Hadley Town (part 8 of 16)

Copper Coins. - The English formerly had an aversion to copper coins, and used silver farthings and half pence. Under Elizabeth and long after, tradesmen and others cast lead tokens for change. Some copper farthings and half pence were coined under James I., Charles I. and Charles II., and many were issued under William III., and they became abundant under the Georges. But few reached New England previous to 1700, and they did not become plenty until 1749, when money was sent over to repay Massachusetts for the expenses of the Louisburg expedition, including 100 casks of coined farthings and half pence, mostly the latter. Massachusetts, in 1750, ordered that they should pass at the rate of three farthings for a penny, and they were of the same value in an act of 1784. An English half penny was equal to two-thirds of a New England penny. As the English name, half pennies, did not express their true value, it was given up, and they were called coppers. Merchants' books previous to the revolution showthat coppers were current at two-thirds of a penny each. The county court sometimes fixed the fare at ferries in coppers, instead of pence. The prices of many small things were in coppers.*

old coppers, which had for some years been reduced to the value of half a penny, were no longer to pass as money after a certain day, in the spring of 1805. Congress had so ordered. It was an exciting time among the boys in some places, when the day approached, for many had treasured up a large number of coppers. They were disposed of to peddlers and traders. There was a brisk trade in Barlow pen-knives, raisins, fish-hooks, and knickknacks. It was supposed that the "bungtown coppers," as they were called in this vicinity, had forever ceased to circulate, but some of them still remain.

Taxation* in the 17th century. - Agricultural products, peltry, and other commodities, including the Indian shell-beads, called wampum, were the medium of trade in the British colonies for a long time. Money was seldom seen, except in and about commercial places. From 1640 to 1700, the farmers of Massachusetts generally made their purchases, and paid their debts and taxes with the produce of their farms, and not with the precious metals. Common laborers, artificers, soldiers, representatives, school-masters, ministersf and magistrates were commonly paid for their services in something that was not money. There were exceptions in Boston, and some other towns near the coast, especially in the latter part of the 17th century. In the remote county of Hampshire, gold and silver were more scarce than in other parts of the colony. Very small as well as large sums were paid in produce. Church-members were under the necessity of paying the sacramental charges in wheat. J

The produce currency continued until 1702, though partially interrupted by the colony bills, first issued in 1690 and 1691. The no-money currency was followed by the paper money currency, which continued about half a century.

Taxes were formerly denominated Rates, and some kinds are still so called in England. In Massachusetts, there was the Country Rate, similar to the Province and State Tax of later times; the County Rate, to defray county charges; the Town Rate levied to discharge town debts; and the Minister's Rate, which was made and collected by itself. There were minor rates, in towns, as the herdsman's rate, the shepherd's rate, &c.

A single country rate was ordinarily an assessment of one shilling and eight pence on males over 16 years of age, and of one penny per pound on real and personal estate. Each town was to make yearly a list of all male persons over 16, and a true estimate of all real and personal estate. Artificers and others who had higher wages than common laborers, were to be rated accordingly. This system of taxation, in many respects, resembled that of the present day. The polls paid a larger share of the tax than they now do.

-j'ln 1657, all the ministers in old Suffolk county, except those of Boston, were paid in grain, other produce and labor, viz., the ministers of Roxbury, Dorchester, Braintree, Hingham, Weymouth, Dedham and Medfield.

jThe Northampton church voted in 1666 that each member should contribute towards the charge of the sacrament, three half pecks of wheat for a year.

pounds a year, according to treasurers' accounts which remain. The greater part was paid in grain and other commodities, at provision pay prices. The expense of the Indian war was equal to that of 25 years of peace. From 168 1 to 1685, the yearly expenditure was between 3000 and 4000 pounds, partly occasioned by the war. A small duty or impost on wines, strong waters and some other imported articles aided in defraying the public expenses.

Early country rates in Hampshire. - In 1657, Springfield was rated in a single country rate, £12.1 5.7, and Northampton, £9.9.9; in 1658, Springfield, £12.2.3, Northampton, £12.2.3. those years, one country rate and one-fourth were levied. The freight of the grain, paid by the colony, amounted to near one-third of the rates.

Hadley first appeared in the country rate in 1662. The single rate of that town was £21.14.0, Northampton, £21.15.0, Springfield, £16.14.0. One-fourth was added to these sums for a quarter rate. It cost the colony £4.16.9 to convey the grain of the Hadley rate to Boston. In 1663, Hadley agreed with the treasurer, to deliver the wheat for the rate in Hartford, at 5s. 6d. per bushel.

These towns paid so much on a single rate in these years. Hadley in 1670, before Hatfield was set off, was rated higher than Northampton, Springfield, Concord, and Hingham; and almost as high as Roxbury and Dedham.

War Rates and Charges in Hampshire. - See page 182. - 10 country rates were laid in 1675, 16 in 1676, g in 1677, 3 in 1678, in 1679, and 4 in 1680, or 47^ rates in 6 years. These rates were levied on nearly all the towns in the colony. 3^ of them were money rates, to be paid in silver. About 36 rates were rendered necessary by the war. The Hadley country rates in 6 years were not less than 870 pounds.

The charges of the people of Hampshire against the colony, for supplies and services in the war, allowed by the government, are believed to have exceeded 5000 pounds, in country pay. The charges of Hadley exceeded 2000 pounds. The sum of 1900 pounds due to the county in Oct. 1680, is not rightly proportioned on page 182. The sum due to Hadley was about iioo pounds, Hatfield, 450, Northampton, 200, Westfield, 140, Springfield, less than 10.

Money Rates. - The government of Massachusetts borrowed money to carry on the war, and purchased Maine for 1250 pounds in money.* Agents in England must have money, and there were

Other calls. Some rates, payable in silver, were ordered in 1677 and in succeeding years. These money rates did not trouble the Hampshire towns which the colony owed, but when the silver was actually demanded of any town, there was a great outcry. Springfield, in May, 1685, sent a petition against the payment of rates in money. They said it was impossible to procure money, and desired the General Court to consider their remoteness from the Bay, and give them liberty to pay their country rates in corn, as formerly, "and no more require money of your moneyless petitioners." Suffield sent a doleful petition at the same time: - "We are forced to cry out, have pity on us, have mercy on us, forgive our last year's money rates. Oh, do not distress us, do not distract your poor petitioners. Do not, for charity's sake, enjoin us to pay one penny more in money. Let it be enough for us to pay in corn, when we can raise it." The Court gave to these two towns liberty to pay money rates in corn at two-thirds of the country pay prices. The deputies of Northampton and Hadley, Joseph Hawley and Samuel Partrigg, immediately requested the same liberty for all the other towns " in the remote county of Hampshire." The deputies granted it, but the magistrates refused, at that time. - In December, 1694, Hatfield chose two men, to join those from other towns in the county, at Springfield, and petition against money rates, "money not being to be had here."

The Minister's Rate, payable in grain at town prices, was given to the constable to collect. He had the accounts of those who had during the year, paid the minister wholly or partly in grain, meat, labor, or in any other way. He went to the inhabitants, and received the balance of the rate in grain, and carried it to the minister. There was no delay; the collection was completed in a short time, and the grain was deposited in the chamber of the minister. Chambers were the granaries in those days. The minister sent some of the grain to Boston to pay for books and goods. The old custom among ministers, of subsisting at each other's houses in their journeyings, was necessary as well as convenient. They had plenty of eatables, and could easily entertain a brother minister and his wife and others, but many of them had not money to pay inn-keepers.

In Hadley, when a town rate was made, there was another paper with the names of all whom the town owed, and the sum due to each. The selectmen or constable made an adjustment with each person. If a man's credit was considerably more than his tax, his own rate was taken out, and those of some others with whom he had agreed, and the balance was paid to him in grain. Those who had little or no credit, paid their rates in grain, and by making turns with others whom the town owed. Thus the town rate was paid and the town debts discharged without much delay.

In 1681 the town owed Samuel Boltwood £3.1 6.3. He was paid in the same manner. By his own rate, £0.12.10 His father Boltwood's rate, o. 2. 7

By her own rate, Part of Samuel Smith's rate, Moses Cook's rate, Samuel Church's rate, Stephen Taylor's rate, Josiah Church's rate, Part of Jos Church's rate, Part of Samuel Partrigg's rate,

The rates and debts in Hatfield were settled in the same way by grain and by exchanging debts against the town for rates against individuals. Things were not very different in some parts of thecolony.

The town debts of Hadley continued to be balanced by grain until 1707, or later. In 1709, they were adjusted with money, that is, province bills. The people of Hampshire had had some pine-tree shillings, Spanish rials and pieces-of-eight, wampum, and perhaps a few colony bills, but their principal currency, since the settlement of these towns, had been the valuable but cumbrous products of their lands. That the paper money was a great relief to them after 1702, may be readily conceived. Yet after some years, the value of the bills was greatly lessened by excessive issues, and much mischief was produced.

The industrious and frugal people of Massachusetts were moderately prosperous, both under the No-Money System, and the Too-much-money System, when not oppressed with the burdens and calamities of war.

Grain* for taxes in the 17th century. - See page 94. - The prices fixed by Massachusetts and Connecticut for grain, when received for country rates, were much higher than the prices paid for grain in money. In most of the last twenty-three years of the century, in Massachusetts, and of the last twenty, in Connecticut, one-third of the tax of every person that paid in money, was to be abated. The country prices of grain reduced one-third, were accounted money prices, or "pay as money," but were not real cash pr'^'es; they were in Massachusetts, as follows: - ^wheat, 3s. 4d., barley malt, peas and rye, 2s. 8d., Indian corn, 2s.; and in Connecticut,wheat, 2s. 8d. to 3s., peasand rye 2s., Indian com, i s. 8d.

