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.
Today in Salem: the village has turned out in full force to goggle at the slave Tituba, sickly Sarah Osborne, and the beggar Sarah Good, clustered in the middle of the meeting house. The tavern owner’s wife has already examined the accused women for witch’s marks, but hasn’t found any. Now it’s the judges’ turn to look for evidence.
When they’re not staring at the accused witches, the crowd is gaping at the four afflicted girls. Little Betty Parris hides behind her tomboy cousin Abigail Williams, both of them breathing hard through tears. The girls’ leader Ann Putnam stands at the front of the group, gasping and wringing her hands. The servant Elizabeth Hubbard stands back, holding her neck with both hands and choking as if she’s being strangled.
The crowd quiets as the two magistrates intone the opening prayers. Then the Sheriff takes the slave Tituba and the sickly Sarah Osborne out, leaving the beggar Sarah Good behind, her baby in her arms, and her pipe clenched firmly between her teeth.
The aggressive magistrate John Hathorne attacks first. What evil spirit is Good familiar with? None! Have you made a contract with the Devil? No! Why do you hurt these children? I scorn it! The quieter magistrate Jonathan Corwin watches carefully as the girls insist that Sarah’s specter is lunging at them this very minute. But when her own husband tells the judges that she is an enemy to all good, it’s over. The magistrates send Sarah with her baby to stay with a relative, who is a constable and can keep her and her baby under lock and key.
When the sickly Sarah Osborne is ushered in she denies being a witch. But yes, she did have a nightmare once about a black Indian who grabbed her by the hair. And yes, she’d once heard a voice telling her not to go to church. The judges squint. Couldn’t the Devil be the nightmare Indian? And couldn’t the voice she was hearing actually be his? Unlike the beggar’s husband, Sarah Osborne’s husband testifies that she’s telling the truth. The judges aren’t sure, though, and releasing her is risky. So they send her to jail to wait for a trial.
The slave Tituba confronts the same questions and denies all evil-doing, but the judges’ eyes narrow when she pauses. Perhaps remembering yesterday’s beating, she changes course and spills out a partial confession. Actually she did see the Devil, she says in her exotic accent, and four witches, too. And yes, she admits that she agreed to join the witches, but then she changed her mind. And yes, she has hurt the children, but only because the Devil man threatened her.
Judge Hathorne leans in and begins rapid-firing questions. Who were the other witches? She doesn’t know two of them, but the other two are the beggar Sarah Good and the sickly Sarah Osborne. She pauses, and suddenly the details pour out. She’d seen them around a hog, a black dog, also a red cat and a black cat, plus a yellow bird, she says, with two imps warming themselves by the fire in the parsonage last night. She gives detailed accounts of the witches’ clothing and the Devil man’s appearance, and finally, in the face of the non-stop questions, closes her eyes and says she is suddenly blind, and then mute, and then chokes and gasps just like the afflicted girls. Then, recovering her voice, she says the specters of the two Sarahs are attacking her. Tituba has confessed, so the judges send her to jail to await trial and sentencing.
LEARN MORE: Is a magistrate the same thing as a judge? In a way, yes, but a magistrate is lower level, a lay judge who deals with minor offenses. They may also hold preliminary hearings for more serious offenses that will later go to trial.
In Salem, the magistrates were local politicians and/or respected merchants. They usually dealt with minor charges like drunkenness. For the Salem Witchcraft Trials, they held examinations, or hearings, for people accused of witchcraft to decide whether a more former trial should take place. If the magistrate decided there was enough evidence to suggest guilt, the accused person would go to jail until a grand jury could convene for a trial.
WHO was magistrate Jonathan Corwin? Jonathan Corwin — Age 51. Magistrate. Corwin was a wealthy merchant who was elected to the colonial assembly twice, and was an active magistrate of the local courts, hearing cases dealing with petty crimes and minor charges such as drunkenness and burglary. With his friend and fellow judge John hathore, he presided over many of the initial hearings for the witchcraft trials and was relentless in seeking confessions.
Corwin’s personal life was hardly peaceful. Four of his children had recently died when he called the first witchcraft hearing into order, and another had nearly drowned. One of his other children was said to have been afflicted by one of the accused women. Later his mother-in-law would be accused of witchcraft, though she was never arrested.
Corwin never expressed regret or remorse for his role in the trials, and died 26 years later a wealthy and respected man. His house is still standing and is known today as the Witch House. Case files: Jonathan Corwin
WHO was magistrate John Hathorne? Age 51. Magistrate. Hathorne began his business career as a bookkeeper, but quickly moved to land speculation. Eventually he acquired a ship, a wharf, and a liquor license, and made enough money to build a mansion in Salem Town, plus a warehouse near the wharf.
Hathorne had served the Salem community as a judge for about five years when the trials began. He was fierce in his questioning, always assuming the accused person was guilty and that the afflicted girls were truthful. It was a perfect example of “guilty until proven innocent.”
Hathorne was thought to be an aggressive and even cruel judge, and showed no introspection or remorse after the trials ended. Some of his descendants were ashamed of their connection to him, including his great-great-grandson Nathaniel Hawthorne, who added a W to his name before writing “House of the Seven Gables.” Case files: John Hathorne
