Q. Now the witches scratch you, and pinch you, and bite you, don’t they? A. Yes. Then he put his hand upon her breast and belly, viz. on the clothes over her, and felt a living thing, as he said; which moved the father also to feel, and some others.
Q. Don’t you feel the live thing in the bed?
A. No....
Q. Shall we go to pray ... spelling the word.
A. Yes. The father went to prayer for perhaps half an hour, chiefly against the power of the devil and witchcraft, and that God would bring out the afflicters.... After prayer he [the son] proceeded.
Q. You did not hear when we were at prayer did you? A. Yes.
Q. You don’t hear always? you don’t hear sometimes past a word or two, do you? A. No. Then turning him about said, this is just another Mercy Short....
Q. What does she eat or drink? A. Not eat at all; but drink rum. [Footnote: More Wonders, pp. 13, 14.]
To sanctify to the godly the ravings of this drunken and abandoned wench was a solemn joy to the heart of this servant of Christ, who gave his life to “unwearied cares and pains, to rescue the miserable from the lions and bears of hell,” [Footnote: Idem, p. 10.] therefore he prepared another tract. But his hour was well-nigh come. Though it was impossible that retribution should be meted out to him for his crimes, at least he did not escape unscathed, for Calef and the Brattles, who had long been on his father’s track and his, now seized him by the throat. He knew well they had been with him in the chamber of Margaret Rule, that they had gathered all the evidence; and so when Calef sent him a challenge to stand forth and defend himself, he shuffled and equivocated.