Tag Archives: Sarah Good

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Mar 3: Dorcas, the tiniest witch

broken doll

Today in Salem: The three accused witches are finally behind bars, and 9-year-old little Betty, the tomboy Abigail Williams, and the 17-year-old servant Elizabeth Hubbard are feeling somewhat better.

Ann Putnam is still tormented, though, this time by the specters of a woman and a little girl. Ann doesn’t know who the woman is, but she recognizes the girl: It’s the beggar Sarah Good’s 4-year-old daughter, Dorcas. Sarah has her baby in jail with her, but has left Dorcas behind in the care of her hapless father.

Can it be? Is it possible for a small child to be a witch? If any child could be, it would be Dorcas. In the best of times Dorcas is a wild child, dirty, disheveled, and often hungry. Now, though, with her mother gone, the little girl is frightened and furious, and her specter bites, pinches, and chokes Ann in revenge.

Meanwhile the magistrates are interviewing the three imprisoned witches at the jail. It doesn’t matter that the two Sarahs have denied being in league with the Devil. The magistrates know they’re guilty, and they must confess.

The beggar Sarah Good has been brought back to Salem, and now she’s twisted at an awkward angle, nursing her baby in one arm. The other is bruised and swollen from leaping off the constable’s horse, and she holds it close, as if it’s in an imaginary sling. In another corner of the jail cell, the sickly Sarah Osborne is sleeping in dirty straw, breathing shallowly. The cruel magistrate John Hathorne prods her with his foot until she rolls over to look at him.

“What promise have you made to the Devil?” He looks back and forth to each of them. None, they both say at the same time. “Have you signed his book? Tell the truth!” The beggar just laughs and holds her baby closer. The sickly Sarah Osborne sighs. No, they say.

As for the slave Tituba, she’s been pacing in a small circle all day. She’s already confessed, but to prove her worth, she adds a new detail: when the previous minister’s wife and child died, it was because of witchcraft.

LEARN MORE: What was the jail in Salem like?

The Salem “Gaol” was only eight years old when the witchcraft trials began. The floor was dirt, and the windows had iron bars. But we don’t know much more about the building, except that it was described as “thirteen feet stud, and twenty feet square, accommodated with a yard.” It’s hard to translate that into today’s measurements. Was the facade of the building 20 square feet? Or did that refer to the length and width? Did it have two stories? What was the distance between studs? Was it built of stone or wood? We know it had a yard, but was it secured to the exterior of the building, or was it a central courtyard?

The most important thing we know is that the conditions were appalling. It was hot in the summer and cold in the winter, and smelled of dung, vomit, dead vermin, and unwashed bodies year-round. It was miserably overcrowded, and prisoners were infested with fleas and lice thanks to vermin, which spread “jail fever” (typhus). An earlier prisoner said he was “almost poisoned with the stink of my own dung and the stink of the prison having never so much as a minute’s time to take the air since I came into this dolesome place.”

WHO was Dorcas Good? Dorcas was the 4-year-old daughter of the beggar Sarah Good. Dorcas was accused of witchcraft, like her mother, and confessed that her mother had given her a little snake that sucked on her finger. The magistrates took this to mean she had a “familiar” and was, therefore, guilty. Dorcas stayed in prison for eight months and was emotionally damaged for the rest of her life.

Tomorrow in Salem: Choices: the beggar Sarah Good

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Mar 2: On the run: the beggar Sarah Good

Today in Salem: A buzz of energy has everyone talking about the beggar Sarah Good, her daring escape from house arrest, and how the servant Elizabeth Hubbard could possibly have known about it.

After yesterday’s hearing, Sarah Good and her baby had been sent to her constable relative’s house and put under guard. But she’d made a quick escape, racing out so quickly that she’d left her shoes and stockings behind. She didn’t last long, though. It was frigidly cold, her feet were bare (and so were her legs), and she was nursing a baby. So she went back to her relative and begged, this time for shelter.

