The Witch of Salem; or, Credulity Run Mad Read online

  CHAPTER XVII.

  OUT OF THE FRYING PAN INTO THE FIRE.

  Though high the warm, red torrent ran, Between the flames that lit the sky; Yet, for each drop, an armed man Shall rise, to free the land, or die. --Bryant.

  The liberated prisoners went whithersoever they pleased. Some went toBoston, others to Plymouth, many to New York, New Jersey and Maryland,while a few returned to England. They were wearied with their experiencein the New World, and were content to spend their days in England.

  Charles Stevens retained a firm hold on his mother and Cora, until itwas quite evident that their pursuers had, for the present, at least,given up the chase. They went on in the forest until they were joined bythe five savages left to guard Joel Martin. Martin was no longer withthem. Charles did not inquire what had become of him, for he was whollyengrossed in the safety of Cora and his mother.

  MAP OF NORTH AMERICA PERIOD, 1680 TO 1700

  DRAWN FOR "THE WITCH OF SALEM"]

  The Indians and the Waters brothers were engaged in a consultation.Charles took no part in the consultation, for he knew nothing to advise.Then the Indians accompanied them for a few miles through the woods. Theforest was dark and sombre, and they had only the silent stars to lighttheir path, until the tardy moon, rising at a late hour, filled thelandscape with silver light.

  Day dawned, and they were in a wild, picturesque wood, with toweringhills and stupendous oaks on every side. Here they halted again forconsultation. Oracus, after giving them all the provisions he had withhim, took his warriors and stole off into the forest.

  George Waters and his brother urged the escaped prisoners to eat somedried venison and parched corn and sleep. They did. Indian blankets onthe ground afforded them beds, and their only covering was the sky.

  Charles slept until the afternoon was almost spent, and then he wasawakened by the tramp of horses feet. He started up and found threeIndians with five horses, saddled and bridled. The Indians belonged tothe braves of Oracus, and, without a word, they dismounted and turnedover the horses to the Englishmen, and stole away into the forest.

  A few moments later, the white people were mounted and riding awaythrough one of the narrow paths known only to the Waters brothers.

  Charles Stevens' soul was too full for him to give heed to what coursethey took. His mother and Cora were free, though he little dreamed thatthey were escaping from one danger to another. They arrived one night atthe home of Mr. Dustin, near Haverhill, in Massachusetts. When thefrontiersman heard their story, he said:

  "You are welcome, my persecuted friends, to the shelter of my roof, solong as it can afford you any protection; but the war clouds seem togrow darker and more lowering every moment, and I don't know how long myroof will afford protection to any one."

  Charles Stevens had been so busy with his own cares and griefs, that hehad forgotten that a terrible Indian war was raging on the frontier.This war was known as King William's war, in which the French joinedwith the Indians in bringing fire and sword upon the inhabitants of NewEngland and New York. The French and English had long been jealous ofeach other, and a connected account need not be given here of all thedisastrous occurrences which lead up to the terrible assault onHaverhill, where the fugitives from Salem were stopping.

  We will mention, as first of the principal attacks during the war ofKing William, the attack on Schenectady. This was made in pursuance of aplan adopted by Count Frontenac, then governor of Canada, as a means ofavenging on the English Colonies the treatment of King James, deposed byWilliam and Mary, which had inflamed the resentment of Frontenac'smaster, Louis XIV. While New York was torn with internal strife overLeisler, the governor of Canada fitted out three expeditions against thecolonies, and in the midst of winter one was sent against New York. Theattack on Schenectady was the fruit of this expedition. It was made by aparty consisting of about two hundred French and fifty CaughnewagaIndians, under command of Maulet and St. Helene, in 1689 and 1690.

  Schenectady was built in the form of an oblong square with a gate ateither extremity. The enemy found one of the gates not only open, butunguarded. Although the town was impaled and might have been protected,there was so little thought of danger, that no one deemed it necessaryto close the gate. The weather was very cold, and the English did notsuppose an attack would be made.

