University of Virginia Library

10. CHAPTER X.

Here the lawyer started up, and after prevailing upon
Burroughs to forbear and be still, argued (with his face
to the jury) five or six points of law, as he called them,
every one of which had been argued over and over again
at every trial of a serious charge that he had ever been
occupied with in the whole course of a long life at the
bar....four being about the propriety of capital punishments
in general, and two about the propriety of capital
punishments in the particular case of the prisoner at the
bar—whom he protested before God (for which he had
to pay thirteen-pence more) he believed to be innocent
of the charge—and what was that charge?—nothing
more nor less than the charge of socrcery and witchcraft!
—a crime, the very possibility of which, he proceeded to
deny, in the very language he had used about a twelvemonth
before, while arguing about the impossibility of
marriage in a particular case.

Brother—brother—we do not sit here to try the possibility
of such a thing as witchcraft—please to consider
where you are, and what we are.

Speech after speech followed; and it was near midnight,
when the chief judge, after consulting with his
brethren, proceeded to address the jury.

Ye have heard much that in our opinion does not need
a reply, said he, after taking a general view of the case,
with much that a brief reply may be sufficient for, and a
very little, which, as it may serve to perplex you, if we

pass it over without notice, we shall say a few words
upon, though it has little or nothing to do with the case
before you.

The law you have nothing to do with....right or wrong,
wise or foolish, you have nothing to do with the law.
So too....whatever may be the practice abroad or in this
country, and whatever may be the hardship of that practice,
you have nothing to do with it. One is the business
of the legislature....of the law-makers; the other
the business of the courts, and the judges....the law-expounders.
You are to try a particular case by a particular
law; to that, your whole attention is to be directed.
If the law be a bad law, that is neither your business nor
our business. We and you are to do our duty, and leave
theirs to the sovereign legislature.

I propose now to recapitulate the evidence, which I
have taken notes of—should I be wrong, you will correct
me. After I have gone through with the evidence,
I shall offer a few brief remarks in reply to the arguments
which have been crowded into the case—I will
not say for show—and which, idle as they are, would
seem to have had weight with you.

The afflicted, you observe, do generally testify that the
shape of the prisoner doth oftentimes pinch them, choke
them, and otherwise afflict them, urging them always to
write in a book she bears about with her. And you observe
too, that the accusers were struck down with a fit
before you, and could not rise up till she was ordered to
touch them, and that several of their number have had
fits whenever she looked upon them.

But we are to be more particular, and I shall now
read my notes, and I pray you to follow me.

I. Deliverance Hobbs, who confessed herself a witch,
testified that the prisoner tempted her to sign the book
again, and to deny what she had confessed; and that

the shape of the prisoner whipped her with iron rods to
force her to do so, and that the prisoner was at a general
meeting of witches at a field near Salem village, and
there partook of the sacrament with them.

2. John Cook testified that about five or six years ago,
he was assaulted with the shape of the prisoner in his
chamber, and so terrified that an apple he had in his
hand flew strangely from him into his mother's lap, six
or eight feet distance.

3. Samuel Gray testified that about fourteen years ago,
he waked one night and saw his room full of light and a
woman between the cradle and bed-side; he got up but
found the doors fast, and the apparition vanished—however
the child was so frighted, that it pined away and in
some time died. He confessed that he had never seen
the prisoner before, but was now satisfied that it was her
apparition.

4. John Bly and his wife testified that he bought a
sow of the prisoner's husband, but being to pay the
money to another, she was so angry that she quarrelled
with Bly, and soon after the sow was taken with strange
fits, jumping, leaping and knocking her head against
the fence which made the witnesses conclude the prisoner
had bewitched it.

5. Richard Coman testified that eight years ago, he
was terrified with the spectre of the prisoner and others,
who so oppressed him in his bed that he could not
stir hand nor foot, but calling up somebody to come to
his assistance, as soon as the people of the house spoke,
the spectre vanished and all was quiet.

6. Samuel Shattock testified that in 1680 (twelve
years before the trial) the prisoner often came to his
house on frivolous errands, soon after which his child
was taken with strange fits, and at last lost his understanding;
the fits were manifestly epileptic, but the

witness verily believed it was bewitched by the prisoner.

