Divers other days & times as well before as after, Certaine Detestable Arts, Called Witchcrafts & Sorceries, wickedly & ffeloniously hath used, practised & Exercised at & within ye Township of Salem aforesaid, In, upon & against An Puttman, Single woman of Salem Village, by which said Wicked arts, the said An Puttman ye said first day of March, in ye fourth year abovesaid & divers other other days & times, as well before as after, was & is hurt, Tortured, afflicted, Pined, Consumed, wasted & Tormented, & also for Sundry acts of Witchcraft by said Good Committed & done before & since that time against ye peace of our Soveraigne Lord & Lady ye King & Queen Their Crowne & dignity & against ye forme of Statues In that Case made & provided.
‘Witness. Ann Putman. Jurat. Eliz. Hubbard. Abigail Williams. Jurat.’
On examination, Good and Osborn denied the accusation in toto, but Tituba, the Indian woman, gave damning evidence against them, and it is worthy of being given in extenso:
‘THE EXAMINATION OF TITIBE.
‘Titibe what evil Spirit have you familiarity with?—None.
‘Why do you hurt these children?—I do not hurt them.
‘Who is it then?—The Devil for ought I know.
‘Did you never see the Devil?—The Devil came to me and bid me serve him.
‘Who have you seen?—Four women sometimes hurt the children.
‘Who were they?—Goode Osburn and Sarah Good, and I doe not know who the other were. Sarah Good and Osburne would have me hurt the children, but I would not. She further saith there was a tall man of Boston that she did see.
‘When did you see them?—Last night at Boston.
‘What did they say to you?—They said, hurt the children.
‘And did you hurt them?—No, there is 4 women and one man. They hurt the children, and they lay all upon me, and they tell me if I will not hurt the children, they will hurt me.
‘But you did not hurt them?—Yes, but I will hurt them no more.
‘Are you not sorry you did hurt them?—Yes.
‘And why then doe you hurt them?—They say hurt children or wee will doe worse to you.
‘What have you seen?—An man come to me and say serve me.
‘What service?—Hurt the children; and, last night, there was an appearance that said kill the children; and if I would not go on hurting the children, they would do worse to me.
‘What is this appearance you see?—Sometimes it is like a hog, and sometimes like a great dog; this appearance shee saith shee did see 4 times.
‘What did it say to you?—It, the black dog said, serve me, but I said, I am afraid. He said, if I did not, he would doe worse to me.
‘What did you say to it?—I will serve you no longer; then he said he would hurt me; and then he looked like a man, and threatened to hurt me. Shee said that this man had a yellow bird that kept with him, and he told me he had more pretty things that he would give me if I would serve him.
‘What were those pretty things?—He did not show me them.
‘What, also, have you seen?—Two rats—a red rat and a black rat.
‘What did they say to you?—They said, serve me.
‘When did you see them?—Last night, and they said, serve me, but I would not.
‘What service?—Shee said, hurt the children.
‘Why did you goe to Thomas Putnams last night, and hurt his child?—They pull and hall me, and make me goe.
‘And what would they have you doe?—Kill her with a knife.
‘Left. Fuller and others said at this time when the child saw these persons, and was tormented by them, that she did complayn of a knife, that they would have her cut her head off with a knife.
‘How did you go?—We ride upon stickes, and are there presently.
‘Do you goe through the trees, or over them?—We see nothing, but are there presently.
‘Why did you not tell your Master?—I was afraid they would cut off my head if I told.
‘Would you have hurt others if you could?—They said they would hurt others, but they could not.
‘What attendants hath Sarah Good?—A yellow bird, and she would have given me one.
‘What meate did she give it?—It did suck between her fingers.
‘Did you not hurt Mr. Currin’s child?—Goode Good and Goode Osborn told [me] that they did hurt Mr. Curren’s child, and would have me hurt him too, but I did not.
‘What hath Sarah Osburn?—Yellow dog. Shee had a thing with a head like a woman, with 2 legges, and wings. Abigail Williams that lives with her Uncle Parris said that she did see the same creature, and it turned into the shape of Goode Osburn.
‘What else have you seen with Osburn?—Another thing, hairy; it goes upright like a man; it hath only 2 legges.
‘Did you not see Sarah Good upon Elizabeth Hubbard, last Satterday?—I did see her set a wolfe upon her to afflict her. The persons with this maid did say that she did complain of a wolfe. Shee further saith that she saw a cat with Good, at another time.
‘What cloathes doth the man go in?—He goes in black cloathes, a tal man with white hair, I think.
‘How doth the woman go?—In a white whood, and a black whood with a top knot.
‘Doe you see who it is that torments these children now?—Yes, it is Goode Good, shee hurts them in her own shape.
‘And who is it that hurts them now?—I am blind now, I cannot see.’
In the end, all three were sent to gaol. Mrs. Osburn died in gaol on May 16. Sarah Good was hanged, and Tituba lay in prison for thirteen months, and was then sold to pay her gaol fees.
Evidently the taste for notoriety in the ‘afflicted children’ was developing. One of them, Ann Putnam, denounced one Martha Corey for pricking and tormenting her. Mrs. Corey seems to have been a harmless church-member, and denied all the imputations of witchcraft cast on her; but even her husband bore testimony against her anent an ox which he thought had been bewitched. She was hanged. Her husband was afterward arrested on a similar charge, and his was a most singular case. By law, if found guilty, his goods, etc., were forfeited. He had the singular courage to defeat the law by the law itself. He caused a deed to be drawn up, duly witnessed, etc., by which he left his property to two out of his four sons-in-law, who befriended his wife (the other two gave witness against her). He then refused to plead either guilty or not guilty. He was had up the legal three times before the judge, but as he continued dumb he was sentenced to the Peine forte et dure, that of ‘pressing’ until he pleaded or died. If he died under the punishment his goods were not forfeited.
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