Essex County, Massachusetts - Chapter 9, 1888

Miscellaneous By William T. Davis

In the preparation of the history of Salem, several writers have been engaged, each confining himself to the special department assigned to him, and thus necessarily leaving untouched some subjects, the omission of which would make the history unfinished and incomplete. This chapter, therefore, will include a reference, to the government of Salem as a town, to its organization as a city, the adoption of a city seal, the earlier and later water- works, the witchcraft delusion and to such associations and organizations as have not been treated in the departmental work.

The settlement of Salem may be dated 1626, when Roger Conant, with his companions, leaving Cape Ann took up his temporary residence at Naumkeag, as Salem was then called, or it may be dated September 6, 1628 (old style), when John Endicott cast anchor in Salem harbor, as governor of the colony, sent by the Massachusetts Company, in London, of which Matthew Cradock was governor, to make a permanent settlement on the shores of Massachusetts' Bay. As the city has inscribed the date 1626 on its seal, it is perhaps useless either to inquire how completely the settlement by Conant was abandoned, or to question the claim of the earlier date.

Salem, like Plymouth, was never incorporated as a town. At the first meeting of the Court of Assistants, held at Charlestown, August 23, 1630, it was recognized as a distinct plantation or town, and with Mattapan was exempted from the common charge for the support of Rev. Mr. Wilson. Its character as a town was not questioned after the arrival of Winthrop in 1630, but its boundaries were undefined, and those, of course, were to be settled by the General Court of the Colony. Thus, at the Court held on the 4th of March, 1634, it was ordered that " Mr. Nowell and Mr. Mayhewe shal I set out the bounds betwixt Saugus (Lynn) and Salem and betwixt Salem and Marble Harbor;" and at the Court held on the 3d of March, 1635-36, it was " re- ferred to John Humfrey, Esq., and Capt. Turner, to set out the bounds betwixt Salem and Ipswich." On the 13th of March, 1638-39, it was " ordered that the bounds betwixt Salem and Linn shall begin at the cliffe by the sea, where the water runs, as the way lyeth by the ould path thatgoeth to Linn at the south end thereof next to Linn & the whole pond to bee in Salem bounds ; & from that part to run upon a straight line to the island in the Humfreys pond & from that island to run upon a straight line to 6 great pine trees marked, called by the six men that layd out the bounds, the H mens Bounds ; & from these trees to run upon a straight line unto another little pine tree marked by the side of a little hill beyond the trees, to run upon the same line so farr as o'' bounds shall reach, into the countrey."

At first Salem included within its recognized limits Beverly, Danvers, Manchester, Peabody, Marblehead, Middleton and parts of Topsfield,Wenham and Lynn. Beverly was incorporated October 14, 1668, and a part annexed to Danvers, April 27, 1857. Danvers was incorporated June 16, 1757 and divided into Danvers and South Danvers, May 18, 1855, the name of the latter being changed to Peabody, April 13, 1868. Manchester was incorporated May 14, 1645 ; Marblehead, May 2, 1649; Mkldleton, June 20, 1728; Wenham, May 10, 1643; Topsfield, October 18, 1650. A part of Salem was also annexed to Swampsoott, April 3, 1867, and the boundary line between Salem and Danvers was changed March 17, 1840.

At a General Court held March 3, 1635-36, it was ordered that "whereas, particular towns have many things which concerne onely themselves, and the ordering of their own affairs, and disposing of business in their own town, it is therefore ordered, that the freemen of every town or the major part of them shall onely have power to dispose of their own lands, and woods with all the privileges and appurtenances of the said towns, to grant lots, and make such orders as may concern the well-ordering of their own towns, not repugnant to the laws and orders here established by the General Court; as also to lay mulcts and penalties for the breach of these orders, and to levy and distrain the same, not exceeding the sum of xxs. ; also to choose their own particular officers, as constables, surveyors for the highways, and the like; and because much business is like to ensue to the constables of several -towns, by reason they are to make distresses, and gather fines, therefore that every town shall have two constables, where there is need, that so their office may not be a burthen unto them, and they may attend more carefully upon the discharge of their office, for which they shall be liable to give their accompts to this Court when they shal be called thereunto."

In accordance with the above act of the General Court the Town of Salem chose, at a meeting held on the 19th of the 4th month (June) 1637, a committee of twelve " for manadgin the affairs of the town." A part of the record of this meeting is lost, and the actual election of this committee is not found on the town books. The deficiency is, however, supplied by the town Book of Grants, which contains the following entry:

Mr. Hathorne was William Hathorne, Mr. Bishop was Townsend Bishop, Mr. Connaught was Roger Conant, Mr. Gardiner was Thomas Gardiner and Mr. Scruggs was Thomas Scruggs. This committee was the prototype of the Board of Selectmen of a later period. There had been previously chosen, on the 16th of the 9th month (November), 1635, a committee consisting of Captain William Traske, John Woodberry, Mr. Conant, Jeffry Massy and John Balshe as "overseers & Layers out of Lotts of ground for this presinct of Salem, but are to have directions from y* t'^wne where they shall lay y" out, and in leiwe of y'' paynes they are to have 4d. the acre for small lotts, and IDs. the hundred for great lotts rightly & exactly laid out & bounded ; and 3 of these may doe the worke."

There had also been appointed in the latter part of March, 1636, a committee of thirteen, whose names are not given, who were called " the towne representative," but the committee of twelve above referred to seems to have been the first committee with the broad powers delegated to it of managing the affairs of the town. The meetings of this committee are called in the records town meetings, and by their direction inhabitants were admitted, lands granted, raters were chosen and the general business of the town was conducted. At the meeting of the committee held on the 20th of the 10th month (December), 1637, John Endicott appears as a member, and on the 29th of the 8th month (October), 1638, Mr. Fisk, but whether John, or William, or Phineas, does not appear.