The town prices for grain in Northampton, Hadley and Hatfield, for the payment of the town and minister's rates, vvere quite as low as the Massachusetts prices reduced one-third. And the money prices for grain in these towns were about twenty-five per cent, lower. There were so few money transactions in Hampshire that the real value of grain in silver can hardly be ascertained. Wheat at 2s. 6d., peas and rye, at 2s. and Indian com, at is. 4d., were sometimes called money prices in Hadley.

Madam Knight of Boston, who was in Connecticut in 1704, noticed three kinds of pay and corresponding prices: - ist, pay, which was grain, pork, &c. at prices set by the General Court; 2d, pay as money, which was pay aforesaid, one-third cheaper than the prices set by the assembly; 3d, money, as pieces-of-eight, rials, Boston or Bay shillings, and Indian beads. The knife of a trader was 12 pence in pay, 8 pence in pay as money, and 6 pence in money.

was the word used by our fathers for English grain, including peas, as it still is in England. The word grain, is not found in the Hadley records before 1692.

HADLEY RATE, for building Fort River Bridge in 1681. The rate was made in January, 168 1 -2. The 79 names of persons taxed are those of the heads of families, a few unmarried men, and some non-resident land-holders. The number of families did not exceed 60. The tax on a poll was 2s. 3d. The six highest taxes were those of Samuel Porter, Philip Smith, Samuel Partrigg, Aaron Cooke, Chileab Smith, and Peter Montague. The 23 lots on the east side of the street, omitting the small ones at the north end, and the 20 lots on the west side, as originally granted, (see page 24,) are here numbered, from the top, on the east side, and from the bottom, on the west side, and most of the occupants in 1681 can be found. Many changes had taken place, and a number of the lots were occupied by tenants.

HADLEY RATE, for the town debts of 1686, maae in the early part of 1687. The number taxed was 82. The families had not increased in five years, and did not eiceed 60. The tax on polls was 2S. id. The homelots are numbered as in 1681-2. In placing the names on the old town rates, they began with those that lived at the north end, came down on the east side of the street, and went up on the west side. The names were arranged as the people lived, or by house-row.

Non-residents. Eliezer Hawks, Thos. Dickinson, Mr. Jonathan Russell, John Hawks, Daniel Warner, Edward Church, John Cowles, Nathaniel Dickinson, Samuel Belding, sr. The aggregate of this tax is recorded as £41.3.2. Not quite exact. The rate for the debts of i686, is the last that can be found for a great number of years. This and some preceding rates were recorded by Samuel Partrigg. His plain, legible hand ceases at Hadley in 1687. He removed to Hatfield. His son Samuel resided in Hadley.

Changes in Hadley. - Notices follow of some of the changes in the owners and occupiers of homelots in Hadley, from 1663 to 1687. The names of the proprietors in 1663 ^""^ °° page 24. The names of owners and dwellers in 1681 and 1687, are in the lists of persons taxed, on pages 203 and 204. Many homelots remained in the same family till after 1687; these in general are not noticed.

Robert Boltwood was at the mill in 1681, but was not taxed for the mill. John Clary was at the mill in 1684. Joseph Smith, cooper, began to have the care of the mill, Nov. 1687.

Isaac Harrison built a house on his lot next to the river. His widow married Henry White, who lived in the same house some years, but removed to Deerfield. Joseph Smith bought the house and lot, 1685, for 33 pounds.

William Gaylord, in 1672, bought for 20 pounds, the western lot of the four, adjoining Partrigg's houselot on the north, with a house. It was a triangular lot, first granted to Adam Nicholls, and contained three acres. Two acres, on page 24, is a mistake. Gaylord's widow married John Haley. This houselot belonged to the Gaylords for a long time.

John Taylor had the lot next east, (and not John Ingram, as on page 24.) He sold the lot and house to Doct. John Westcarr, and bought John Webster's homestead. Doct. Westcarr's widow married Simon Beaman; they removed to Deerfield, and George Stileman, or Stillman, bought the lot and house in 1687.

John Warner from Brookfield, lived some years on Lt. Samuel Smith's lot. In 1687, John Smith, orphan, son of John Smith who was slain in 1676, and Samuel Smith, son of Philip, owned the lot, and lived on it.

Joseph Smith lived on John Dicidnson's lot from 1681 to 1685, and Thomas Croft, in 1687. This second John Dickinson removed to Wethersfield.

The widow of Thomas Wells married Samuel Belding of Hatfield, and he was taxed for her estate. Samuel Northam bought half the houselot. He removed to Deerfield, and Samuel Porter bought this half and Hezekiah Porter lived on it, 1687. Widow Porter bought the other half of the Wells lot.

The Bacon lot and the two Stanley lots were long occupied by tenants. John Smith, son of Philip, owned Nathaniel Stanley's lot in 1686. Samuel Porter owned Thomas Stanley's lot, and his son Samuel lived on it in 1686. Some years later, Lieut. Nehemiah Dickinson purchased Andrew Bacon's lot. The tenants, Joseph Hovey, David Hoyt, Samuel Lane and Timothy Wales removed. Hoyt went to Deerfield and Lane to Suffield. Perhaps Hovey was an owner for a time.

Mark and Nathaniel Warner, sons of John W., appear to have lived some years in the house of William Lewis, he having removed to Farmington. Mark settled in Northampton. Daniel Marsh seems to have piu'chased the Lewis lot.

West side of the street. Thomas Hale had a part of Markham's houselot, having married one of Markham's daughters. He removed to Enfield. - William Rooker lived on Markham's lot and elsewhere.

Nathaniel Ward's house was occupied by the Hopkins School, and sometimes had a family in it. John Kellogg seems to have lived in this house some time.

John Crow removed to Hartford. Jonathan and Daniel Marsh purchased his lot. Some years after, Daniel lived on the lot of his father, John Marsh.

William Goodwin removed to Farmington. John Crow had his houselot, and his son Samuel Crow lived on it; Samuel's two children, Samuel and Mary, had the lot.

Joseph Barnard, who had lived with his father, Francis B., removed to Deerfield. "Goodwife Barnard" had been wife of John Dickinson and owned some of his estate.

Isaac Warner lived on a comer of Boltwood's lot many years. Was taxed at the north end in 1687. He removed up the river, gg John Ingram owned a part of Samuel Gardner's lot.

These heads of families remained in Hadley a few years, and removed before 1687, viz., James Beebee, EdiJwrd Grannis, Mr. John Younglove, John Catlin and John Clary, Jr. John Lawrence resided in Hadley some years, and removed after 1687. A single man named Thomas Aacy lived in Hadley some years.

Chapter Xix

The appearance of Gen. GofFe at Hadley, Sept. i, 1675, when the Indians attacked the place, is noticed on pages 137-139, with some remarks of President Stiles. His supposition, that the people in the meeting-house were "suddenly surrounded and surprised by a body of Indians," must be unfounded. The Indians, with a defenceless village a mile in length before them, would not have surrounded a building which contained thirty or forty armed men. The attack was undoubtedly upon the outskirts of the town, probably at the north end. The approach of the Indians may have been observed by GofFe from his chamber, which had a window towards the east. There is no reason to believe that there was a very large body of Indians, but the people, being entirely unaccustomed to war, needed GofFe to arrange and order them. The Indians appear to have fled, after a short skirmish.

Edward Whalley was brought up to merchandize. When the contest began between king Charles and the parliament, he, in middle life, took up arms in defence of the liberty of the subject, and distinguished himself in many sieges and battles. He was a cousin of Oliver Cromwell. Noble says, "from a merchant's counter, to rise to so many and so high offices in the state, and to conduct himself with propriety in them, sufficiently evinces that he had good abilities, nor is his honesty questioned by any."

William GofFe was a son of Rev. Stephen Goffe, a puritan divine, rector of Stanmore in Sussex. He left the counter when a young man, repaired to the parliament army, and his merit raised him to be a colonel of foot, and afterwards a general, and a member of parliament. His wife who was Whalley's daughter, he left in England, and he kept up a constant correspondence with her while in exile in New England. His last letter to her is dated at Hadley in 1679.

Both Whalley and Goffe were of the sixty-seven judges who passed sentence upon king Charles I. and of the fifty-nine who signed his death warrant, Jan. 29, 1649. When the restoration of Charles II. was determined, they found it necessary to escape from England.

