William Phips letter to William Blathwayt, 1692 February 21

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By the Captain of the Samuel & Henry, I gave an
Account that at my arrivall here, I found the Prisons full of
People, committed upon Suspicion of witchcraft, & that conti
nually complaints were made to me, that many persons,
upon Severall persons by name, as the Cause of their torments
the number of these complaints increasing every day, by ad
vice of the Lievtenat Governor & the Councell,I gave a Commission of oyer
& terminer, to try the Suspected witches, & at that time,
the generality of the people represented the matter to me, as reall
witchcraft, & gave strange Instances of the same; The first
in Commission was the Lievtenant Governor, & the the rest were persons of the best
prudence, & figure, that could then be pitched upon, & I de
pended upon the Court for a right method of proceeding, In
cases of witchcraft, att that time, I went to command the
army, at the Eastern part of the Province, for the french, and
Indians, had made an attacque upon some of our Fronteer
townes; I continued there for some time, but when I
Returned, I found the people much disatisfied at the pro
ceedings of the Court, for about Twenty persons were condem
ned, & executed, of which number, some were thought by
many persons to be Innocent; the Court still proceeded in
the same method of trying them, which was by the Evidence
of the afflicted persons, who, when they were brought into
the Court, as soon as the Suspected witches looked upon them, In
stantly fell to the ground, in Strange agonies, & grievous
torment, but when touch by them, upon the arme, or some
other part of their flesh, they Immediately revived, & came to them
selves, upon which they made Oath, that the Prisoner at the bar
did afflict them, & that they saw their shape, or spectre
come from their bodies, which put them to such paines,
& torments: when I enquired into the matter I was infor
med by the Judges, that they begun with this, but had
[illegible] testimony against such as were condemned, &
undoubted proofe; of their being witches; but at length I
found, that the Devill did take upon him, the Shape of Inno
cent persons, & some were accused, of whose Innocence
I was well assured of, & many considerable persons, of unbla
meable life, & conversation, were cryed out upon, as withces,
& Wizards; The Deputy Governor, notwithstanding persisted vigo
orously in the same method, to the great disatisfaction, &
disturbance of the People, untill I put an end to the Court,
& stopped the proceedings, which I did, because I saw
many Innocent persons might otherwise perish, & att
that time, I thought it my duty, to give an Account
thereof, that their Majesties pleasure might be signified,
hoping that for the better ordering thereof, the Judges lear
ned in the Law in England, might give such directions,
& rules as have been practized in England, for proceedings in
so difficult, & nice a point: when I put an end to the Court
there were at least fifety person in Prison, in great misery,
by

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by reason of the Extream cold, & their Poverty, most of them
having only spectre Evidence, against them, & their [illegible]
being defective; I can see some to be let out upon Baile, & put the
Judges upon considering of a way to releive others, & prevent
them from perishing in Prison, upon which some of them were
convinced, & acknowledged, that their former proceedings were
too violent, & not grounded upon a right foundation, but that
if they might sit againe, they would proceed after another [illegible]
method; & whereas Mr: Increase Mather, & severall other
Divines, did give it as their Judgement; that the Devill might
[illegible] in the shape of an Innocent person, & that the look & the
touch of the suspected persons, was not sufficient proof against
them; Those things had not the same stress layd upon them
as before; & upon this consideration, I premitted a speciall
superior Court to be held at Salem, in the County of Essex, on the
third Day of January, the Lievtenant Governor being chief Judge, their
method of proceeding being altered, all that were brought to
tryall, to the number of fifety two were cleard, saving three;
and I was Informed by the Kings Attorny Generall, that some
of the cleared, & the Condemned, were under the same circumstances,
or that there was the same reason, to clear the Three condemned,
as the rest, according to his Judgement; The Deputy Governer signed
a warrant for their speedy Execution, & also of ffive others,
who were condemned, at the former Court of oyer & terminer,
but considering how the matter had been managed, I sent a
reprieve, whereby the Execution was stopped, untill their Majesties
pleasure be signified, & declared; The Lievenant Governer upon this
occasion was inraged, & filled with passionate anger, & refus[ed]
to sit upon the bench in a superior Court, held at that time,
at Charlestowne, & Indeed hath from the beginning hurryed
on these matters, with great precipitancy : & by his Warrant
hath caused the Estates, goods, & chattles of the executed, to be seized,
& disposed of without my knowledge or consent : The stop put
to the first method of proceedings ^ ^hath dissipated the black cloud, that
threatned this Province with destruc<emtion, for whereas this
delusion of the Devill, did spread, & its dismall effects, touched the
[illegible] lives, & estates of many of their Majesties Subiectes, &
the reputacion of some of the principall persons here, & indeed
unhappily clogged, & Interrupted their Majesties affiares, which has
been a great vexation to me! I have no new complaints,
but peoples minds before divided, & distracted, by different
opinions, concerning this matter, are now well composed.

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To
The Honorable william William
Blathwayte Esquire att
Whitehall

Boston 21 ffeb: 1692/3
No: 1
From Mr William Phips
about the proceedings against Witchcraft
Received 24 May 1693
per Captain [illegible]
Per
The Court of Oyer & Terminer
for tryall of Witchcaft disolved
another [illegible]
moderate in proceedings
3 Condemned for Witchcraft
Warrant signed for Executing
them & 5 more Condemed
formerly

They are repreived by the Governor
tiln their Majesties Order

The Deputy Governor as chied Judge
[illegible] Warrants for [illegible] &
seizes & disposes of the Estates
the Condemned within the
knowledge of the Governor/

Entered. New England Volume 3d.
folio 426.