At a general town meeting held the 31st of the 10th month (December), 1638, seven men were chosen "for the managing of the affaires of the towne for a twelve moneths, viz. : Mr. Endecott, Mr. Hathorne, Mr. Conant, John Woodbury, Laurence Leech, Jeffry Massy and John Balch." Under date of the 11th month (January), 1639-40, it is recorded that " the ould Seaven men continewed still." The next year the committee consisted of the same persons, and in 1642 of Mr. Endicott, Mr. Hathorne, Mr. Massy, Peter Palfrey, Laurence Leech, Mr. Gardiner and William Lord. In 1643 Henry Bartholomew was substituted for Mr. Leech, and at the meeting at which the new committee was chosen, held the 4th of the 10th month (December), 1642, it was ordered "that the seaven men chosen for the managing of the affiiires of the towne, or the greater number of them, shall meete to- gether monethlie one the second day of the weeke, in the morninge, to begine the second day the weeke next being the 11th of the 10th mo., 1643, upon the penaltie of tenne shillings, to be leavied one the whole or upon such of them as are absent w* out just ground."

Up to this date while the meetings of the freemen of the town were called general town meetings, those of the seven men were called particular town meetings. After this date they were called "meetings of the 7 men," or "town meetings of the 7 men." In 1644-45 the same persons served as the committee, and in 1646 eight men were chosen, viz.: Captain Hathorne, William Lord, John Hardey, Mr. Corwine, Sergeant Porter, Samuel Archer, Ed. Batter and William Gierke. In 1647 William Hathorne, Edmond Batter, George Corwin, Jeffry M;issy, John Porter, Henry Bartholomew and Emanuel Downing made up the board of seven men, and about this time their meetings were sometimes called meetings of the " townsmen."

From this date the seven men were called selectmen, and the following is a list of selectmen down to the incorporation of the city in 1836 :

John Bufflnton. John Hathorne. Jona. Mason. Benj. Ward. Jr. Addison Eichardson. Gray for Mr. Waldo. 1803. Same with John 1784. Same with Saml. Punchard for Mr.

The meetings of the town, in the early days of the colony, were held in the meeting-house of the First Parish. The church and the town were practically identical and the name meeting-house was derived from the fact that it was the general place of meeting, not alone on Sunday, but on all public occasions. This meeting-house stood near the southeasterly corner of Washington and Essex Streets, and was erected in 1634. About the year 1677, a building for town purposes was erected in the middle of School, now Washington Street, near what is now Lynde Street, and facing south. The upper part was fitted for a courthouse, and there the Court of Oyer and Terminer, organized by Governor Phipp*, in 1692, for the trial of the witches, was held.

Essex County was established May 10, 164?., and on the 14th of November, 1644, Salem was made the shire of the county ; but precisely where the courts were held previously to 1677, is not definitely known. It is probable, however, that the meeting-house was used as a court-house, as well as a town-house. A prison was erected in 1668, near the southwesterly end of the meeting-houi-e, and this fact adds force to the suggestion that the meeting-house was used for a court-house.

In 1719, a second town and court-house combined was erected on School, now Washington Street, near the southerly end of the railroad tunnel. In this building the General Court met, October 31, 1728, - April 2, May 28 and June 25, 1729, - by order of Governor Burnet, because he believed that undue influence was exerted in Boston against a grant for his salary.

On the 25th of May, 1774, the General Court was adjourned by Governor Gage, to meet at Salem on the 7th of June; and again the Salem Town-house became historic. The se.«sion lasted eleven days, during which the court protested against its removal from Boston, and on the 17th passed a resolve appointing James Bowdoin, Thomas Cashing, Samuel Adams, John Adams and Robert Treat Paine delegates to the Congress at Philadeljihia, "to consult upon measures for the restoration of harmony between Great Britain and the Colonies." Upon this action. Governor Gage at once, on the same day, dissolved the court ; and so ended, in the old Town-house in Salem, which ought to be standing to-day, the last General Court iu Massachusetts, under a Provincial Governor.

Salem on the 5th of October, but were reCcalled by proclamation. The Assembly met notwithstanding, and organized with John Hancock, Chairman, and Benjamin Lincoln, Clerk ; and on the 7th of October voted " that the members aforesaid do now resolve themselves into a Provincial Congress, to be joined by such other persons as have been or shall be chosen for that purpose, to take into consideration the dangerous and alarming situation of public affairs in this province, and to consult and determine on such measures as they shall judge will tend to promote the true interest of His Majesty and the peace, welfare and prosperity of the province."

After this action, the Congress adjourned to Concord, where it was more formally organized by the election of Mr. Hancock, President, and Mr. Lincoln, Secretary ; and after several sessions in Concord and Cambridge, finally dissolved. Thus the old Townhouse again became memorable, and was not only the scene of the last act under the old dispensation, but the scene also of the first act under the new.

In 1785, another building was erected for the joint use of the town and county, in the middle of Washington Street, nearly opposite the Tabernacle Church, and town meetings were there held until the erection, in 1816, of the Town House in Derby Square, which was used until the incorporation of the city in 183G.

The lands within the territory of Salem were originally held by the freemen of the town, and all grants were made by them. The historical sketch of Salem by Charles S. Osgood and H. M. Batchelder, published in 1879, says that, -

"With increasing population, this method of holding the lands became unwieldy and cumbersome, and in 1713 the then owners of the common lands under the province laws became organized into a quasi corporation with the title of Commoners. In 1713 the commoners granted all the highways and burying-places and common lands lying within the town biidge and block -houses to remain forever for the use of the town of Salem, and the Common was then dedicated forever as a training-field. In 1714 the commoners, at a meeting held at the meeting-house of the first parish in Salem, voted that Winter Island be wholly removed and granted for the use of the fishing rights to use the same to be let by the Selectmen of Salem ; and the same year the Neck lands were granted and reserved to the town of Salam for a pasture for milch cows and riding horses, the same to be fenced at the town's charge.

