Today in Salem: It’s 10:00 in the morning, but inside the Meeting House it’s dark, with so many people sitting on the windowsills that the light can’t get through. Nine people were arrested yesterday, and between the witnesses, accusers, family members, magistrates, and ministers the Meeting House is overflowing.
Rev Parris squints as he takes notes in the dim light. Six of the prisoners are quickly examined and sent to jail for future trials: a wealthy merchant’s wife, a slave, the wild child Abigail Hobbs’s parents, the unruly Bridget Bishop’s son and daughter-in-law. And one man is set free when he’s brought outside where the afflicted girls can see him better.
Things slow down, though, when the flamboyant Sarah Wilds sashays in. She’s 65 and married, but she’s always been glamorous and outspoken, and has spent her entire life leaving a trail of scandals in her wake. She’s been whipped for fornication, brought to court for wearing a silk scarf, and accused of witchcraft for years. Nothing fazes her, and now the afflicted girls launch into spectacular convulsions.
“What do you say to this?” the magistrate asks. “Are you guilty or not?”
“I am not guilty, sir,” she says. The magistrate is incredulous. Has she allowed the Devil to use her specter to hurt the girls? No? How can she deny what everyone can see?
The magistrates send her to jail for future trial. As she’s led away, one of the constables catches her eye and looks especially uncomfortable: he is her son, and he knows she’s innocent. But what does that mean about the other women?
The crowd is silent when the pious Mary Esty enters the room. She’s the exact opposite of Sarah Wilds. How can both of them be guilty of the same thing? Like her sisters, the beloved Rebecca Nurse & nervous Sarah Cloyce, Mary is esteemed and well-liked. The afflicted girls, though, are as wracked and convulsing as ever.
“How far have you complied with Satan whereby he takes this advantage of you?” the magistrates ask.
“Sir, I never complied, but prayed against him all my days. I will say it, if it was my last time—I am clear of this sin.”
She’s so insistent on her innocence that the magistrates press the girls to be sure the specter they’ve seen belongs to Mary. They’re certain though, and they continue their fits until the judges commit Mary to prison.
WHO was Sarah Wilds?
SARAH WILDS – Age 65. Sarah was bold, and in her younger years even a little glamorous. At age 22 she was whipped for fornication. In her mid-30’s she was charged with wearing a silk scarf (considered to be above her station; an offense to the Puritans).
Like many accused people, Sarah and her family had been part of several feuds and scandals. When her husband’s 1st wife died, he married Sarah within months – a scandalous insult to the 1st wife’s family, who accused Sarah of witchcraft early and often. Two of her stepsons had died; one mysteriously, and the other of depression or possession. And unexplained illnesses and deaths seemed to follow her arguments with neighbors. She was an outspoken non-conformist, which may have made her an easy target. Case files: Sarah Wilds
WHO was Mary Esty?
Age 58, née Towne. Sister of Rebecca Nurse and Sarah Cloyce. Married to Isaac Esty, with whom she had 11 children. Mary’s mother had long ago been suspected of witchcraft. Despite her piety, with the arrest and indictment of 2 of her sisters, it was no surprise that she was also caught up in it. Case files: Mary Esty
Mary Esty’s descendants include baseball great Ty Cobb.
LEARN MORE: Why would someone be whipped for wearing a silk scarf? What did it mean to dress “above one’s station,” and why was that bad?
Today we think of Puritans as wearing all black, with the women in tight white caps and even the children in mournful gray clothing. While that was somewhat true in the earliest Puritan colonies, 50 years had passed by the time of the Trials, and Puritan standards had loosened.
That said, they weren’t exactly ready for powdered wigs and waistcoats. In fact, men were forbidden to wear periwigs, with one Salem Trial judge calling them “Horrid Bushes of Vanity.” With the exception of the ministry, magistrates, and others in the upper-class, men’s hair was expected to be very short, not over the neck, the band, or the doublet collar. In the winter it might be allowed to grow a little below the ear for warmth. Facial hair was verboten; in fact, even 80 years later, not a single man who signed the Declaration of Independence had facial hair.
As for women’s hair, Cotton Mather’s father preached “Will not the haughty daughters of Zion refrain their pride in apparel? Will they lay out their hair, and wear false locks, their borders, their towers like comets about their heads?” Another clergyman called these women “Apes of Fancy, friziling and curlying of their hair.”
Of course, hair wasn’t the only object of the Puritan fashion police. Clothing was also regulated, for both sexes. Again with the exceptions of ministers and magistrates, men and women were expected to wear only “sadd” (serious) colors. This did not include the black clothing that we often associate with Puritans. Black was too bold, requiring scarce black dye and care that it not fade. Instead, Puritans wore subdued colors like russet, rust, purple, gray-green, dark green, and dark gray-brown. Shades of blue were usually reserved for servants and slaves.
Higher class Puritans like magistrates, or those with a net worth higher than £200, were exempt from the laws. Poorer people who dressed like them were seen as greedy and envious, and sometimes liars — all punishable offenses.
Finally, clothing was not just about color. It was also about fabric, and cut, and design, especially for women. “Sumptuary laws” were very common throughout Europe and the colonies, and were meant to control behavior and distinguish the high classes from the lower ones. For the Puritans, the laws also implied morality. Dressing in a simple manner meant embracing modesty and simplicity, and rejecting the sins of pride, greed, and envy. Dressing extravagantly was wasteful and unseemly. For example, in Europe slashed sleeves revealed expensive undergarments that flaunted the wealth of the wearer. So the Puritans outlawed sleeves with more than one slash. Also out: lace, silk, gold and silver thread, any embroidery or needlework, scarves, and bright buttons, shoes with heels, leather great boots, and so much more.
Tomorrow in Salem: Newly accused: the former constable John Willards