Drink, with his Doxy in his Hand: Some way or other the Fellow thought himself Affronted with the hasty passage of this Beacon, and immediately ran into the Fire-side of a Neighbouring Tavern, from whence he fetch'd out a Fire-fork, wherewith he grievously wounded Beacon in the Skull; even in that very part where the Apparition show'd his Wound. Of this Wound he Languished until he Dyed on the Second of May, about five of the Clock in the Morning at London. The Murderer it seems was endeavouring to Escape, as the Apparition affirm'd, but the Friends of the Deceased Beacon, Seized him; and Prosecuting him at Law, he found the help of such Friends as brought him off without the loss of his Life; since which, there has no more been heard of the Business.
This History I received of Mr. Joseph Beacon himself; who a little before his own Pious and hopeful Death, which follow'd not long after, gave me the Story written and signed with his own Hand, and attested with the Circumstances I have already mentioned.
But I shall no longer detain my Reader, from his expected Entertainment, in a brief account of the Tryals which have passed upon some of the Malefactors lately Executed at Salem, for the Witchcrafts whereof they stood Convicted. For my own part, I was not present at any of them; nor ever had I any Personal prejudice at the Persons thus brought upon the Stage; much less at the Surviving Relations of those Persons, with and for whom I would be as hearty a Mourner as any Man living in the World: The Lord Comfort them! But having received a Command so to do, I can do no other than shortly relate the chief Matters of Fact, which occurr'd in the Tryals of some that were Executed, in an Abridgment Collected out of the Court-Papers, on this occasion put into my hands. You are to take the Truth, just as it was; and the Truth will hurt no good Man. There might have been more of these, if my Book would not thereby have swollen too big; and if some other worthy hands did not perhaps intend something further in these Collections; for which cause I have only singled out Four or Five, which may serve to illustrate the way of Dealing, wherein Witchcrafts use to be concerned; and I report matters not as an Advocate, but as an Historian.
They were some of the Gracious Words inserted in the Advice, which many of the Neighbouring Ministers, did this Summer humbly lay before our Honorable Judges, We cannot but with all thankfulness, acknowledge the success which the Merciful God has given unto the Sedulous and Assiduous endeavours of Our Honourable Rulers, to detect the abominable Witchcrafts which have been committed in the Country; Humbly Praying, that the discovery of those mysterious and mischievous wickednesses, may be Perfected. If in the midst of the many Dissatisfactions among us, the Publication of these Tryals, may promote such a Pious Thankfulness unto God, for Justice being so far executed among us, I shall Rejoice that God is Glorified; and pray, that no wrong steps of ours may ever sully any of his Glorious Works. But we will begin with,
A Modern Instance of Witches, Discovered and Condemned in a Tryal, Before that Celebrated Judge, Sir Matthew Hale
It may cast some Light upon the Dark things now in America, if we just give a glance upon the like things lately happening in Europe. We may see the Witchcrafts here most exactly resemble the Witchcrafts there; and we may learn what sort of Devils do trouble the World.
The Venerable Baxter very truly says, Judge Hale was a Person, than whom, no Man was more Backward to Condemn a Witch, without full Evidence.
Now, one of the latest Printed Accounts about a Tryal of Witches, is of what was before him, and it ran on this wise. (Printed in the Year 1682.) And it is here the rather mentioned, because it was a Tryal, much considered by the Judges of New England.
I. Rose Cullender and Amy Duny, were severally Indicted, for Bewitching Elizabeth Durent, Ann Durent, Jane Bocking, Susan Chandler, William Durent, Elizabeth and Deborah Pacy. And the Evidence whereon they were Convicted, stood upon divers particular Circumstances.
II. Ann Durent, Susan Chandler, and Elizabeth Pacy, when they came into the Hall, to give Instructions for the drawing the Bills of Indictments, they fell into strange and violent Fits, so that they were unable to give in their Depositions, not only then, but also during the whole Assizes. William Durent being an Infant, his Mother Swore, That Amy Duny looking after her Child one Day in her absence, did at her return confess, that she had given suck to the Child: (tho' she were an Old Woman:) Whereat, when Durent expressed her displeasure, Duny went away with Discontents and Menaces.
The Night after, the Child fell into strange and sad Fits, wherein it continued for Divers Weeks. One Doctor Jacob advised her to hang up the Childs Blanket, in the Chimney Corner all Day, and at Night, when she went to put the Child into it, if she found any Thing in it then to throw it without fear into the Fire. Accordingly, at Night, there fell a great Toad out of the Blanket, which ran up and down the Hearth. A Boy catch't it, and held it in the Fire with the Tongs: where it made an horrible Noise, and Flash'd like to Gun-Powder, with a report like that of a Pistol: Whereupon the Toad was no more to be seen. The next Day a Kinswoman of Duny's, told the Deponent, that her Aunt was all grievously scorch'd with the Fire, and the Deponent going to her House, found her in such a Condition. Duny told her, she might thank her for it; but she should live to see some of her Children Dead, and her self upon Crutches. But after the Burning of the Toad, this Child Recovered.
This Deponent further Testifi'd, That Her Daughter Elizabeth, 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. One Day she found Amy Duny in her House, and thrusting her out of Doors, Duny said, You need not be so Angry, your Child won't live long. And within three Days the Child Died. The Deponent added, that she was Her self, not long after taken with such a Lameness, in both her Legs, that she was forced to go upon Crutches; and she was now in Court upon them. (It was Remarkable, that immediately upon the Juries bringing in Duny Guilty, Durent was restored unto the use of her Limbs, and went home without her Crutches.)
III. As for Elizabeth and Deborah Pacy, one Aged Eleven Years, the other Nine; the elder, being in Court, was made utterly senseless, during all the time of the Trial: or at least speechless. By the direction of the Judg, Duny was privately brought to Elizabeth Pacy, and she touched her Hand: whereupon the Child, without so much as seeing her, suddenly leap'd up and flew upon the Prisoner; the younger was too ill, to be brought unto the Assizes. But Samuel Pacy, their Father, testifi'd, that his Daughter Deborah was taken with a sudden Lameness; and upon the grumbling of Amy Duny, for being denied something, where this Child was then sitting, the Child was taken with an extream pain in her stomach, like the pricking of Pins; and shrieking at a dreadful manner, like a Whelp, rather than a Rational Creature. The Physicians could not conjecture the cause of the Distemper; but Amy Duny being a Woman of ill Fame, and the Child in Fits crying out of Amy Duny, as affrighting her with the Apparition of her Person, the Deponent suspected her, and procured her to be set in the stocks. While she was there, she said in the hearing of Two Witnesses, Mr. Pacy keeps a great stir about his Child, but let him stay till he has done as much by his Children, as I have done by mine: And being Asked, What she had done to her Children, she Answered, She had been fain to open her Childs Mouth with a Tap to give it Victuals. The Deponent added, that within Two Days, the Fits of his Daughters were such, that they could not preserve either Life or Breath, without the help of a Tap. And that the Children Cry'd out of Amy Duny, and of Rose Cullender, as afflicting them with their Apparitions.
IV. The Fits of the Children were various. They would sometimes be Lame on one side; sometimes on t'other.