Governor Hutchinson was in possession of Goffe 's diary and his papers and letters, which had long been in the library of the Mathers in Boston. Hutchinson was a tory, and his house was rifled by a mob in 1765, and the Journal of Goffe and other papers relating to the judges are supposed to have been destroyed. From them he had pubHshed in 1764, a short Account of Whalley and Goffe, in his first volume of the History of Massachusetts. Some extracts are subjoined: -

"In the ship which arrived at Boston from London, the 27th of July, 1660, there came passengers, Colonel Whalley and Colonel Goffe, two of the late King's Judges. Colonel Goffe brought testimonials from Mr. John Row and Mr. Seth Wood, two ministers of a church in Westminster. Colonel Whalley had been a member of Mr. Thomas Goodwin's church. Goffe kept a journal or diary, from the day he left Westminster, May 4, until the year 1667; which together with several other papers belonging to him, I have in my possession. Almost the whole is in characters, or short hand, not difficult to decypher. The story of these persons has never yet been published to the world. They did not attempt to conceal their persons or characters when they arrived at Boston, but immediately went to the Governor, Mr. Endicot, who received them very courteously. They were visited by the principal persons of the town; and among others, they take notice of Colonel Crown's coming to see them. He was a noted Royalist. Although they did not disguise themselves, yet they chose to reside at Cambridge, a village about four miles distant from the town, where they went the first day they arrived. They went publicly to meetings on the Lord's day, and to occasional lectures, fasts, and thanksgivings, and were admitted to the sacrament, and attended private meetings for devotion, visited many of the principal towns, and were frequently at Boston; and once when insulted there, the person who insulted them was bound to his good behavior. They appeared grave, serious and devout; and the rank they had sustained commanded respect. Whallcy had been one of Cromweirs Lieutenant- Generals, and Go£fe a Major-General. The reports, by way of Barbadoes, were that all the Judges would be pardoned but seven. When it appeared that they were not excepted, some of the principal persons in the Government were alarmed; pity and compassion prevailed with others. They had assurances from some that belonged to the General Court, that they would stand by them, but were advised by others to think of removing. The zzd of February, i66r , the Governor summoned a Court of Assistants, to consult about securing them, but the Court did not agree to it. Finding it unsafe to remain any longer, they left Cambridge the 26th following, and arrived at New Haven the 7th of March, i66i. One Captain Breedan, who had seen them at Boston, gave information thereof upon his arrival in England. A few days after their removal, a hue and cry, as they term it in their diary, was brought by the way of Barbadoes; and thereupon a warrant to secure them issued, the 8th of March from the Governor and Assistants, which was sent to Springfield and other towns in the western part of the colony; but they were beyond the reach of it."

The Governor adds in a long marginal note, "They were well treated at New-Haven by the ministers, and some of the magistrates, and for some days seemed to apprehend themselves out of danger. But the news of the King's proclamation being brought to New-Haven, they were obliged to abscond. The 27th of March they removed to Milford, and appeared there in the day time, and made themselves known; but at night returned privately to New- Haven, and lay concealed in Mr. Davenport the minister's house, until the 30th of April. About this time news came to Boston, that ten of the Judges were executed, and the Governor received a royal mandate, dated March 5, 1660-61, to cause WhaUey and Goffe to be secured. This greatly alarmed the country, and there is no doubt that the court were now in earnest in their endeavors to apprehend them: and to avoid all suspicion, they gave commission and instruction to two young merchants from England. Thomas Kellond and Thomas Kirk, zealous royalists, to go through the colonies, as far as Manhados [New York] in search of them. They had friends who informed them what was doing, and they removed from Mr. Davenport's to the house of William Jones, where they lay hid until the nth of May, and then removed to a mill, and from thence, on the 13th into the woods, where they met Jones and two of his companions, Sperry and Burril, who first conducted them to a place called Hatchet-Harbour, where they lay two nights, until a cave or hole in the side of a hill was prepared to conceal them. This hill they called Providence-Hill: and there they continued from the 15th of May to the nth of June, sometimes in the cave, and in very tempestuous weather, in a house near to it. During this time the messengers went through New-Haven to the Dutch settlement, from whence they returned to Boston by water. They made diligent search, and had full proof that the regicides had been seen at Mr. Davenport's, and offered great rewards to English and Indians who should give information, that they might be taken; but by the fidelity of their three friends they remained undiscovered. Mr. Davenport was threatened with being called to an account, for concealing and comforting traitors, and might well be alarmed. They had engaged to smrender, rather than the country or any particular persons should suffer upon their account: and upon intimation of Mr. Davenport's danger, they generously resolved to go to New-Haven, and deliver themselves up to the authority there. They let the Deputy-Governor, Mr. Leete know where they were; but he took no measures to secure them; and the next day some persons came to them to advise them not to surrender. Having publicly shewn themselves at New-Haven, they had cleared Mr. Davenport from the suspicion of still concealing them, and the 24th of June went into the woods again to their cave. They continued there, sometimes venturing to a house near the cave, until the 19th of August - when the search for them being pretty well over they ventured to the house of one Tomkins, near Milford meeting-house, where they remained two years, without so much as going into the orchard. After that, they took a little more liberty, and made themselves known to several persons in whom they could confide, and each of them frequently prayed, and also exercised, as they termed it, or preached at private meetings in their chamber. In 1664, the commissioners from King Charles arrived at Boston - Upon the news of it, they retired to their cave, where they tarried eight or ten days. Soon after, some Indians in their hunting, discovered the cave with the bed; and the report being spread abroad, it was not safe to remain near it. On the 13th of October, 1664, they set out for Hadley, near an hundred miles distant, travelling only by night; where Mr. Russel, the minister of the place, had previously agreed to receive them. Here they remained concealed fifteen or sixteen years, very few persons in the col- ony being privy to it. The last account of Goffe, is from a letter, dated Ebenezer, the name they gave their several places of abode, April 2, 1679. Whalley had been dead some time before. The tradition at Hadley is, that two persons unknown, were buried in the minister's cellar. The minister was no sufferer by his boarders. They received more or less remittances every year, for many years together, from their wives in England. Those few persons who knew where they were, made them frequent presents. Richard Saltonstall, Esq. who was in the secret, when he left the country and went to England in 1672, made them a present of fifty pounds at his departure; and they take notice of donations from several other friends. They were in constant terror, though they had reason to hope after some years, that the enquiry for them was over. They read with pleasure the news of their being killed, with other judges, in Switzerland. Their diary for six or seven years, contains every little occurrence in the town, church, and particular families in the neighborhood. They had indeed, for five years of their lives, been among the principal actors of the great affairs of the nation. They had very constant and exact intelligence of every thing which passed in England, and were unwilling to give up all hopes of deliverance. Their greatest expectations were from the fulfilment of the prophecies. They had no doubt, that the execution of the Judges was the slaying of the witnesses. They were much disappointed, when the year 1666 had passed without any remarkable event, but flattered themselves that the Christian sera might be erroneous. Their lives were miserable and constant burdens. They complain of being banished from all human society. A letter from Goffe's wife, who was Whalley 's daughter, I think worth preserving. After the second year, Goffe writes by the name of Walter Goldsmith, and she of Frances Goldsmith; and the correspondence is carried on, as between a mother and son. There is too much religion in their letters for the taste of the present day: but the distresses of two persons, under these peculiar circumstances, who appear to have lived very happily together, are very strongly described.

Whilst they were at Hadley, February 10, 1664-5, John Dixwell, another of the Judges, came to them; but from whence, or in what part of America he first landed, is not knovra. He continued some years at Hadley, and then removed to New-Haven. He married at New-Haven, and left several children. After his death, his son came to Boston, and lived in good repute; was a ruling elder of one of the churches there, and died in 1725. Colonel Dixwell was buried in New-Haven.

It cannot be denied, that many of the principal persons in the colony greatly esteemed these persons for their professions of piety, and their grave deportment, who did not approve of their political conduct. After they were declared traitors, they certainly would have been sent to England, if they could have been taken. It was generally thought that they had left the country; and even the consequence of their escape was dreaded, lest when they were taken, those who had harbored them should suffer for it. Randolph, who was sent to search, could obtain no more knowledge of them, than that they had been in the country, and respect had been shewn them by some of the Magistrates. I am loth to omit an anecdote handed down through Governor Leverett's family. I find Goffe takes notice in his journal of Leverett's being at Hadley. - [This anecdote is on page 138.]

Rev. Ezra Stiles, president of Yale College, published "A History of three of the Judges of King Charles I.," Whalley, GofFe and Dixwell, in 1794, and dedicated it "to all the patrons of real, perfect and unpolluted liberty." He collected a great abundance of traditionary information from the towns about New Haven, and from Hadley. - He found that the Providence Hill of Whalley and Goffe was West Rock, about two and a half miles northwest of New Haven; and that their cave was not in the side of the hill, but in a pile of rocks on the top of West Rock.

They led so recluse and concealed a life at Hadley, that there are few anecdotes concerning them while there. They were well supplied with means of subsistence, partly from England and partly from friends here. Peter Tilton was often at Boston and donations could be safely made through him, and the judges sometimes resided at his house. GofFe thus wrote to his wife respecting her superannuated father, Whalley, in August, 1674: -

"He is scarce capable of any rational discourse, his understanding, memory and speech do so much fail him, and he seems not to take much notice of any thing that is either said or done, but patiently bears all things and never complains of any thing. The common question is to know how he doth, and his answer for the most part is, very well, I praise God. He has not been able of a long time to dress, undress or feed himself, without help; it is a great mercy to him that he has a friend who takes pleasure in being helpful to him."

Whalley died in Hadley not far from 1676, and GofFe's last letter is dated April 2, 1679, and he may have died as early as 1680. It is certain that Whalley died in Hadley, and there is very little doubt that GofFe died there also. The tradition, concerning which President Stiles enlarges, that Whalley or GofFe, or both, were buried at New Haven, seems to be fabulous. Pres. S. believed that both died in Hadley, and that Whalley was buried at Russell's and GofFe at Tilton's. The surmise of some, that their bodies were removed from Hadley to New Haven, is certainly false, in regard to Whalley, and it is believed to be equally unfounded as to GofFe. The necessity of secrecy would have prevented the removal, as it must have been done by oxen and cart. The bones of Whalley had not been found when Pres. Stiles wrote his History in 1793.

The following letter from Rev. Samuel Hopkins of Hadley, to President Stiles, contains various traditions, some of which must be rejected. The time of Peter Tilton's death, which Mr. Hopkins could not find, was July 11, 1696.