Then, last night, before anyone knew of Sarah’s escape, wide-eyed neighbors had watched Elizabeth wince and jerk away as Sarah’s specter inflicted terrible pains on her. “She’s right there!” Elizabeth had cried. “On the table! Right in front of you!” The specter had bare feet, Elizabeth said, and her legs were bare, too. And one breast.

How could Elizabeth have known? The neighbors agree: She must be able to see into the Invisible World. And specters must look exactly like the people they belong to. What else could explain it?

Now the magistrates are taking no chances. No more staying at a relative’s house. A guard is taking Sarah to jail 10 miles away, where she cannot escape. That doesn’t stop her from trying, though. Even holding her 10-week-old baby, she slides off the guard’s horse and tries to run, three times. She curses and kicks and spits, but the guard wrestles her and the baby back onto the horse every time.

Tomorrow in Salem: Dorcas, the tiniest witch

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Mar 1: IN COURT: the beggar Sarah Good, the sickly Sarah Osborne, & the slave Tituba

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

Tomorrow in Salem: On the run: the beggar Sarah Good

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Feb 28-29: Parris beats a confession out of Tituba

powder burst

Today in Salem: Rev Parris’s hands are red and swollen from beating his slave Tituba. Parris is done, done with waiting and praying. Little Betty and her cousin the tomboy Abigail are growing worse, not better, and now he’s beaten a confession out of Tituba. Yes. Yes, she’s a witch, she cries. Not just that, but so are the beggar Sarah Good and the sickly Saran Osborne, plus two other witches she doesn’t recognize.

Parris relays the confession to a church deacon, who enlists three other men to ride to town and file complaints against Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne. Warrants are immediately issued for their arrest, with orders to appear tomorrow morning for a hearing.

Tonight, according to the girls, the beggar Sarah Good’s specter torments the 17-year-old servant Elizabeth Hubbard. The specter of the sickly Sarah Osborne manifests as a human-headed bird and torments Betty, age 9, and Abigail, age 11. And the specters of Osborne and Tituba try to cut off 12-year-old Ann Putnam’s head.

LEARN MORE: How could Rev Parris beat his slave? Wasn’t slavery just during the Civil War?

No. The first enslaved Africans were brought to America more than 150 years before the witchcraft trials, and nearly 300 years before the U.S. Civil War.

The Body of Liberties title page
The Massachusetts Body of Liberties of 1641 was the first legal code established in New England. It outlawed slavery but legalized the slave trade at the same time.

About 50 years before the trials, the Puritans outlawed slavery with two exceptions: prisoners of war (most often Native Americans), and strangers who were sold to them or sold themselves. So, ironically, the very law that outlawed slavery also legalized the slave trade between America, the West Indies, and Africa.

In Salem at the time, we know of at least five enslaved people: In the Parris household were Tituba and John Indian with their daughter Violet, who’s age and birthplace are unknown. Two other women, Mary Black and Candy, both named in the trials, were enslaved by other families.

While Rev Parris “owned” Tituba because of legal loopholes, beating her was immoral and outside the law. In fact, the Puritan minister Cotton Mather later promised that if owners mistreated their slaves, “the Sword of Justice” would sweep through the colony.

Tomorrow in Salem: IN COURT: the beggar Sarah Good, the sickly Sarah Osborne, & the slave Tituba

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Feb 27: ACCUSED: the beggar Sarah Good and the sickly Sarah Osborne

Today in Salem: The servant Elizabeth Hubbard is hugging herself in front of the fire, still shivering after walking nearly four miles in the bone chilling cold. She’s brought something from her uncle, the doctor, to the Putnam home, and as soon as she’s warm she’ll walk the four miles back.

13-year-old Ann Putnam is also shivering, but not from cold. She’s been tormented for three days now, grabbed and pushed and pinched by a strange specter who’s trying to make her sign the Devil’s book. Ann hadn’t recognized the specter until today: it’s that stinking, pipe-smoking beggar Sarah Good. As soon as she says the name she begins to shake, and it immediately spreads to Elizabeth, whose shivers are now so violent that she can hardly hold a mug of warm tea.

