(Petition for Mary Osgood, Eunice Fry, Deliverance Dane, Sarah Wilson, Sr.,
and Abigail Barker)
To the honoured court of Assize held at Salem,
The humble address of several of the inhabitants of Andover.
May it please this honoured court,
We being very sensible of the great sufferings our neighbours have been long under
in prison, and charitably judging that many of them are clear of that great transgression
which hath been laid to their charge, have thought it our duty to endeavor their
vindication so far as our testimony for them will avail. The persons in whose behalf
we are desired and concerned to speak something at present are Mrs. Mary Osgood,
Eunice Frye, Deliverance Dane, Sarah Wilson and Abigail Barker, who are women of
whom we can truly give this character and commendation, that they have not only lived
among us so inoffensively as not to give the least occasion to any that know them
to suspect them of witchcraft, but by their sober godly and exemplary conversation
have obtained a good report in the place, where they have been well esteemed and
approved in the church of which they are members.
We were surprized to hear that persons of known integrity and piety were accused
of so horrid a crime, not considering, then, that the most innocent were liable to
be so misinterpreted and abused. When these women were accused by some afflicted
persons of the neighbourhood, their relations and others, thoâ they had so good grounds
of charity that they should not have thought any evil of them, yet, through a misrepresentation
of the truth of that evidence that was so much credited and improved against people,
took great pains to persuade them to own what they were, by the afflicted, charged
with, and, indeed, did unreasonably urge them to confess themselves guilty, as some
of us who were then present can testify. But these good women did very much assert
their innocency, yet some of them said they were not without fear least Satan had
some way ensnared them, because there was that evidence against them which then was
by many thought to be a certain indication and discovery of withccraft, yet they
seriously professed they knew nothing by themselves of that nature: Nevertheless,
by the unwearied sollicitations of those that privately discoursed them both at home
and at Salem, they were at length persuaded publickly to own what they were charged
with , and so submit to that guilt which we still hope and believe they are clear
of. And, it is probable, the fear of what the event might be, and the encouragement
that it is said was suggested to them, that confessing was the only way to obtain
favour, might be too powerful a temptation for timorous women to withstand, in the
hurry and distraction that we have heard they were then in. Had what they said against
themselves proceeded from conviction of the fact, we should have had nothing to have
said for them, but we are induced to think that it did not, because they did soon
privately retract what they had said, as we are informed, and, while they were in
prison, they declared to such as they had confidence to speak freely and plainly
to, that they were not guilty of what they had owned, and that what they had said
against themselves was the greatest grief and burden they laboured under; Now, though
we cannot but judge it a thing very sinful for innocent persons to own a crime they
are not guilty of, yet, considering the well ordered conversation of those women
while they lived among us, and what they now seriously and constantly affirm in a
more composed frame, we cannot but in charity judge them innocent of the great transgression
that hath been imputed to them. As for the rest of our neighbours, who are under
the like circumstances with these that have been named, we can truly say of them
that while they lived among us, we have had no cause to judge them such persons as,
of late, they have been represented and reported to be, nor do we know that any of
their neighbours had any just grounds to suspect them of that evil that they are
now charged with.
Dudley Bradstreet | John Abbot, sen. | Elizabeth Rite |
Francis Dane, sen. | Samuel Blanchard | Wm. Peters |
Thomas Barnard | Wm. Ballard | Sam. Peters |
Tho. Chandler, sen. | Thomas Hooper | Walter Wright |
John Barker | John Hooper | Hooker Osgood |
Henry Ingolls, sen. | Wm. Abbot | Benj. Stevens |
Wm. Chandler, sen. | James Russell | Ann Bradstreet |
Samuel Martin | Oliver Holt | Joanna Dane |
Stephen Parker | John Presson | Eliza. Stevens |
Samuel Ingolls | Francis Dane, jun. | Eliza. Barnard |
Ephraim Stevens | George Abbot | Phebe Robinson |
Daniel Poore | Wm. Chandler, jun. | Hannah Chandler |
John Ingolls | John Chandler | Hannah Dane |
Henry Ingolls, jun. | Joseph Robinson | Bridget Chandler |
John Frie, sen. | Thomas Johnson | Mary Johnson |
James Frie | Tho. Johnson, jun. | Robert Russel |
John Aslebee | Andrew Peters | Mary Russel. |
Samuel Holt | Mary Peters |
from The Salem Witchcraft Papers, pp. 619-620
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This page was last updated 05/02/21
by Margo Burns, .