Volume I Part 18 (1/2)
[45] These statements were probably made as answers to questions; but the fact does not appear in the report.
[46] At this point either Turner got into a wild confusion as to time, and n.o.body noticed it, or the report is wrong. Turner's story as it now stands is quite irreconcilable with the obviously true part of the evidence.
[47] Turner must have said, or intended to say, that he had agreed to pay Wild the 500 that White had given him the night before, as black-mail for the rest of the money and the jewels; but nothing of this appears in the report. It does not appear from the report how much money Tryon lost in all, nor how much was found at Fry's. It does not follow that evidence on the subject was not given at the trial.
[48] Turner was arrested by Cole about 3 P.M. Sir T. Aleyn does not say when he parted from him in the morning.
THE SUFFOLK WITCHES[49]
At the a.s.sizes held at Bury St. Edmunds, for the county of Suffolk, on the 10th of March 1665, before Sir Matthew Hale,[50] Lord Chief-Baron of Exchequer, Rose Cullender and Amy Duny, widows, both of Leystoff, were indicted for bewitching Elizabeth and Ann Durent, Jane Bocking, Susan Chandler, William Durent, Elizabeth and Deborah Pacy; and being arraigned they pleaded Not Guilty.
Three of the persons above-named, viz. Anne Durent, Susan Chandler, and Elizabeth Pacy were brought to Bury to the a.s.sizes, and were in a reasonable good condition; but that morning they came into the hall to give instructions for the drawing of their bills of indictments, the three persons fell into strange and violent fits, shrieking out in a most sad manner, so that they could not in any wise give any instructions in the court who were the cause of their distemper. And although they did after some certain s.p.a.ce recover out of their fits, yet they were every one of them struck dumb, so that none of them could speak, neither at the time, nor during the a.s.sizes, until the conviction of the supposed witches.
_Dorothy Durent_ was the mother of William Durent, an infant. She swore that on the 10th of March 1669, she left her son William, who was then sucking, in charge of Amy Durent while she was away from home, giving her a penny for her trouble. She laid a great charge on Amy not to suckle the child, and on being asked why she did this, she explained that Amy had long gone under the reputation of a witch. Nevertheless, when she came back Amy told her that she had given the child suck;--
whereupon the deponent was very angry with the said Amy for the same; at which the said Amy was much discontented, and used many high expressions and threatening speeches towards her; telling her, That she had as good to have done otherwise than to have found fault with her, and so departed out of her house; and that very night her son fell into strange fits of swooning and was held in such terrible manner, that she was much affrighted therewith, and so continued for divers weeks. And the said examinant farther said, that she being exceedingly troubled at her child's distemper, did go to a certain person named Dr.
Jacob, who lived at Yarmouth, who had the reputation in the country, to help children that were bewitched; who advised her to hang up the child's blanket in the chimney-corner all day, and at night when she put the child to bed, to put it into the said blanket, and if she found anything in it, she should not be afraid, but throw it into the fire. And this deponent did according to his direction, and at night when she took down the blanket with an intent to put her child therein, there fell out of the same a great toad, which ran up and down the hearth, and she having a young youth only with her in the house desired him to catch the toad and throw it into the fire, which the youth did accordingly and held it there with the tongs; and as soon as it was in the fire it made a great and horrible noise, and after a s.p.a.ce there was a flas.h.i.+ng in the fire like gunpowder, making a noise like the discharge of a pistol, and thereupon the toad was no more seen or heard. It was asked by the court, if that after the noise and flas.h.i.+ng, there was not the substance of the toad to be seen to consume in the fire? And it was answered by the said Dorothy Durent, that after the flas.h.i.+ng and noise, there was no more seen than if there had been none there. The next day there came a young woman, a kinswoman of the said Amy, and a neighbour of this deponent, and told this deponent, that her aunt (meaning the said Amy) was in a most lamentable condition, having her face all scorched with fire, and that she was sitting alone in her house in her smock without any fire.