"In 1722-23, Feb. 26, the grand Committee of the commoners who had charge of affairs reported the whole number of rights to be 1132, and the number of acres held, 3733. Several distinct proprietaries were formed under an act of the colonial legislature ; and the commoners of the two lower parishes having 790 rights and 2500 acres of land lying between Spring Pond and Forest Biver, organized themiselves into a corporation. This organization continued until 1855, when they were incorporated into the Great Pasture Company, and by that company the last of the common lands, about 400 acres in extent, are now held."

The training-field referred to in the above extract was at the time of its grant an uneven and spongy piece of ground, scarcely fit for the use to which it was dedicated until 1801, when Elias Hasket Derby, the colonel of the militia, raised about two thousand five hundred dollars by subscription and put it in order. In 1802 it was named by the selectmen Washington Square, and it is now enclosed by an iron fence, within which are two rows of trees, mostly elms.

In the early part of 1836 a determined effort was made to change the town government for that of a city. The population of the town, which, according to the census of 1830, was 13,886, had then probably reached 15,000. Its property valuation the year before was !5^8,250,000, and the amount raised by taxation for county and town expenses was $40,391.31. The amount of tonnage of vessels owned in the district, which included Beverly, was 34,906, consisting of 30 ships, 12 barks, 70 brigs, 124 schooners and 14 sloops. The expression of the town was that of a city, except so far as its form of government was concerned. It had a police court, of which Elisha Mack was the judge, and Ezekiel Savage and Joseph G. Waters were the special justices. Its lawyers were Leverett Saltonstall, Benjamin Merrill, John Glen King. Larkin Thorndike, Solomon S. Whipple, Ebenezer Shillaber, Joseph G. Waters, Asahel Huntington, Stephen P. Webb, David Koberts, George Wheatland, Nathaniel J. Lord, Charles A. Andrews, Francis H. Silsbee, George H. Devereux, John S. Williams, Joseph H. Prince and Jonathan C. Perkins. Its physicians were Oliver Hubbard, Joseph Torrey, Samuel Johnson, Abel L. P^erson, George Choate, John G. Treadwell, Edward A. Holyoke, Benjamin Cox, Elisha Quimby, Nathaniel Peabody Dentist, A. J. Bellows and Horatio Robinson.

It had seventeen churches and chapels, eight stock banks, with a combined capital of one million eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars, one savings bank, five stock insurance companies with a combined capital of eight hundred thousand dollars, one Mutual Fire Insurance Company, one Latin school, one English high school, seven English schools, one of which was for colored children, two girls' high schools, seven primary schools and forty-seven private schools. It had also among the libraries the Salem Atheneura with seven thousand five hundred volumes, the Essex and another circulating library with six thousand volumes, the Salem Mechanic Association's Library with seven hundred and fifty volumes, the Colman Circulating Library with five hundred volumes and the Essex Historical Society Library. In the fire department there were one receiving and eight suction engines, one hose company, one hook and ladder company and three sail carriages, and there were in the militia the Salem Light Infantry, the Mechanic Light Infantry, the Salem Artillery, the Salem Independent Cadets and four companies of infantry of the line. The newspapers at that time were the Salem Gazette, issued semi-weekly, Tuesday and Friday, started in 1773; the Essex Register, semi-weekly, Monday and Thursday, established in 1800; the Salem Observer, weekly, Saturday, established in 1822; the Salem Mercury, weekly, Wednesday, established in 1831 ; the Commercinl Advertiser, weekly, Wednesday, established in 1832; and the Landmark, semi-weekly, Wednesday and Saturday, established in 1834.

At that time railroad connections had not been made and the following facilities for travel were open to the people of Salem. The Salem and Boston Stage Company advertised that seats could be taken at the Lafayette Coffee House, Salem Hotel, at the office in Court Street, and at the office in West Place, and that three stages would leave at seven A. M, two at 7j, one at eight, one at nine, one at ten, one at two P. M., one at Ij and one at four P. M., all returning the same day. On Sunday, one at four P. M.

Osborne's Line left the office on Essex Street, nearly ojjposite the market, daily, except Sunday, at seven A. M., returning in the afternoon.

At a town-meeting held on the 29th of January, 1836, " to act on the petition of George Peabody and others to ascertain the sense of the town in relation to the adoption of a city form of government and to take any measure in relation thereto." Leverett Saltonstall was chosen moderator. It was voted on motion of Elias Hasket Derby '"' that a committee of three be chosen from each ward, who, together with the selectmen, shall be a committee to take the subject into consideration and to report at an adjournment of this meeting as to the expediency of adopting a city form of government," and the following were chosen to serve on the committee :

The town at that time had been divided into districts or wards under the provisions of law now contained in the thirty-fourth chapter of the General Statutes.

At the adjourned meeting held on the 15th of February it was voted in accordance with the report of the committee that it was expedient to adopt a city form of government, and that the committee with six added, be instructed to draw up and submit to the Legislature an act for that purpose, which shall not take effect unless accepted by the people. Joseph Peabody, Benjamin Merrill, Gideon Barstow, Eben Shillaber, Isaac Cushing and Nathaniel J. Lord were added to the committee.

An act " to establish the city of Salem " was approved by Edward Everett, Governor, March 23, 1836, and warrants were at once issued for a town-meeting to be held April 4th. At this meeting Benjamin Merrill was chosen moderator, and on the question of the acceptance of the charter eight hundred and two votes were cast, of which six hundred and seventeen were in the affirmative. On the 25th of April an election was held for mayor, six aldermen and twentyfour members of the council. Of 1104 votes for mayor Leverett Saltonstall received 752 ; Perley Putnam, 260; George Peabody, 56; and David Putnam, 36. The organization of the government took place in the Tabernacle Church, on Monday, May 9th, when, after a prayer by Rev. Dr. Brazer and the administering of the oath of office by David Cummins, one of the justices of the Court of Common Pleas, the mayor delivered his address. Thus the second incorporated city in the Commonwealth entered upon its career. Boston had been incorporated only fourteen years before, February 22, 1822, and Lowell, the third city, was incorporated less than a month afterwards, on the 1st of April, 1836.

It is not pre posed in this chapter, somewhat disjointed and fragmentary in its character, to enter into any details of the history of the city. It is intended merely to supply such deficiencies as other chapters covering various specified departments necessarily leave.