Since I received yours of the nth ult. I have taken pains to enquire of the oldest people among us, what they heard said, by the eldest persons in town since their remembrance, respecting Whalley and Goffe, their residence in this town. The tradition among all of them is, that both of them were secreted in the town; that the inhabitants at that time knew very little of them, or where they were concealed, except those in whose houses they were. And the tradition among them in general is, that one of them died in this town (those who remember which, say Whalley) - that the other, Goffe, after the death of Whalley, left the town, and that it was not known where he went. With respect to the one who died in this town, the tradition in general is, that he was buried in Mr. Tillton's cellar.

Most of whom I have enquired for tradition say, that while they were here the Indians made an assault upon the town: that on this occasion a person unknown appeared, animatingjand leading on the inhabitants against the enemy, and exciting them by his activity and ardour; that when the Indians were repulsed, the stranger disappeared - was gone - none ever knew where, or who he was. The above is the general tradition among us.

According to the tradition given by some, Whalley and Goffe were not concealed the whole of the time at Mr. Russell's and Mr. Tillton's, but part of the time atone Smith's.* This I find in the family of the Smiths.

An old man among us says, he remembers to have heard the old people say, there was a fruitless search (by order of the government, as I understand it) of all the houses in Hadley; but that they (to use his words) searched as if they searched not. That after Whalley 's death, Goffe went off, first to Hartford, afterwards to New-Haven, where he was suspected and in danger of being known, by his extraordinary dexterity with the sword; shown (as he tells the story) on a particular occasion. And in apprehension of danger, he went off from New- Haven. Here tradition, according to him, ends with respect to Goffe.

Another, still older says, that he heard both his father and his grandfather say, that Whalley and Goffe were both secreted at Mr. Russell's at first; who for their security, in case of search, made a retreat for them between his chambers, and behind his chimney. That one of them died at Mr. Tillton's and was buried behind his bam. That after his death Goffe went off into the Narragansett; was there set upon, and in danger of being taken; went from thence to the southward; was heard of as far as Pennsylvania, or Virginia, and nothing heard further of him.

Not many years after my settlement in Hadley, (1754) one, who was then quite an old man, told me, among other things, that the tradition of the one that died in town was, that he was buried in Mr. Tillton's garden, or in his cellar. With respect to the place of his burial, I am of opinion, that it was kept secret, and was unknown. It seems to have been a matter of conjecture among the inhabitants; - in Tillton's cellar, - in his garden - or behind his barn - as they imagined most probable. Of his being buried under a fence between two lots, I do not find any thing; - nor of his being afterwards removed. I have searched for his monument, and do not as yet by any means find the time of Tillton's death. Should I hereafter, I will inform you.

I was at Hadley, May 21 , 1792. The reverend Mr. Hopkins carried me to Mr. Russell's house, still standing. It is a double house, two stories and a kitchen. Although repaired with additions, yet the chamber of the Judges remains obviously in its original state unmutilated, as when these exiled worthies inhabited it. Adjoining to it behind, or at the north end of the large chimney, was a closet, in the floor of which I saw still remaining the trap door, through which they let themselves down into an under closet, and so thence descended into the cellar for concealment, in case of search or surprise. I examined all those places with attention, and with heart-felt sympathetic veneration for the memories of those long immured sufferers, thus shut up and secluded from the world for the tedious space of fourteen or sixteen years, in this voluntary Bastile. They must have been known to the family and domestics; and must have been frequently exposed to accidental discoveries, with all their care and circumspection to live in stillness. That the whole should have been effectually concealed in the breasts of the knowing ones, is a scene of secrecy truly astonishing!

On my return from Hadley, passing through Wethersfield, on the 25th of May, I visited Mrs. Porter, a sensible and judicious woman, aged 77. She was a daughter of Mr. Ebenezer Marsh, and bom at Hadley, 17 15, next door to Mr. Tillton's, one of the temporary and interchanged residences of the Judges. This house was in her day occupied by deacon Joseph Eastman. She had the general story of the Judges, but said she knew nothing with certainty concerning them, but only that it was said they sometimes lived at Mr. Russell's, and sometimes where deacon Eastman lived. That one was buried in Mr. Russell's cellar, and another in Mr. Tillton's lot. As she said she had nothing certain, I pressed her for fabulous anecdotes. She said she was ashamed to tell young people's whims and notions. But in the course of conversation she said, that when she was a girl, it was the constant belief among the neighbors, that an old man, for some reason or other, had been buried in the fence between deacon Eastman's and her father's. She said the women and girls from their house and deacon Eastman's used to meet at the dividing fence, and while chatting and talking together for amusement, one and another at times would say, with a sort of skittish fear and laughing, "who knows but what we are now standing on the old man's grave ?" She and other girls used to be skittish and fearful, even in walking the street, when they came against the place of that supposed grave; though it was never known whereabouts in that line of fence it lay. She supposed the whole was only young folks' foolish notions; for some were much concerned lest the old man's ghost should appear at or about that grave. But this lady was very reluctant at narrating these circumstances and stories, to which she gave no heed herself.

In repeatedly visiting Hadley for many years past, and in conversation with persons bom and brought up in Hadley, but settled elsewhere, I h ave often perceived a concurrent tradition that both died there, and were buried somewhere in Hadley unknown, though generally agreeing that one was buried at Russell's.

Stiles's History contains a representation of the outlines of the house, and of the Judges' Chamber. The following is an imperfect copy, made without the aid of an engraver.

One part of the house was built as early as 1660, and the town aided Mr. Russell to build an addition in 1662. It appears from the inventory of Mr. Russell's estate in 1693, that the north, or kitchen part of the house, had a kitchen, lodging room, buttery and closet, with chambers over them; also a study; and that the south part had two lower rooms, named hall and parlor, with hall and parlor chambers over them; and a great and little cellar* and garrets, are mentioned. Furniture and other articles were appraised in all these rooms.

The town purchased of Rev. Samuel Russell of Branford, in 1694, the house and the old homelot of 8 acres, and 4 acres added to the east end of this lot and the town lot, to extend them to the bank, making 12 acres, for 120 pounds, or about 400 dollars in money. The town gave the buildings and ten acres to their second minister, Mr. Isaac Chauncey, in 1696. His son, Josiah Chauncey, sold the same homestead in 1749, to Samuel Gaylord, who resided upon it, as did his son, Samuel Gaylord; and his grandson, Chester Gaylord, still owns the western half of the lot, and lives upon it.

Chester Gaylord was born in 1782, and is now (April, 1858) in his 76th year. The following information is derived from him: - Before he was born, his father took down the north or kitchen part of the Russell house, and rebuilt it in nearly the same place, two stories high in the front westward, and one in the rear,f and the old cellar remained. The south building, in his younger years, remained apparently in its original state. He judges that it was 42 or 44 feet in length and about 20 feet in width. There was no cellar under it. The south side was the front. It had two large rooms below, with an old fashioned chimney and a front entry and stairs between them. Above were two spacious chambers, and overhead appeared the joists and garret-floor, whitewashed; and Mr. G. thinks the walls were boarded and not plastered, but is not certain. North of the chimney, was an enclosed place with two doors, used as a passage between the chambers and for other purposes. The floor boards of this passage or closet were laid from the chimney to the north side, and the ends went under the boards that enclosed the apartment. One board, at least, was not fastened down, and it could be slipped two or three inches to the north or south, and one end could then be raised up. J Mr. G., when a boy, had many times raised this board and let himself down into the space below, and restored the board to its place above him. He was then in a dark hole, which had no opening into any of the lower rooms; if there was once a passage into the kitchen cellar, it had been closed. There is a

-j-President Stiles understood that the house had been "repaired with additions." jThe trap door which Pres. Stiles saw in May, 1792, could have been nothing else but this board. It was not such a trap door as is pictured in his plan of the house.

tradition that the judges were once concealed in this dark place behind the chimney, when searchers went through the passage above. They could easily lift the board, and hide themselves in this under closet.

The south part of the Russell house was pulled down when Mr. Gaylord was about 13 years old, or in 1795, and the present house was built, which is 44 by 40 feet, and extends above 20 feet farther south than the old one. The kitchen part was all north of this, and Mr. Gaylord's father and his family lived in it, while he was building the new house. As the stones of the old cellar wall were needed for the new cellar, the building was supported by props in part, and the wall removed. In taking down the middle part of the front wall, next to the main street, the workmen discovered, about 4 feet below the top of the ground, a place where the earth was loose, and a little search disclosed flat stones, a man's bones, and bits of wood. Almost all the bones were in pieces, but one thigh bone was whole, and there were two sound teeth. Doct. S. H. Rogers, who then resided in Hadley, examined the thigh bone, and said it was the thigh bone of a man of large size. This and the other bones were laid on a shelf, and in a short time they all crumbled into small pieces, and were not preserved. John Hopkins took the teeth, and he gave away one or both. No other grave was found behind the cellar wall. Mr. G. supposes the flat stones, from their position, were laid on the top of the coffin.

These bones must have been those of Gen. Whalley, who was buried near 120 years before. Perhaps he died before Mr. Russell began to entertain the officers in the Indian war in 1675. If so, only GoiFe removed to Mr. Tilton's.

On the 1 8th of May, 1680, Sir Edmund Andros wrote from New York, to the Governor and Assistants of Connecticut, that he had been informed that Col. Goffe was kept and concealed by Capt. Joseph Bull and his sons at Hartford, under the name of Mr. Cooke. Warrants were issued to the constables of Hartford, directing them to search diligently the buildings of Joseph Bull and sons, and other places. They did not find Col. Goff^e nor any suspected stranger. Secretary Allyn wrote to Gov. Andros, June II, 1680, desiring the names of the informers, and said the people of Hartford were much abused by these false reports.

