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The progress of a panic is like that of a pestilence.
It is conceived in obscurity; it walketh in darkness,
and is communicated from one to another by a process
equally rapid and inscrutable. No sooner had the apprehension
of witchcraft fastened on the minds of the
people, than its existence became hourly demonstrated
by new and extraordinary appearances. The human
mind delights in the wonderful, and there is a period
in the progress of terror which affords a strange gratification.
Thus every day brought forth new evidence
of witchcraft. The weak, the superstitious, the mischievous
and the designing, all united in contributions
to the common stock, until a mass of facts, sufficient
to overwhelm the most skeptical, was accumulated.
Reports without father or mother, and coming from
no one knew whither, followed at the heels of each
other. At one time there came a tale of a woman living
at a sufficient distance to afford space for rumors to

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expatiate in, who, in the phrase of the time, “Belched
out nefarious blasphemies,” without moving her tongue;
next came the rumor of a man being beaten almost to
death by an invisible fist; another was bruised black
and blue with corn cobs, and had his barn set on fire
by means he could not discover; another, in going into
his field, was saluted with a shower of stones that
knocked him down and bruised him sorely, though no
marks could be seen on his body; another had his
milk skimmed every night, and his cheese turned into
buttermilk. But this was not the worst; a select
man, famous for “devotion, sanctity and gravity, was
murdered with an hideous witchcraft;” and to cap the
climax of rumors, little children “fell into fits that
carried with them something diabolical.” In short,
there was no cessation to these reports of wonders,
that, even if true, might have been easily accounted
for without resorting to supernatural agency.

As yet, however, the public suspicion had not concentrated
itself on any one particular object. But
fear is nearly allied to cruelty, and must have its
victims. We may perhaps trace much of the blood
shed by tyrants to their apprehensions of the people.
Old, ugly, and decrepid women, though at other times
neglected and forgotten, are sure to figure in the van
when witchcraft is rife in the land. The more poor,
helpless, and, above all, ugly and decrepid, the greater
the probability in the mind of a philosophical adept in
the science, that they have entered into a compact
with the arch enemy, not for the rational purpose of

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improving their own condition, but merely to obtain
the power of tormenting little children, by way of
amusement.

Just at the base of the mountain heretofore spoken
of, and about a mile from the village, dwelt an aged
Dutch woman, who had, when quite young, been
captured by the Indians of the Manhadoes in one of
their incursions; and through a series of strange vicissitudes,
not altogether uncommon in those days of
veritable romance, found her way at length to the
little settlement, where she was permitted to build a
hut, on the skirts of a wood that clothed the base of
the mountain. She had resided here a twelvemonth
or more, with no companion but a cat, the color of
which it is impossible to state positively, at this distance
of time. None knew how she lived, and the
reason was, none cared, except Miriam, who could
have explained the mystery had she chosen. This old
vrouw was eminently qualified for a witch, having not
the least pretensions to beauty. Homely in her youth,
the hardships and exposures endured in the progress of
her captivity among the savages, together with the
deep scar of a tomahawk across her cheek, had given
her face a savage expression, exceedingly harsh and
disagreeable. Besides this, she lived alone with her
cat, and apparently shunned all communication with
her fellow-creatures. The natural conclusion was,
that her principal associates were among the spirits of
darkness. In fine, she was old, ugly, and poor; her
dialect was a farrago of Dutch, Indian, and English;

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she walked with a stick, was almost bent double, and
had a cat. Could any one doubt her vocation?

One of the extraordinary features of witchcraft is
the agency of young children, at least such was the
case here. They were among the principal, and sometimes
the only witnesses, on whose testimony more
than one person was condemned to death and executed,
at different places, during the prevalence of this moral
pestilence. Whether these children were themselves
the dupes of their own fears or fancy, or tutored by
others more artful than themselves; or whether they
were instigated by the vanity of making themselves
the objects of universal wonder, cannot be known at
this day. But strange as may be either of these suppositions,
they are not half so improbable as that they were
really under the influence of supernatural agency.
Be this as it may, about this time a pair of these little
imps, who were unquestionably under some evil
influence or other, became infected with the mania.
They fell into strange convulsions, uttered equally
strange exclamations, and indulged in divers inimitable
contortions, during the intervals of which they would
cry out, that the Old Cat—as the old woman, whose
name was Catalina, was generally called—was either
scratching, or choking, or sticking pins into them.
Having repeated this execrable farce several times,
with additional extravagances, the magistrates being
made acquainted with the facts, assembled together,
and after grave deliberation, decided to have Old Cat

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apprehended, and brought before them for examination.

Accordingly, the devoted old woman made her debut
in charge of three constables, two of whom had been
expressly installed for this purpose, as no single one of
them was hardy enough to venture alone into her
premises. After hearing the accusation, of which the
poor old creature scarcely comprehended one word, she
was strictly interrogated on the subject, and poured
forth an unintelligible jargon of Dutch, Indian,
and broken English, at which the worshipful bench
was utterly confounded. They understood no more of
her defence than she did of the accusation, and solved
the mystery by pronouncing it the language of the
devil, without a dissenting voice. She was then confronted
with her supposed victims, who were seized
with still more violent paroxysms in her presence, and
this being deemed decisive, she was committed to
prison to await her trial at an early day.