It was not until December, 1837, that any movement was made towards the adoption of a city seal. On the 18th of that month an order was introduced into the Board of Aldermen, providing for the appointment of two members with such as the Council might join to consider and report upon the expediency of procuring a seal. The Council concurred, and on the 19th of February, 1838, at a meeting of the Aldermen an ordinance was introduced providing that a device should be adopted with the word Salem in the centre, inclosed in an olive wreath, and in a circle round the margin the words " Founded Sept^, 1628. City Incorporated, 1836." This ordinance was passed by the Aldermen on the date of its introduction, but in the Council it was referred on the 5th of March to its committee on the seal, who on the 12th reported a recommendation which was adopted that the further consideration of the ordinance be referred to the next City Council. On the 9th of April, 1838, the ordinance was taken from the files and referred to a joint special committee, consisting of Aldermen Peabody and Holman, and Councilmen Oliver, Putnam and Hunt. Mr. George Peabody submitted a device to the committee of which he was the chairman, which with some alterations was approved. On the 25th of February, 1839, the committee through Henry K. Oliver, chairman, on the part of the Council reported to the Council " an ordinance to establish the City Seal." Be it ordained by the City Council of the city of Salem that the following be the device of the seal of said city, to wit: In the centre thereof a shield bearing upon it a shij) under full sail, approaching a coast, designated by the costume of the person standing upon it and by the trees near him, as a portion of the East Indies ; beneath the shield this motto, "Divitis Indite usque ad ultimum sinum," signifying

"To the farthest port of the rich east," and above the shield a dove bearing an olive branch in her mouth. In the circumference encircling the shield the woi'ds:

The ordinance was recommitted with instructions to ascertain the correct date of the settlement of the city, but finally adopted after substituting 1626 for 1628, and changing Solyma to Salem. The committee to whom the date of settlement was referred reported that they had " investigated the subject and do not find any reason for changing the date as at present aflixed to the proposed seal. As the history of the settlement of the town is so well known, they do not think it necessary to bring forward all the facts in relation to it. The whole question seems to turn upon the point whether the settlement is to date from the time when Roger Conant, Peter Palfray and others came here in 1626, and built a few houses, but without the means of remaining, or the time in 1628, when Endicott came out with colonists, and all the means necessary for founding a colony. The subject may admit of some argument, but the committee are of opinion that it would be better to fix the period of foundation of the town as it has been generally regarded, and will be found stated in many of our valuable gazeteers and other similar books in 1628, as this was undoubtedly the first permanent settlement." This report was signed by George Peabody, chairman, but notwithstanding its recommendation the date was changed as we have seen to 1626, and the seal was finally adopted March 11, 1839, nearly three years after the incorporation of the city.

The introduction of water into Salem, and the final evolution of its present water system cover a period of more than sixty years. The first practical scheme for the supply of water for the inhabitants of Salem and Danvers was conceived in 1796. About that time a wave of excitement swept over the State concerning the supply of water to towns, and during the last five years of the last century a number of water companies were incorporated. Luther Eames and others, of Boston, were incorporated Feb. 27, 1795 ; Lemuel Stewart and others, of Williamstovvn, Feb. 26, 1796; Theodore Sedgwick and others, of Stockbridge, June 15, 1796 ; John Bacon and others, of Richmond, November 24, 1796; Calvin Whiting and others, of Dedham, June 15, 1796 ; Chandler Robbins and others, of the South Parish of Hallowell, then in Massachusetts, February 9, 1797 ; Eli Stearns and others, of Lancaster, February 14, 1797; and Wm. Davis and others, of Plymouth, February 27, 1797.

A meeting of those interested in the scheme was held December 30, 1796, at the Sun Tavern, and those present were Abel Lawrence, William Gray, Jr., Samuel Gray, Joshua Ward, Ichabod Nichols, William Orne, Jerath Pierce, William Lang, Nathaniel

West, Jacob Ashton, Squiers Shove, John Jenks, Edward Southwick, Jonathan Dean, Joseph Fenno, Benjamin Carpenter, Abner Chase, Philip Chase, Aaron Wait, Jacob Crowninshield, Joseph Aborn, James Bott, Edward Pulling, Folger Pope, John Gardner, Jr., Samuel Derby, John Norris and John Daland. Mr. Ashton was chairman, and John Jenks clerk, and a committee was appointed consisting of Edward Southwick, of Danvers, William Gray, Jr., and Joshua Ward, of Salem, to procure an act of incorporation. A charter was accordingly obtained, dated March 9th, 1797, under the style of the " Proprietors of the Salem and Danvers Aqueduct." The charter provided that the towns of Salem and Danvers should have the privilege of placing conductors into the pij^es for the purpose of drawing such water therefrom as might be necessary " when any mansion house or barn or other building" should be on fire, without paying therefor.

The jiroprietors organized April 7, 1797, by the choice of William Gray, Jr., president ; Jacob Ashton, vice-president; John Jenks, treasurer ; Joshua Ward and John Norris, of Salem, and Edward Southwick, of Danvers, directors. Thomas Nichols was chosen agent. The capital was fixed at ten thousand dollars, divided into a hundred shares of one hundred dollars each. The plant of the company consisted at first of a large hogshead sunk into the spongy ground in the neighborhood of Brown's and Spring Pond, of pine logs with a three inch bore, and a reservoir on Gallows Hill, ten feet deep and twenty-four feet square. The works were completed in the spring of 1799, and water was supplied to families at a yearly rate of five dollars. This rate was raised the next year to sixty cents per month. In 1802 a new fountain was built on land bought of William Shillaber to the southwest of the old one, and the supply was sufiicient to enable the company to lead a pipe to Gray's Wharf and sell water to the shipping at twelve and a half cents per hogshead.

