Tag Archives: Philip English

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Aug 22: ESCAPE and FORFEIT

Today In Salem: Yesterday was the Sabbath, a day of sermons and prayer. It’s only today that people are waking up to the news: the wealthy Philip English and his wife Mary have escaped from jail and are racing away to parts unknown.

By running, Philip and Mary have forfeited a £4,000 bond. But they’ve also left behind an enormous estate, and the Sheriff wastes no time seizing it. In addition to the usual furniture, clothing, and household goods, he confiscates a wine cellar; hundreds of bushels of wheat, rum, and molasses; a warehouse full of lumber, grain, and fishing supplies; and seven fishing boats floating in the harbor, all worth about £1,200.

Seventeen years after the Trials, Phillip will petition the government for recompense, but it will take the courts another nine years after that to grant him only £200.

I Phillip English Whas Imprisoned togather With My Whife in salem Prison and then Carred to Boston Prison, and thare Lay Nine Weeks from Whance Whe Made our Escape in Which time besides our Charge in flying had the Estate heare aftor Menechened Loast and Tacking a Whay

500 butchells of Vorginiy Whet
203 butchells of Engen Corn
3 pipes of Whine
2 hogsheds of Suger
4 hoggheds of Melases
… [more] …
58 thousands of Bords or More
10 thousands of Staves
2000 of Clabbords
28 thousands of Shingells
… [more] …

The foregoing is a true Account of What I had Seized tacking away Lost and Embezeld whilst I was a prisoner in the yeare 1692 & whilst on my flight for my life besides a Considerable quantity of household goods & other things which I Cannot Exactly give a pertickolar Acco off for all which I Never Reseved any other or further satisfacon for them Then Sixty Pounds 3s payd Me by the Administrators of George Corwine Late Sherife desesd and the Estate was so seisd & Tackin away Chiefly by the Sherife and his under offisers not withstanding I had given fore thousand pound Bond with Surety att Boston *philip English

LEARN MORE: Why was the Sheriff allowed to seize people’s property?

The Sheriff in Salem was obeying the law by seizing property, though he could have been kinder or less gleeful about it.

For a few months during the witchcraft trials, the Court was required to follow the laws of England, not the laws that had evolved in the colonies. English Common Law said that when a felon escaped or was convicted, all of their personal goods (except land) were forfeited to the king. In Salem, a lot of the property the Sheriff seized was actually sent to England, or sold, with the money being sent. A lot of it was also used to maintain the jails and support the prisoners. But there was no inventory of the items, and no one to monitor the Sheriff as he confiscated them. So there was (and is) speculation that he may have personally profited from it.

Only felons who owned property were in a position to lose it. But it was complicated by gender and marital status.

When a man was convicted, he lost everything. If he was married, then his wife also lost everything, because anything she “owned” was actually owned by her husband. (This is why the Sheriff had the wedding ring worn by George Jacobs Sr.’s wife in his pocket.)

When a married woman was convicted, nothing happened, because legally she couldn’t own anything. Everything belonged to her innocent husband. (This is why there are no forfeiture stories about Rebecca Nurse, Martha Carrier, or other married women.)

When a widow was convicted, her property was taken because, in the absence of a husband, she actually did own it. (This is what happened to Mary Parker.)

When anyone escaped, their property was taken, even if they weren’t convicted yet. (This is why the Sheriff raided the estate of the wealthy Philip English.)

Tomorrow in Salem: Summary and FAQs

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May 6: HIDING: the wealthy Philip English

counting money

Today in Salem: The wealthy Philip English is curled up under a pile of dirty laundry, opening his mouth wide and trying to breathe quietly. He’s the richest man in Salem, with a house so big that he employs 20 servants. He’s not used to indignities like this.

Philip has been hiding in his friend’s house for a week, ever since a warrant was issued for his arrest. His wife is already in jail for witchcraft, a preposterous thought. But the farmers and laborers of the Village have never felt anything but jealousy for them, so when an impoverished girl accused them, the rumors raced through the Village like fire in dry grass.

“English!” the Sheriff is shouting, over and over again. “English!” Philip can hear his friend trailing the Sheriff from room to room, insisting that he leave now, at once, until finally the door shuts and Philip can breathe again

Is it any surprise that the rich Philip English has been accused? First it was the poor and disreputable. Then it was a beloved church member. Then a minister. Now it’s the wealthiest merchant in Salem. No one has been spared.

WHO was Philip English?

Philip English, age 41, was everything that most people disliked. He was French, having changed his last name from “L’Anglois” to “English.” He was also Anglican, a member of the very church that the Puritans wanted to reform. He was extremely wealthy, even ostentatious. And he was arrogant; quick to sue people over property disputes, refusing to accept even the smallest loss.

That a French, Anglican immigrant could become the wealthiest man in Salem – run by English Puritans – rankled more than a few. So it may not have been a surprise when one of the most impoverished girls accused the wealthy Philip and his wife of witchcraft.

old house
Philip English’s house, from a drawing by Miss E. W. Dalrymple and J. R. Penniman, 1823, courtesy The Essex Institute

Mary was arrested right away, but Philip managed to evade the authorities for several weeks. Once captured, though, he and Mary were sent to jail in Boston, where, due to their wealth, they were free to roam Boston daily as long as they promised to return at night. On the day before their trial, though, they escaped to New York, aided by the Governor himself.

After the Witchcraft Trials ended, Philip English returned to Salem to discover that the Sheriff had confiscated most of his belongings, with his neighbors pilfering more than a few. English sued the Sheriff for years to regain his property, but the Sheriff died before the dispute was settled. Ultimately, of the £1,200 of lost property, only £200 was given as recompense to Philip and his heirs.

