The Witchcraft Delusion of 1692

Part 1

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THE

WITCHCRAFT DELUSION OF 1692

BY GOV. THOMAS HUTCHINSON

FROM AN UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT (AN EARLY DRAFT OF HIS HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS) IN THE MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES

WITH NOTES BY

WILLIAM FREDERICK POOLE

BOSTON

PRIVATELY PRINTED

1870

DAVID CLAPP & SON, Printers, Boston.

THE WITCHCRAFT DELUSION OF 1692.

INTRODUCTION.

In May last I had occasion to consult the original manuscript of Gov. Hutchinson’s second volume of the History of Massachusetts, which, it is well known, is among the Hutchinson papers in the State archives in Boston. I had never before seen the manuscript, and did not readily find the passage of which I was in search. The first portion of the manuscript seemed to be missing, and its place was supplied by matter which belonged to the Appendix. My first impression was that the missing sheets were those which Gov. Hutchinson did not recover after the stamp-act riot of 1765. Finding the matter of the Appendix out of place, suggested that the volume might have been carelessly arranged for binding. On collating the manuscript the early portion was found in another part of the volume. This was the copy used by the printers.

In my search I came to sheets which contained the subject matter of the printed text, but expressed in different language. I saw, on a closer examination, that this was an earlier draft, and the identical manuscript which had passed the ordeal of the riot of 1765; for portions of it were much defaced, and bore the marks of being trampled in the mud. The copy from which the volume was printed was evidently prepared at a later date. For the convenience of those who may hereafter consult this manuscript, I made in folio 7 (following the matter of the Appendix), the following memoranda:—

“There has been an error in binding this manuscript. The matter which precedes this is Appendix No. 1 (printed pp. 449-481, edition 1767, and pp. 404-423, edition 1795). The first portion of the history proper, ending with manuscript page 28 (to printed p. 40, edition 1767, and p. 43, edition 1795), has been placed in folios 92-100. Page 29 is opposite. This is the manuscript from which the second volume was printed.

“In folio 55 is the beginning of another manuscript, an earlier draft, from which the author prepared the narrative which appears in the printed volume. The earlier draft, ending in folio 91, carries the substance of the narrative to the word “Boston,” on p. 313, edition of 1767, and p. 284, edition of 1795.

“These memoranda were made May 17, 1870 (with the approval of Mr. Secretary Warner), at which time the earlier draft was first identified.”

Both manuscripts are wholly in the autograph of Gov. Hutchinson, and they seem to be prepared with equal care. In form of expression and phraseology they are quite unlike. Incidents and opinions contained in the earlier draft are changed, abridged and sometimes omitted in the later draft. In matters of fact the earlier draft is often more precise and accurate than the printed text, for the author doubtless prepared it with the original authorities before him.

The researches of Gov. Hutchinson into the early annals of Massachusetts are of the highest historical value. He had opportunities of access to original papers such as no person now possesses. He had the tastes, the capacity for close application and research, the judicial understanding and the freedom from prejudice and partizanship which characterize the genuine historian. His style, if not always elegant, is clear and simple, and singularly free from that sensational and rhetorical method of statement which is the bane of much of the historical writing of the present day.

Each of the several editions of Gov. Hutchinson’s History of Massachusetts has become rare, and a new and revised edition will soon be demanded. In the preparation of that work the earlier draft of the second volume, which has now come to light, will furnish important materials. For the purpose of exhibiting the character and value of this manuscript, and for contributing some additional information upon a special subject, I have extracted for publication that portion which treats the “Witchcraft Delusion of 1692.”

So far as a presentation of facts is concerned, no account of that dreadful tragedy has appeared which is more accurate and truthful than Gov. Hutchinson’s narrative. His theory on the subject—that it was wholly the result of fraud and deception on the part of the “afflicted children”—will not be generally accepted at the present day, and his reasoning on this point will not be deemed conclusive. That there were fraud and deception attending it, no one will doubt; but there is now a tendency to trace an analogy between the phenomena then exhibited, and modern spiritual manifestations. No man of any reputation who lived in that generation, and saw what transpired at Salem Village and its vicinity, doubted that there was some influence then exerted which could not be explained by the known laws of matter or of mind. As these men left the stage, the theory of fraud was gradually accepted by their descendants; and at the period when Gov. Hutchinson wrote, it was well nigh the universal belief among the educated classes.

