Discover the Truth Behind Witchcraft Stories. William Godwin
a further Examination—and by her Consent, & Approbation of ye Court, it is ordered yt ye Sherr take all such Convenient assistance of boats and men, as shall be by him thought fit to meet & at John Harper’s plantation, in order to take ye said Grace Sherwood forthwith, & put her into water above man’s Debth & try her how she swims. Therein always having Care of her life to preserve her from Drowning & as soon as she comes Out yt he request as many Ancient and Knowing women as possible to come to Serch her Carefully for teat spotts and marks about her body not usual on Others & yt as they find ye same to make report on Oath To ye truth ther of to the Court; and, further, it is ordered yt Four women be requested to Shift and Serch her before she goo into ye water yt she carry nothing about her to cause any further Suspicion.
Order XX.
Grace Sherwood Ducked, etc.
‘Whereas on Complaint of Luke Hill in behalf of her Majesty yt now is agt Grace Sherwood for a person Suspected of Witch craft & having had Sundry Evidences sworn agt her, proving many Circumstances to which She could not make any Excuse, Little or Nothing to say in her own behalf, only Seamed to Rely on wt ye Court should doo, and there upon Consented to be tryed in ye Water, & Like-wise to be Serched again Bodily. Experiment being tried, She swiming wen therein, and bound Contrary to Custom & ye judgt of all ye Spectators, & afterward, being Serched, & five Ancient weomen who have all Declared on Oath yt she is not like yem nor noo Other women yt they know of ... all wch Circumstances ye Court weighing in their Consideration, Doo there fore ordr yt ye Sherr take ye sd Grace Into his custody, and to commt her body to ye Common Gaol of this County, there to secure her by irons or other Wise, there to Remain till Such time as shall be otherwise Directed in order for her comming to ye Common Gaol of ye County, to be brought to a future tryall there.
‘Edwd Moseley & ‘Jno Richason.’
As nothing more can be found respecting her, she was probably let go.
As a justice of the peace, William Penn had to sit in judgment upon two Swedish women who were indicted as witches, and true bills were found against them; but they got off, owing to some flaw in the indictment. And this, as far as I know, is the sole instance of a trial for witchcraft in Pennsylvania.
Drake, in ‘Annals of Witchcraft,’ p. 215, says: ‘About this period [1712], in the Colony of South Carolina, some suspected of witchcraft were seized upon by a sort of ruffianly Vigilance Committee, and condemned to be burnt, and were actually roasted by fire, although we do not learn that the injuries thus inflicted proved fatal. The parties so tortured, or their friends, brought action in the regular courts, for the recovery of damages; but the jury gave them nothing.’
In the early days of Connecticut there were twelve crimes punishable by death, according to the ‘Capitall Lawes, established by the General Court the First of December 1642,’ the second of which is: ‘Yf any man or woman be a witch (that is) hath, or consulteth wth a familliar spirit, they shall be put to death. Ex. xxii. 18. Lev. xx. 27. Deu. xxvij. 10, 11.’122 And they had not to wait long for a victim, for the last entry in John Winthrop’s Journal for 1646 is, ‘One ... of Windsor arraigned and executed at Hartford for a witch,’ Nothing more is certainly known of this case, which is memorable as being the first execution for witchcraft in New England.
The Connecticut Legislature also applied the same law, somewhat modified, to the Pequot Indians, on May 31, 1675:123 ‘(2) That whosoever shall powau, or use witchcraft, or any worship to the divill, or any fals god, shall be convented and punished.’
The following are the known cases of witchcraft in Connecticut; but, as far as I can see, none present any particular features of interest for the reader.124
| 1646. | Winthrop’s ‘One ... of Windsor’ | executed. | |
| 1648. | Mary Jonson, of Hartford or Wethersfield | do. | |
| 1651. | Mr. and Mrs. Carrington, of Wethersfield | do. | |
| " | Goody Bassett, of Stratford | do. | |
| 1653. | Goody Knapp, of Fairfield | do. | |
| 1658. | Goody Garlick, of Easthampton, L.I. | acquitted. | |
| 1661. | Mr. and Mrs. Jennings, of Laybrook | freed by disagreement of jury. | |
| 1662. | Mr. and Mrs. Greensmith, of Hartford | executed. | |
| 1663. | Mary Barnes, of Farmington | do. | |
| " | Mrs. Elizabeth Seager, of Hartford (?) | acquitted. | |
| " | Mrs. Elizabeth Seager, of Hartford (2nd trial) | do. | |
| 1665. | Mrs. Elizabeth Seager, of Hartford (3rd trial) | convicted, but freed by the court. | |
| 1670. | Katharine Harrison, of Wethersfield | convicted; the court refused to sentence, and dismissed the accused. | |
| 1692. | Mrs. Staples, of Fairfield | acquitted. | |
| " | Goody Miller, of Fairfield | do. | |
| " | Elizabeth Clawson, of Fairfield | do. | |
| " | Mercy Disborough, of Fairfield | convicted, but probably pardoned by the general court. | |
| 1697. | Mrs. Denham and daughter | acquitted, perhaps accused only before the grand jury. |
But it was in Massachusetts that witchcraft was rampant. The Pilgrim Fathers when they landed at Plymouth, on December 22, 1620, brought with them from England the belief in witchcraft and the personality of the Devil, which was then the creed of the majority of those living in the mother country, and therefore they were no worse than their brethren or parents. So that we must not blame them if we find among their early records, dated New Plymouth, November 15, 1636, that they considered witchcraft a capital crime, and enumerated as such directly after treason and murder; and