Chick-weed is cold and moist without any binding, aswages swelling and comforts the sinews much, and therfore is good for such as are shrunk up, it helps mangy hands and legs, outwardly applyed in a pultis.
Cinkfoyl or Five-fingered grass. The root boyled in vinegar is good against the Shingles, and appeaseth the rage of any fretting sores.
Colts-foot. Admirable for coughs. It is often used taken in a Tobacco-pipe, being cut and mixed with a little oyl of annis seeds.
Columbines help sore throats and are of a drying, binding quality.
Comfry is excellent for all wounds both internal and externall, for spitting of blood, Ruptures or Burstness, pains in the Back and helpeth Hemorrhoyds. The way to use them is to boyle them in water and drink the decoction.
Cottonweed. Boyled in Ly, it keeps the head from Nits and Lice; being laid among Cloaths, it Keeps them safe from Moths; taken in a Tobacco-pipe it helps Coughs of the Lungues, and vehement headaches.
Dill. It breeds milk in Nurses, staies vomiting, easeth hiccoughs, aswageth swellings, provoks urin, helps such as are troubled with the fits of the mother, and digests raw humors.
Dittany, brings away dead children, hastens womens travail, the very smell of it drives away venemous beasts; it's an admirable remedy against wounds made with poysoned weapons; it draws out splinters, broken bones, etc.
Fennel. Encreaseth milk in Nurses, provokes urine, easeth pains in the Reins, breaks wind, provokes the Terms.
Fleabane. Helps the bitings of venemous beasts. It being burnt, the smoke of it kills all Gnats and Fleas in the chamber. It is dangerous for women with child.
Flower-de-luce or water flag, binds, strengthens, stops fluxes of the belly, a drachm being taken in red wine every morning.
Fumitory helps such as are itchy and scabbed, helps Rickets, madness, and quartain agues.
Gentian, some call Bald-money, is a notable counter-poyson, it opens obstructions, helps the bitings of venemous beasts, and mad dogs, helps digestion, and cleanseth the body of raw humors.
Golden Rod clenseth the Reins, brings away the Gravel; an admirable herb for wounded people to take inwardly, stops Blood, etc.
Groundsel helps the Cholick, and pains and gripings in the belly. I hold it to be a wholsom and harmless purge. Outwardly it easeth womens breasts that are swollen & inflamed, (or as themselves say) have gotten an ague in their breasts.
Hellebore. The root of white Hellebore, or sneezwort, being grated & snuffed up the nose, causeth sneezing, Kills Rats and Mice, being mixed with their meat. Doctor Bright commends it for such as are mad through melancholly. If you use it for sneezing, let your head and neck be wrapped hot for fear of catching cold.
Henbane. Stupifies the senses and therefore not to be taken inwardly; outwardly applyed to the temple it provokes sleep.
Hops. The young sprouts clense the Blood and cleer the skin, helps scabs and itch. They are usually boyled and taken as they eat Sparagus or they may be made into a conserve.
Horehound clenseth the breast and lungs, helps old coughs, easeth hard labour in child-bearing, brings away the after-birth.
Hysop. Helps Coughs, shortness of Breath, Wheezing, Kills worms in the body, helps sore throats and noise in the ears.
Knotgrasse helps spitting of blood, stops all fluxes of blood, gonorrhaea or running of Reins, and is an excellent remedy for hogs that will not eat their meat.
Lavender. The temples and forehead bathed with the juyce of it, as also the smell of the herb helps swoonings.
Lavender cotton resists poyson, kills worms.
Lettice. Cools the inflamation of the stomack commonly called heart-burning, provokes sleep, resists drunkenesse and takes away the ill effects of it, cools the blood, and breeds milk. It is far wholsommer eaten boyled than raw.
Liverwort is excellent for inflamations of the Liver and yellow jaundice.
Lovage cleers the sight, takes away redness and Freckles from the Face.
Lungwort helps infirmities of the lungs, coughs and shortness of breath.
Mallows. They are profitable in the stingings of Bees, Wasps, etc. Inwardly they resist poyson and provoke to stool…
Man Drakes. Fit for no vulgar use, but only to be used in cooling oyntments.
Marigolds. The leaves loosen the belly and the juyce held in the mouth helps the toothach.
Marshmallowes are meanly hot, of a digestion softening nature, ease pains, help bloody fluxes, the stone and gravell; being bruised and well boiled in milk, and the milk drunk is a gallant remedy for the gripings of the belly, and the bloddy flux.
Mint. Provokes hunger, is wholesome for the stomack, stays vomiting, helps sore heads in children. Hinders conception and is naught for wounded people, they say by reason of an antipathy between it and Iron.
Mugwort, an herb appropriate to the foeminine sex; it brings down the terms, brings away birth and afterbirth, easeth pains in the matrix.
Mullin. Stops fluxes and cures hoarsenesse and such as are broken winded; the leaves worn in the shooes provokes the Terms, (especially in such Virgins as never had them) but they must be worn next their feet.
Nettles. The juyce stops bleeding; they provoke lust exceedingly; help that troublesome cough that women call Chin-cough. Boyl them in white wine.
Onions, are extreamly hurtfull for cholerick people, they breed but little nourishment, and that little is naught; they are bad meat, yet good physick for flegmatick people, they are opening and provoke urine, and the terms, if cold be the cause obstructing; bruised and outwardly applyed they cure the bitings of mad dogs; roasted and applied they help Boils, and Aposthumes; raw they take the fire out of burnings; but ordinarily eaten, they cause headach, spoil the sight, dul the senses and fill the body full of wind.
Orpine for Quinsie in the throat, for which disease it is inferior to none.
Penyroyal. Strengthens women's backs, provokes the Terms, staies vomiting, strengthens the brain (yea the very smell of it), breaks wind, and helps the Vertigo.
Pimpernal, male and foemale. They are of such drawing quality that they draw thorns and splinters out of the flesh, amend the sight, and clense Ulcers.
Plantain. A little bit of the root being eaten, instantly staies pains in the head, even to admirations.
Purslain. Cools hot stomacks, admirable for one that hath his teeth on edge by eating sowr apples, helps inward inflamations.
Reubarb. It gently purgeth Choller from the stomack & liver, opens stoppings, withstands the Dropsie, and Hypocondriack Melancholly. If your body be any strong you may take two drams of it at a time being sliced thin and steeped all night in white Wine, in the morning strain it out and drink the white Wine.
Rosemary. Helps stuffings in the head, helps the memory, expels wind.
Rue, or Herb of Grace. Consumes the seed and is an enemy to generation, helps difficulty of breathing. It strengthens the heart exceedingly. There is no better herb than this in Pestilential times.
Sage. It staies abortion, it causeth fruitfullness, it is singular good for the brain, helps stitches and pains in the sides.
St. Johns Wort. It is as gallant a wound-herb as any is, either given inwardly or outwardly applied to the wound. It helps the Falling sickness. Palsie, Cramps and Aches in the joynts.
Savory. Winter savory and summer savory both expell wind gallantly, and that (they say) is the reason why they are boyled with Pease and Beans and other such windy things; 'tis a good fashion and pitty it should be left.
Senna. It cheers the sences, opens obstructions, takes away dulness of the sight, preserves youth, helps deafness (if purging will help it), resists resolution of the Nerves, scabs, itch and falling sickness. The windiness of it is corrected with a little Ginger.
Solomon's Seal. Stamped and boyled in Wine it speedily helps (being drunk, I mean, for it will not do the deed by looking upon it) all broken bones, it is of an incredible virtue that way; it quickly takes away the black and blew marks of blows, being bruised and applyed to the place.
Sorrel cutteth tough humors, cools the brain, liver and stomack, and provokes apetite.
Southern-wood or Boy's love, is hot and dry in the third degree, resists poyson, kills worms, provokes lust; outwardly in plaisters it dissolves cold swellings, makes hair grow; take not above half a drachm at a time in powder.
Spinage. I never read any physicall virtues of it.
Spleenwort is excellent good for melancholy people, helps the stranguary and breaks the Stone in the bladder. Boyl it and drink the decoction; but because a little boyling will carry away the strength of it in vapours, let it boyl but very little, and let it stand close stopped till it be cold before you strain it out; this is the generall rule for all Simples of this nature.