  It was eleven o'clock and thirty minutes on Saturday night, February8th, 1690, when the enemy entered, divided their party, waylaid everyportal and began the attack with a terrible war-whoop. Maulet attacked agarrison, where the only resistance was made. He soon forced the gate,slew the soldiers and burned the garrison. One of the French officerswas wounded in forcing a house; but St. Helene came to his aid, thehouse was taken, and all in it were put to the sword.

  Naught was now to be seen, save massacre and pillage on every side,while the most shocking barbarities were practised on the unfortunateinhabitants.

  "Sixty-three houses and the church were immediately in a blaze," says acontemporaneous writer. Weak women, in their expiring agonies, saw theirinfants cast into the flames, or brained before their eyes. Sixty-threepersons were murdered and twenty-seven carried into captivity.

  A few persons were enabled to escape; but, being without sufficientclothing, some perished in the cold before they reached Albany.

  About noon next day, the enemy left the desolate place, taking suchplunder as they could carry with them and destroying the remainder. Itwas the intention of Maulet to spare the minister, for he wanted him ashis own prisoner; but he was found among the mangled dead, and hispapers burned. Two or three houses were spared, while the others wereconsigned to the flames.

  Naught was to be seen, save massacre and pillage on everyside.]

  Owing to the wretched condition of the roads and the deep snows, news ofthe massacre did not reach the great Mohawk castle, only seventeen milesdistant, for two days. On receipt of the terrible news, an armed partyset out at once in pursuit of the foe. After a long tedious marchthrough the snow and forest, they came upon their rear, and a furiousfight followed, in which about twenty-five of them were killed andwounded.

  A second party of French and Indians was sent against the delightfulsettlement of Salmon Falls, on the Piscataqua. At Three Rivers,Frontenac had fitted out an expedition of fifty-two men and twenty-fiveIndians, with Sieur Hertel as their leader. In this small band he hadthree sons and two nephews. After a long and rugged march, Hertelreached the place on the 27th of March, 1690. His spies havingreconnoitred it, he divided his men into three companies, leading thelargest himself. Just at dawn of day the attack was made. The Englishstoutly resisted, but were unable to withstand the well-directed fire oftheir assailants. Thirty of the bravest defenders fell. The remainder,amounting to fifty-four, were made prisoners. The English hadtwenty-seven houses reduced to ashes, and two thousand domestic animalsperished in the barns that were burned.

  The third party, which was fitted out at Quebec by the directions ofFrontenac, made an attack upon Casco, in Maine. The expedition wascommanded by M. De Portneuf. Hertel, on his return to Canada, met withthis expedition, and, joining it with the force under his command, cameback to the scene of warfare in which he had been so unhappilysuccessful. As the hostile army marched through the country of theAbenakis, numbers of them joined it. Portneuf, with his forces thusaugmented, came into the neighborhood of Casco, about the 25th of May,1690. On the following night, an Englishman who entered the well-laidambush was captured and killed. This so excited the Indians that theyraised the war-whoop. Fifty English soldiers were sent from the fort toascertain the occasion of the yelling, and were drawn into theambuscade. A volley from the woods on either side swept them down, andbefore the remainder could recover from the panic into which they werethrown by the volley, they were assailed with swords, bayonets andtomahawks, and but four out of the party escaped and these with severewounds.

