She obtained permission to visit him the day before his execution. She acknowledged her perjury against him, and implored his forgiveness. He not only forgave her, but prayed with and for her; who two days after, wrote to her father a very affecting letter "from the Dungeon in Salem-Prison," where she was confined in expectation of death. Much of the testimony against Burroughs was declared to be false, other parts of it were explained in ways that ought to have been satisfactory, and would have been so at the present day; the whole of it was frivolous in the extreme, and he was so browbeaten and hectored by the Court, particularly by Stoughton, H. U. 1650, that his statements were confused and contradictory. Depositions, procured after the trial and execution, and surreptitiously foisted in among the documents to bolster up the proceedings, furnish considerable of the testimony which purports to have been used for his condemnation. August 19, 1692, "Burroughs was carried in a Cart with the others, through the Streets of Salem to Execution; when he was upon the Ladder, he made a Speech for the clearing of his Innocency, with such Solemn and Serious Expressions, as were to the Admiration of all present; his Prayer (which he concluded by repeating the Lord's Prayer)' was so well worded and uttered with such composedness, and such (at least seeming) fervency of Spirit, as was very affecting, and drew Tears from many (so that it seemed to some, that the Spectators would hinder the Execution) the accusers said the black Man stood and dictated to him; as soon as he was turned off, Mr. Cotton Mather, being mounted upon a Horse, addressed himself to the People, partly to declare, that he was no ordained. Minister, and partly to possess the People of his guilt; It was the common belief among the people that a witch or wizard could not say the Lord's Prayer without blundering. saying, That the Devil has often been transformed into an Angel of Light; and this did somewhat appease the People, and the Executions went on; when he was cut down, he was dragged by the Halter to a Hole, or Grave, between the Rocks, about two Foot deep, his Shirt and Breeches being pulled off, and an old pair of Trousers of one Executed, put on his lower parts, he was so put in, together with Willard' and Carryer, one of his Hands and his Chin, and a foot of one of them being left uncovered." Four others were executed with him on Gallows Hill. Sewall writes, 19 August, 1692, that a "very great number of Spectators" was present. "Mr. Cotton Mather was there. Mr. Sims, Hale, Noyes, Cheever, &c. All of ym said they were iñocent, Carrier & all. Mr. Mather says they all died by a Righteous Sentence, mr. Burrough by his Speech, Prayer, protestation of his Iñocence, did much move unthinking persons, wch occasions y' speaking hardly concerning his being executed." The humane feelings which were manifested at the execution ultimately prevailed, the harsh judgments gradually yielded to enlightened views, and after a time there were efforts to make amends for the effects of an infatuation which was universally prevalent at the time in this country. But dreadful as these were, they dwindle into insignificance compared with the exquisite tortures and burnings which thirty thousand persons in Europe suffered for this supposed crime within a period of one hundred and fifty years. I "John Willard, had been imployed to fetch in several that were accused; but taking dissatisfaction from his being sent, to fetch up some that he had better thoughts of, he declined the Service, and presently after he himself was accused of the same Crime, and that with such ve hemency, that they sent after him to apprehend him; he had made his Escape as far as Nashawag [Groton], about 40 Miles from Salem; yet 'tis said those Accusers did then presently tell the exact time, saying, now Willard is taken."— Calef, 104. ants. There is obscurity about Burroughs's family and descendHe appears to have had three wives, though the names of the first two are not known. His third wife, who at the time of his execution had a young child, was a daughter of John or Thomas Ruck. His daughter Rebecca, baptized at Roxbury 12 April, 1674, the same day on which Burroughs was admitted to the church, is said to have married a Tolman and lived in Boston. George, probably born in Roxbury 21 November, 1675, and baptized at Salem in April, 1691, thought by Savage to have died young, is said to have lived in Ipswich. In Salisbury, Burroughs had Hannah, 27 April, 1680, who, tradition says, married a Fox and lived near Barton's Point in Boston. Mary married and lived in Attleboro'. Elizabeth married Peter Thomas, of Boston, ancestor of Isaiah Thomas, LL. D., founder of the American Antiquarian Society at Worcester. Jeremiah became insane, probably in consequence of the treatment of his father. It was probably about 1710 that a petition by "Charles Burrough Elder Son In ye Name of the reast" was made to a committee of the General Court, in which it is stated, "we were left a parsell of Small Chilldren of us helpless & a mother in law with one Small Child of her owne to take Care of whereby she was not so Capable to take care of us by all which our fathers Small Estate was most of it Lost & Expended and we Scattered," praying that the attainder be taken off and they be allowed fifty pounds, which was granted in 1711. June 17, 1749, there was before the House of Representatives a Memorial by "Thomas Newman, Abia Holbrook, Jr., and Elias Thomas, Agents for their respective Relatives," Burroughs's "surviving Children and GrandChildren . . . representing the unparallel'd Persecutions and Sufferings of their said Ancestor, and praying some Recompence for the great Losses sustained in that unhappy affair." His right in proprietary land at Falmouth, now Portland, Maine, had not been formally forfeited in 1774, when George Burroughs, a tanner, and Thomas Burroughs, his descendants, both of Newburyport, sold it to N. Winslow. AUTHORITIES.-[E. Burke] European Settlements in America, ii. 156. Burroughs Manuscripts, in the Library of the Massachusetts Historical Society. R. Calef, More Wonders of the Invisible World, 103, 113, 139. P. W. Chandler, American Criminal Trials, i. 90, 114. Essex Institute, Historical Collections, i. 57; ii. 81, 203, 239, 265. J. Farmer, in New England Historical and Genealogical Register, i. 37. J. B. Felt, Annals of Salem, ii. 481, 589. J. W. Hanson, History of Danvers, 174, 281, 290. R. Hildreth, History of the United States, ii. 159. T. Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts Bay, ii. 55-57. Maine Historical Society, Collec tions, iii. 156. Massachusetts Historical Society, Proceedings, 1860, May 12, page 32. Massachusetts House Journals, 1749, June 17; and Manuscript Archives, cxxxv. 135. C. Mather, Wonders of the Invisible World. D. Neal, History of NewEngland, ii. 130-134. C. B. Rice, Historical Address, 26. J. Savage, Genealogical Dictionary, with Manuscript Notes, i. 310. W. B. Sprague, Annals of the American Pulpit, i. 186. C. W. Upham, Lectures on Witchcraft, 43, 55, 86, 101, etc.; and Salem Witchcraft, i. and ii. W. Willis, History of Portland; also his Journals of Smith and Deane, 429, 437. |