Spurge. Better let alone that taken inwardly; hair anoynted with the juyce of it will fall off: it kills fish, being mixed with anything they will eat, outwardly it takes away Freckles and sunburning.
Sweet-Majorum is an excellent remedy for cold diseases in the brain, being only smelled to; it helps such as are given to much sighing, and easeth pains in the belly…
Tansie. The very smell of it staies abortion or miscarriages in women. The root eaten, is a singular remedy for the Gout; the rich may bestow the cost to preserve it.
Toad-flax clenses the Reins and Bladder, outwardly it takes away yellowness and deformity of the skin.
Toads-stools. Whether these be roots or not it matters not much; for my part I know little need of them, either in food or Physick.
Tyme. Helps coughs and shortness of breath, brings away dead children and the after birth, helps Sciatica, repels wind in any part of the Body, resisteth fearfullness and melancholy.
Valerian, white and red, comforts the heart and stirs up lust.
Vervain. A great clenser. Made into an oyntment it is a soveraign remedy for old headache. It clears the skin and causeth a lovely color.
Wake-Robins or Cuckow-pints. I know no great good they doe inwardly taken, unlesse to play the rogue withall, or make sport; outwardly applyed they take off Scurf, Morphew, or Freckles from the face, cleer the skin, and cease the pain of the Gout.
Water-Lilies. The roots stop lust. I never dived so deep to find any other virtue.
Wood Bettony helps the falling sickness, and all headaches comming of cold, procures apetite, helps sour belchings, helps cramps and convulsions, helps the Gout, Kills worms, helps bruises, and cleanseth women after their labor.
Wormwood helps weakness of the stomack, clenses choller, kills worms, helps surfets, cleers the sight, clenses the Blood, and secures cloaths from moths.
Yarrow. An healing herb for wounds. Some say the juice snuffed up the nose, causeth it to bleed, whence it was called Nose-bleed.
CHAPTER XIV
Crimes and Punishments
The men who controlled the affairs of the Massachusetts Bay Colony at the time of its founding, determined not only that the churches, but that the government of the commonwealth they were creating, should be based strictly upon the teachings of the Bible. The charter provided that the Governor, Deputy Governor and Assistants might hold courts "for the better ordering of affairs," and so for the first ten years, the Court of Assistants, as it was styled, exercised the entire judicial powers of the colony. Its members were known as the magistrates. During this period but few laws or orders were passed. When complaints were made, the court, upon a hearing, determined whether the conduct of the accused had been such as in their opinion to deserve punishment, and if it had been, then what punishment should be inflicted. This was done without any regard to English precedents. There was no defined criminal code, and what constituted a crime and what its punishment, was entirely within the discretion of the court. If in doubt as to what should be considered an offence, the Bible was looked to for guidance. The General Court itself, from time to time, when in doubt, propounded questions to the ministers or elders, which they answered in writing, much as the Attorney General or the Supreme Judicial Court at the present day may advise.
But the people soon became alarmed at the extent of personal discretion exercised by the magistrates and so, in 1635, the freemen demanded a code of written laws and a committee composed of magistrates and ministers was appointed to draw up the same. It does not appear that much was accomplished although Winthrop records that Mr. Cotton of the committee, reported "a copy of Moses his judicials, compiled in an exact method, which was taken into further consideration till the next general court." The "judicials," however, never were adopted. In 1639 another committee was directed to peruse all the "models" which had been or should be presented, "draw them up into one body," and send copies to the several towns. This was done. In October, 1641, action was taken which led to a definite and acceptable result. Rev. Nathaniel Ward of Ipswich, who had been educated for the law and had practiced in the courts of England, was requested to furnish a copy of the liberties, etc. and nineteen transcriptions were sent to the several towns in the Colony. Two months later at the session of the General Court, this body of laws was voted to stand in force.