A popular myth says that English wouldn’t give up his lawsuits, and when the Sheriff died, threatened to steal his corpse and hold it for ransom. Some say he did steal the body, while others say the Sheriff was buried in his own basement for years to avoid it. Neither of these stories holds up to scholarly scrutiny.

Mary died in childbirth, a year after the Trials ended. Philip outlived her by 43 years, dying at age 85.

Tomorrow in Salem: the MOTHER of all summaries

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Apr 30: ARRESTED: Widows, a burglar, and a minister

arrest warrant for Susannah Martin
Susannah Martin’s
arrest warrant

Today in Salem: 23 people are languishing in jail, some in Salem, and the rest – the overflow – in Boston. None has had a trial yet, but the judges aren’t thinking about that when they write arrest warrants for six more people.

The first is a woman in the nearby town of Amesbury; someone they haven’t even heard of. But the powerful Putnam family has filed a complaint against her, so they just write the name “Martin” and leave a space for her first name, which they fill in later: Susannah, and then cross out her station of “widdow,” even though she was one.

They know the second person well, though: the Reverend George Burroughs, the former minister of Salem who’d left two dead wives and a string of debts in his wake. They write his warrant in a decisive hand, but knowing that he can’t be fetched from Maine for an examination in two days, order the Marshall to “Convay him with all Speed to Salem before the Magestrates there, to be Examened, he being Suspected for a Confederacy with the devil.”

Others: the fortune teller and leader of a burglary ring Dorcas Hoar, one of her widowed neighbors, the rich merchant Philip English (whose wife is already in jail), and the widow Lydia Dustin, from the nearby town of Reading.

WHO was Dorcas Hoar?

old house
A late-1890s photo of
Dorcas Hoar’s house. It was
torn down in the early 1900s.

Age 58. A widow who was also a fortune teller and leader of a burglary ring, which included six of her children and numerous servants in households around town. Among her victims was a local minister whose servant stole an abundance of money, jewelry, clothing, and food, funneling all of it to Dorcas Hoar. Once captured, the burglars’ only sentence was to pay the costs of what they stole, a light sentence indeed, but one that was still resented by the Hoar family, who beat two of the minister’s cows (one to death) in revenge.

Dorcas Hoar’s hair was four feet, seven inches long, a so-called “elf lock” where evil spirits could hide. During her trial, the suspicious court ordered that her hair be cut off, a devastating blow. Her execution was delayed when she confessed.

After the trials, she moved in with her son-in-law and died in poverty. Case files: Dorcas Hoar

WHO was Susannah Martin?

Susannah Martin's memorial bench
Susannah Martin’s
memorial bench in Salem

Age 71. Depending on you you asked, she was either “one of the most “impudent, Scurrilous, wicked creatures in the world” (Cotton Mather), or an “honest, hard-working Christian woman and a “Martyr of Superstition” (her historical house marker).

We do know that her past included six unsuccessful lawsuits to inherit her father’s estate. She had also appeared in court as a defendant numerous times when her neighbors accused her of a variety of offenses, including calling one of them a liar and a thief. She was accused twice of witchcraft the Salem hysteria, with the charges eventually dropped.

During Martin’s examination, she laughed at her accusers. When asked if she had compassion for the afflicted, the forthright and hardened Martin replied, “No. I have none.”

At her later trial, at least nine (perhaps as many as 24) traveled by horse for nearly three days to Boston just to testify against her. Among their grievances: she’d caused one man’s oxen to drown themselves, her specter had stalked a farm hand, she’d bitten another man’s hand, she’d driven a neighbor mad, and she’d been seen at witch meetings. Case files: Susannah Martin

Tomorrow in Salem: The beloved Rebecca Nurse’s friends rally

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Apr 24: the cantankerous Giles Corey writes a new will

paper and quill

Today in Salem: The cantankerous Giles Corey is pounding his fist on the jail keeper’s table. He’s ripped his will into the smallest shreds that his calloused hands can, and now, with the help of the Justice of the Peace, he’s making a new one. “Being under great troubles & affliction,” Giles begins, and goes on to proclaim:

To the son-in-law who testified against Giles and his wife Martha: NOTHING.

To another son-in-law, who called Martha a witch: NOTHING.

To Martha herself, his gospel woman wife: NOTHING. The jail keeper sits up at that. She’s been in jail for over a month now, which doesn’t bode well. Does Giles think she won’t survive? Or is she a thorn in his side that he wants to remove?

Everything – every shilling, acre, and cow – is to go to his other two sons-in-law, share and share alike, for “considerations mee at ye present Espetially moveing.”

Meanwhile, Susannah Sheldon joins the ranks of the afflicted girls when, during Sunday meeting, she sees the specter of a wealthy merchant, Philip English, crawl over a pew to torment her.

WHO was Susannah Sheldon?

Susannah Sheldon's mark
Susannah Sheldon’s mark

Susannah was an 18yo traumatized refugee of the Indian Wars in Maine. Her 24yo brother was killed in an Indian attack, and her 10yo brother died of “distraction.” Only four months before she made her first accusation, her father died of an infected wound that he’d received in Maine, and the family farm was taken. Her mother, fours sisters, and brother were reduced to poverty. Her first accusations were against the wealthiest family in Salem. Her visions were among the most disturbing.

Susannah moved to Providence, Rhode Island before the trials were over. According to local records, she was summoned before the Providence City Council two years later. We don’t know why she was summoned, but she was referred to as a person “of Evill repute” and may have been indigent at the time. Some records indicate that she died 4 years after the Trials ended.

Of the people Susannah accused and/or testified against, 15 were hanged. Her legal case files are here.

Tomorrow in Salem: This WEEK in Salem