Tag Archives: Mary Esty

by

Sep 15: In defense of the defenseless

Today In Salem: Seven days. Just seven days left. The pious Mary Esty had started counting down a week ago, when the judges had found her guilty and sentenced her to hang. She’s spent much of the time since then on her knees, praying and fasting every waking minute, trying to understand. Why did her friends decide at the last minute not to testify? How could the judges possibly believe the shrieking afflicted girls? Did a lifetime of sincere piety and good works count for nothing?

There are only two things she knows, deeply and without questioning.

She is innocent. She will hang.

If this is true of her, it must be true of others as well. Surely the judges don’t realize that innocent blood is being shed. So she writes them a letter, trying to move the quill neatly across the page, but the words come rushing out in one long sentence of crooked lines and misplaced words. If only the judges would question the afflicted girls separately, she writes. If only they would re-try the prisoners who’d pleaded guilty and confessed.

If only.

The humbl petition of mary Eastick unto his Excellencyes S’r W’m Phipps to the honour’d Judge and Bench now Sitting In Judicature in Salem and the Reverend ministers humbly sheweth

That whereas your poor and humble Petitioner being condemned to die Doe humbly begg of you to take it into your Judicious and pious considerations that your Poor and humble petitioner knowing my own Innocencye Blised be the Lord for it and seeing plainly the wiles and subtility of my accusers by my Selfe can not but Judg charitably of others that are going the same way of my selfe if the Lord stepps not mightily in. … I now am condemned to die the Lord above knows my Innocencye … I Petition to your honours not for my own life for I know I must die and my appointed time is sett but the Lord he knowes it is that if it be possible no more Innocentt blood may be shed which undoubtidly cannot be Avoydd In the way and course you goe in I question not but your honours does to the uttmost of your Powers in the discovery and detecting of witchcraft and witches and would not be gulty of Innocent blood for the world but by my own Innocencye I know you are in the wrong way the Lord in his infinite mercye direct you in this great work if it be his blessed will that no more Innocent blood be shed I would humbly begg of you that your honors would be plesed to examine theis Aflicted Persons strictly and keepe them apart some time and Likewise to try some of these confesing wichis I being confident there is severall of them has belyed themselves and others as will appeare if not in this world I am sure in the world to come whither I am now agoing and I Question not but youle see an alteration of thes things they say my selfe and others having made a League with the Divel we cannot confesse I know and the Lord knowes as will shortly appeare they belye me and so I Question not but they doe others the Lord above who is the Searcher of all hearts knowes that as I shall answer it att the Tribunall seat that I know not the least thinge of witchcraft therfore I cannot I dare not belye my own soule I beg your honers not to deny this my humble petition from a poor dy ing Innocent person and I Question not but the Lord will give a blesing to yor endevers.

Tomorrow in Salem: The stubborn Giles Corey makes a dire choice

by

Sep 7: GUILTY: the shrew Alice Parker and the pious Mary Esty

Today in Salem: Trials have resumed for the accused witches, who stand with their lives in the balance as they face the judges. Despite the high stakes, the judges are proceeding through the trials more and more quickly. The defendants are beginning to blur together, with similar complaints from neighbors, the same accusations from the afflicted girls, and recognition from the handful of confessed witches.

One, two, three: real-world evil, spectral evil, and a confessed witch’s identification. Once those three types of evidence are presented, the judges are done.

Today’s docket includes two women who are so obviously guilty that the court needs only a morning and an afternoon to prove it.

On Trial: The Shrew Alice Parker

The judges begin with the shrew Alice Parker, who’s been nothing but trouble since the day eight months ago when she fainted dead away in the snow, only to sit up laughing at the men who rescued her. What kind of person is dead, then suddenly is alive and laughing at her rescuers? Then, when witnesses testify that Alice has predicted several deaths, the judges are satisfied that the first of the three types of evidence – real-world evil – is proven.

As for the second kind of evidence, spectral powers, it’s already been declared by the afflicted girls, who for months have never wavered in their accusations. The judges skip right to the third and final kind of evidence, identification by a confessed witch, in this case Mary Warren, who says she’s seen Alice Parker at the Devil’s Sacrament.

Alice’s guilt is without question. It isn’t even lunch time when the judges sentence her to death.