  "The English seeing now that they must stand a siege, abandoned fourgarrisons, and all
retired into one which was provided with cannon.Before these were abandoned, an attack was made upon one of them, inwhich the French were repulsed with an Indian killed and a Frenchmanwounded. Portneuf now began to doubt of his ability to take Casco,fearing the issue; for his commission only ordered him to lay waste theEnglish settlements, and not to attempt fortified places; but, in thisdilemma, Hertel and Hopehood (a celebrated chief of the tribe of theKennebec), arrived. It was now determined to press the siege. In thedeserted forts they found all the necessary tools for carrying on thework, and they began a mine within fifty feet of the fort, under a steepbank, which entirely protected them from its guns. The English becamediscouraged, and, on the 28th of May, surrendered themselves asprisoners of war. There were seventy men and probably a greater numberof women and children; all of whom, except Captain Davis, who commandedthe garrison, and three or four others, were given up to the Indians,who murdered most of them in their most cruel manner; and, if theaccounts be true, Hopehood excelled all other savages in acts ofcruelty."

  These barbarous transactions produced both terror and indignation in NewYork and New England, and an attempt at a formidable demonstrationagainst the enemy was made. The general court of Massachusetts sentletters of request to the several executives of the provinces, pursuantto which, they convened at New York, May 1st, 1661. As the result ofthe deliberations, two important measures were adopted. Connecticut sentGeneral Winthrop with troops to march through Albany, there to receivesupplies and to be joined by a body of men from New York. The expeditionwas to proceed up Lake Champlain to destroy Montreal. There was afailure, however, of the supplies, and this project was defeated.Massachusetts sent forth a fleet of thirty-four sail, under WilliamPhipps. He proceeded to Port Royal, took it, reduced Acadia, and thencesailed up the St. Lawrence, with the design of capturing Quebec. Thetroops landed with some difficulty, and the place was boldly summoned tosurrender. A proud defiance was returned by Frontenac, as his positionat that time happened to be strengthened by a re-enforcement fromMontreal. Phipps, learning this, and finding, also, that the party ofWinthrop, which he expected at Montreal, failed, gave up the attempt,and returned to Boston, with the loss of several vessels and aconsiderable number of troops, for a part of his fleet was wrecked by astorm.

  It was in the midst of such trying scenes and devastation on the part ofthe French and savages, that superstition and fanaticism broke loose inSalem and produced a reign of terror far greater than that caused by thesavages on the frontier. It was from such scenes to such scenes thatCharles Stevens, his mother and friends fled. Mr. Dustin lived nearHaverhill, in Massachusetts, and when they appealed to him for shelterand protection he said:

  "To such as I have you are welcome; but, I assure you, it is poor. Thesavage scalping-knife may be more dangerous than the fanatic's noose inSalem."

  They had been at Haverhill but a few weeks, when, as Charles and Mr.Henry Waters were one day returning from a hunt, they discovered a mantrailing them.

  "It's a white man," Charles remarked.

  "So I perceive, and why should he trail us?" Henry Waters asked.

  "I know not; but let us ascertain."

  They halted at the creek near Haverhill, and were sitting on the banksof the stream, when a voice from the rocks above demanded theirsurrender.

  Looking up, they found themselves covered with three rifles. Three whitemen, one of whom they recognized as Mr. Joel Martin, the Virginian,stepped out from behind the rocks and advanced toward them, assuringthem that any effort to escape, or resist would result in instant death.

  "I have you at last, murderer!" cried Martin, seizing Henry Waters.

  "No, you mistake----" began Charles; but Henry Waters signed him to keepquiet. The Waters brothers, as the reader is aware, were twins andlooked so much alike, that it was difficult to distinguish one from theother.

  Charles was not slow to grasp at the idea of Henry Waters. He wouldsuffer himself to be taken to Virginia in his brother's stead, where hewould make his identity known and establish an alibi; but there wasdanger of the revengeful Martin killing his prisoner before he reachedVirginia, and Charles said:

  "Will you promise, on your honor as a Virginian, not to harm theprisoner until he reaches a court of justice?"

  The Virginian gave his promise, and then the three led Mr. Watershurriedly away, mounted horses, hastened to Boston and took a vessel forVirginia.

  Charles Stevens went to Mr. George Waters and told him what hadhappened. Mr. Waters' face grew troubled; but he said nothing.

