Witch Hill : a history of Salem witchcraft, including illustrative sketches of persons and places . some time set, aggravating thepainfulness of their situation. The bodies of the executed seem to have beenburied by the Sheriff on or near the place of execu-tion. Sheriff Corwin, in his official return in thecase of Bridget Bishop, which has been preserved, 266 WITCH HILL. after stating the fact of having hanged her, adds,and buried her on the spot, but drew his penacross the words, as if the statement were not neces-sary to the return. Declarations were made inprint a few years after, of the b
Witch Hill : a history of Salem witchcraft, including illustrative sketches of persons and places . some time set, aggravating thepainfulness of their situation. The bodies of the executed seem to have beenburied by the Sheriff on or near the place of execu-tion. Sheriff Corwin, in his official return in thecase of Bridget Bishop, which has been preserved, 266 WITCH HILL. after stating the fact of having hanged her, adds,and buried her on the spot, but drew his penacross the words, as if the statement were not neces-sary to the return. Declarations were made inprint a few years after, of the bad treatment thebodies received at the hands of those charged withcarrying into effect the sentence of the law; andtradition preserves the stories of the stealthy re-covery of some of the bodies by their friends. Weknow that there was a fearful kind of insanity pos-sessing at the time the minds of the people, includ-ing those in authority, concerning what was duea witch, whether living or dead. It was this thatdeveloped so many strange and painful incidents,with which our story is CHAPTER XXVII. ¥E have endeavored to describe the ruin pro-duced by the witchcraft furor, illustrating itby incidents of personal experiences. Faint in-deed has been our portrayal of what can never befully apprehended. But the sad scenes and bittergriefs which have come to our notice naturallyprompt the inquiry, Who were responsible? Wemay not in truth write, as reporters often do ofcollisions on the public thoroughfares by cars andby steamers, Nobody was to blame. We losethe benefits of the moral lesson of great publiccalamities unless we candidly and carefully noteindividual responsibility for their occurrence. Yet the inquiry in this case is both delicate anddifficult. We will not affect to hold a plummetequal to its mysterious depth. But we may pre-sent some facts which will aid the reader to ajudgment concerning the moral relations of theprincipal actors, to the final consequences.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectwitchcraft, bookyear1