7. John Londor testified that upon some little controversy
with the prisoner about her fowls, going well to
bed, he awoke in the night and saw the likeness of this
woman greviously oppressing him. Another time he
was troubled with a black pig, but going to kick it, it
vanished. Another time as he was sitting in his room,
a black hobgobling jumped in the room, which spoke
to him these words—I understand you are troubled in
mind: Be ruled by me and you shall want nothing in
this world. But when he endeavored to strike it, there
was nothing. After this he ran out of his house and
saw the prisoner in her orchard, but had no power to
speak to her, but concluded his trouble was all owing
to her.

8. William Stacy testified that the spectre of the
prisoner had played him several pranks of the same
nature as the former; for example—having received
some money of the prisoner for work, he had not gone
above three rods from her when it was gone from him;
some time after, discoursing with the prisoner about
grinding her grist, he had not gone above six rods from
her with a small load in his cart, before the off-wheel
sunk into a hole in plain ground, so that the deponent
was forced to get help for the recovery of it, but stepping
back to look for the hole, there was none to be
found. Another time, as he was going home on a dark
night, he was lifted up from the ground and thrown
against the stone wall, and after that, he was hoisted up,
and thrown down a bank at the end of his house.

9. John and William Bly testified that being employed
by the prisoner to take down her cellar-wall, they
found several poppets made of rags and hog's bristles,
with headless pins in them, the points being outwards.

In addition to all this, continued the chief-judge, you

have the testimony of Mr. Park, the magistrate, who
says that when her Paris's daughter and two other children
accused the prisoner at the bar of afflicting them,
by biting, pricking, strangling, &c. saying that they
saw her likeness in their fits, coming toward them and
bringing them a book to sign, he asked her why she afflicted
those poor children—to which she replied that
she did not; and that when he asked her who did then?
she answered she did not know—

Burroughs groaned aloud.

—You will observe her answer, gentlemen of the jury....she
did not know, but thought they were poor distracted
creatures, whereupon the afflicted said that the
Black man was whispering in her ear and that a yellow-bird
which used to suck between her fingers was
now there; and orders being given to see if there was
any sign, a girl said, it is now too late for she has removed
a pin and put it on her head; and upon search
there was found a pin sticking upright there. He testifies
too that when Mrs. Cory had any motion of her
body the afflicted would cry out, when she bit her lip
they would cry out of being bitten, and if she grasped
one hand with the other they would cry out of being
pinched.

You will observe too that a jury of women who were
empanelled to search her body, testify one and all
that they found a preternatural teat upon her body;
but upon a second search three or four hours after, there
was none to be found.

Thus much for the evidence, gentlemen of the jury;
I proceed now to remark on what has been urged for
the—officer—officer....look to your prisoner!

O, I am so tired and so sleepy! said Martha a getting
up, and trying to pass the sheriff, who stood by her with
a drawn sword. Let me go, will you!—get out o' the

way and let me go—what's the use o' keeping me here;
I've told you all 't I know o' the job. Do let poor Martha
go!

Gracious God!—Father of Love! cried Burroughs,
what an appeal to the executioners of the law! Did
you not hear it, ye judges? Do you not see her now,
tottering away....the poor bewildered creature.

Have done Sir.

Dear brother—if we are wise we shall not be strict
with him here—let us give the world nothing to complain
of, our duty require it, policy requires it—ah!

Prisoner at the bar—go back to your seat: Officer
—officer—

She don't hear a word you say, Mr. Judge.

Martha Cory—Martha!

Well, here I be, Mister Capun Sewall; what d'ye
want o' me?

Go back to your seat, Martha.

Back there?—I shall not—

Officer!

The officer took her by the arm to lead her back.

Gently there—gently—gently.

There now! cried Martha, in a peevish, querulous
tone—There now; dropping into the seat with her arms
a-kimbo, and poking out her chin at the officer. There
now; I hope that'll satisfy you—

Gentlemen of the jury, pursued the judge; You have
now the evidence before you. You have gone through
the whole proof with me, step by step—it is for you to
say what is the value of that proof—

Proof, cried Burroughs—proof! taking away his
hands from his pale face—and speaking through his
shut teeth. Call you that proof which proves nothing?
that which relates to things that occured, if they ever
occurred at all, years and years ago? that which is only

a sort of guess-work? that which relates to transactions
which the poor soul does not appear to have had either
voice or part in?

Bravely said, George Burroughs—bravely put, cried
a female, who stood in the dark part of the house.