On Trial: The Pious Mary Esty

The pious Mary Esty appears before the judges in the afternoon. She is the sister of the beloved Rebecca Nurse, who was hanged two months ago. Like Rebecca, Mary’s piety doesn’t weigh much in her favor. Still, the judges are surprised when six witnesses don’t show up for the trial. One woman does appear, though. Three years ago she’d confided in Mary about an illness, and immediately felt much worse. That shows the judges that Mary has committed real-world evil, the first kind of evidence.

Next: spectral evil. The same woman claims that Mary’s specter had offered her rotten meat just this summer, while Mary was still in jail. Finally, several confessed witches have already identified her before the trial.

The judges pause for a moment to review two depositions in Mary’s favor, one from each jail keeper in two different prisons. Both say that, even being in chains for four months, Mary has been a well-behaved prisoner.

It’s not enough for the judges, though. She’s found guilty and will be hanged.

Tomorrow in Salem: Dangerous Stares

by

June 19: The meaning of time

Today in Salem: It’s the Sabbath, and Rev Parris is raising his hands skyward and thundering on about the Father of all mercies, comforting us in our despair so that we can, in turn, comfort others.

hourglass

Next to the pulpit, a large hourglass trickles sand, marking time until the meeting ends. The sand is mesmerizing, and one man in particular can’t look away. He is far from feeling comforted. His wife, the nervous Sarah Cloyce, has been in jail for two and a half months. Both of her sisters are there as well, the pious Mary Esty and the beloved Rebecca Nurse.

It’s hot in the meeting house, and the man waves a fly away as he thinks about the sand. Nine days ago, the unruly Bridget Bishop was hanged. And nine days from now, the Trials will resume, this time for his sister-in-law, the beloved Rebecca Nurse. Today is a midpoint, as dangerously empty as the time between the last breath of this day and the first breath of the next. What will fill the space? Is time moving too slowly? Or too quickly?

The meeting house rustles as people stand for prayer, and the man joins them, grateful to close his eyes and break the spell of the hourglass. Thy will be done, he thinks. But what if that means his wife and her sisters must die? Is it wrong of him to pray for their lives?

Tomorrow in Salem: ATTACKED: the rapist Timothy Swan

by

May 23: RESISTANCE

ghostly dancing women

Today in Salem: The shipmaster has crossed his arms and is watching without expression as the pious Mary Esty is once again trembling before the magistrates. He and his wife have arrived early and are close enough to see the veins on Mary’s hands as she grips the bar. None of it makes sense.

He and his wife have ridden 20 miles from Boston to clear up a misunderstanding with the magistrates. 11-year-old Abigail Williams has named his wife during a fit, and it’s so obviously a mistake that they’re sure a simple conversation should fix it. But the magistrates aren’t available. It’s an Examination Day, and since he and his wife are already here, they’ve stayed to watch.

It’s hot outside, and even hotter in, and the smell of fear and unwashed bodies is overwhelming as the afflicted girls eke out their story. In starts and stops, passing the story from girl to girl, they tell about an iron spike that had been stolen. It was the spindle from a spinning wheel, and had been locked up in someone’s home. Then, mysteriously, it was missing.

No one knew where the spindle was until Mary Esty’s specter produced it with a flourish and began attacking the afflicted girls. No one could see it – it was spectral – until one of the girls grabbed it. Suddenly it was visible, and of course: It was the stolen spindle.

The pious Mary Esty is hardly allowed to speak before the judges send her back to jail, this time in Boston, with even heavier chains.

The next defendant hasn’t arrived yet, and the girls, only a few feet away, look at the shipmaster and his wife with curiosity. They’re visitors. Who are you? But the shipmaster has barely answered the question when the next defendant is brought in, then the next, and the next, one at a time. The shipmaster is more and more astonished as the spectacle continues.

The magistrates order touch tests, forcing the defendants to touch the afflicted girls and, if they are witches, to remove the evil afflictions. Somehow the girls are always “cured,” with the magistrates hardly glancing at them. They ask the defendants to recite the Lord’s Prayer, and punish them for the slightest pause. They say the girls have been struck dumb when they are simply recovering for a brief second.

None of it is convincing.

Later, taking a break from the proceedings, the shipmaster and his wife find themselves at Ingersoll’s Tavern. The shipmaster has arranged to talk personally with 11-year-old Abigail to clear up her accusation against his wife. But when she and the other girls come in, they convulse violently and fall to the floor. Like swine, he thinks. Like clumsy, rooting hogs.

“It’s her!” one of them cries, then they all join in, pointing and shouting his wife’s name.