President Stiles was an ardent republican, and believed that criminal kings should be tried and punished, as well as other men. He said in conclusion: -

"The enlightened, upright and intrepid judges of Charles I. will hereafter go down to ^( posterity with increasing renown, among the Jepthas, the Baraks, the Gideons, and the Washingtons, and others raised up by providence for great and momentous occasions: whose memories, with those of all the other successful and unsuccessful, but intrepid and patriotic defenders of real liberty, will be selected iu history, and contemplated with equal, impartial and merited justice: and whose names, and achievements, and sufferings will be transmitted with honor, renown, and glory, through all the ages of liberty and of man."

Mr. Tilton's letter to his wife. - The following letter, published by Hutchinson, though not relating to the judges, may be inserted with propriety in the History of Hadley. It is occupied chiefly with foreign affairs, and furnishes another example of the manner in which European news was spread in this country, before newspapers were printed here.

This opportunity gives occasion of these lines; we have had a quiet and peaceable election, no alteration or addition. O what a price doth Divine Patience yet betrust us with, when he is drawing out the sword and arraying himself with the garments of vengeance as to other kingdoms, and when it is more than probable many garments are tumbling in blood. As to the news from England, ail men, both wise and others of more ordinary capacities, look on the effect or produce thereof will be as black a day in the world, as the world hath known. The late actions in England in commissioning their fleet to seize and fall on the Hollanders, of which I wrote you in my last, breaking their league, joining with the French, assisting them with soldiers out of England, and with their principal harbors to receive a numerous army, and shutting up the exchequer, whereby many are outed of their estates contrary to all law, are things that both in England and here, by men of all sorts, are looked upon as strange, horrid, and ominous. There is another ship expected, one Jonas Clarke, if not stopped by the embargo or otherwise, in which one Dr. Hoare, a minister, is expected. Remember me to mine and thine, with my love to all with you, I cannot forget you before the Father of Spirits night and day. The good will of Him that dwelt in the bush be with you, cause his face to shine upon you all, and give you peace. So prayeth still.

Mr. Tilton's letter has a postcript, chiefly relating to a fast appointed by the General Court for themselves, to be on the "fourth day," (Wednesday) of the next week. Mr. Tilton wrote to his family: - "My dear ones, forget not him who hath you all on his heart, and whose desire it is to leave himself and his all, with that merciful high-priest who hath the keys of life and death. Farewell. Farewell."

The Militia and their postures and arms - Hadley miUtia - Hampshire Troop - Change in fire-arms - New Militia Law - New Military book - Bayonets - Colors - Calling the roll - Watches - Alarms.

Militia companies in Massachusetts and Connecticut were organized and armed in nearly the same manner as soldiers in England. "The Compleat Body of the Art Military," by Lieut. Col. Richard Elton, was published before 1649, and a Supplement by another was published with it in London, 1668. Many persons in New England had Elton's book. Major John Pynchon had one; and Capt. Aaron Cooke of Northampton had one, which he gave in his will, to his son, Capt. Aaron Cooke of Hadley. The manner in which our fathers performed the manual exercise, with the matchlock musket and rest, may be learned from what Elton calls "The Postures of the Musket," in the edition of 1668.

He gives, also, funeral, saluting and other postures; and the postures of lighter muskets, which were used without rests, but were fired with a match.

"The Postures of the Pike" are given; some of them are handle, raise, charge, order, advance, shoulder, port, comport, check, trail, and lay down, your pikes. The pikes in England were i6 feet in length; in Connecticut, 14 feet.

His musket signified a hand-gun with a matchlock. The cock was that part of the lock which held the burning match that was applied to the powder in the pan. Muskets were generally large and heavy, and required a forked staff or rest to support them when presented to a fire. The rests had a crotch or crescent at the top, and a sharp iron at the bottom to fasten them in the ground. The musketeer had a rest in his hand, or hung to it by a string, in nearly all his exercises.

Bandoleers. - Musketeers carried their powder in little wooden, tin, or copper, cylindrical boxes, each containing one charge; twelve of these boxes were fixed to a belt two inches wide worn over the left shoulder, and the boxes and belt were called bandoleers. Usually the primer containing the priming powder, the bullet-bag and priming-wire were fastened to the leather belt. These and the little long boxes hung upon the belt, and made much rattling. This belt with its dangling appendages, had some resemblance to a string of sleigh-bells. The match-cord was tied to the bandoleer-belt.

The following representation is from Elton, but his company was larger, m. signifies a musketeer, p. a pikeman, and D. a drummer. The sergeants stood at the corners.

In the Directions for training a Company of Horsemen, in the Supplement to Elton, are the following seventeen commands. The book details the motions made in performing each command.

The militia laws of Massachusetts enacted previous to 1660, ordered that two thirds of each foot company should be musketeers; and that each musketeer should have a musket, with a priming-wire, worm, scourer, and mold for bullets, a sword, rest, bandoleers, one pound of powder, twenty bullets and two fathoms (twelve feet) of match. About one third of the company might be pikemen, and each was to have a pike, corslet, head-piece, sword and snapsack. In 1666, each pikeman might have either a corslet, buff coat or quilted coat. It required 64 men for a full company. Such a company had a captain, lieutenant, ensign, clerk, sergeants, corporals, and drummers. Sergeants carried a halbert. Towns were to keep powder, musket-bullets and match.

A troop of horsemen was not to exceed 70 soldiers. Each trooper was to have a good horse, saddle, bridle, holsters, pistols or carbine, and sword. A troop had a captain, lieutenant, cornet, quarter-master, clerk, trumpeter, and corporals. Each

All males above i6 years of age were to attend military exercises and service, except those exempt by law. The Court of Assistants and County Courts had power to discharge men for just cause; and in Hampshire, men who could not train by reason of age, weakness, or lameness, applied to the Court and were freed from training.

Companies were to be exercised six days every year. There was to be a regimental training once in three years. John Dunton, who came to Boston to sell books in 1686, says it was the custom to have a prayer at the beginning and ending of a training. Where he trained, the captain made the prayers.

In Hampshire, towns not having a full company of 64 men, had no captain; the soldiers were commanded by a lieutenant, ensign, or sergeant. It was not until 1657 that the Springfield company had three commissioned officers; John Pynchon was captain, Elizur Holyoke, lieutenant, Thomas Cooper, ensign. Northampton had a small train-band in 1658; and in 1661 the soldiers chose William Clark, lieutenant, and David Wilton, ensign. In 1663, they chose Aaron Cooke, senior, for captain, who had held the same office in Windsor. He removed to Westfield and remained there about ten years, and when he returned, was again captain of the company. The first captain of Hadley was Aaron Cooke, junior, in 1678; of Westfield, John Maudsley in 1686; of Hatfield, John Allis, under Andros in 1687 or 1688; and Samuel Partrigg succeeded him in 1689. At Deerfield, Jonathan Wells was appointed captain in 1692-93, partly in reference to the garrison. John Lyman was appointed ensign at Northfield in 1686.

Hadley militia. - On the llth of May, 1661, the town "voted that there shall be a training on the i6th inst. Voted that the town will buy Mr. Pynchon's colors that he wrote to the town about; and desire brother Lewis to buy a good drum for the town." On the 1 6th of December, 1 661, Richard Goodman and William Allis were chosen "to view all the arms in the town, and see if they are according to law." The train-band of Hadley chose Samuel Smith, lieutenant, John Russell, senior, clerk, and Richard Goodman, sergeant, and they were approved by the county court in March, 1663. The band also chose Aaron Cooke, Jr. ensign-bearer, and John Dickinson and Joseph Kellogg, sergeants, and they were approved by the court in September, 1663. In March, 1664, the town voted to pay Zechariah Field twenty shillings for the drum they had of him; and in April, they voted to buy a new drum. Samuel Smith was lieutenant, and Aaron Cooke, Jr. ensign, about fifteen years, including the trying time of Philip's war. In May, 1678, Lt. Smith requested to be freed from military trust, being, as he said, "near eighty years of age." He was discharged, and Aaron Cooke, Jr. was appointed captain, Philip Smith, lieutenant, and Joseph Kellogg, sr. ensign. Philip Smith was chosen lieutenant of the troop the same year. The officers of the Hadley company previous to 1700 were as follows: -

Aaron Cooke performed the duties of captain until I7i3,when he was 72 years of age. Accordingto the inscription on his grave-stone, he was a captain 35 years. His father, Aaron Cooke, of Northampton, acted as captain until his death in 1690, at the age of 80.

The Hampshire Troop or Company of Horsemen. - In March, 1663, divers persons of the soldiery met at Northampton and "there listed themselves into a Troope," and chose officers, viz., Capt. John Pynchon of Springfield, for captain; Ens. David Wilton of Northampton, lieutenant; Lieut. William Allis of Hadley, cornet; and Henry Woodward of Northampton, and George Colton of Springfield, quarter-masters. These officers were approved by the county court. There were ten troopers from Hadley, viz., Mr. Henry Clark, William Lewis, Thomas Coleman, Nathaniel Dickinson, sr., Thomas Dickinson, Philip Smith, Andrew Warner, Samuel Billing, John Coleman, William Allis. The last three lived on the west side of the river. In 1669, Springfield had 21 troopers, Northampton, 18, Hadley, 14. In 1674, Springfield had 19, Northampton, 13, Hadley, 7, Hatfield, 6, Westfield, 5. The dress and equipments of the troopers were more costly and showy than those of the foot soldiers, and they may have deemed their service more honorable. The expensive "trooping scarf" of Capt. Pynchon was embellished with gold lace, and silver glittered on his sword and belt and on other parts of his arms and dress. The other officers wore silk scarfs or sashes. When this company met in one of our villages for exercise, it was a day of excitement for the young, who heard the shrill trumpet, and admired the proud banner, and prancing steeds, and the gay appearance and quick motions of the men. The officers of the Hampshire troop of cavalry, previous to 1700, as far as they can be found, were the following: -

1663. William Allis of Hadley, (Hatfield) 1672. Joseph Whiting of Westfield. 1678. Joseph Parsons of Northampton. 1685. Thomas Dewey of Westfield.