For the information of persons interested in tracing the resemblance between the abnormal manifestations of our time and those of the seventeenth century, I have appended notes to the other cases mentioned by Gov. Hutchinson, which may lead such inquirers to a further knowledge of their psychological phenomena.

The author’s notes are indicated by stars, &c., and are signed H. The editor’s notes are indicated by numerals, and are signed P.

W. F. P.

* * * * *

On [mutilated] May, at a general council, there was an appointment of sheriffs, justices and other civil officers, and, among the rest, Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer for the trial of witches. Upon this occasion the Governor suffered the council to choose the officers, and he gave or refused his consent to the choice—a mistake which no other governor has made, and which was giving up a right derived to him from the charter, the great difference between a nomination and assent being very obvious.

The old constitution being dissolved, it was absolutely necessary an Assembly should be called. What was the rule of law in the meantime might be made a question; but at the first meeting of the General Assembly (the 8th of June) an act passed that all the laws of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay and the Colony of New-Plymouth, not being repugnant to the laws of England, nor inconsistent with the charter, should be in force to the 10th of November, 1692, in the respective colonies, except where other provisions should be made by acts of assembly; and all justices of the peace had the same power given them in the execution of laws which magistrates used to have. No other acts were passed except two or three relative to the revenue; an act for erecting a naval office; another to enable the Governor, with the advice of the council, for six months to come, to raise and transport, or march the militia into either of the governments of Rhode Island, Connecticut, Narragansett or New-York; and another act for establishing a court of sessions of the peace, and inferior court of common pleas. The assembly was adjourned on the second of July to the second Wednesday in October.

Part 2

The confusion occasioned by the supposed witchcraft seems to have been the reason why nothing more was done towards a body of laws better adapted to the new constitution; for on the 2d of June the commissioners held their special court at Salem.

Before I relate their proceedings, I will collect, as far as I am able, the several instances of what was called Witchcraft, from the beginning of the country.

It is natural to suppose that the country, at the first entrance of the Europeans into it, afforded the most suitable scene, especially as a notion prevailed that the savages all worshipped the Devil; but I find no mention of witchcraft for the first twelve or fifteen years. About the year 1645, several people in Springfield, upon Connecticut River, were suspected of witchcraft, and a greater number were supposed to be bewitched; among the rest two of the minister’s children. Great pains were taken to prove the facts upon the suspected persons; and about the year 1650, a poor wretch, Mary Oliver, no doubt weary of her life, after long examination, was brought to confession. It does not appear that she was executed.

Whilst this inquiry was making, Margaret Jones was executed at Charlestown. Mention is made by Mr. Hale, of a woman at Dorchester, and another at Cambridge about the same time, all denying what they were charged with, at their death; and soon after Mrs. Hibbins the magistrate’s widow, was executed at Boston. In 1662, at Hartford, about 30 miles below Springfield, upon the same Connecticut River, one Ann Cole, whose father is said to have been a godly man who lived next door to a Dutch family, was supposed to be possessed by a Demon who sometimes spake Dutch and sometimes English, and sometimes an unintelligible language, the demons speaking in her things unknown to herself, and holding a conference, &c. Several ministers who were present took the conference in writing with the names of the persons mentioned as actors; and, among the rest, of a woman in prison upon suspicion, one Greensmith. Upon examination she confessed also, and appeared to be astonished at the discovery, and owned that she and the rest had been familiar with a demon who had carnal knowledge of her, and though she had not made a formal covenant with him, yet she had promised always to be ready at his call, and was to have had a high frolick at Christmas, and then the agreement was to be signed. The woman upon this confession was executed. Goffe, the Regicide, says in his diary, January 20, ’62, that three witches were condemned at Hartford; and afterwards, Feb. 24, that the maids were well after one of the witches was hanged. In 1669, Susanna Martin, of Salisbury, was bound over to the Superior court upon suspicion of witchcraft, but discharged without trial.

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