His wife protests. She’s never heard of the girls before today. She’s innocent. But the magistrates make her stand up and stretch her arms out until she’s shaking.

“May I at least hold one of her arms?” the shipmaster asks, but no. He’s forbidden to help. They do allow him to wipe the tears and sweat from her face, but when she says she’s about to faint and asks to lean against him, the cruel Judge Hathorne says no again.

“If you are strong enough to torment these girls,” he says, “then you are strong enough to stand without help.”

Suddenly the slave John Indian falls down and begins tumbling around on the floor. He can’t speak, though, and when the magistrates ask the girls who is afflicting him, they say it’s the shipmaster’s wife.

The magistrates order the touch test, which the shipmaster has already seen with dismay. But this time it’s not a simple touch: When she gets close to John Indian, he grabs her hand and pulls her down on the floor with him, rolling and grasping until the constable can pry his hand away. The constable then forces her to touch John’s hand to ”cure” him.

“I hope God takes vengeance on this court!” the shipmaster shouts, “and delivers us from such unmerciful men!” But the magistrates are unmoved, and send his wife to jail.

Tomorrow in Salem: Smallpox, Babies, and Chains

by

May 21: *** Sensitive Content*** CHAINED and PREGNANT

Today in Salem: The beggar Sarah Good is curled into a corner of the jail cell, leaning into the wall with her knees up, sound asleep. Somehow she’s still holding her baby. She’s been here for almost three months now, and has kept the baby in her arms constantly.

Sarah startles awake, though, when the jail keeper pushes his way into the cell and drops a pile of heavy irons on the floor next to her. The sickly Sarah Osborne had been in that spot until she died, just a few days ago. Now it’s the pious Mary Esty who’s being chained there.

Mary is pressing her fingers into her eyes, swollen from a night of crying and praying. Only three days ago she’d been released from prison. Then last night the Marshall had come for her again, dragging her away in the middle of the night. And now the jail keeper is here, with his chains and shackles and muttered curses.

red rose

On the other side of the jail cell, the quarrelsome Elizabeth Proctor touches her stomach and watches the jail keeper. She hasn’t bled in nearly two months, and her breasts are tender. But there’s been no quickening, and how could she not feel ill in these wretched conditions? In ordinary times she might have used the medicinal herbs in her garden to bring down her courses. She’s 42, after all, with five children already (and another four from John’s earlier marriages). And she’s feeling so ill.

Things are different now, though. If she is pregnant, and she feels a quickening before her trial, then the judges will delay her hanging. A child unborn is innocent, whether its mother is a witch or not.

LEARN MORE: Wasn’t it illegal (or at least immoral) to terminate a pregnancy? What were the Puritans’ views about abortion?

Throughout Western history, much of the debate about abortion begins with one question: When does life begin?

The Puritans believed that life begins at “quickening,” when a pregnant woman feels her baby move for the first time (about the fourth month of pregnancy). And without today’s pee-on-a-stick pregnancy tests, that was also the moment that pregnancy began.

Before quickening, abortion was legal, safe (given the medical knowledge and practices of the time), and readily available from midwives and healers using herbs from their own gardens. But it wasn’t called “abortion“ because it wasn’t seen as such. It was called “restoring the menses,” or more euphemistically “bringing down the flowers.” It was a way to balance a woman’s ill health, and to cure the “pregnancy sickness” if a woman suspected as much.

After quickening, though, abortion was homicide. By extension, if a pregnant women was convicted of a capital crime, she could “plead the belly” and delay her execution. She would be examined by a group of women, and, if she was pregnant with a “quick child,” she was reprieved until the next hanging time after her delivery.

This distinction remained true in the United States until the 1860s, more than 170 years after the Salem Witchcraft Trials. Abortion was legal before quickening, and illegal after.

All of this was different for enslaved women, from early colonial days through the Civil War. They were subject to the rules of their ”owners,” who often refused to allow them to terminate pregnancies. The slave masters had their own reasons, but since any children legally belonged to them, they had an interest in producing as many as possible.