Elizabeth sets back out, but a piercing wind has kicked up. She walks as quickly as she can, but she’s already walked four miles, with four more to go, she’s freezing, it’s dark, and her eyes are watering in the wind.

Suddenly, from the corner of her eye, she can see a dark shape moving quietly just behind her. When she walks slowly, it does too, and when she walks quickly, it picks up the pace. Something is following her. It’s a wolf, stalking her, hunching its shoulders and waiting for a chance to jump. Wolves are rare, though, hardly ever seen, especially in the Village.

Elizabeth breathes in sharply. This is no ordinary animal. Ann has just named the beggar Sarah Good as tormenting her, and now the beggar has come to attack Elizabeth as well. The wolf is probably Sarah Good, who’s transformed herself. Or maybe it is a real wolf, but it’s being commanded by Sarah.

Next to the wolf, teeth glinting in the dark, is another specter: the sickly Sarah Osborne. Two, two witches are now chasing Elizabeth through the cold darkness, and she runs as fast as she can.

LEARN MORE: What is a specter?

A “specter” is a disembodied spirit that’s much like a ghost, except it appears while a person is still alive. In Salem, the “witches” were accused of using their specters to torment and harm other people. The specter could pinch, bite, choke, or otherwise harm its victims while the actual, real-life witch was somewhere else.

“Spectral evidence” – testimony that said the accused person’s specter hurt someone – was enormously at fault in the Salem Witchcraft Trials. Ministers and judges believed that the Devil could lead faithful, religious people astray. But they did not believe that the Devil would impersonate that person. In other words, if you saw someone’s specter, it undoubtedly belonged to them, and it was there only because the person was in league with the Devil. That spectral evidence was enough to condemn a person.

WHO was Ann Putnam?

Age 12. Accused 18 of the 20 people who were eventually executed, and more than 40 more who were jailed.

Ann Putnam was the “leader” of the group of girls, which grew to include older women and men, as the accusations escalated. Ann was an oldest child, and her parents often encouraged Ann to identify “witches.” Most important, young girls then were nearly invisible and powerless, forbidden even to speak in church. When they became afflicted, though, they became the center of attention and were greatly influential. It must have been intoxicating.

14 years after the trials, Ann’s health was in decline and she was nearly an invalid. She asked to make a confession to be read at the meeting house.
Working with a minister, she dictated a confession that was written and signed in the church-book one night before services. The next morning it was read by the pastor in front of the congregation while Ann stood.
“The Confession of Anne Putnam, when she was received to Communion, 1706.

Ann Putnam’s mark

“I desire to be humbled before God for that sad and humbling providence that befell my father’s family in the year about ’92; that I, then being in my childhood, should, by such a providence of God, be made an instrument for the accusing of several persons of a grievous crime, whereby their lives were taken away from them, whom now I have just grounds and good reason to believe they were innocent persons; and that it was a great delusion of Satan that deceived me in that sad time, whereby I justly fear I have been instrumental, with others, though ignorantly and unwittingly, to bring upon myself and this land the guilt of innocent blood; though what was said or done by me against any person I can truly and uprightly say, before God and man, I did it not out of any anger, malice, or ill-will to any person, for I had no such thing against one of them; but what I did was ignorantly, being deluded by Satan. And particularly, as I was a chief instrument of accusing of Goodwife Nurse and her two sisters, I desire to lie in the dust, and to be humbled for it, in that I was a cause, with others, of so sad a calamity to them and their families; for which cause I desire to lie in the dust, and earnestly beg forgiveness of God, and from all those unto whom I have given just cause of sorrow and offence, whose relations were taken away or accused.

