The Penguin Book of Witches (23 page)

Not all witches were found in New England, though the trial of Grace Sherwood in Virginia clearly bears the marks of legal anxiety following the Salem debacle. Sherwood had suffered a poor reputation for some time and was ultimately brought to trial. Several aspects of her trial will look familiar, most particularly the creation of a jury of women to search Sherwood’s body for the telltale witch’s teat where she would have suckled her familiar spirit. The jury went even further, resorting to a diagnostic technique very rarely used in North America: the ducking stool.
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However, they felt unsure of their method or of the best way to interpret their results. Sherwood was found guilty, but without the fatal outcome that she would have incurred only a decade earlier. In effect, Sherwood marks the transition of belief in witchcraft from a legal concern to being a more purely social one.
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The record here given for the trial of Grace Sherwood for witchcraft was presented by the late J. P. Cushing, president of Hampden Sydney College, to the Virginia Historical and Philosophical Society, and published in their collections. While it throws some light on the state of society of that time, it evinces that persecution for witchcraft was not alone in our country confined to the Puritans of New England. There, it will be recollected, was shown a noble example of the strength of moral principle on the part of the accused, for they had only to declare themselves guilty and their lives were spared.
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Rather than do this, many suffered death. Grace Sherwood met a milder fate. The place where she was ducked is a beautiful inlet making up from Lynnhaven Bay, which to this day is called Witch’s Duck.
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Record of the trial of Grace Sherwood in 1705, Princess Anne County, for Witchcraft.

Princess Anne ss.

At a court held the 3rd of January 1705/6, present gentlemen: Mr. Beno (Benedict?) Burro, Colonel Moseley, Mr. John Cornick, Captain Hancock, Captain Chapman, justices

Whereas Luke Hill and uxor
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summoned Grace Sherwood to this court in suspicion of witchcraft and she failing to appear, it is therefore ordered that attachment to the sheriff do issue to attach her body to answer the said summons next court.

Princess Anne ss.

At a court held the 6th February 1705/6, present: Colonel Mosely, Colonel Adam Thorrowgood, Captain Chapman, Captain Hancock, Mr. John Cornick, Mr. Richardson (came late), justices

Suit for suspicion of witchcraft brought by Luke Hill against Grace Sherwood is ordered to be referred till tomorrow.

Princess Anne ss.

At a court held the 7th February 1705/6, present gentlemen: Colonel Moseley, Lieutenant Colonel Thorrowgood, Mr. John Richardson, Mr. John Cornick, Captain Chapman, Captain Hancock, justices

Whereas a complaint was brought against Grace Sherwood upon suspicion of witchcraft by Luke Hill, et cetera, and the matter being after a long time debated and ordered that the said Hill pay all fees of this complaint and that the said Grace be here next court to be searched according to the complaint by a jury of women to decide the said Differ,
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and the sheriff is likewise ordered to summon an able jury accordingly.

Princess Anne ss.

At a court held the 7th March 1705/6, Colonel Edward Mosely, Lieutenant L. Adam Thorrowgood, Major Henry Sprat, Captain Horatio Woodhouse, Mr. John Cornick, Captain Henry Chapman, Mr. William Smith, Mr. Jon Richardson, Captain George Hancock, justices

Whereas a complaint has been to this
Duq
court by Luke Hill and his wife that one Grace Sherwood of the county was and has been a long time suspected of witchcraft and has been as such represented wherefore the sheriff at the last court was ordered to summon a jury of women to the court to search her on the said suspicion, she assenting to the same. And after the jury was impaneled and sworn and sent out to make due inquiry and inspection into all circumstances, after a mature consideration, they bring in your verdict. Whereof the jury has searcheth Grace Sherwood and has found two things like teats with several other spots. Elizabeth Barnes, forewoman, Sarah Norris, Margaret Watkins, Hannah Dimis, Sarah Goddard, Mary Burgess, Sarah Sargent, Winifred Davis, Ursula Henley, Ann Bridges, Exable Waplies—Mary Cotle.

At a court held the 2nd May 1706, present: Mr. Jonathan Richardson, Major Henry Spratt, Mr. John Cornick, Captain Henry Chapman, Mr. William Smith, justices

Whereas a former complaint was brought against Grace Sherwood for suspicion of witchcraft, with by the attorney general’s report to his excellency in counsel was too general and not charging her with any particular act therefore represented to them that Princess Ann Court might if they thought fit have her examined de novo
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and the court being of opinion that there is great cause of suspicion does therefore order that the sheriff take the said Grace into his safe custody until she shall give bond and security for her appearance to the next court to be examined de novo and that the constable of that precinct go with this sheriff and search this said Grace’s house and all suspicious places carefully for all images and such like things
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as may any way strengthen the suspicion and it is likewise ordered that the sheriff summon an able jury of women. Also all evidences as can give in anything against her in evidence in behalf of our sovereign lady the queen to attend the next court accordingly.

