Today in Salem: A stunned silence has descended on Salem since yesterday’s court appearances. It’s enough that the wild child Abigail Hobbs has confessed to being a witch. But the Devil had recruited her in Maine. And she was accused by someone who used to know her there – the servant and war refugee Mercy Lewis. Just how far afield is the Devil working?
Mercy is a servant in the Putnam family, and has often told stories about the wild child she knew in Maine. So 13-year-old Ann Putnam, the afflicted girls’ leader, has heard all about Abigail’s dangerous behavior. But she’s also heard stories about the minister there, Reverend George Burroughs.
The Putnam family remembers Burroughs well. He’d been the minister in Salem Village until 9 years ago, when the Village stopped paying him and the Putnams had him arrested for an unpaid debt. He’d left for Maine with bitterness on all sides, and has been ministering to a flock that, until recently, included Abigail Hobbs and Mercy Lewis.
This very night, Rev Burroughs’ specter attacks Ann Putnam, and her visions electrify her family. “A minister?” she shouts. ”Recruiting children’s souls for Satan?” The specter boasts that he’s the one who recruited the wild child Abigail Hobbs, not the Devil. Burroughs is more powerful than any witch or wizard. The Putnams are not surprised.
In Salem jail, the Proctors’ servant Mary Warren is picking dirty straw from her hair. Yesterday she’d fainted in terror during the court hearing, but now, after sleeping on the floor of the jail cell for the night, she’s had a chance to think about which side she’s on: afflicted, or accused.
The two magistrates keep their arms crossed when they question her. She did call the afflicted girls liars, she says, but the Devil had forced her to. And yes, she did sign the Devil’s book. But she didn’t know that’s what it was. Her master John Proctor (who was in jail himself) had just handed it to her. In fact, Mary says, it’s impossible for her to be a witch, because she’s still afflicted herself. Why, just last night she was visited by the specter of the cantankerous Giles Corey.
Mary chokes on Giles’s name and falls to the floor, gasping and crying, then describes exactly what the specter was wearing. The magistrates send for Corey, who’s in his own jail cell, but no sooner does Mary see him than she convulses again. The real Giles Corey, as all can see, is dressed exactly as Mary had said. Of course, they’d been in court together yesterday. And he’s wearing the same clothes now. But surely he could have found a way to change his clothes since then?
The magistrates just look at each other and turn to the wild child Abigail Hobbs. She fully confessed yesterday, but gives them a few more details about the specters she’s seen and who she herself has tormented. It’s enough to make the trip worth it for the magistrates. But they’re still not sure about Mary’s changing story, and they leave her to spend another night on the jail cell floor.
WHO was George Burroughs?
Age about 42. George Burroughs was the minister of Salem Village until 9 years before the Trials began. He lived in Maine when he was accused of witchcraft, but the people of the Village remembered him well. They’d been dissatisfied with him as the minister, and refused to pay him. So when his wife died suddenly, he had to borrow money to pay for her funeral. With no salary, Burroughs couldn’t repay the debt, so he resigned and left, which would come back to haunt him.
The court ordered them to settle their differences, and the Village agreed to pay him everything it owed, minus the amount of his debt. But when Burroughs arrived with the paperwork, he was arrested instead. Eventually the case was dropped, and the Village paid Burroughs some of what they owed. But it left bitterness for everyone involved. So when he was accused of witchcraft, there was already animosity on both sides.
Burroughs landed in Falmouth, Maine (now Portland), where he lived when an Indian attack destroyed the settlement. It was here that Burroughs met the families of Mercy Lewis and Abigail Hobbs. The attack drove the Hobbs family to Salem. But the Lewis family was killed, so he took Mercy in as a servant for a time, before sending her to another unknown family, and then eventually to Salem. He himself then moved further south to Wells, Maine, where he lived at the time of the accusation.
Burroughs’ history with Salem Village was troublesome enough. But people also suspected his physical traits. He was dark-skinned, very short, and muscular. He was also much stronger than he looked, even preternaturally so. His trial included testimony from people who’d heard that he could lift a 7-foot musket by inserting one finger into the barrel, then raising it to arm’s length. It was also said that he could “take up a full barrll of molasses wth butt two fingers of one of his hands in the bung and carry itt from ye stage head to the door att the end of the stage wth out letting itt downe.” Case files: George Burroughs
George Burroughs’ descendants include Walt Disney.