Escaping Salem: The Other Witch Hunt of 1692 by Richard Godbeer Read Free Book Online Page A

doubtless listened intently to this explanation. He had probably heard from his wife about the inconsistency in Kate’s remarks about Compo: at first, in conversation with Mistress Wescot, she had said that she did not know where Compo was; later, when questioned by Mister Wescot, she claimed to have been there. It now transpired that their servant had recently visited Compo in secret with Mercy Disborough, which would explain the apparent discrepancy. It was hardly reassuring, though, to learn that their servant was being led hither and thither by witches. Kate had been in her right mind since she entered the meeting house and gave calm, confident answers to the magistrates’ questions. But she now fell into another fit and the magistrates decided to end their interrogation, at least for the time being.
    The very next day, Elizabeth Clawson and Mercy Disborough were brought before the court for questioning. Clawson’s home was within walking distance of the meetinghouse, but Disborough had to be fetched from Compo. Both women insisted that they were innocent.
    “You have been named by a servant maid of Mister Wescot’s as having a hand in afflicting her by witchcraft,” declared Jonathan Selleck. “Are you one of those who afflict her?”
    “I absolutely deny that I am any such person,” replied Clawson. Her tone, the magistrates would have noted disapprovingly, was abrupt and far from respectful. She acknowledged that there had been “a dissension” between her and the Wescots some eight or nine years since, but denied that she was now taking revenge for that quarrel.
    “I know of no means whereby the maid is afflicted,” she declared.
    Mercy Disborough also spoke confidently and without hesitation.
    “I never saw or knew of the girl before,” she declared, “and never heard there was such a person in the world till now.”
    During Goody Disborough’s examination, Kate was carried into the meeting house in a stupor. She came to her senses while Disborough was speaking and, endeavoring to raise herself up, asked, “Where is she?”
    Mister Wescot helped Kate up and at that point Goody Disborough turned to face her. Kate immediately fell down into another fit. A few minutes later, she came to herself again and asked,
    “Where is Mercy? I hear her voice.”
    She had been lying with her face away from Goody Disborough, but now turned and saw her.
    “It’s her! I’m sure it’s her!”
    Kate straight away fell into another bout of convulsive fits.
    The magistrates gave orders for both women to be placed “under restraint of authority.” Mercy Disborough was sent to the county jail in Fairfield; Elizabeth Clawson remained in Stamford under house arrest for several weeks until she too was removed to Fairfield. Once they were “under restraint,” Kate said that she could no longer see their specters. When the apparition of the woman whom she called Goody Hipshod next appeared to her, Kate asked mockingly where the other two witches were and then informed the specter that they had been apprehended. Goody Hipshod, she declared, would soon be joining them.

    Just over a fortnight later, on 13 June, Daniel Wescot arrived with Katherine Branch at the house of Jonathan Selleck, one of the magistrates who had questioned her at the meetinghouse and who wished to examine Kate further. Mister Selleck was the wealthiest man in Stamford and his house doubtless reflected that. It was probably bigger than the Wescots’ home and more expensively decorated. Some of the furniture may have been imported from England instead of being made locally and the woodwork would have been more elaborately carved than in most homes. The cut of Mister Selleck’s clothes and the quality of fabric from which they were made would also have exhibited his social status. Kate may not have been inside the house previously: perhaps she was awed by the magistrate and his evident wealth; or perhaps she was too preoccupied with the task in hand