Nehemiah Dickinson of Hadley. Quarter-Masters. ,g / Henry Woodward of Northampton. \ George Colton of Springfield. 1683. Samuel Partrigg of Hadley.

Regimental Officers. - The regiments of Massachusetts had only one officer, denominated major, or sergeant-major. In May, 1671, Capt. John Pynchon was appointed Sergeant-Major of the Hampshire regiment. He was the first regimental officer of the county. About 1687, Gov. Andros made him a colonel, and Capt. Aaron Cooke of Northampton, a major. After the fall of Andros, they retained only the offices they had before. Under the new charter, Massachusetts established the offices of colonel and lieut. colonel. Connecticut had no colonel and lieut. colonel until they were appointed by Gov. Andros about 1678.

Indian guns. - The Indians, before and during Philip's war, did not use matchlock muskets, but lighter guns with flint locks or snaphances. They were not troubled with burning match and cumbrous rests. In these things they acted wisely.

Change of Fire-arms in the 17th century. - The early legislators of Massachusetts, following the example of England, ordered the matchlock and rest, and the pike for foot soldiers. Yet flintlocks and guns without rests were among the people. The pistols and carbines of the troopers, and some fowling pieces and other guns, were fired with flints without rests. Some soldiers in New Haven, Plymouth and other places had firelocks and flints, though matchlocks and match were much more common among soldiers. It is believed that firelocks, often called snaphances, were gradually displacing matchlocks, before the Indian war began. John Pynchon sold flints after 1666, and he sold match also. In September, 1673, Massachusetts General Court desired Mr. Hezekiah Usher to purchase in England, "five hundred new snaphances or firelock muskets."* After Philip's war began, men soon perceived that matchlocks and pikes, however efficient in European warfare, were of little avail against nimble, skulking Indians, who did not face their enemies in the open field, and flintlocks were used whenever they could be obtained. Many expeditions against the Indians were made on horseback, by men who carried carbines or longer arms, and much scouting was done on horses, and these horsemen were not cumbered with match and rests. In November, 1675, Connecticut ordered a "stock of flints" to be sent to New London for the expedition against the Narragansets. In November, 1675, Massachusetts ordered that every town should provide and keep six flints for every listed soldier in the town. In the preceding October, Massachusetts ordered that all troopers should furnish themselves with carbines, and all pikemen with fire-arms. Before 1676, a revolution was effected, and pikes and matchlocks were generally laid aside. Pistols were accounted useless against Indians. In February, 1676, the Massachusetts committee of war estimated that two thousand flints were necessary for an expedition of 500 men - no match.

A great change had practically taken place, yet the law for matchlocks and pikes continued unrepealed. A few matchlocks were used in 1676, but there is no allusion to pikes. Boston had some pikemen in 1686. New England generally discarded matchlocks, rests and pikes many years before they were laid aside in old England.

New Militia Law. - In the new law of Massachusetts, in 1693, matchlocks, match, rests and pikes were entirely disregarded. Foot soldiers were to have a firelock-musket with a barrel feet in length at least or other good fire-arms; a snapsack, a collar with 12 bandoleers or a cartouch box, one pound of powder, 20 bullets, 12 flints, a sword or cutlass, a worm and priming wire. Towns were to keep flints.

Troopers were to have a horse worth five pounds and not less than 14 hands high, with a saddle, bit, bridle, holsters, pectoral and crupper; a carbine with a barrel not less than 2^ feet in length, and a belt and swivel; a case of pistols, a sword or cutlass, a flask or cartouch box, a pound of powder, three pounds of bullets, twenty flints, boots and spurs. They had no allowance from the colony.

Males from 16 to 60 years of age were to train, except those usually exempted. Negroes and Indians were among the exempts. There were four training days in a year, and a regimental muster once in three years. When soldiers were levied, a man impressed must go, or pay five pounds. A few years after, he must pay 10 pounds, or be imprisoned 6 months.

"The Complete Soldier," a book of 96 pages, giving instruction in military exercises, was printed in Boston in 1701, and a second edition with additions, of 124 pages, appeared in 1706. It was collected from Elton, Bariff and others, by Nicholas Boone of Boston. It was undoubtedly the first military book published in the British colonies. It directs the soldiers to appear "with their hair or periwigs tied up in bags, and their hats briskly cocked." This must have been an English direction.

Bayonets. - The French had daggers which they screwed into the muzzle of their guns, but as the guns could not be fired with such bayonets on, they contrived to fasten the daggers or bayonets on the outside of the muzzle by a socket. - The Massachusetts General Court voted about "bagonets," in 1700, and in 171 1 they ordered the Boston regiment to have "goose-necked bayonets" with a socket, instead of swords or cutlasses. The order did not extend to the other regiments. Bayonets were of little use against Indians, and few were seen in Hampshire until the French wars which ended in 1748 and 1763.

Cartridges, or paper cases with powder, were carried by some dragoons in a carduce box in Philip's war. Cartouch boxes as well as bandoleers, for foot soldiers, are in the law of 1693. The cartouch, cartridge or carduce box often appears in Hampshire after 1700, especially among the troopers. The powder horn continued to be used by many of the infantry.

The Fife. - The "ear-piercing fife,"' noted by Shakespeare, was discontinued in the English army after his time, and was not restored until 1747, having been neglected more than a century in England and America.

Colors or Flags. - Militia companies procured rich and expensive colors in the 17th century. In 1660, John Pynchon sold to Ens. Wilton of Northampton for the militia company, colors, stalF, tassel and top for 5 pounds. The next year, he sold to Hadley, for the use of the soldiers, colors, staff, tassel and top for 5 pounds. These flags were long and of costly silk. In the state house at Hartford, a few years since, was a part of a flag, of substantial red silk, with the date, 1640, upon it. Those of Northampton and Hadley may have been red. Sumptuous flags seem to have continued down to the Revolution. Timothy Pickering, in 1775, censured the enormous waste of silk used for colors, and said "three or four square yards of silk are taken to make one color." When the wind blew, the ensign had much trouble, and had to gather the flag in folds in his hands. Pickering would reduce it to about a yard in length. - The pine tree was a favorite symbol with Massachusetts; and Felt says the battle of Bunker Hill was fought under colors having a pine tree on them; and the state flag for vessels in 1776, was white with a green pine tree.

The flag was an ensign, and the bearer was an ensign-bearer, usually called ensign, and sometimes ancient. In Shakspeare, Pistol was FalstafF s ancient. In the early records of Connecticut, Ensign Stoughton of Windsor, was called Ancient Stoughton.

Calling the Roll. - The manner of doing this has not changed much in 250 years. Justice Shallow called some of Falstaff's soldiers - Thomas Wart! Here, sir. Francis Feeble! Here, sir. In Beaumont and Fletcher, a sergeant called the roll - William Hammerton, pewterer! Here. George Greengoose, poulterer! Here. In Shakspeare, when Peter Quince called the names of the players, the answer was - Here, Peter Quince.

Watches. - The early laws ordered watches in time of peace, in every town, from the first of May to the end of September. They were usually under the care of the constables. There was some distrust of the Indians. The watchmen began to examine nightwalkers after ten o'clock. - Military watches were required in the several towns in time of war, and when danger was apprehended, under the charge of the military officers. Every tov/n was ordered to provide a watch-house, and candles and wood. Sometimes warding, or day watching was required. Watches were kept up in these river towns much of the time for a century. The people in those days bore without murmuring, these and other burdens, which their descendants would deem intolerable.

Alarms in the night were made by firing three guns, followed by the beating of drums, and there were other ways of alarming the people. A hundred years later, in the Revolutionary war, the inhabitants of these towns were several times aroused from sleep, by the firing of three guns. The beating of drums succeeded.

The equipment of troopers in Hampshire was expensive. A pair of pistols and holsters cost 37 shilling?, saddle and furniture, 37s., boots, 20s., carbine, 25 to 30s., sword, cutlass or rapier, 20s. Some had a silk scarf, and a trooping coat. John Pynchon's "trooping scarf with gold lace" was valued at 70 shillings after his decease.

In Hampshire, only a small part of the soldiers were pikemen at any time, and none carried pikes after the Indian war. In other parts of New England, the proportion of pikemen seems to have been much less than in England. The early laws did not require that one-third of the soldiers should be pikemen.

Chapter Xxi

Witchcraft in Europe - In New England - In Hampshire county - Mary and Hugh Parsons of Springfield - Mary Parsons of Northampton - Death of John Stebbins of Northampton - Case of Mary Webster of Hadley - the witch mania of 1692 - Various notices relating to Witchcraft.

It was formerly the belief of all Christendom, that some persons called witches, were possessed of supernatural power, by an agreement with the devil, whereby they could procure advantages to" themselves, and inflict evils on their enemies; and witchcraft was a capital crime by the laws of the different nations of Europe. The famous bull of pope Innocent VIII., in 1484, denouncing witchcraft, gave fury to the delusion. It is estimated that in about two hundred years, upwards of a hundred thousand were put to death for witchcraft in Europe;* and some calculate that not less than a hundred thousand sufiPered in Germany alone.f At the time of the Reformation, Protestants were not only burnt as heretics, but many were put to death under the pretence that they were sorcerers.

