Part 15 (1/2)
MARY SANFORD. Hartford, 1662. Convicted June 13, 1662. Executed.
_Records Particular Court_ (2: 174-175); HOADLEY'S _Record Witchcraft Trials_.
ANDREW SANFORD. Hartford, 1662. No indictment.
_Records Particular Court_ (2: 174-175); HOADLEY'S _Record Witchcraft Trials_.
JUDITH VARLETT (VARLETH). Hartford, 1662. Arrested; released.
It will be recalled that Rebecca Greensmith in her confession, among other things, said that Mrs. Judith Varlett told her that she (Varlett) ”was much troubled wth ye Marshall Jonath: Gilbert & cried, & she sayd if it lay in her power she would doe him a mischief, or what hurt shee could.”
Judith must have indulged in other indiscretions of a.s.sociation or of speech, since she soon fell under suspicion of witchcraft, and was put under arrest and imprisoned. But she had a powerful friend at court (who, despite his many contentions and intrigues, commanded the attention of the Connecticut authorities), in the person of her brother-in-law Peter Stuyvesant, then bearing the t.i.tle and office of ”Captain General and Commander-in-Chief of Amsterdam In New Netherland, now called New York, and the Dutch West India Islands.” It was doubtless due to his intercession in a letter of October 13, 1662, that she was released.
The letter:
”To the Honorable Deputy Governour & Court of ”Magistracy att Harafort.
(Oct. 1662)
”Honoured and Worthy Srs.--
”By this occasion of me Brother in Lawe (beinge necessitated to make a Second Voyage for ayde his distressed sister Judith Varleth jmprisoned as we are jmformed, uppon pretend accusation of wicherye we Realy Beleeve and out her wel known education Life Conversation & profession of faith, wee dear a.s.sure that shee is jnnocent of Such a horrible Crimen, & wherefor j doubt not hee will now, as formerly finde jour dhonnours favour and ayde for the jnnocent). _Ye Ld Stephesons Letter_ (C.B. 2: doc. 1).
MARY BARNES. Farmington, 1662. Convicted January 6. Probably executed.
_Records Particular Court_ (2: 184).
WILLIAM AYRES and GOODY AYRES his Wife. Hartford, 1662. Arrested. Fled from the colony.
ELIZABETH SEAGER. Hartford, 1662. Convicted; discharged.
Goody Seager probably deserved all that came to her in trials and punishment. She was one of the typical characters in the early communities upon whom distrust and dislike and suspicion inevitably fell. Exercising witch powers was one of her more reputable qualities.
She was indicted for blasphemy, adultery, and witchcraft at various times, was convicted of adultery, and found guilty of witchcraft in June, 1665. She owed her escape from hanging to a finding of the Court of a.s.sistants that the jury's verdict did not legally answer to the indictment, and she was set ”free from further suffering or imprisonment.” _Records County Court_ (3: 5: 52); _Colonial Records of Connecticut_ (2: 531); _Rhode Island Colonial Records_ (2: 388).
JAMES WALKLEY. Hartford, 1662. Arrested. Fled to Rhode Island.
KATHERINE HARRISON. Wethersfield, 1669. Convicted; discharged.
See account in previous chapter. _Records Court of, a.s.sistants_ (I, 1-7); _Colonial Records of Connecticut_ (2: 118, 132); _Doc. History New York_ (4th ed., 4: 87).
NICHOLAS DESBOROUGH. Hartford, 1683. Suspicioned.
Desborough was a landowner in Hartford, having received a grant of fifty acres for his services in the Pequot war. He owes his enrollment in the hall of fame to Cotton Mather, who was so self-satisfied with his efforts in ”Relating the wonders of the invisible world in preternatural occurrences” that in his pedantic exuberance he put in a learned sub-t.i.tle: ”Miranda cano, sed sunt credenda” (The themes I sing are marvelous, yet true).
Fourteen examples were chosen for the ”Thaumatographia Pneumatica,” as ”remarkable histories” of molestations from evil spirits, and Mather said of them, ”that no reasonable man in this whole country ever did question them.”