And thereupon this deponent went into the house of the said Amy Duny to see her, and found her in the same condition as was related to her; for her face, her legs, and thighs, which this deponent saw, seemed very much scorched and burnt with fire, at which this deponent seemed much to wonder, and asked the said Amy how she came into that sad condition? and the said Amy replied, she might thank her for it, for that she this deponent was the cause of it, but that she should live to see some of her children dead, and she upon crutches. And this deponent farther saith, that after the burning of the said toad, her child recovered, and was well again, and was living at the time of the a.s.sizes. And this deponent farther saith, That about the 6th of March, 11 Car. II., her daughter Elizabeth Durent, being about the age of ten years, was taken in like manner as her first child was, and in her fits complained much of Amy Duny, and said, that she did appear to her, and afflict her in such manner as the former. And she this deponent going to the apothecary's for something for her said child, when she did return to her own house, she found the said Amy Duny there, and asked her what she did do there, and her answer was, That she came to see her child, and to give it some water. But she this deponent was very angry with her, and thrust her forth of her doors, and when she was out of doors, she said, You need not be so angry, for your child will not live long: and this was on a Sat.u.r.day, and the child died on the Monday following. The cause of whose death, this deponent verily believeth was occasioned by the witchcraft of the said Amy Duny: for that the said Amy hath been long reputed to be a witch and a person of very evil behaviour, whose kindred and relations have been many of them accused of witchcraft, and some of them have been condemned. The said deponent further saith, that not long after the death of her daughter Elizabeth Durent, she this deponent was taken with a lameness in both legs, from the knees down-ward, that she was fain to go upon crutches, and that she had no other use of them but only to bear a little upon them till she did remove her crutches, and so continued till the time of the a.s.sizes that the Witch came to be tried, and was there upon her crutches; the Court asked her, That at the time she was taken with this lameness, if it were with her according to the custom of women?
Her answer was, that it was so, and that she never had any stoppages of those things, but when she was with child. This is the substance of her Evidence to this Indictment.
There was one thing very remarkable, that after she had gone upon crutches for upwards of 3 years, and went upon them at the time of the a.s.sizes in the Court when she gave her Evidence, and upon the jury's bringing in their verdict, by which the said Amy Duny was found Guilty, to the great admiration of all persons, the said Dorothy Durent was restored to the use of her limbs, and went home without making use of her crutches.
As concerning Elizabeth and Deborah Pacy, the first of the age of 11 years, the other of the age of 9 years or thereabouts: as to the elder, she was brought into the Court at the time of the instructions given to draw up the Indictments, and afterwards at the time of trial of the said prisoners, but could not speak one word all the time, and for the most part she remained as one wholly senseless, as one in a deep sleep, and could move no part of her body, and all the motion of life that appeared in her was, that as she lay upon cus.h.i.+ons in the court upon her back, her stomach and belly, by the drawing of her breath, would arise to a great height: and after the said Elizabeth had lain a long time on the table in the court, she came a little to herself and sat up, but could neither see nor speak, but was sensible of what was said to her, and after a while she laid her head on the bar of the court with a cus.h.i.+on under it, and her hand and her ap.r.o.n upon that, and there she lay a good s.p.a.ce of time: and by the direction of the judge, Amy Duny was privately brought to Elizabeth Pacy, and she touched her hand: whereupon the child without so much as seeing her, for her eyes were closed all the while, suddenly leaped up, and catched Amy Duny by the hand, and afterwards by the face; and with her nails scratched her till blood came, and would by no means leave her till she was taken from her, and afterwards the child would still be pressing towards her, and making signs of anger conceived against her.
Deborah the younger daughter was held in such extreme manner, that her parents wholly despaired of her life, and therefore could not bring her to the a.s.sizes.
