The Cloyse Pool
The year is 1692, a most memorable date, as it is the outbreak
of the Witchcraft delusion; in the course of which, the lives of many innocent
people were sacrificed to a " blind zeal and superstitious credulity."
The delusion began in the family of Mr. Parris, a minister of Salem Village
in February of 1691-2, and soon spread into other parts of the Colony. These
delusions were spread from England, where several years earlier the Glanvil's
Witch Stories, had been published. This work was circulated in New England
where they made a deep impression upon the minds of the grave people who
lived amidst gloom of the wilderness, and were continually harassed by danger
and privation. Among the numerous families were the families of Nurse and
Cloyes or Clayes, as it is sometimes spelled. March 1, 1692, Rebecca, wife
of Francis Nurse, and her sister Sarah, wife of Peter Cloyes, of Salem Village,
were committed with others to the prison in Boston, on the charge of witchcraft.
The fate of Rebecca Nurse was to be execution, a most unjustified and heart-rendering
affair. She was an elderly lady of spotless repute, pious, hard-working,
self respecting, honest and beloved by her friends and family. It stirs
the resentment and compassion of everyone who knows her story that she should
have been subjected to the indignity of a search for "witch marks"
on her person, then tried and convicted and executed in her old age after
such a blameless life. She was a brave religious martyr who died because
her conscience wouldn't let her distort the truth. She could have confessed
to witchcraft and saved herself. Only those who refused to confess were
hung. On the 31st of the following month, the wife of Mr. Cloyes was removed
to Ipswich prison; but in the flurry of the delusion abating, she escaped
with her life, having, as tradition says, been conveyed by night to Framingham.
Mary Esty, another sister of Rebecca Nurse and Sarah Cloyes, and Abigail
Williams, probably the sister or niece of Mr. Cloyes, appear to have been
implicated, in the course of events. In total there were 19 men and women
who were executed in these delusions. It is painful to conclude that men
of such high distinction, both in church and state had encouraged these
delusions. One of them Judge Sewall, afterwards bewailed his participation
in it, and asked "pardon of God and man."
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