It was at this crisis, that Master Tobias Harpsfield
thought he perceived a fair opportunity of either revenging
himself for his double dismissal, or forcing
Miriam into his arms for protection. He had been
meditating his plan for some months, and gradually
familiarized himself to its mean, malignant atrocity;
for every time the idea of meditated guilt occurs to
the mind, it comes shorn of some of its most revolting
features. His plan was to cause the poor, unprotected
girl to be accused of witchcraft, which would
certainly result in one of two consequences. Either

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she would become an object of universal fear and abhorrence,
or be committed to prison for trial. In either
case, by friendly attentions, by interfering in her behalf,
and procuring her release in the last extremity,
as he had no doubt he could, he might so work on her
gratitude, if not her affections, that she would be ultimately
wrought upon to give him her hand, which
being well filled, he coveted most egregiously. Thus
the wily deceiver deceived himself; for little did he
anticipate the tenacity with which the fatal sisters,
Bigotry and Superstition, would cling to their victims.
But being a man of great weight and influence both
in Church and State, he flattered himself that his interference
could at any time be successful, and his
first step was procuring an interview with Old Cat,
which he did without difficulty, though the jailer
looked at him with astonishment, and ever after
quoted him as a model of heroism, in thus venturing
alone into the presence of a veritable imp of Satan.

He found the desolate old crone smoking the stump
of a short black pipe, though this was in direct contravention
of the regulations of the prison. But she
insisted, and the jailer was fain to comply, least she
should exercise some of her diabolical art on his person.
By her side sate the cat, which had followed to the
jail, and entered with her, in spite of the opposition of
the said jailer, which, however, was not very energetic,
as he was extremely shy of what he verily believed
was the Familiar Spirit. Tobias, having occasionally
visited New Amsterdam in his speculating excursions,

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had picked up a smattering of Dutch, which aided by
his knowledge of some Indian dialects acquired while
a trader, enabled him to understand, and be understood
by the old woman—originally without education, and
having nearly lost all perception of the distinction
between right and wrong, by years of miserable sojourn
among savages, who could teach her little but rapine
and murder, the poor creature was but a passive
instrument in the hands of the tempter.

He first worked on her fears, by assuring her she
would be burnt alive, with such tortures as she had
seen the savages inflict on their prisoners; and having
thus frightened her almost out of her wits, cautiously
insinuated that the only possible mode of escaping this
terrible fate was, to accuse some person of having
betwitched her, by which means she might cast the
guilt from her own head on that of another. It is
equally painful and disgusting to trace, step by step,
the arts of a cunning and malicious villain; and without
proceeding any further in detail, or specifying by
what windings the serpent at length circumvented his
prey, it will be sufficient to say, that by practising
alternately on her fears of punishment and hope of
reward, he succeeded in bringing the poor stultified
being to his purposes. The plan was quite simple.
When brought to trial, she was to pretend to fall into
convulsions, howl like the savages, and ever and anon
screech forth the name of Miriam Habingdon, as the
instrument of all her sufferings. Alas! for human
nature! Miriam was her benefactress. In justice,

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however, to Old Cat, she demurred stoutly to this last
act of the farce, until Tobias solemnly assured her he
would take especial care that no harm should happen
to the young lady.

Thus tutored, and having thoroughly learned and
practiced her lesson, Old Cat was in good time brought
forth for trial. In her progress from the jail to the
room in which the court was sitting, she performed all
sorts of violent antics; imitated the most extravagant
gestures of the savages in their dances, their shouts,
and their howlings; and after going through a series
of almost supernatural contortions, ever and anon
screeched forth the name of Miriam Habingdon, who,
she said, was thus tormenting her. The court was
brought to a stand; the spectators stood aghast at this
denunciation of one hitherto believed of so blameless a
life, so innocent of all offence against her fellow-creatures.
Hitherto the accusations of witchcraft had been
confined to persons of suspicious character and low
station, whose habits of life or obscurity of position
afforded at least some pretext for persecution. But now
it seemed that the great enemy of man was aiming at
higher conquests, and that none might expect to escape
his snares. The panic became more intense; and
that purity of life and character which ought to have
shielded Miriam from suspicion, only operated to raise
her into an object of increasing horror; for such was
the besotted state of the community, that had an angel
descended from Heaven, his divine mission would
scarcely have protected him from being mistaken for

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the Spirit of Darkness in disguise. The old woman
was remanded to prison, rather as a witness than a
criminal; and though the judges were neither brutes
nor hypocrites, such was the delusion under which they
labored, that after mature deliberation, a warrant was
issued for the apprehension of Miriam Habingdon, on
a charge of witchcraft.

p316-428

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