In the Shadow of Salem by Richard Hite

Author:Richard Hite
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781594166303
Publisher: Westholme Publishing

CHAPTER TEN

The Resistance Grows

ON OCTOBER 8, 1692, Thomas Brattle (a Harvard graduate and Boston-based mathematician and astronomer) penned a lengthy letter to an unidentified clergyman that sharply criticized the conduct of the Court of Oyer and Terminer—particularly regarding the acceptance of spectral evidence. Brattle, who may have been a classmate of the young minister Thomas Barnard (they were the same age) was well aware of events in Andover, noting the fact that Joseph Ballard had summoned some of the afflicted girls of Salem Village to determine whether or not witchcraft was responsible for the sickness of his wife that summer. Brattle also referenced the fact that Dudley Bradstreet had recently fled the town. In referencing the court’s proceedings, Brattle specifically stated “Excepting Mr. Hale, Mr. Noyes, and Mr. Parris, the Rev’d Elders [the region’s ministers], almost throughout the whole country, are very much dissatisfied.”1 Notably, Brattle does not name Thomas Barnard here as one who agreed with the use of spectral evidence.2 Brattle was unquestionably well-acquainted with events in Andover and had Barnard been the dedicated witch hunter he is sometimes stereotyped as having been, his fellow Harvard graduate certainly would have taken him to task for it. As it was, Brattle did not mention Barnard or Francis Dane by name—indicating that he did not regard either of them as among the villains in the drama he criticized.

The first direct indication of any stance Barnard took came on October 18, when he (and Dane) signed a petition defending some of the town’s accused. This in and of itself belies any effort to pigeonhole Barnard as having played the same role in leading the charge against suspects as his counterpart (Samuel Parris) did in Salem Village. Another noteworthy omission of Barnard and Dane can be found when reading the detailed confession of William Barker, Sr., recorded on August 29. Barker, like so many others, described attending a meeting of witches at Salem Village, specifically upon “a green peece of ground neare the minster’s house” (obviously the home of Samuel Parris). Barker went on to say “they mett there to destroy that place by reason of the peoples being divided & theire differing with their minister.”3 Although Barker went on to describe how Satan’s design was to “set up his own Worship, abolish all the churches in the land, to fall next upon Salem and soe goe through the country,” he never mentioned any conflict over the two ministers in Andover. Once again, this omission speaks volumes. Considering the thoroughness of William Barker’s admissions, it is hard to fathom that he would have neglected such a dispute had it been a significant factor by that time. There can be no doubt there were some hard feelings in Andover on the occasion of Barnard’s hiring a decade earlier, but by 1692, the town’s residents might have put most of that dispute behind them. Dane may have remained on the scene longer than Barnard had bargained for, but there is no credible evidence that the younger man seized on the witch trials as a chance to destroy his mentor’s family.

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