Answer.—The Salem witchcraft was only one of the results of the superstition, as old almost as man himself, that certain persons, through intimate connection with the spirit world, possess superhuman influence for evil over their fellow-men. The early Christians inherited the idea from their pagan forefathers, and in 1484 Pope Innocent issued a bull directing the inquisitors to search out and punish all guilty of such crimes. For nearly three centuries following the delusion reigned, so that in Germany alone more than 10,000 persons were executed in consequence of this bull, and in England, during the 150 years following the reign of Elizabeth, over 30,000 persons were sacrificed to this wild superstition. In fact witches were hung in the latter country as late as 1716, and in Scotland until 1722. Under these circumstances it is not strange that Englishmen in America partook of the fanatical excitement, and when in 1688 four children of John Goodwin, a respectable man in North Boston, began to show strange symptoms, immediately after receiving abuse from a disreputable Irish woman, the people should at once attribute them to witchcraft; the more so since three Bostonians had been hung already for that offense, and lately a book had been published in defense of the popular belief. Four years later the excitement culminated at Salem. The first alleged victims were in the family of Samuel Parris, a clergyman. His daughter, niece, and two other girls began to show symptoms like those of the Goodwin children, and accused Tituba, an Indian squaw in the family, of bewitching them, though she stoutly protested her Innocence. Soon the number of bewitched increased, and likewise the number of accused. The excitement grew, being constantly fanned by those who should have been foremost in checking it. None were safe from accusation, and many, to save their own lives, accused their dearest friends and relatives. When Sir William Phipps became Governor of Massachusetts, in May, 1692, his first act was the appointment of a court for Suffolk, Essex, and Middlesex, consisting of seven judges: William Stoughton, the Lieutenant Governor; Chief Justice Nathaniel Saltonstal, who refused to act, and was replaced by Jonathan Curwin; John Richards, Bartholomew Gedney, Wait Winthrop, Samuel Sewall, and Peter Sergeant. Cotton Mather and Samuel Parris were among the chief Instigators of the prosecutions that followed. Under this tribunal twenty persons were hung, fifty or more tortured into confession of guilt; the jails were filled, and hundreds more were under suspicion, when the reason of the community awoke to a realization of the injustice and barbarity of such proceedings, and fanaticism was soon succeeded by bitter remorse. There is not space here to enumerate many of the tortures employed to extort confessions. The lash, the stocks, binding the sufferers in painful postures, as with neck and heels together; starvation and thirst, and other barbarities were exercised, until hundreds falsely accused themselves, their friends and neighbors, and even their dearest relatives, to obtain release.
AN ARMY LEGION.
Chicago, Ill.
Please state how many men the Austrian and Belgic legions enlisted for the service of Maximilian I. of Mexico, contained. I would like to know somewhere near the number, whether it was 500 or 5,000 men.
Charles Seymour.
Answer.—It is impossible to give a definite answer to this question. The military term “legion” was not a very definite term, as regards numbers, even in the case of the old Roman legion, where it corresponded somewhat to the modern “army corps.” Sometimes it numbered 3,000 men and at others 6,000 or more. In 1792 the whole army of the United States was officially designated the “Legion of the United States” the Infantry regiments being styled “sub-legions.” This was not a popular organization and nomenclature with army men, and was soon abandoned. The term has been applied in modern times to divisions in the German, French, and other European armies, variously organized, and numbering from 2,500 to 5,000 men. It would be impossible, without reference to official records of Maximilian’s government, to say what number of Belgians and Austrians were enlisted in his service; but it was less than 10,000 all told, and most likely, judging from facts in our possession, not more than 7,000.
RAPHAEL’S SUPREME MADONNA.
Winchester, Ill.