Today in Salem: The quiet magistrate Jonathan Corwin is scowling and holding a parchment document close to his eyes. 115 people have signed a petition on behalf of the elderly Mary Bradbury, who will soon be tried in court.
“Shee was a lover of the ministrie in all appearance & a dilligent, attender upon gods holy ordinances … allways, readie & willing to doe for them w’t laye in her power …”
It’ll have to wait. Corwin sets the document to the side and taps it, once, with his finger, as if to nail it to the wooden table. Other documents are more pressing, and now he pulls them toward him as two teenage boys are escorted into the room. They are the sons of the outcast “queen of hell” Martha Carrier, who’s been in prison for seven weeks.
The younger boy, 16, is stuttering and stammering so badly that he can hardly be understood.
“No,” he says, over and over. “N-n-no.” He’s never signed the d-devil’s book, never tortured anyone.
His older brother, 18, speaks clearly but all in a rush, insisting that he’s innocent.
As their protests grow louder, the afflicted girls are more hysterical than ever, and when one of the girls begins to bleed from the mouth the two boys are sent to another room with the constable.
It doesn’t take long, though, before the boys return and confess to everything: consorting with the Devil, going to witch meetings, tormenting people, and more. They also accuse others of witchcraft – including their mother.
Even the afflicted girls are surprised. It’s a quick and remarkable turnabout. What changed their minds?
WHO was Mary Bradbury?
Age 77, née Perkins. Mary was an upper-class woman who was highly regarded as devoutly religious, loving to her family, and a pious and generous neighbor. her family was distinguished; her husband’s great-uncle had been the Archbishop of Canterbury under Queen Elizabeth I. Despite a petition signed by 115 supporters, Mary was tried, convicted, and sentenced to hang. With the help of her loved ones, though, she escaped from jail and lived in hiding until the Trials were over. She died eight years after the Trials, at age 85. Case files: Mary Bradbury
Mary Bradbury’s descendants include Ralph Waldo Emerson and Ray Bradbury.