  That night there was an alarm of savages in the neighborhood and CharlesStevens and Mr. Waters went with a train-band to meet the foe. In askirmish, Mr. Waters was wounded, and it was thought best for him to goto Boston for medical treatment.

  "I have friends and relatives there," Charles said, "and we might besafe."

  Next day the four secretly set out for Boston, where they lodged forawhile with some relatives of Charles and his mother, who kept theirpresence a secret.

  Before concluding this chapter, it is the duty of the author, althoughstepping aside from the narrative, to relate what befell their bravefriends, the Dustins, during the progress of King William's war. Theatrocities committed upon the colonists by the French and Indians wereequal to any recorded in the annals of barbarous ages. Connected withthese were instances of heroic valor on the part of the heroicsufferers, which are not surpassed. On March 15th, 1697, the last yearof King William's war, an attack was suddenly made on Haverhill by aparty of about twenty Indians. It was a rapid, but fatal onset, and afitting _finale_ of so dreadful a ten years' war. Eight houses weredestroyed, twenty-seven persons killed, and thirteen carried awayprisoners. One of these houses, standing in the outskirts of the villageand, in fact, over the hill, so as to be almost out of sight of thepeople in the town, was the home of Mr. Dustin, the house which hadafforded shelter to the fugitives from the Salem witchcraft persecution.

  On that fatal morning, Mr. Dustin had gone to the field to commence hisspring work. The season was early, and the plow and shovel had alreadybegun to turn over the rich, black soil. The industrious farmer had butjust harnessed his horse, when the animal began to sniff the air, and,turning his eyes toward some bushes, Mr. Dustin discovered two paintedfaces, with heads adorned by feathers.

  At the same moment, a rattling crash of firearms and the terriblewar-whoop announced the attack on Haverhill. He unharnessed his horse,seized his gun, which he always kept near at hand, and galloped awaylike the wind toward the house, pursued by arrows of the Indians.

  Reaching the house before the Indians, he cried to his family to fly,and he would cover their retreat.

  "Mrs. Neff, take Mrs. Dustin and fly for your lives," he cried.

  Mrs. Dustin had an infant, but a few days old, and was confined to herbed. Mrs. Neff was her nurse. The husband made an attempt to remove hiswife; but it was too late. The Indians, like ravenous wolves, wererushing on the house. Mrs. Dustin turned to her husband and said:

  "Go, Thomas, you cannot save me, go and save the children."

  Moved by her urgent appeal, he leaped on his horse and, with his gun inhis hand, galloped away after the children, seven in number, who werealready running down the road. The first thought of the father was toseize one, place it on the horse before him, and escape; but he wasunable to select one from the others. All were alike dear to him, and heresolved to defend all or perish in the effort. They had reached a pointbelow the town, where the road ran between two hills in a narrow pass. Aparty of Indians, eleven in number, had seen the children and wererunning after them. Mr. Dustin spurred his horse between the childrenand the savage foe, and shouting to his darlings to fly, and bidding theoldest carry the youngest, he drew rein at the pass and cocked his gun.Thomas Dustin was a dead shot, and his rifle was the best made at thatday.

  Facing the savages, he fired and shot the leader dead in his tracks. Hisfollowers were appalled at the fate of their brawny chieftain, and for amoment hesitated. Mr. Dustin hes
itated not a single instant, butproceeded, without a moment's delay, to reload his gun. Five of theIndians fired at the resolute father, as he rode away after his flyingchildren.

  "Run! run! run for your lives!" he shouted.

  The Indians, with a whoop of vengeance followed the father. He had fourballs in his gun, and, wheeling his horse about, he fired this terriblecharge at them. Though none were killed instantly at this shot, threewere wounded, two so severely that they died next day. The Indiansabandoned the pursuit of the resolute father, who continued to fight ashe retreated, and turned their attention to less dangerous victories, soMr. Dustin escaped with his children.