In 1804 the old logs were replaced by new ones with five-inch bore and paiil for by assessments on the shares which, up to 1807, amounted to two hundred and sixty-five dollars per share, or twenty-six thousand five hundred dollars in all. In 1805 a new tariff of rates was adojJted similar to that of the Boston company, to wit : -

Up to November, 1807, the comi^any had expended on their works, including lost dividends, forty-four thousand one hundred dollars, making the cost of the shares four hundred and forty-one dollars each. In 1810 William Gray, Jr., resigned the presidency, and was succeeded by Jacob Ashton. In 1816, owing to a deficiency of water, all branches leading to manufactories, bathing houses and stables were cut off, and precautious were taken against waste. At a date not far from 1817 another reservoir was built on Sewall Street with a capacity of twenty-two thousand gallons, and uj) to 1818, from 1807, regular dividends, with three exceptions, were paid. In 1819 an arrangement was made with the Salem Iron Company to erect a boring mill, and for the first time the logs were bored by machinery. During the period extending from 1818 to 1821 the earnings of the company were expended in laying new yellow pine logs, and very soon after arrangements were made with a view of connecting the pipes by iron castings. Up to this time it is presumed that in Salem as in other places one end of the log was tapered down and driven into its fellow log, the bore of which had been reamed out to receive it. An iron band encircled the butt of each log to prevent splitting when driven into. The iron connections were tubes tapered slightly on the outside at each end and with a flange in the middle. This flange served two purposes, preventing unequal entrances of the two ends of the tube, and when settled in the body of the wood by the operation of driving the logs home, lessening the danger of a leak.

In the winter of 1829-30 Mr. Ashton, the president, died, and Joseph Peabody took his place. From 1821 to about 1834 the affairs of the company went on smoothly, and for the most part regular dividends were paid. Little complaint was heard of a scarcity of water, but this was owing less to the abundance of supply than to the low standard of people's wants compared with those of to-day, and to the free use of pumps and wells owned either by individuals or the town. In 1855 there were no less than sixty town pumps in various streets, of which the following is a list: -

In 1834 an act of iucorporation was obtained by another company, but its operations were successfully checked by a reduction of the tariff, and no action was taken under its charter. In the same year a sixmch iron pipe was laid in Essex Street from North to Newbury Streets, at a cost of five thousand dollars, which sum was paid out of the earnings of the company. At various other times new pipes were laid, old lines of pipe extended and the fountain reservoirs improved and enlarged, so that in 1844 it was estimated that the company had expended one hundred thousand dollars on their works. In 1849 the condition of the company had become so perplexing, owing to increasing demands for water without adequate means of supplying it, that its stockholders became somewhat discouraged. At this juncture the steam cotton mill felt greatly the need of water, and its proprietors conceived the project of buying up the shares of the Aqueduct and securing control of the corporation. The result was a revolution in the organization of the com2)any and the election of a new board of management, consisting of William D. Waters, president; Ebenezer Sutton, vice-president; and Joseph S. Leavitt, John Lovejoy, William Lummis and C M. Endicott, directors. Under the new management the number of shares was increased to one thousand at one hundred dollars each, a line of pipe was laid to Spring Pond ; the capital was again increased to two hundred thousand dollars and before the summer of 1850 an iron main pipe of twelve inches bore, measuring sixteen thousand one hundred and sixty-five feet, was completed, with a reservoir capable of holding six hundred and fifty-two thousand gallons. From this time on until 1860 improvements and extensions were constantly going on, iron pipes replacing the decayed wooden ones and sources of supply being enlarged to such pro]>ortions that at the last mentioned date a statement of the affairs of the company showed a capital stock of two hundred thousand dollars, forty miles of pipe including branches, thirty-six hundred takers, and reservoirs and fountains of one million one hundred thousand gallons capacity besides Spring Pond of fifty-nine acres as a reserve. But still the supply was inadequate to meet the demand, and in 18(55, with a view to defeat the movement then going on to build city water-works, a connection was made with Brown's Pond, and a sixteeninch main laid as far as the head of Federal Street. But the movement on the part of the city could not be checked, - it went successfully on, and the result was the retirement of the old company and the use of its pipes for the supply of the adjoining town of Peabody.

cient. On the 12th of October, 1863, John Bertram and ninety-three others petitioned the City Council " to take the necessary measures to procure from the Legislature power to establish city Avater-works." On the 23d of November, 1863, the City Council chose in convention, Stephen H. Phillips, James B. Curwen and James Uj^ton, a committee to collect evidence showing the necessity of a larger supply of water and submit the same to the Legislature in support of the petition which the mayor had been directed to present when action was taken on the petition of Mr. Bertram. The petition of the mayor, supplemented by a second petition, asked for authority to take water from Humphrey's, Brown's and Sirring Ponds and Wenham Lake. At the hearing before the Committee of the Legislature, on the 29th of February, 1864, the petitioners were represented by Robert S. Rantoul, and were opposed by the Aqueduct Company. On the 13th of May, 1864, an act was approved which provided that the city might take water from either Wenham Lake, or Brown's and Spring Ponds, and that the City Council should determine by joint ballot at least fourteen days before the first Monday in December, 1864, which source they would select, the act to be void unless accepted by a majority of the voters at a meeting to be held on that day. On the 14th of November, 1864, the City Council decided by a vote of twenty-two to five to select Wenham Lake, and on the 5th of December, the citizens voted to accept the act by a vote of ten hundred and twenty-three yeas to one hundred and fifty-one nays.

On the 22d of May, 1865, Stephen H. Phillips, James [B. Curwen and James Upton, were chosen water commissioners, and on the 26th of June, Franklin "T. Sanborn and Peter Silver were chosen in the places of Messrs. Curwen and Upton, who declined to serve. Mr. Phillips was made chairman, James Slade was appointed engineer, Charles A. Swan assistant engineer and Daniel H, Johnson, Jr., clerk. After many vexatious delays, on the 12th of February, 1866, the commissioners advertised for proposals for the construction of a reservoir on Chipman's Hill, in Beverly, and on the 18th of May the work was begun, by Collins & Boyle, the contractors. In July a Worthington pumping engine was bought at a cost of forty thousand dollars, and in the same month Willard P. Phillips was chosen commissioner in the place of his brother, Stephen H. Phillips, who had resigned. In October, contracts were made with J. W. and J. F. Starr, for six thousand feet of thirty inch, and twenty-five thousand feet of twenty inch iron pipe, and in the following April, with Boynton Brothers, for a pipe bridge and syphon at Bass River.