Princess Ann ss.

At a court held the 6th June 1706, present, Mr. Jonathan Richardson, Captain Horatio Woodhouse, Mr. John Cornick, Captain Henry Chapman, Captain William Smith, Captain George Hancock, justices

Whereas Grace Sherwood of the county has been complained of as a person suspected of witchcraft and now being brought before this court in order for examination, they have therefore requested Mr. Maxmt. Bonah to present information against her as counsel in behalf of our sovereign lady the queen in order to her being brought to a regular trial.

Whereas an information in behalf of Her Majesty was presented by Luke Hill to y. court in pursuance to Mr. General Attorney Thomson’s report on his excellency’s order in Council the 16th April last about Grace Sherwood being suspected of witchcraft have thereupon sworn several evidences against her by which it doth very likely appear.

Princess Anne ss

At a court held the 7th of June 1706, Mr. Jonathan Richardson, Major Henry Spratt, Mr. John Cornick, Captain Chapman, Captain William Smith, Captain George Hancock, justices

Whereas at the last court an order was passed that the sheriff should summon an able jury of women to search Grace Sherwood on suspicion of witchcraft, which, although the same was performed by the sheriff, yet they refused,
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and did not appear. It is therefore ordered that the same persons be again summoned by the sheriff for their contempt to be dealt with according to the utmost severity of the law and that a new jury of women be by him summoned to appear next court to search her on the aforesaid suspicion and that he likewise summon all evidences that he shall be informed of as material in the complaint and that she continue in the sheriff’s custody unless she give good bond and security for her appearance at the next court and that she be of good behavior toward Her Majesty and all her liege people in the meantime.

Princess Ann ss

At a court held the 10th July 1706, present, Colonel Moseley, Captain Moseley, Captain Woodhouse, Mr. John Cornick, Captain Chapman, Captain William Smith, Mr. Richardson (came late), justices

Whereas Grace Sherwood being suspected of witchcraft has a long time waited for a fit opportunity for a further examination and by her consent and approbation of the court it is ordered that the sheriff take all such convenient assistance of boats and men as shall be by him thought fit to meet at Jonathan Harper’s plantation in order to take the said Grace forthwith and put her into above man’s depth and try her how she swims therein, always having care of her life to preserve her from drowning,
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and as soon as she comes out that he request as many ancient and knowing women as possible he can to search her carefully for all teats, spots and marks about her body not usual on others and that as they find the same to make report on oath to the truth thereof to the court and further it is ordered that some women be requested to shift and search her before she go into the water that she carry nothing about her to cause any further suspicion.

Whereas on complaint of Luke Hill in behalf of Her Majesty that now is against Grace Sherwood for a person suspected of witchcraft and having had sundry evidences sworn against her, proving many circumstances and which she could not make any excuse or little or nothing to say in her own behalf, only seemed to rely on what the court should do and hereupon consented to be tried in the water and likewise to be searched again with experiments, being tried and she swimming when therein and bound contrary to custom and the Judgments of all the spectators and afterward being searched by five ancient women, who have all declared on oath that she is not like them nor no other woman that they knew of, having two things like teats on her private parts of a black color, being blacker than the rest of her body all with circumstance the court, weighing in their consideration, does therefore order that the sheriff take the said Grace into his custody and to commit her body to the common jail of this county, there to secure her by irons or otherwise, there to remain till such time as he shall be otherwise directed in order. For her coming to the common jail
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of the county to be brought to a future trial there.

J. J. Burroughs,
county clerk.

Princess Anne County Clerk’s Office, 15 September 1832

As the eighteenth century proceeded, witchcraft continued to recede from the legal realm and grew more arcane and anecdotal. The following account suggests a small frisson of witchcraft in South Carolina, citing as evidence the continuation of anti-witchcraft laws on the books, and an anecdote about suspected witches being seized by a mob and burned. While impossible to substantiate, the persistence of the anecdote nevertheless indicates the passage of witchcraft from the realms of legal legitimacy to the hazy category of offenses to be addressed by the mob, or to whispered rumor and social sanction. But, crucially, mob justice is brought to bear when popular perception holds that a problem will not receive sufficient redress in the courts. Witchcraft had not vanished from North American consciousness. Far from it; witchcraft had merely changed venue from the courthouse to the street.
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In South Carolina, as late as 1712, the law “against Conjuration, Witchcraft, and dealing with evil and wicked Spirits,” was declared to be in force. It is quite probable that some cases of witchcraft had occurred among some of the South Carolinians, which caused the revival of the act of James the First; but what they were and how extensive, we have no means at hand to determine, as their chroniclers are silent upon the subject. But this is very certain, and that is, if they did not raise witches down there, they raised the Devil very early.