The witch mania raged extensively in both Catholic and Protestant countries. The reformers were as firm believers in witchcraft as the catholics. The madness prevailed in Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, &c. before it manifested itself in Great Britain. From the date of the statute of queen Elizabeth against witchcraft in 1562, the persecution of witches commenced in England, but did not reach its height until the 17th century. Bishop Jewell, in his sermons before the queen, used to conclude them by a fervent prayer, that she might be preserved from witches. He informed her that witches and sorcerers had marvelously increased within a few years. In 1593, the income of forty pounds, derived from the confiscated property of three persons executed for witchcraft, was appropriated for an annual lecture upon the enormity of witchcraft, to be preached by a doctor or bachelor of divinity, of Queen's college, Cambridge; and this annual sermon was continued 125 years or more. King James I. was a constant enemy of witches, and a chief encourager of those who persecuted them, first in Scotland and next in England. He wrote a famous treatise on demons and witches, and after the act of parliament against witchcraft in 1603, persecution burst forth furiously in England, and in eighty years the number of those put to death, has been estimated at about thirty thousand;! and some thousands in Scotland.

In Europe, kings and nobles, popes and bishops, judges and lawyers, learned ministers of various denominations and other men of erudition, were fully persuaded of the existence of modern witches, who had entered into a compact with Satan. - Among those accused of witchcraft were many unprincipled persons, who had endeavored to'eflFect their wicked ends by the devil's aid, and if they were not witches, it was not for want of the will. These included some noble ladies and others in high life. Some undertook to teach the magic arts, and not a few thus instructed, really believed they had made a covenant with the devil. Others feigned witchcraft, and boasted of their power, in order to extort favors from the superstitious. Yet a great majority of the sufferers were innocent.

The first planters of New England believed that their Bibles affirmed the existence of witches, and it may be easily conceived that they were firm believers in the reality of witchcraft, in an age when this belief was nearly universal in Europe.

Witches in Connecticut. - Winthrop's History, under 1647, says one of Windsor was executed at Hartford for a witch. The records of Connecticut do not allude to any trial or execution of a witch in 1647. 7^^ December, 1648, Mary Johnson, at Hartford, was found guilty of familiarity with the devil by her own confession, and was executed. One or two persons were tried for witchcraft in Hartford in 1651; it is not known whether any one was executed. In 1651, Goody Bassett of Stratford was executed for writchcraft, probably at Fairfield. In 1653 or the early part of 1654, Goodwife Knap was hung at Fairfield for a witch. In January or February, 1663, a woman named Greensmith, apparently wife of Nathaniel Greensmith, was hung at Hartford for witchcraft. In March, 1665, Elizabeth Seger was found guilty of witchcraft by a jury at Hartford, but the court set her free. In October, 1669, Katharine Harrison of Wethersfield was found guilty of witchcraft by a jury at Hartford, but the court did not approve the verdict, and afterwards dismissed her. In September, 1692, Mercy Disborough, wife of Thomas Disborough of Compo in Fairfield, and two or three other women, were tried at Fairfield for witchcraft, and all were acquitted except Mercy Disborough, who was found guilty and sentenced to death. She appears not to have been executed.

King James I. averred that witches thrown into the water would float and not sink, and he thought this was a "good help" to detect them. The experiment was tried at Fairfield, and Mercy Disborough and Elizabeth Clawson were bound, hands and feet, and put into the water, and witnesses testified that they "swam Hke a cork." Yet E. Clawson was acquitted, and IVI. Disborough was not condemned because she floated.

In Massachusetts, Margaret Jones of Charlestown, was hung for witchcraft at Boston, June 15, 1648 - the first execution for this offense in this colony. Widow Anne Hibbins of Boston, was executed as a witch in 1656, and two or three others are reported to have suffered in Massachusetts previous to 1692, and in the year 1692, twenty were executed at Salem. - In the colonies of New Haven and Plymouth, no one was condemned for witchcraft, before or after their union with other colonies.

The first case of supposed witchcraft in Hampshire county, occurred at Springfield, in 1651. Mary Parsons, wife of Hugh Parsons of that town, was sent to Boston and imprisoned on suspicion of witchcraft, and for murdering her child". She was tried for both offenses by the General Court, May 13, 165 1. The charge in the first indictment was, that being seduced by the devil, about the end of February last, at Springfield, she consulted with a familiar spirit, making a covenant with him, and had used divers deviHsh practices by witchcraft, to the hurt of the persons of Martha and Rebecca Moxon, against the word of God, and the laws of this jurisdiction. Her plea was, not guilty; and the court found the evidences insufficient and cleared her. The two Moxons were children of Rev. George Moxon of Springfield.

Mary Parsons had a son named Joshua, born Oct. 26, 1650, whom she killed March 4, 1651, according to the Springfield record. She was charged in the indictment at Boston, May 13,

1651, with willfully and most wickedly murdering her own child, to which she pleaded guilty, and was condemend to die by the General Court. She was reprieved until the 29th of May. She was a deranged woman, and one like her would not have been found guilty of murder, 50 years later.

Hugh Parsons of Springfield, was tried at a Court of Assistants at Boston, May 12, 1652, a year after the trial of his wife. He was accused of having familiar and wicked converse with the devil, and of using divers devilish practices or witchcrafts, in March last, and at other times, to the hurt of divers persons. The jury found him guilty, but the magistrates not consenting to the verdict, the case came before the General Court, May 27,

Mary Bartlett, wife of Samuel Bartlett of Northampton, died in July, 1674, and her husband, her father, James Bridgman, and others, were suspicious that she came to her end by unnatural and unlawful means; and that Mary Parsons, wife of Joseph Parsons, senior, of Northampton, had caused her death by witchcraft. Mary Parsons was a respectable woman, and her husband was one of the most wealthy men in Northampton. She may have been somewhat proud and high-spirited, and thereby have excited some ill-will.

The county court met at Springfield, Sept. 29, 1674; and though the trial of persons accused of capital offenses did not belong to this court, they sometimes inquired into such cases. Samuel Bartlett procured divers testimonies on oath from Northampton, and Mary Parsons, knowing what was doing, and that she was implicated, did not wait for a summons, but "voluntarily made her appearance in court, desiring to clear herself of such an execrable crime." The matter was referred to an adjourned court at Northampton, which met January 5, 1675, and Samuel Bartlett produced his witnesses. "Goodwife Parsons being called to speak for herself,* she did assert her own innocency, often mentioning how clear she was of such a crime, and that the righteous God knew her innocency, with whom she had left her cause." The court "appointed a jury of soberdized, chaste women to make diligent search upon the body of Mary Parsons, whether any marks of witchcraft might appear, who gave in their account to the court on oath, of what they found." The court ordered all the testimony, including the report of the women, to be sent to the Governor and Magistrates at Boston, leaving further proceedings with them. Mary Parsons was ordered to appear before the Court of Assistants at Boston, if so required by them, and her husband, Joseph Parsons, was bound in a bond of 50 pounds, for her appearance.

Mary Parsons appeared before the Court of Assistants, March 2, 1675, and the grand jury presented an indictment against her. She was imprisoned in Boston until May 13, when she was tried. She was accused of entering into familiarity with the devil, and committing several acts of witchcraft on the person or persons of

Parsons, as well as her mother, widow Margaret Bliss of Springfield, had sufficient ability and confidence to speak before a court. There were other women, who sometimes managed their own business at courts, and spoke when necessary. This was not deemed improper. Mary Parsons was invited "to speak for herself." In 1667, a woman spoke in a town meeting in Windsor, in a case which concerned her, and not without effect. In 1677, widow Editha Holyoke of Springfield, went into court and "spoke in the case," relating to her share of her husband's estate.

Some testimony was presented to the county court against John Parsons, son of Joseph and Mary Parsons, but the court did not find much weight in it, and dismissed him.

On the 7th of March, 1679, John Stebbins of Northampton, died in an unusual manner, and a jury of inquest, composed of eleven Northampton men and Doct. Thomas Hastings of Hatfield, examined the body. They found "several hundred spots, small ones as if they had been shot with small shot, which were scraped and under them were holes into his body," and some other things not usual. There were suspicions of witchcraft. The county court met at Northampton, April 29, 1679, and Samuel Harriett, brother of Stebbins's widow, was allowed to bring in such testimony as he could find. The court sent the testimonies to the Governor and Magistrates, but no one was prosecuted.*

The most notable witch in Hampshire county was Mary Webster, the wife of William Webster of Hadley. Her maiden name was Mary Reeve, and they were married in 1670, when he was 53 years old, and she probably some years younger. They became poor, and lived many years in a small house in the middle highway into the meadow,f and were sometimes aided by the town. Mary Webster's temper, which was not the most placid, was not improved by poverty and neglect, and she used harsh words when offended. Despised and sometimes ill-treated, + she was soured with the world, and rendered spiteful towards some of her neighbors. When they began to call her a witch, and to abuse her, she perhaps thought with the "Witch of Edmonton," in the old play, who said, " 'Tis all one, to be a witch, as to be accounted one." Many stories of the sorceries by which she dis-

is a tradition that John Stebbins had been at work in a saw-mill some days before his death, and that some of the boards and logs, by the aid of witches, made strange movements, whereby he was injured.