On the 3d of February, 1868, a contract was made with George H. Norman, of Newport, R. I., to furnish and lay the iron and cement distribution pipes, and to set hydrants and gates. On Wednesday, December 2, 1868, the filling of the distribution pipes commenced, and on the 25th the houses and citizens were supplied. On the 19th of November, 1869, Mr. Phillips, on the part of the commissioners, transferred the charge of the works to the City Council, up to which time the amount expended was one million dollars.

Wenham Lake is situated in Beverly, and Wenham has an area of three hundred and twenty acres, with an extreme depth of fifty three feet and a level of tbirty-one feet above mean high tide. Its distance from City Hall is four miles and six-tenths, and it is callable of supplying two and a half millions of gallons of water daily. The reservoir on Chipman's Hill is four hundred feet square, with a capacity of twenty million gallons, and a level, when filled, one hundred and forty-two feet above mean high tide.

The works are in the charge of a board of five members, one of whom is chosen annually by concurrent vote of the City Council for the term of five years. Up to December 1, 1885, the total cost of the works was $1,423,783.48, and the income from rates for the year 1885 was $62,886.47. The number of takers is at present about 8000. /

The Witchcraft Delusion. - The extraordinary delusion concerning witchcraft which prevailed in Salem during the latter part of the seventeenth century must not be omitted in this narrative. It furnishes material lor a sad chapter in the history of the town, and one which every lover of his kind pitying their infirmities, and sympathizing with their woes, would gladly see expunged and forgotten. It was no new delusion, and in Salem was only peculiar in the extent to which it possessed and infiuenced tbe minds of men. It was a part of the theology of the times, and had been handed down from generation to generation, from the earliest days of Cbristian history. In the 18th verse of the 22d chapter of Exodus it is written, " Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." In the 27th verse of the 20th chapter of Leviticus it is also written, " A man also or a woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death ; they shall stone them with stones ; their blood shall be upon them," and in the 18th chapter of Deuteronomy are found these words : " There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter or a witch; or a charmer or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer, for all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord ; and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee."

A belief in witchcraft was universal, for it rested on what was thought to be divine authority. It was confined to no class, no order of minds, no degree of education. It was as much a matter of fact as the fires of hell and infant damnation. Nor was the punishment of death judged by the standards of the day excessive or unjust. As early as 1646 the Massachusetts Gene- ral Court, following scriptural command, passed a law that " if any man or woman be a witch, that is, hath or consuUeth with a familiar spirit they shall be put to death." At the same time thirteen other offenses were made punishable by death in accordance with quoted passages' of Scripture; nor does this seem so strange when we reflect that the only lingering argument for capital punishment in our own day rests on the Old Testament books of Exodus and Numbers and Leviticus, which declare that " he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death."

So far was obedience to Scripture authority carried in dealing with actual or constructive offenses that after the defeat and death of King Philip, in 1676, most of the ministers of the Massachusetts and Plymouth Colonies who were consulted as to what disposition should be made of his innocent son quoted from the Bible to justify their opinion that he should be put to death. Among those consulted were Rev. John Cotton of Plymouth, Rev. Samuel Arnold of Marshfield and Rev. Increase Mather of Boston. The two former, in a united opinion, said " they humbly conceive on serious consideration, that children of notorious traitors, rebels and murderers, especially of such as have been principal leaders and actors in such horrid villanies, and that against a whole nation ; yea, the whole Israel of God may be involved in the guilt of their parents, and may Salva republica be adjudged to death, as to us seems evident by the Scripture instances of Saul, Achan, Haman, the children of whom were cut off by the sword of justice for the transgressions of their parents, although concerning some of these children it may be manifest that they were not capable of being co-actors therein."

Mr. Mather said : " It is necessary that some effectual course should be taken about him. He makes me think of Hadad, who was but a little child when his father (the chief sachem of the Edomites) was killed by Joab ; and had not others fled away with him I am apt to think that David would have taken a course that Hadad should never have proved a scourge to the next generation."

This incident is quoted to show how potent in the witchcraft age what was believed to be literally the word of God was in its control over the judgments and actions of men.

Nor was the delusion confined to New England. It prevailed wherever the Scrijitures were read and were recognized as authority. Chief Justice Matthew Hale, in his charge to the jury, on the trial of Rose Cullender and Amy Deering for witchcraft, in 1665, said: " That there were such creatures as witches he made no doubt at all. For first the Scriptures had afiirnied so much. Secondly, the wisdom of all nations had provided laws against such persons, which is an argument in their confidence of such a crime. And such hath been the judgment of the Kingdom, as appears by an Act of Parliament which hath provided punishment proportionate to the quality of the offence."

The expression of such an opinion by the highest legal authority in England, and the existence of the statute to which he refers are sufiicient to illustrate the universal prevalence of the delusion and the belief in the necessity of the severest punishment of the guilty.

It was not Salem witchcraft, but the witchcraft of the world. The people of Salem were constituted like others of their generation. The inflammable material lying hidden within the delusion existed in every community; it happened to be Salem where the spark ignited them and caused the consuming flame. It has been estimated that in Europe during the sixteeth and seventeenth centuries, more than a hundred thousand of both sexes were convicted of witchcraft and burned, drowned or hanged.