Such trivial matters too—so trivial that we should
mock at them, but for the life we lead here, surrounded
by savages, and by death in every shape, and by woods
and waters that were never yet explored by man; beset
on every side by a foe that never sleeps; afar and away
from succor and liable to be surprised every hour of the
day and every hour of the night, and butchered among
our babes and our household-gods. Proof, say you?—
can that be proof, I appeal to you judges—that which,
however false it may be, or however mistaken by
the witnesses, cannot, in the very nature of things, be
explained away nor contradicted; that which calls upon
a poor creature worn out with age and misery—an idiot
—for of a truth she is little better—I pray you judges—
I pray you—on me let your displeasure fall; not on
her—I will abide your wrath—I see it in your eyes—
but I pray you—I beseech you—can that be proof, that
which calls upon a prisoner in such a case to go through
the whole history of her life—hour by hour—step by
step. Nay, speak to me!—By your oaths, answer me!
By your oath here, and by your hope hereafter, may
you call upon her, in a matter of life and death, to do
this? And not only to do this, but to account for the epilepsy
of a babe? for the dreams, the diseases, the very
night-mares of them that now accuse her?—

If you do not stop Sir, we shall have to commit you.

Commit me if you dare! You have made me counsel
for the prisoner, and whatever may be the courtesy
of the bar, whatever you may expect—and whatever
may become of me—or of you—I shall not throw a

chance away. He proceeded to review the whole of the
evidence with a vigor and propriety which after a while
rose up in judgment against him, as if it were supernatural;
he then argued upon the nature of the crime—
saying it was a charge easily made but hard to disprove,
and that it would require one to be a witch to prove that
she was not guilty of witchcraft—

Beware of that man, said the chief judge, with a mysterious
look. Beware, I tell you; for whoever he may
be, and whatever he may be, he will be sure to lead you
astray, if you are not upon your guard.

Lo,the counsel for the prisoner! Lo the humanity of
the law! cried Burroughs. Who could do more?—I appeal
to you, ye men of Massachusetts-Bay—could the
prosecutor himself—could anybody on earth—in aid
of the prisoner at the bar?—Put upon your guard in that
way, against the power and art of another—if you are
not men of a marvellous courage indeed—of heroic
probity—it would be impossible for him to convince you,
however true were his argument, however conclusive his
facts.

Very true, whispered the foreman of the jury, loud
enough to be overheard by a judge, who rebuked him
with great asperity.

Whatever I might say, therefore—however true it
might be, and however wise, after that speech, you would
not venture to heed me—you could not—such a thing
were too much to hope for—unless you were indeed, every
man of you, far, far superior to the race of men
that are about and above you —

Talk of art, said the chief judge, in dismay. Talk
of address after that! who ever heard of such art—who
ever heard of such address before?

What a compliment for your understandings!—But I
do not give up in despair—I shall say the little that I now

have to say, and leave you to decide between us—if I prevail,
you may have courage enough perhaps to acquit the
prisoner, though you are sneered at by the judges.

He proceeded with fresh vigor, and concluded the
work of the day with a speech that appears to have been
regarded by the court and the people as above the ability
of man. He spoke to the multitude, to the judges, to
the bar, to the jury—man by man—saying to each with
a voice and a power that are spoken of still by the posterity
of them that were there.....You have heard the
whole evidence.—You—you alone, Sir, that I speak too
now, are to decide upon the life or death of the prisoner.
You alone, Sir! and mark me.....if.....though you are but
one of the twelve who are to decide....if you decide for
death....observe what I say....if you so decide Sir, as one
of the twelve....when, if you knew that her life depended
upon you alone, you would have decided otherwise,
mark me....her blood shall be upon your head....her
death at your door!....at yours—and yours—and yours
—though each of you be but one of the twelve.

Hear me. I address myself to you, John Peabody.
Are you prepared to say—would you say—guilty, if her
life depended upon you, and upon you alone?—if you
were her only judge?—Think of your death-bed—of the
Judge whom you are to meet hereafter, you that have so
much need of mercy hereafter—ask yourselves what
harm would follow her acquital, even though she were
guilty. Then ask yourself what would be your feelings
if you should ever come to know that you have put her
to death wrongfully....So say I to you, Andrew Elliot....
Her life depends upon you—upon you alone! You are
in fact her only judge—for you—or you—or you—or
either of you may save her, and if you do not, her blood
will be required hereafter at your hands—at the hands
of each of you—I have done.