The Scotch stories of witchcraft are quite as many as the English, and the so-called witches executed are far more numerous; the last one being burnt, as I have said, in 1727. In June, 1736, the Acts anent witchcraft were repealed; but I much fear that there is still a hankering after belief in it in many parts of Scotland.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Witchcraft in America—In Illinois: Moreau and Emmanuel—In Virginia: Case of Grace Sherwood—In Pennsylvania: Two Swedish Women—In South Carolina—In Connecticut: Many Cases—In Massachusetts: Margaret Jones; Mary Parsons; Ann Hibbins; Other Cases.
North America has been colonized by the British long enough to have enjoyed the visitations of the Devil. And the present Americans, judging by the amount of literature written thereon,[121] seem rather proud of his having dwelt among them; it gives an air of antiquity, and an old-world tone, to the favoured States, which is sadly lacking, and not otherwise procurable, in those unvisited by his Satanic Majesty. As far as I know, there have been but six or seven States troubled with witchcraft: Virginia, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Illinois.
The latter is somewhat remarkable, as it was only received into the Union, as a State, in 1818; yet I read, in ‘The Pioneer History of Illinois,’ by ex-Governor John Reynolds (Bellville, Ill., 1852), pp. 142, 143, the following:
‘In early times the inhabitants of Illinois were in a small degree tinctured with the absurdity and nonsense of witchcraft and fortune-telling; but in after-days this ignorant superstition has entirely disappeared.... It was the belief of some people, and families, that an old woman living on Silver Creek, Illinois, had the power of witchcraft, to take milk from her neighbours’ cows, without seeing or touching them....
‘In Cahokia, about the year 1790, this superstition [witchcraft] got the upper hand of reason, and several poor African slaves were immolated at the shrine of ignorance for this imaginary offence. An African negro, named Moreau, was hung for this crime on a tree not far south-east of Cahokia. It is stated that he had said, “he poisoned his master, but his mistress was too strong for his necromancy.” Another slave, Emmanuel, was shot, in Cahokia, for this crime, and an old woman, Janette, was supposed to have the power to destroy persons and property by her incantations. Many grown people, and all the children, were terrified at her approach.’
These two cases are verified by extracts from the ‘Record Book’ of Colonel John Todd, Lieutenant-Commandant of the County of Illinois, under Governor Patrick Henry, of the Commonwealth of Virginia: