But the Reverend Dr. Cotton Mather, who was also present to witness the execution, spurred his horse between the victim and his would-be rescuers. He preached a fiery sermon from the saddle, reminding the people that the devil could quote Scripture for his purposes, and declaring this was but a cunning artifice of the Evil One to save his servant.
Meanwhile the hangman had adjusted the noose about the prisoner’s throat, the platform was snatched away, and George Burroughs’ stainless soul ascended to its endless home as his martyred body swung between earth and sky.
A contemporary resident of Salem Village, writing of the execution to a friend in Boston, described the last chapter of the Reverend George Burroughs’ tragedy in these words: “When he had been cut down, he was dragged by the halter to a hole or grave, between the rocks, about two feet deep, his shirt and breeches being pulled off and an old pair of trousers of one previously executed put on his lower parts. He was so put in that one of his hands and his chin was left uncovered.”
So Christians did unto Christians in the name of their common religion in the year of grace 1692.
In WEIRD TALES next month Seabury Quinn tells of the end of the New England witchcraft horror, and narrates how, when more than two hundred witches were lying in the jails of Salem and Ipswich awaiting death at the hands of the common hangman, Governor Phips of Massachusetts suddenly ended the persecution and emptied the jails. The Puritan series will be followed by a thrilling true tale of witchcraft from medieval Germany, told in Mr. Quinn’s most fascinating style
