbury, MA, 1866), 45.

4
.
Excerpted from Robert Calef,
Salem Witchcraft
(Salem: Cushing and Appleton, 1823), 310–12. The original documents have since been lost, and the spelling was modernized by the 1823 publication.

5
.
Another tricky question, probably from Hathorne. He’s suggesting that Giles Cory signed his soul over to the Devil willingly, without the Devil’s even having to tempt him.

6
.
The recorder has slipped into third person here. Thomas Gold is saying that he heard Giles Cory say that he knew enough against his wife, Martha Cory, “that would do her business.” Martha was Giles’s third, and much younger, wife, and had already been jailed as a witch.

7
.
“Hipped,” that is, “having the hip injured or dislocated; lamed in the hip; hip-shot.” OED, 1898.

8
.
To kill himself, which Hathorne goes on to point out is a mortal sin, and therefore indicative that Cory was open to such sins.

EXAMINATIONS OF ABIGAIL HOBBS IN PRISON, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 1692

1
.
Though George Burroughs was respected, that’s not to say he was liked. One of the other previous ministers of Salem Village, Deodat Lawson, who returned when he heard about the outbreak of witchcraft, wrote in his account of the trials, “Glad I should have been if had never known the name of this man [George Burroughs]; or never had this occasion to mention so much as the first letters of his name. But the government requiring some account, of his trial, to be inserted in this book, it becomes me with all obedience, to submit unto the order.” Deodat Lawson
, A Brief and True Narrative of Some Remarkable Passages Relating to Sundry Persons Afflicted by Witchcraft
(1692), quoted in Hall,
Witch-hunting in Seventeenth-Century New England,
291.

2
.
Transcribed from an image of the original document in the Univer- sity of Virginia’s online Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project. http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/archives/ecca/ medium/ecca1155r.jpg.

3
.
In this obsolete usage, when describing an appearance, “sad” means “dignified, grave, serious.” OED, 2008.