  Mrs. Neff, the nurse in attendance on Mrs. Dustin, heroically resolvedto share the fate of her patient, even when she could have escaped. TheIndians entered the house, and, having made the sick woman rise and sitquietly in the corner of the fire-place, they pillaged the dwelling, andset it on fire, taking the occupants out of it. At the approach ofnight, Mrs. Dustin was forced to march into the wilderness and seekrepose on the hard, cold ground. Mrs. Neff attempted to escape with thebaby, but was intercepted. The infant had its brains beaten out againsta tree, and the body was thrown into the bushes. The captives ofHaverhill, when collected, were thirteen miserable, wretched people.That same day they were marched twelve miles before camping, although itwas nearly night before they set out. Succeeding this, for several daysthey were compelled to keep up with the savage captors, over an extentof country of not less than one hundred and forty or fifty miles.Feeble as she was, it seems wonderful that Mrs. Dustin should have borneup under the trials and fatigues of the journey; but she did.

  The resolute father continued to fire as he retreated.]

  After this, the Indians, according to their custom, divided theirprisoners. Mrs. Dustin, Mrs. Neff and a captive lad from Worcester fellto the share of an Indian family consisting of twelve persons. These nowtook charge of the captives and treated them with no particularunkindness, save that of forcing them to extend their journey stillfurther toward an Indian settlement. One day they told the prisonersthat there was one ceremony to which they must submit after theirarrival at their destination, and that was running the gauntlet betweentwo files of Indians. This announcement filled Mrs. Dustin and hercompanions with so much dread, that they mutually resolved to make adesperate attempt to escape.

  Mrs. Hannah Dustin, Mrs. Mary Neff the nurse, and the lad SamuelLeonardson, only eleven years of age, were certainly not persons toexcite the fear of a dozen sturdy warriors. The Indians believed the ladfaithful to them, and never dreamed that the women would have courageenough to attempt to escape, and no strict watch was kept over them.

  In order to throw the savage captors off their guard, Mrs. Dustin seemedto take well to them, and on the day before the plan of escape wascarried out, she ascertained, through inquiries made by the lad, how tokill a man instantly and how to take off his scalp.

  "Strike him here," the Indian explained, placing his finger on histemple, "and take off his scalp so," showing the lad how it was done.With this information, the plot was ripe. Just before dawn of day, whenthe Indians sleep most profound, Mrs. Dustin softly rose from her bed ofearth and touched Mary Neff on the shoulder. A single touch wassufficient to awake her, and she sat up. Next the lad had to be aroused.Being young and wearied, his slumbers were profound. An Indian lay nearasleep. Mrs. Dustin seized his tomahawk, and Mrs. Neff seized anotherIndian's weapons. The nurse shook Samuel. The lad rose, rubbed his eyesand went over to where the man lay, who had instructed him in the art ofkilling. He seized his hatchet and held it in his hand ready. At asignal from Mrs. Dustin, three blows fell on three temples, and with aquiver three sleepers in life had passed to the sleep of death. Oncemore the hatchets were raised, and six of the twelve were dead. Thelittle noise they were compelled to make disturbed the slumbers of theothers, and the three hatchets, now red with blood, fell on three more.Mrs. Neff, growing nervous and excited, cut her man's head a little toofar forward, and he started up with a yell. The blood blinded him,however, and she stabbed him.

  The yell had roused the others, and a squaw with a child fled to thewoods, while the tenth, a young warrior, was assailed by Mrs. Dustin andthe lad and slain ere he was fully awake. Ten of the twelve were dead,and the escaped prisoners, after scuttling all the boats save one, toprevent pursuit, started in that down the river, with what provisionsthey could take from the Indians. They had not gone far, when Mrs.Dustin said:

  "We have not scalped the Indians."

  "Why should we?" asked Mrs. Neff.

  "When we get home and tell our friends that we three slew ten Indians,they will demand some proof of the assertion, and the ten scalps will beproof."