_The Evidence which was given concerning these two children was to this effect._
SAMUEL PACY, a merchant of Leystoff aforesaid (a man who carried himself with much soberness during the trial, from whom proceeded no words either of pa.s.sion or malice though his children were so greatly afflicted), sworn and examined, deposeth. That his younger daughter Deborah, upon Thursday the 10th of October last, was suddenly taken with a lameness in her legs, so that she could not stand, neither had she any strength in her limbs to support her, and so she continued until the 17th day of the same month, which day being fair and suns.h.i.+ny, the child desired to be carried on the east part of the house to be set upon the bank which looketh upon the sea; and whilst she was sitting there, Amy Duny came to this deponent's house to buy some herrings, but being denied she went away discontented, and presently returned again, and was denied, and likewise the third time and was denied as at first; and at her last going away, she went away grumbling; but what she said was not perfectly understood. But at the very same instant of time, the child was taken with most violent fits, feeling most extreme pains in her stomach, like the p.r.i.c.king of pins, and shrieking out in a most dreadful manner like unto a whelp; and not like unto a sensible creature. And in this extremity the child continued to the great grief of the parents until the 30th of the same month. During this time this deponent sent for one Dr. Feavor, a doctor of physic, to take his advice concerning his child's distemper; the Doctor being come, he saw the child in those fits but could not conjecture, as he then told this deponent, and afterwards affirmed in open court, at this trial, what might be the cause of the child's affliction. And this deponent farther saith, That by reason of the circ.u.mstances aforesaid, and in regard Amy Duny is a woman of ill-fame, and commonly reported to be a witch and sorceress, and for that the said child in her fits would cry out of Amy Duny as the cause of her malady, and that she did affright her with apparitions of her person (as the child in the intervals of her fits related) he this deponent did suspect the said Amy Duny for a witch, and charged her with the injury and wrong to his child, and caused her to be set in the stocks on the 28th of the same October: and during the time of her continuance there, one Alice Letteridge and Jane Buxton demanding of her, as they also affirmed in court upon their oaths, what should be the reason of Mr. Pacy's child's distemper? telling her, That she was suspected to be the cause thereof; she replied, 'Mr. Pacy keeps a great stir about his child, but let him stay until he hath done as much by his children, as I have done by mine.' And being further examined, what she had done to her children? She answered, 'That she had been fain to open her child's mouth with a tap to give it victuals.' And the said deponent further deposeth, that within two days after speaking of the said words, being the 30th of October, the eldest daughter Elizabeth, fell into extreme fits, insomuch, that they could not open her mouth to give her breath, to preserve her life, without the help of a tap which they were enforced to use; and the younger child was in the like manner afflicted, so that they used the same also for her relief.
And further the said children being grievously afflicted would severally complain in their extremity, and also in the intervals, that Amy Duny (together with one other woman whose person and clothes they described) did thus afflict them, their apparitions appearing before them, to their great terror and affrightment: and sometimes they would cry out, saying, There stands Amy Duny, and there Rose Cullender, the other person troubling them.
Their fits were various, sometimes they would be lame on one side of their bodies, sometimes on the other: sometimes a soreness over their whole bodies, so as they could endure none to touch them: at other times they would be restored to the perfect use of their limbs, and deprived of their hearing; at other times of their sight, at other times of their speech; sometimes by the s.p.a.ce of one day, sometimes for two; and once they were wholly deprived of their speech for eight days together and then restored to their speech again. At other times they would fall into swoonings, and upon the recovery to their speech they would cough extremely, and bring up much phlegm, and with the same crooked pins, and one time a two-penny nail with a very broad head, which pins (amounting to forty or more) together with the two-penny nail, were produced in court, with the affirmation of the said deponent, that he was present when the said nail was vomited up, and also most of the pins.
Commonly at the end of every fit they would cast up a pin, and sometimes they would have four or five fits in one day.
In this manner the said children continued with this deponent for the s.p.a.ce of two months, during which time in their intervals this deponent would cause them to read some chapters in the New Testament.
Whereupon this deponent several times observed, that they would read till they came to the name of Lord, or Jesus, or Christ; and then before they could p.r.o.nounce either of the said words they would suddenly fall into their fits. But when they came to the name of Satan, or devil, they would clap their fingers upon the book, crying out, This bites, but makes me speak right well.
At such time as they be recovered out of their fits (occasioned as this deponent conceives upon their naming of Lord, Jesus, or Christ), this deponent hath demanded of them, what is the cause they cannot p.r.o.nounce those words: they reply and say, that Amy Duny saith, I must not use that name.
And further, the said children after their fits were past, would tell, how that Amy Duny and Rose Cullender would appear before them holding their fists at them, threatening, that if they related either what they saw or heard, that they would torment them ten times more than ever they did before.
In their fits they would cry out, There stands Amy Duny or Rose Cullender; and sometimes in one place and sometimes in another running with great violence to the place where they fancied them to stand, striking at them as if they were present; they would appear to them sometimes spinning, and sometimes reeling, or in other postures, deriding or threatening them.
Afterwards the witness sent the children to the house of Margaret Arnold, his sister, at Yarmouth, to make trial whether the change of air might do them any good.