About this period some suspected of witchcraft were seized upon by a sort of ruffianly vigilance committee and condemned to be burned, and were actually roasted by fire, although we do not learn that the injuries thus inflicted proved fatal. The parties so tortured, or their friends, brought in action in the regular courts for the recovery of damages, but the jury gave them nothing!

After Salem, belief in witchcraft persisted, though it tended to be met with rather more incredulity and caution than it had previously. The following account, a footnote to Governor Thomas Hutchinson’s broader discussion of Salem in
The History of the Province of Massachusetts-Bay: From the Charter of King William and Queen Mary in 1691, Until the Year 1750
, published in Boston in 1767, suggests in no uncertain terms that the afflicted girls were malingering. However, a large part of Hutchinson’s project in addressing witchcraft was concerned with drawing explicit lines between his own rational time and the superstitious days of his forebears. Hutchinson’s skepticism offsets the fact that in the following anecdote, the afflicted girls were universally believed until driven by their own Christian guilt to confess.
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In the year 1720, at Littleton in the county of Middlesex, a family was supposed to be bewitched. One J. B. had three daughters, of 11, 9, and 5 years of age. The eldest was a forward girl, and, having read and heard many strange stories, would surprise the company where she happened to be with her manner of relating them. Pleased with the applause, she went from stories she had heard to some of her own framing, and so on to dreams and visions, and attained the art of swooning and of being to appearance for some time breathless. Upon her revival, she would tell of strange things she had met with in this and other worlds. When she met with the words,
God, Christ, the Holy Ghost,
in the Bible, she would drop down with scarce any signs of life in her. Strange noises were often heard in and upon the house; stones came down the chimney and did great mischief. She complained of the specter of Mrs. D—y, a woman living in the town; and once, the mother of the girl struck at the place where the said D—y was, and the girl said, You have struck her on the belly, and upon enquiry it was found, that D—y complained of a hurt in her belly about that time. Another time, the mother struck at a place where the girl said there was a yellow bird, and she told her mother she had hit the side of its head, again it again appeared that D—y’s head was hurt about the same time. It was common to find her in ponds of water, crying out she should be drowned, sometimes upon the top of the house, and sometimes upon the tops of trees, where she pretended she had flown, and some fancied they had seen her in the air. There were often the marks of blows and pinches upon her, which were supposed to come from an invisible hand.

The second daughter, after her sister had succeeded so well, imitated her in complaints of D—y, and outdid her in feats of running up on the barn, climbing trees, et cetera, and, what was most surprising, the youngest attempted the same feats, and in some instances went beyond her sisters. The neighbors agreed they were under an evil hand, and it was pronounced a piece of witchcraft, as certain as that there ever had been any at Salem, and no great pains were taken to detect the imposture. Physicians had been at first employed but to no purpose. And afterward ministers were called to pray over them but without success. At length D—y, not long after the supposed blows, took to her bed, and after some time died, and the two eldest girls ceased complaining. The youngest held out longer, but all persisted in it, that there had been no fraud. The eldest, not having been baptized, and being come to adult age, desired and obtained baptism, and the minister then examined her upon her conduct in the affair, and she persisted in her declarations of innocency. In 1728, having removed to Medford, she offered to join the church there, and gave a satisfactory account of herself to the minister of the town; but he knew nothing of the share she had had in this transaction. The Lord’s day before she was to be admitted, he happened to preach from this text, “He that speaketh lies shall not escape.”
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The woman supposed the sermon to be intended for her and went to the minister, who told her nobody had made any objection against her; but being determined to confess her guilt, she disclosed the fraud of herself and her sisters, and desired to make a public acknowledgment, in the face of the church; and accordingly did so. The two sisters, seeing her pitied, had become actors also with her, without being moved to it by her, but when she saw them follow her, they all joined in the secret and acted in concert. They had no particular spite against D—y, but it was necessary to accuse somebody, and the eldest having pitched upon her, the rest followed. The woman’s complaints, about the same time the girl pretended she was struck, proceeded from other causes, which were not then properly enquired into. Once, at least, they were in great danger of being detected in their tricks; but the grounds of suspicion were overlooked, through the indulgence and credulity
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of their parents. Manuscript of the Reverend Mr. Turell, minister of Medford.