Rebecca Nurse at the age of seventy-one was a weak, in poor health, and hard of hearing. The wife of a simple yeoman was known to be a God fearing woman and was loved in her community. It was a morning in March when she was taken from her bed and brought into court to stand trial for being a witch. Rebecca’s testimony to being too ill to even leave the house much less hurt anyone left everyone filled with compassion and doubt. There was wonder as to the possibility that maybe the girls were mistaken. Just as she was asked if she was innocent however, havoc broke out in the courtroom. The accusing girls were convulsing and screeching. This behavior could only be the act of demonism. During a brief calm they again tried to question Rebecca, who
…show more content…
Some questioned why there were so many that had turned toward witchery and recently some that were being named were of a higher standing. One in particular was one of the very judges that had heard the early cases but had recently retired from the courts. Another was the mother-in-law of the governor, Increase Mather read Cases of Conscience at a gathering and stated, “it is better that ten witches should escape than one innocent person should be condemned.” and yet, even with so much doubt circulating the craziness continued; it had become the “norm” of that society. It did not stop, as a matter of fact, until people outside of Salem spoke up. A group of New York Dutch and French ministers had received a correspondence from Joseph Dudley on the matter. It was October when their reply came, and they had responded with some very valid points. They agreed there were possibly witches about, but the odds that a person in good standing would all of the sudden become a witch was probably a rare circumstance. They also discredited all the means that they were using as evidence. Their response was taken to the governor and then to the judges who immediately stopped the prosecutions, sadly however, it was already too late for some. By the end of the year they reviewed all the cases that were pending and most were cleared of all charges because the cases were resting on spectral evidence. The ministers had pointed out that God was still in control when it came to the devil and they used a reference in the Bible to prove their point. (Starkey,
Some questioned why there were so many that had turned toward witchery and recently some that were being named were of a higher standing. One in particular was one of the very judges that had heard the early cases but had recently retired from the courts. Another was the mother-in-law of the governor, Increase Mather read Cases of Conscience at a gathering and stated, “it is better that ten witches should escape than one innocent person should be condemned.” and yet, even with so much doubt circulating the craziness continued; it had become the “norm” of that society. It did not stop, as a matter of fact, until people outside of Salem spoke up. A group of New York Dutch and French ministers had received a correspondence from Joseph Dudley on the matter. It was October when their reply came, and they had responded with some very valid points. They agreed there were possibly witches about, but the odds that a person in good standing would all of the sudden become a witch was probably a rare circumstance. They also discredited all the means that they were using as evidence. Their response was taken to the governor and then to the judges who immediately stopped the prosecutions, sadly however, it was already too late for some. By the end of the year they reviewed all the cases that were pending and most were cleared of all charges because the cases were resting on spectral evidence. The ministers had pointed out that God was still in control when it came to the devil and they used a reference in the Bible to prove their point. (Starkey,