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226

WITCHCRAFT

As at every motion of the defendant the afflicted made the same, Mrs. Cary was ordered to stand with her arms stretched out. Mr. Cary says, "I requested that I might hold one of her hands, but it was denied me; then she desired me to wipe the tears from her eyes and the sweat from her face, which I did; then she desired that she might lean herself on me, saying she should faint. Justice Hathorne replied, 'She had strength enough to torment these persons, and she should have strength enough to stand.' I speaking something against their cruel proceedings, they commanded me to be silent or else I should be turned out of the room."

Mrs. Cary was committed, but escaped from jail, went to Rhode Island, and finally to New York, where the governor of the State interested himself in her and protected her. Captain Cary, after describing her sufferings, says: "To speak of their usage of the prisoners, and the inhumanity shown to them at the time of their execution, no sober Christian could bear."

No testimony as to previous good conduct and character availed anything. This may be illustrated by the case of a woman of whom the Rev. William Hubbard, one of the most honored ministers in New England, characterized by Hutchinson as "a man of learning, and a logical and benevolent mind, accompanied with a good degree of Catholicism," certifies:

I have known the wife of William Buckley of Salem Village ... ever since she was brought out of England, which is above fifty years ago.... She was bred by Christian parents, ... was admitted as a member into the Church at Ipswich [of which he was the pastor] above forty years since. I never heard from others, or observed by myself, anything of her which was inconsistent with her profession, or unsuitable to Christianity.

But on evidence similar to that which convicted the others, and mostly from the same witnesses, she was hurried off to prison.

John Proctor went with his wife to support her under the charges; the "afflicted" cried out against

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