Tomorrow in Salem: Summary: Kissing the King’s ring, while stuffing the jails

by

May 18: INDICTED AND JAILED: former deputy John Willard. RELEASED: the pious Mary Esty

Today in Salem: Three people are on the run, escaping arrest. Another six have spent the morning sweating and trembling in front of the magistrates. Sent to jail: a 75yo drunkard who’d once relieved himself in his friend’s house. An outspoken woman who’d been reprimanded years ago for calling her fellow church members fools and lackwits. A terrified, mentally ill woman who immediately confessed. A folk healer who’d left his family. A woman who’d lost a house, land, and goods to unpaid debts. Her daughter.

man running

The real commotion begins in the afternoon, though, when former deputy John Willard enters the room. He’d also run away when he heard about his impending arrest. But after four days and a second arrest warrant, he’d been found, 40 miles away.

Running away is evidence enough that he’s guilty, but the magistrates don’t stop there. They want him to confess. They bear down with their questions, and they barely pause to hear him when he protests that he’s innocent. Then, when he takes a deep breath and bites his lip, the girls scream. He’s biting us, they wail. So the magistrates order him to keep his mouth open, which he does for the rest of the hearing.

The girls continue with their usual histrionics as depositions are read about the many ways he’s afflicted his family members. Has he bewitched his grandfather for praying for the Kingdom of Satan to be thrown down? Is it true that he beats his wife so hard that he breaks the sticks? He’s so confident in his speech – how does that square with someone who’s so afraid that he runs away?

Willard begs one of his neighbors to speak for him, but his response is damning. After a long pause, he says “I can say you have been very cruel to poor creatures.”

Still with his mouth open, still protesting his innocence, Willard tries to recite the Lord’s Prayer, but immediately makes a mistake when he adds “Maker of Heaven and Earth.” He starts again and misses again. He laughs at his mistakes, joking that he’s as bewitched as the girls are. But no one else laughs.

After an awkward pause, he tries again and gets farther, but skips a word. On the fourth He can’t say the prayer at all, and on the fifth attempt he claims “it is these wicked ones that do so overcome me!”

It’s obvious to the magistrates that he’s guilty, and they give him one more chance to confess.

“I desire to harken to all good council, but if it was the last time I was to speak,” Willard declares, “I am innocent.”

The magistrates don’t say anything. They just motion to the constable and send Willard to jail, where he’ll wait for future trial.

It’s almost anti-climactic when the pious Mary Esty is brought in. She’s been in jail for nearly a month, but the girls are no longer sure that it’s Mary who’s tormenting them. Mercy Lewis disagrees and claims that Mary is still afflicting her, but the magistrates have reached a decision and release Goody Esty to her tearful family.

LEARN MORE: What is the Lord’s Prayer? Why was it so important?

There were several tests that determined if a person was a witch. One of them was an inability to recite Scripture verbatim. A judge could use any piece of Scripture they wanted, and the Salem magistrates chose the Lord’s Prayer.

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Any faithful Puritan would have heard this prayer many times and memorized it, even if they couldn’t read or write.

Tomorrow in Salem: PULLED FROM BED: the pious Mary Esty

by

Apr 22: SENT TO JAIL: the flamboyant Sarah Wilds and the pious Mary Esty

Today in Salem: It’s 10:00 in the morning, but inside the Meeting House it’s dark, with so many people sitting on the windowsills that the light can’t get through. Nine people were arrested yesterday, and between the witnesses, accusers, family members, magistrates, and ministers the Meeting House is overflowing.

Rev Parris squints as he takes notes in the dim light. Six of the prisoners are quickly examined and sent to jail for future trials: a wealthy merchant’s wife, a slave, the wild child Abigail Hobbs’s parents, the unruly Bridget Bishop’s son and daughter-in-law. And one man is set free when he’s brought outside where the afflicted girls can see him better.

Things slow down, though, when the flamboyant Sarah Wilds sashays in. She’s 65 and married, but she’s always been glamorous and outspoken, and has spent her entire life leaving a trail of scandals in her wake. She’s been whipped for fornication, brought to court for wearing a silk scarf, and accused of witchcraft for years. Nothing fazes her, and now the afflicted girls launch into spectacular convulsions.

“What do you say to this?” the magistrate asks. “Are you guilty or not?”

“I am not guilty, sir,” she says. The magistrate is incredulous. Has she allowed the Devil to use her specter to hurt the girls? No? How can she deny what everyone can see?

The magistrates send her to jail for future trial. As she’s led away, one of the constables catches her eye and looks especially uncomfortable: he is her son, and he knows she’s innocent. But what does that mean about the other women?