  Samuel Leonardson, boy like, was anxious to have the scalps of his foes,and so they overruled Mrs. Neff and, turning about, went back to thecamp which was now deserted save by the ghastly dead, their glassy eyesgazing upward at the skies.

  "This is the way he told me to do it," said Samuel, seizing the tuft ofhair on the head of the man who had instructed him in scalping. He ranthe keen edge of a knife around the skull and, by a quick jerk, pulledoff the scalp.

  Being novices in the art, it took them some time to remove the scalpsfrom the heads of all; but the bloody task was finally accomplished andputting the scalps in a bag, they once more embarked in the Indian canoeand started down the stream.

  "With strong hearts, the three voyagers went down the Merrimac to theirhomes, every moment in peril from savages or the elements, and werereceived as persons risen from the dead. Mrs. Dustin found her husbandand children saved. Soon after, she went to Boston, carrying with her agun and tomahawk, which she had brought from the wigwam, and her tentrophies, and the general court of Massachusetts gave these bravesufferers fifty pounds as a reward for their heroism. Ex-GovernorNicholson, of Maryland, sent a metal tankard to Mrs. Dustin and Mrs.Neff, as a token of his admiration. That tankard is now (1875) in thepossession of Mr. Emry Coffin, of Newburyport, Massachusetts. During thesummer of 1874, one hundred and seventy-seven years after the event,citizens of Massachusetts and New Hampshire erected on the highest pointof Dustin's Island an elegant monument, commemorative of the heroicdeed. It displays a figure of Mrs. Dustin, holding in her right hand,raised in the attitude of striking, a tomahawk, and a bunch of scalps inthe other. On it are inscribed the names of Hannah Dustin, Mary Neffand Samuel Leonardson, the English lad."[E]

  [Footnote E: Lossing's "Our Country," vol. iii., p. 418.]

  Haverhill was a second time attacked and desolated during King William'swar, and other places suffered. The treaty at Ryswick, a village nearthe Hague, in Holland, soon after, put an end to the indiscriminateslaughter in Europe and America. At this insignificant little village, apeace was agreed upon between Louis XIV. of France and England, Spainand Holland, and the German Empire, which ended a war of more than sevenyears' duration. Louis was compelled to acknowledge William of Orange tobe the sovereign of England. That war cost Great Britain one hundred andfifty millions of dollars in cash, besides a hundred millions loaned.The latter laid the foundation of England's enormous national debt,which, to-day, amounts to five thousand millions of dollars.

  Prior to the treaty at Ryswick, a Board of Trade and Plantations wasestablished in England, whose duty it was to have a general oversight ofthe affairs of the American colonies. It was a permanent commission, themembers of which were called "Lords of Trade and Plantations." Itconsisted of seven members, with a president, and was always a readyinstrument of oppression in the hands of the sovereign, and became apowerful promoter of those discontents in the colonies, which broke outin open rebellion in 1775.

  The peace of Ryswick was of short duration. Aspirants for power againtormented the people with the evils of war. King James II. died inFrance, September, 1701. He had been shielded by Louis after his flightfrom his throne to France, and now the French monarch acknowledgedJames' son, James Francis Edward (known in history as the pretender) tobe the lawful king of E
ngland. This act greatly offended the English,because the crown had been settled upon Anne, James' second Protestantdaughter. Louis, in addition, had offended the English by placing hisgrandson, Philip of Anjou, on the throne of Spain, so increasing theinfluence of France among the dynasties of Europe. King William wasenraged and was preparing for war, when a fall from his horse, whilehunting, caused his death. He was succeeded by Anne, and a war ensued,which lasted almost a dozen years and is known in history as QueenAnne's War. We have, however, too long dwelt on the general history ofthe country. It will be essential to our story that we return to thevillage of Salem where superstition was reigning, while the chiefcharacters of our story were resting in security at Boston, not daringto go abroad by day.