-j-This highway was then six rods wide, and on the north side towards the east end, were the pound, the house of William Webster, and for a time, that of Thomas Webster. About three rods wide from the north side were sold in 1797, and added to the adjoining homelot, which is now owned by John S. Bell, and the pound and William Webster's house are suf>- posed to have been on the land now occupied for a garden and bam yard by Mr. Bell.

t At the September Court, 1680, Ann Belding, a girl in her i6th year, daughter of Samuel Belding of Hatfield, was charged with "purposes and practices against the body and life of Mary, wife of William Webster of Hadley." She acknowledged, and was fined one pound to Wm. Webster, and four pounds to the county. Her father engaged to pay. This is a strange affair, and cannot be explained.

Teams passing to and from the meadow went by her door, and she so bewitched some cattle and horses that they stopped, and ran back, and could not be driven by her house. In such cases the teamsters used to go into the house and whip or threaten to whip her, and she would then let the team pass. She once turned over a load of hay near her house, and the driver went in and was about to chastise her, when she turned the load back again. She entered a house, and had such influence upon an infant on the bed or in the cradle, that it was raised to the chamber floor and fell back again, three times, and no visible hand touched it. There is a story that at another house, a hen came down chimney and got scalded in a pot, and it was soon found that Mary Webster was suffering from a scald. The story of her bewitching Philip Smith is retained, but is less prominent than the others.*

Mary Webster appeared before the county court at Northampton, March 27, 1683. The court was composed of John Pynchon of Springfield, Peter Tilton and Philip Smith of Hadley, William Clarke and Aaron Cooke of Northampton. Samuel Partrigg of Hadley was clerk. The following is from the record.

Mary, wife of William Webster of Hadley, being under strong suspicion of having familiarity with the devil, or using witchcraft, and having been in examination beforethe worshipful Mr. Tilton, and many testimonies brought in against her,orthat did seem tocenCreupon her, relating to such a thing; and the worshipful Mr. Tilton aforesaid binding her to appear at this court, and having examined her yet further, and the testimonies aforenamed, look upon her case, a matter belonging to the Court of Assistants to judge of, and therefore have ordered said Mary Webster to be, by the first convenient opportunity, sent to Boston gaol and committed there as a prisoner, to be further examined there as aforesaid, and the clerk is to gather up all the evidences and fit them to be sent down by the worshipful Mr. Tilton, to our honored governor, that he may communicate them to the magistrates, as he shall judge meet, or further order prosecution of said matters.

She was sent down to Boston in April, 1683, and the Court of Assistants was held at Boston, May 22d; Gov. Bradstreet, Deputy Gov. Danforth and nine Assistants being present. The record of the court follows: -

Mary Webster, wife of William Webster of Hadley, being sent down upon suspicion of witchcraft and committed to prison, in order to her trial, was brought to the bar. The grand-jury being impannelled, they, on perusal of the evidences, returned that they did indict Mary Webster, wife to William Webster of Hadley, for that she, not having the fear

stories and others were told with gravity by old persons, seventy years ago, and were believed by some and laughed at by others. There were certain persons who were noted as tellers of witch stories in Hadley, as in other towns. Widow Rebekah (Crow) Noble was a famous story teller.

of God before her eyes, anil being Instigated by the devil, hath entered into covenant and had familiarity with him in the shape of a warrancage,* and had his imps sucking her, and teats or marks found on her, as in and by several testimonies may appear, contrary to the peace of our sovereign lord, the king, his crown and dignity, the laws of God and of this jurisdiction - The court on their serious consideration of the testimonies, did leave her to further trial.

At the Assistant's Court, Sept. 4, 1683, Mary Webster, wife to William Webster of Hadley, having been presented for suspicion of witchcraft, &c. by a grand-jury in Boston on the 22d of May last, and left to further trial, was now called and brought to the bar, and was indicted by the name of Mary Webster, &c. [Here the indictment of May zzd is all repeated; the warraneage comes in as before.] To which indictment she pleaded not guilty, making no exception against any of the jury, leaving herself to be tried by God and the country. The indictment and evidences in the case were read and committed to the jury, and the jury brought in their verdict that they found her - not guilty.

This acquittal must have elated Mary Webster, and disappointed many of the people of Hadley, whose numerous written testimonies, drawn up with care, had failed to convince a Boston jury, that she was a witch. Sometime after this trial, the power of this enchantress was supposed to be exerted upon Lieut. Philip Smith, who died on the loth of January, 1685. The following details are from Cotton Mather's Magnalia: -

Mr. Philip Smith, aged about fifty years, a son of eminently virtuous parents, a deacon of a church in Hadley, a member of the General Court, a justice in the county Court, a select man for the afiairs of the town, a lieutenant of the troop, and which crowns all, a man for devotion, sanctity, gravity, and all that was honest, exceeding exemplary. Such a man was in the winter of the year 1684, murdered with an hideous witchcraft, that filled all those parts of New England, with astonishment. He was, by his office concerned about relieving the indigences of a wretched woman in the town; who being dissatisfied at some of his just cares about her, expressed herself unto him in such a manner, that he declared himself thenceforward apprehensive of receiving mischief at her hands.

About the beginning of January, 1684-5, he began to be very valetudinarious. He shewed such weanedness from and weariness of the world, that he knew not (he said) whether he might pray for his continuance here: and such assurance he had of the Divine love unto him, that in raptures he would cry out. Lord, stay thy hand; it is enough, it is more than thy frail servant can bear. But in the midst of these things he still uttered an hard suspicion that the ill woman who had threatened him, had made impressions with inchantraents upon him. While he remained yet of a sound mind, he solemnly charged his brother to look well after him. Be sure, (said he) to have a care of me; for you shall see

*Warraneag, in some Indian dialects, was the same as the Nipmuck wallaneag or woollaneag. It was the name of the fisher, or pecan, or wild black cat of the woods. All the testimony on which the indictment was founded, came from persons in Hadley. She had undoubtedly been searched for witch marks by some of the women of Hadley.

In his distresses he eiclaimed much upon the woman aforesaid, and others, as being seen by him in the room. Some of the young men in the town being out of their wits at the strange calamities thus upon one of their most beloved neighbors, went three or four times to give disturbance unto the woman thus complained of: and all the while they were disturbing of her, he was at ease, and slept as a weary man: yea, these were the only times that they perceived him to take any sleep in all his illness. Gaily pots of medicines provided for the sick man, were unaccountably emptied: audible scratchings were made about the bed, when his hands and feet lay wholly still, and were held by others. They beheld fire sometimes on the bed; and when the beholders began to discourse of it, it vanished away. Divers people actually felt something often stir in the bed, at a considerable distance from the man: it seemed as big as a cat, but they could never grasp it. Several trving to lean on the bed's head, tho' the sick man lay wholly still, the bed would shake so as to knock their heads uncomfortably. Mr. Smith dies: the jury that viewed his corpse, found a swelling on one breast, his back full of bruises, and several holes that seemed made with awls. After the opinion of all had pronounced him dead, his countenance continued as lively as if he had been alive; his eyes closed as in a slumber, and his nether jaw not falling down.

Thus he remained from Saturday morning about sunrise, till Sabbath-day in the afternoon; when those who took him out of the bed, found him still warm, tho' the season was as cold as had almost been known in any age: and a New England winter does not want for cold. But on Monday morning they found the face extremely tumified and discolored. It was black and blue, and fresh blood seemed running down his cheek upon the hairs. Divers noises were also heard in the room where the corpse lay; as the clattering of chairs and stools, whereof no account could be given.

The "disturbing" of Mary Webster by the Hadley young men, is thus related by Hutchinson: - "While he [Philip Smith] lay ill, a number of brisk lads tried an experiment upon the old woman. Having dragged her out of the house, they hung her up until she was near dead, let her down, rolled her sometime in the snow, and at last buried her in it, and there left her; but it happened that she survived, and the melancholy man died."

The people having failed in a legal prosecution, the young men now undertook to punish her illegally. Yet Mary Webster lived eleven years after they hung her up, and buried her in the snow, and died in peace in 1696.* Her age may have been about seventy. Her husband died in 1687 or 1688.

Mary Webster was the fourth person sent from Connecticut River to Boston to be tried for witchcraft, and all were acquitted, - an indication that the courts were inclined to mildness. No inhabitant of Hampshire was ever executed for witchcraft.

At the Springfield Court, Sept. 29, 1691, Mary Randall was complained of for witchcraft. The court postponed the case for a year, and then her father, William Randall of Enfield, became surety for her good behavior, and there were no further proceedings. This was the last recorded case of suspected witchcraft in Hampshire county.

*It is not known that Mary Webster annoyed the people of Hadley by her witch pranks after 1685. Her last eleven years may have been spent in quietness. The inventory of her small estate after her decease, in 1696, included a bed and a few other things for housekeeping, and some articles of dress. She had a Bible, psalm-book and three sermon books, which were probably left by her husband.

Previous to 1692, the number of persons executed for witchcraft in Massachusetts and Connecticut was nine or ten, though the magistrates intended to be cautious, and several times set aside the verdict of a jury to save those declared guilty. In February, 1692, a terrible witchcraft delusion, which commenced in Salem Village, now Danvers, produced great terror and suffering in several towns and resulted in the execution of twenty persons. A few misguided ministers and magistrates, by their rash and unjustifiable proceedings, "led their fellow-citizens into a labyrinth of error and iniquity, and stained the character of their country."* In less than a year, men came to their senses, the destructive frenzy terminated, and the people looked back upon the scene of barbarity and cruelty with horror and remorse. Prosecutions for witchcraft forever ceased in New England.f

The dreadful witch-mania of 1692, was local and not general. It did not extend into Hampshire county, and Connecticut was free from it, except a part of Fairfield county. Connecticut ceased to punish for witchcraft about the same time with Massachusetts. In 1693 and after, grand-juries refused to indict for witchcraft.