All through the earlier life of the American colonies there had been what might be called sporadic cases of supposed witchcraft which finally resulted like sporadic cases of disease in a violent epidemic at Salem. Hon. Wm. D. Northend in an address delivered December 8, 1885, before the Essex Bar Association says that " within half a century before the trials for witchcraft in this (Essex) county, accusations against persons for witchcraft had been made in Boston, Dorchester, Cambridge, Springfield, Hadley, Groton, Newbury, Rowley, Salisbury, Hartford, Hampton, Portsmouth and Salmon Falls in New Hampshire. During this period in the colony five persons were executed upon conviction of witchcraft, as follows: Margaret Jones, of Charlestown, executed at Boston, June 15, 1648; the wife of Henry Lake, of Dorchester, about 1650; Annie Hibbins, of Boston, June 19, 1656 ; Mary Parsons, of Springfield, May 29, 1657 ; and Goody Glover, of Boston, November 16, 1686."

There had been also accusations within the county of Essex and in Salem and its vicinity. In 1658 John Godfrey, of Andover, was accused of causing losses in the estate of several people and "some affliction in their bodies also." In November, 1669, " Goody Burt," a widow, was prosecuted, a physician testifying that no natural cause could have led to such eff'ects as were wrought by her. Phillip Reed, a physician, preferred similar charges against Margaret Giftbrd, and in 1679 Caleb Powell was arrested as the warrant of arrest stated "' for suspicion of working with the Devil to the molesting of William Morse and his family,"

It is worthy of note that the delusion concerning witchcraft never made any considerable headway in the Plymouth colony. The people of that colony probably had as firm a fiiith in witchcraft as the people of Massachusetts, but it never grew into a panic as it did in the sister colony. Their laws against witchcraft were as severe as those of Massachusetts, and death was the punishment for " solemn compaction or conversing with the devil by way of witchcraft or conjunction." Only two cases, however, were brought before the courts of the colony, in one of which the accuser was sentenced to be either whipped or to make public acknowledgement of her offense, and in the other the accused was acquitted. The following record of these cases may be interesting to readers :

" Joseph Sylvester, of Marshfield, doth acknowledge to owe and to stand indebted nnto his majesty, his heirs, &c., in the sum of twenty pounds sterling in good and current pay ; the condition of this obligation is that In case Dina Sylvester shall and doth appear at the Court of assistants to be holden at Plymouth, the first Tuesday in May next, and attend the Courts determination in reference to a complaint made by Wm. Holmes and his wife about a matter of defamation ; that tlien this obligation to be void or otherwise to remain in full force and virtue.

"Dina Sylvester being examined saith the bear she saw was about a stone's throw from the highway when she saw it ; and being examined and asked what manner of tall the bear had, she said she could not tell for his head was towards her.

" May 9, 1661. Concerning the complaint of Wm. Holmes, of Marshfield, against Dinah Sylvester for accusing his wife to be a witch. The Court have sentenced that the said Dina shall either be publicly whipped and pay the sum of five pounds to the said Wm. Holmes, or in case she the said Dina Sylvester shall make public acknowledgement of her fault in the premises that then she shall bear only the charge the Plaintiff hath been at in the prosecution of his said suit. The latter of which was chosen and done by the said Dinah Sylvester, viz., a public acknowledgement made as followeth.

"May 9, 1661. To the Hon. Court assembled, whereas I have been convicted in matter of defamation concerning Coodwife Holmes, I do hereby acknowledge I have injured my neighbor and have sinned against God in so doing, though I had entertained hard thoughts against the woman ; for it had been my duty to declare my grounds, if I had any, unto some magistrate in a way of God and not to have divulged my thoughts to othel-s to the womans defamation. Therefore I do acknowledge my sin in it, and do humbly beg this Honorable Court to forgive me and all other Christian people that be offended at it, and do promise by the help of God to do so no more ; and, although, I do not remember all that the witnesses do testify, I do rather mistrust my memory and submit to the evidence.

"Mary Ingham: Thou art Indited by the name of Mary Ingham, the wifa of Thomas Ingham, of the towne of Scituate in the jurisdiction of New Plymouth for that thou, haveing not the feare of God before thyne eyes, hast by the healp of the devill in a way of witchcraft or sorcery, maliciously procured much hurt, mischeiffe and paine unto the body of Mehittable Woodworth, the daughter of Walter Woodworth, of Scituate aforesaid, and some others and particularly causing her the said Mehittable to fall into violent fitts, and causing great paine unto severall parts of her body att severall times, soe as shee the said Mehittable Woodworth hath bin almost bereaved of her sencis, and hath greatly languished, to her much suffering thereby, and the procuring of great greiffe sorrow and charge to her parents ; all which thou hast procured and don against the law of God, and to his great dishonor and conti-ary to our sov lord the Kinge, his crowne and diguitee.

While the witchcraft panic never extended to the old colony, the case of Dinah Sylvester, above quoted, bears the strongest internal evidence of the deep-seated belief there in witchcraft itself. That it should have been considered a serious defamation of character, and a deadly wound to personal reputation to be charged with communing with the devil shows that such a communion was an offense in the existence of which the whole community had faith, and one as real and positive as murder or any other well defined crime. It is probable that if at the commencement of the panic an accuser had received the punishment awarded to Dinah Sylvester, it would never have passed beyond its incipient and opening stage.