The crowd is silent when the pious Mary Esty enters the room. She’s the exact opposite of Sarah Wilds. How can both of them be guilty of the same thing? Like her sisters, the beloved Rebecca Nurse & nervous Sarah Cloyce, Mary is esteemed and well-liked. The afflicted girls, though, are as wracked and convulsing as ever.

“How far have you complied with Satan whereby he takes this advantage of you?” the magistrates ask.

“Sir, I never complied, but prayed against him all my days. I will say it, if it was my last time—I am clear of this sin.”

She’s so insistent on her innocence that the magistrates press the girls to be sure the specter they’ve seen belongs to Mary. They’re certain though, and they continue their fits until the judges commit Mary to prison.

WHO was Sarah Wilds?

SARAH WILDS – Age 65. Sarah was bold, and in her younger years even a little glamorous. At age 22 she was whipped for fornication. In her mid-30’s she was charged with wearing a silk scarf (considered to be above her station; an offense to the Puritans).

Like many accused people, Sarah and her family had been part of several feuds and scandals. When her husband’s 1st wife died, he married Sarah within months – a scandalous insult to the 1st wife’s family, who accused Sarah of witchcraft early and often. Two of her stepsons had died; one mysteriously, and the other of depression or possession. And unexplained illnesses and deaths seemed to follow her arguments with neighbors. She was an outspoken non-conformist, which may have made her an easy target. Case files: Sarah Wilds

WHO was Mary Esty?

Age 58, née Towne. Sister of Rebecca Nurse and Sarah Cloyce. Married to Isaac Esty, with whom she had 11 children. Mary’s mother had long ago been suspected of witchcraft. Despite her piety, with the arrest and indictment of 2 of her sisters, it was no surprise that she was also caught up in it. Case files: Mary Esty

Mary Esty’s descendants include baseball great Ty Cobb.

LEARN MORE: Why would someone be whipped for wearing a silk scarf? What did it mean to dress “above one’s station,” and why was that bad?

Today we think of Puritans as wearing all black, with the women in tight white caps and even the children in mournful gray clothing. While that was somewhat true in the earliest Puritan colonies, 50 years had passed by the time of the Trials, and Puritan standards had loosened.

That said, they weren’t exactly ready for powdered wigs and waistcoats. In fact, men were forbidden to wear periwigs, with one Salem Trial judge calling them “Horrid Bushes of Vanity.” With the exception of the ministry, magistrates, and others in the upper-class, men’s hair was expected to be very short, not over the neck, the band, or the doublet collar. In the winter it might be allowed to grow a little below the ear for warmth. Facial hair was verboten; in fact, even 80 years later, not a single man who signed the Declaration of Independence had facial hair.

As for women’s hair, Cotton Mather’s father preached “Will not the haughty daughters of Zion refrain their pride in apparel? Will they lay out their hair, and wear false locks, their borders, their towers like comets about their heads?” Another clergyman called these women “Apes of Fancy, friziling and curlying of their hair.”

Puritan woman
Puritan colors

Of course, hair wasn’t the only object of the Puritan fashion police. Clothing was also regulated, for both sexes. Again with the exceptions of ministers and magistrates, men and women were expected to wear only “sadd” (serious) colors. This did not include the black clothing that we often associate with Puritans. Black was too bold, requiring scarce black dye and care that it not fade. Instead, Puritans wore subdued colors like russet, rust, purple, gray-green, dark green, and dark gray-brown. Shades of blue were usually reserved for servants and slaves.

King Charles I of England in his great boots and slashed sleeves

Higher class Puritans like magistrates, or those with a net worth higher than £200, were exempt from the laws. Poorer people who dressed like them were seen as greedy and envious, and sometimes liars — all punishable offenses.

Finally, clothing was not just about color. It was also about fabric, and cut, and design, especially for women. “Sumptuary laws” were very common throughout Europe and the colonies, and were meant to control behavior and distinguish the high classes from the lower ones. For the Puritans, the laws also implied morality. Dressing in a simple manner meant embracing modesty and simplicity, and rejecting the sins of pride, greed, and envy. Dressing extravagantly was wasteful and unseemly. For example, in Europe slashed sleeves revealed expensive undergarments that flaunted the wealth of the wearer. So the Puritans outlawed sleeves with more than one slash. Also out: lace, silk, gold and silver thread, any embroidery or needlework, scarves, and bright buttons, shoes with heels, leather great boots, and so much more.

Tomorrow in Salem: Newly accused: the former constable John Willards