Burlington,
Oct. 12. Saturday last at Mount-Holly, about 8 Miles from
this Place, near 300 People were gathered together to see an Experiment
or two tried on some Persons accused of Witchcraft. It seems the
Accused had been charged with making their Neighbours Sheep dance
in an uncommon Manner, and with causing Hogs to speak, and sing
Psalms, &c. to the great Terror and Amazement of the King's good
and peaceable Subjects in this Province; and the Accusers being
very positive that if the Accused were weighed in Scales against
a Bible, the Bible would prove too heavy for them; or that, if
they were bound and put into the River, they would swim; the said
Accused desirous to make their Innocence appear, voluntarily offered
to undergo the said Trials, if 2 of the most violent of their
Accusers would be tried with them. Accordingly the Time and Place
was agreed on, and advertised about the Country; The Accusers
were 1 Man and 1 Woman; and the Accused the same. The Parties
being met, and the People got together, a grand Consultation was
held, before they proceeded to Trial; in which it was agreed to
use the Scales first; and a Committee of Men were appointed to
search the Men, and a Committee of Women to search the Women,
to see if they had any Thing of Weight about them, particularly
Pins. After the Scrutiny was over, a huge great Bible belonging
to the Justice of the Place was provided, and a Lane through the
Populace was made from the Justices House to the Scales, which
were fixed on a Gallows erected for that Purpose opposite to the
House, that the Justice's Wife and the rest of the Ladies might
see the Trial, without coming amongst the Mob; and after the Manner
of Moorfields, a large Ring was also made. Then came out of the
House a grave tall Man carrying the Holy Writ before the supposed
Wizard, &c. (as solemnly as the Sword-bearer of London before
the Lord Mayor) the Wizard was first put in the Scale, and over
him was read a Chapter out of the Books of Moses, and then the
Bible was put in the other Scale, (which being kept down before)
was immediately let go; but to the great Surprize of the Spectators,
Flesh and Bones came down plump, and outweighed that great good
Book by abundance. After the same Manner, the others were served,
and their Lumps of Mortality severally were too heavy for Moses
and all the Prophets and Apostles. This being over, the Accusers
and the rest of the Mob, not satisfied with this Experiment, would
have the Trial by Water; accordingly a most solemn Procession
was made to the Mill-pond; where both Accused and Accusers being
stripp'd (saving only to the Women their Shifts) were bound Hand
and Foot, and severally placed in the Water, lengthways, from
the Side of a Barge or Flat, having for Security only a Rope about
the Middle of each, which was held by some in the Flat. The Accuser
Man being thin and spare, with some Difficulty began to sink at
last; but the rest every one of them swam very light upon the
Water. A Sailor in the Flat jump'd out upon the Back of the Man
accused, thinking to drive him down to the Bottom; but the Person
bound, without any Help, came up some time before the other. The
Woman Accuser, being told that she did not sink, would be duck'd
a second Time; when she swam again as light as before. Upon which
she declared, That she believed the Accused had bewitched her
to make her so light, and that she would be duck'd again a Hundred
Times, but she would duck the Devil out of her. The accused Man,
being surpriz'd at his own Swimming, was not so confident of his
Innocence as before, but said, If I am a Witch, it is more than
I know. The more thinking Part of the Spectators were of Opinion,
that any Person so bound and plac'd in the Water (unless they
were mere Skin and Bones) would swim till their Breath was gone,
and their Lungs fill'd with Water. But it being the general Belief
of the Populace, that the Womens Shifts, and the Garters with
which they were bound help'd to support them; it is said they
are to be tried again the next warm Weather, naked.
The
Pennsylvania Gazette, October 22, 1730
Copyright Lee
Krystek 2008. All Rights Reserved.