Tomorrow in Salem: Parris beats a confession out of Tituba

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Feb 21: A pittance for a pauper

Today in Salem: Reverend Samuel Parris can smell her before he sees her, the acrid scent of pipe smoke followed by the pungency of a sweating and long-unwashed body. It’s dusk on the Sabbath, with an entire day of sermons behind him, and all Rev Parris wants is his supper. Instead the homeless beggar Sarah Good is knocking on his door, smoking her pipe and shivering in the February cold, a baby squirming in her arms and a little girl hiding behind her petticoat. She is begging, again, having knocked on nearly every door in Salem Village.

Parris hesitates. He doesn’t have much to give, having not been paid in seven months. And Sarah hardly inspires sympathy. She has a legendary temper and nothing but scorn for those who help her. Even her husband complains about her ill-mannered nature, and she’s worn out any charitable feelings people may have once felt.

Still. The children are innocent, and what kind of minister would he be to turn them away? He gives a coin to the little girl, but Sarah doesn’t even look at the money. She just whirls around and stalks off, muttering under her breath, words he hears but can’t quite understand.

LEARN MORE: What was it like to be homeless then?

During the time of the Salem Witchcraft trials, homeless people were known as “vagrants” or “vagabonds.” They didn’t live outdoors; instead, they stayed with relatives or friends and moved from place to place. If the local government had budgeted for it, sometimes the poor were given money or jobs. (In Boston, as much as 25% of the city’s budget went to relief for the poor.)

In the case of Sarah Good, it doesn’t appear that her family was given any government support. Neither did they have support from friends or even relatives: Sarah was so mean-spirited and ill-tempered that she was quickly turned out everywhere she went. Eventually she and her husband, a laborer, were able to find a home away from the village. Still, they never recovered from poverty, and thus Sarah was reduced to begging.

WHO was Sarah Good?

Sarah was 39, a near vagrant who smoked a pipe & had a temper. One of the first to be accused. Mother of 4yo Dorcas Good, who was also accused and put in prison.

Sarah was born to a well-to-do innkeeper who drowned himself when Sarah was 17. He’d left a sizeable estate of 500 pounds to be shared among his 3 daughters, but when her mother remarried, Sarah’s stepfather kept the money to himself and left her with virtually nothing.

Sarah first married an indentured servant who died and left her with massive debts. When she married again, she and her new husband, William Good, inherited that debt. The government seized some of their land to pay it, leaving only a small portion, with William doing odd jobs around the Village. A recent smallpox epidemic had made that nearly impossible, though, and he and Sarah – with their children – fell into poverty.

Over time Sarah became impoverished and bitter, friendless, a near vagrant who was almost universally disliked. She was quarrelsome and loud, smoked a pipe, refused to go to church “for want of clothes.” It was true that she had only two dresses, ten years old, and her children had even less. Still, she showed no interest in leading a virtuous life, which made her suspect. Case files: Sarah Good

WHO was Samuel Parris?

Samuel Parris was the 39-year-old Puritan minister of Salem Village, the father and uncle of two afflicted girls, and the slave-master of one confessor. The witchcraft hysteria began in his family.

samuel-parris-portrait
Samuel Parris

Parris was born in London and attended Harvard College in Boston, then left to run a sugar plantation he’d inherited in Barbados. Several years later he returned to Boston with his slaves Tituba and her husband “John Indian.” He dabbled in business, but soon decided to enter the ministry.

Parris was considering leaving business for the ministry and had begun filling in for area ministers when Salem Village invited him to lead their church. But he negotiated their offer like a business contract instead of an invitation, and held out for a full year, insisting on a binding contract and adding clauses for things like price freezes, future pay raises, and ownership of land. Finally, when the committee met to sign the final agreement, Parris didn’t show up.

With that mutual misunderstanding, Parris took up his appointment and began preaching at the Village church. What followed was two years of acrimonious disagreement punctuated by weekly sermons of thinly veiled barbs against the congregation. Finally, they stopped paying him. It was a brutally cold winter, and the lack of firewood and low supplies of food were a hardship, but Parris doubled down in his sermons. Three months later, the witchcraft hysteria began in his home. Case files: Samuel Parris

Tomorrow in Salem: No cure for evil