Various causes have been assigned to the outbreak of the excitement in Salem and its mad, but fortunately short, career. None of them, however, are satisfactory. Like vitiated blood in the human system, it gradually and necessarily came to a head, and as the location of the ulcer which gives relief to the body depends on some trivial and unknown cause, so in some mj'sterious and accidental way Salem became the gathering point from which was to be thrown off that insane delusion, which had for generations and centuries poisoned and terrified the minds of men. In the early months of the year 1692 the panic began. On the 29th of February warrants Avere issued lor the arrest of Tituba, an Indian servant of Mr. Parris, Sarah Osborn, a woman who was bed-ridden, and Sarah Good, a woman of ill-repute, who, upon the complaint of Joseph Hutchinson, Edward Putnam, Thomas Putnam and Thomas Preston, were charged with afflicting sundry persons in remarkable and unaccountable ways. Other accusations and arrests speedily followed. Mr. Upham, in his exhaustive work on witchcraft, says, - "There was no longer any doubt in the mass of the community that the devil had effected a lodgment in Salem village. Church members, persons of all social positions, of the highest repute and profession of piety, eminent for visible manifestations of devotion, and of every age, had joined his standard and become his active allies and confederates." Arrest followed arrest, each arrest adding to the panic, and the panic leading to new arrests. On the arrival of Sir William Phipps at Boston on the 14th of May, 1692, bearing the charter of the " Province of Massachusetts Bay in New England," and his commission as its Governor, the prisons at Salem, Ipswich, Boston and Cambridge were full of persons awaiting trial for the crime of witch- craft. Governor Phipps was a believer iu witchcraft, as was William Stoughton, the Lieutenant-Governor, and took immediate steps to bring the accused to trial. Under the charter the General Court alone had the power to establish courts of justice, but by an unwarrantable usurpation of authority, the Governor organized a Court of Oyer and Terminer to act in and for the counties of Suffolk, Essex and Middlesex, and appointed William Stoughton, of Dorchester, chief justice, and Nathaniel Saltonstall, of Haverhill, Major John Richards, of Boston, Major Bartholomew- Gedney, of Salem, Wait Winthrop, Captain Samuel Sewall and Peter Sargent, of Boston, associate justices. Mr. Saltonstall declined the appointment, and Jonathan Corwin, of Salem, was appointed in his place. Stephen Sewall was appointed clerk, and Thomas Newton attorney-general, the latter being succeeded in office, July 22, 1692, by Anthony Checkley. George Corwin, of Salem, was appointed sheriff. The commissions of the court were dated May 27, 1692, and the court convened at the court-house in Salem on the 2d of June. The court-house and the Salem town-house were combined in one building, which stood in the middle of what is now Washington Street, near Lynde Street, and facing south. Under the colony a law had been passed, as has already been stated, making witchcraft a crime, and fixing as a penalty the punishment of death. Sir Edward Andros duringhis administration adopted the colony laws, but after his expulsion and under the new charter it was supposed that prosecutions for witchcraft could only be made under the old English statute of James the First. The first trial was that of Bridget Bishop, of Salem. She was convicted on the 8th of June and executed on Gallows Hill on the 10th. On the day of her conviction the General Court came together and passed an act reviving the old colonial law, and under that law it is presumed the subsequent trials were held. After the conviction of Bridget Bishop the court adjourned to June 29th. During the recess the Governor and Council sought the advice of the principal ministers in Boston and vicinity, who on the 15th of June replied in writing, advising that all the proceedings should be " managed with an exceeding tenderness towards those who may be complained of, especially if thej' have been persons formerly of an unblemished reputation;" "that the evidence ought certainly to be more considerable than barely the accused persons being represented by a spectre unto the afHicted, and that they should not esteem alterations made in the sufferers by a look or touch of the accused to be an infallible evidence of guilt." They nevertheless recommended "speedy and vigorous prosecutions," accftrding to the directions given in the laws of God and the wholesome statutes of the English nation for the detection of witchcraft.

The court again met on the 29th of June, and continued with several adjournments to September 17th, when it adjourned to the first Tuesday in November, before which time it was formally dissolved. During its various sessions twenty-seven persons were convicted and condemned to death, as follows, - Bridget Bishop, Sarah Good, Sarah Wildes, Elizabeth How, Susanna Martin, Rebecca Nurse, George John Proctor, George Jacobs, John Willard, Martha Carrier, Martha Corey, Mary Eastey, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Margaret Scott, Wilmot Reed, Samuel Wardwell, Mary Parker, Elizabeth Proctor, Dorcas Hoar, Mary Bradbury, Rebecca Eames, Mary Lacy, Ann Foster, Abigail Hobbs and Abigail Faulkner. Of these Elizabeth Proctor was pardoned on the ground of insufficient evidence, and the six following her on the list finally escaped punishment. Such is the record of a court established expressly for the trial of crimes punishable by death, but without a justice on its bench educated to the law. In such a court unfamiliar with judicial methods, ignorant of the rules of evidence and not untouched by the popular frenzy, the trials were little more than a formal condemnation of persons already tried and convicted by the judgment of an excited and reckless people.

After the dissolution of the Court of Oyer and Terminer, the Superior Court of Judicature was established in November, 1692, with William Stoughton chief justice, and Thomas Danforth, Wait Winthrop, John Richards and Samuel Sewall associate justices. This court had jurisdiction in cases of witchcraft, and at its session in Essex County in the January following, indictments for the offense were found against fifty persons, and all who were tried were acquitted except three, and these were pardoned by the Governor. All not tried were discharged on payment of thirty shillings each to the attorney general. At the first session of the Court of Middlesex County several persons in prison under indictments were tried but all were acquitted. The storm of infatuation had burst and spent its force, the moral atmosphere of the community was cleared and the sober judgment of men once more held sway. Let the present generation while it passes judgment on the delusions of a former age be sure that it is itself, free from delusions and follies if less dangerous and cruel, yet as little conformable to the standards and tests which wisdom and common sense should apply to the acts of men.

Little remains to be mentioned in this chapter. The industries, the schools, the churches, the commei'ce, the military, and many of the leading associations, ai'e fully treated in other chapters. The following perhaps imperfect list will furnish some idea of the field in which the literary and scientific and benevolent tastes and energies of the people of Salem find opportunities for their exercise, -

Seamen's Widow and Orphan Associ.ation... incorporated in 1844 Seamen's Orphans' and Children's Friend Society.. ..inc. in 1841 City Orphan Asylum of Salem Sisters of Charity..founded in 1866

In closing this chapter, it is only necessary to add a few statistics. According to the last census in 1885, the population of Salem was 28,084, and the valuation in the same year $27,765,824. During the year 1885, 1599 vessels arrived at Salem, 114 of which were from foreign ports, and their aggregate tonnage was 270,003,29 tons. The receipts for duties in the same year were $20,145.01, and the customs expenses $7,095.15. If to the business by sea which these figures represent the large inland commerce by rail be added, it is easy to see that while Salem has lost the foreign trade upon which, as its seal indicates, its early prosperity was based, it has nevertheless made a satisfactory advance in its industries, its population and wealth.