This code, known as "the Body of Liberties," comprised about one hundred laws, civil and criminal. The civil laws were far in advance of the laws of England at that time, and in substance were incorporated in every subsequent codification of the laws of the Colony. Some of them are in force today, and others form the basis of existing laws. The criminal laws were taken principally from the Mosaic code and although many of them may seem harsh and cruel yet, as a whole, they were much milder than the criminal laws of England at that time. No reference was made to the common law of England. All legislation in regard to offences was based upon the Bible, and marginal references to book, chapter and verse were supplied to guide future action. This Code served its intended purpose well and remained in force until the arrival of the Province charter in 1692 save during the short period of the Andros administration.
The judiciary system of the Colony therefore provided for the following courts:
First, the Great and General Court which possessed legislative powers and limited appellate authority from the Court of Assistants.
Second, the Court of Assistants – a Supreme Court or Court of Appeals that had exclusive jurisdiction in all criminal cases extending "to life, limb, or banishment," jurisdiction in civil cases in which the damages amounted to more than £100., and appellate jurisdiction from the County Quarterly Courts.
Third, County or Inferior Quarterly Courts that had jurisdiction in all cases and matters not reserved to the Court of Assistants or conferred upon commissioners of small causes. These courts also laid out highways, licensed ordinarys, saw that an able ministry was supported, and had general control of probate matters, and in 1664 were authorized to admit freemen.
The juries were made judges of the law and the fact and when upon a trial there was insufficient evidence to convict, juries were authorized to find that there were strong grounds of suspicion, and accordingly sentence afterwards was given by the Court. In order to facilitate court proceedings an excellent law was passed in 1656 which authorized the fining of a person 20 shillings an hour for any time occupied in his plea in excess of one hour.
John Winthrop with his company arrived at Salem in June, 1630, and ten weeks later the first court in the Colony was held at Charlestown. The maintenance of the ministry was the first concern, to be followed by an order regulating the wages of carpenters, bricklayers, thatchers and other building trades. Thomas Morton at "Merry Mount" was not forgotten for he was to be sent for "by processe," and a memorandum is entered to obtain for the next Court an estimate "of the charges that the Governor hathe beene att in entertaineing several publique persons since his landing in Newe England."
At the second meeting of the Court of Assistants, three of the magistrates were fined a noble apiece for being late at Court and three weeks later Sir Richard Saltonstall, because of absence, was fined four bushels of malt. It was at this Court that Thomas Morton was ordered "sett into the bilbowes" and afterwards sent prisoner into England by the ship called the Gifte. His goods were ordered seized and his house burnt to the ground "in the sight of the Indians for their satisfaction, for many wrongs he hath done them from time to time." Several towns were christened the names by which they are still known, and those who had ventured to plant themselves at Aggawam, now Ipswich, were commanded "forthwith to come away."
Aside from Morton's offences at Mount Wollaston, nothing of a criminal nature seems to have been brought to the attention of the Court until its third session on September 28th. To be sure the Governor had been consulted by the magistrates of the Colony at Plymouth concerning the fate of one John Billington of Plymouth who had murdered his companion John New-Comin. Billington was hanged, and "so the land was purged from blood."
Unless murder may have been committed at an earlier date by a member of some crew of unruly fishermen along the coast, this was the first murder committed in the English settlements about the Massachusetts Bay. But unfortunately it was not the last. Walter Bagnell's murder in 1632 was followed by that of John Hobbey and Mary Schooley in 1637, and the next year Dorothy, the wife of John Talbie, was hanged for the "unnatural and untimely death of her daughter Difficult Talby." The daughter's christian name at once suggests unending possibilities.
In the winter of 1646 a case of infanticide was discovered in Boston. A daughter of Richard Martin had come up from Casco Bay to enter into service. She concealed her condition well and only when accused by a prying midwife was search made and the fact discovered. She was brought before a jury and caused to touch the face of the murdered infant, whereupon the blood came fresh into it. She then confessed. Governor Winthrop relates that at her death, one morning in March, "after she was turned off and had hung a space, she spake, and asked what they did mean to do. Then some stepped up, and turned the knot of the rope backward, and then she soon died."
This curious "ordeal of touch" had also been applied the previous year at Agamenticus on the Maine Coast when the wife of one Cornish, whose bruised body had been found in the river, with her suspected paramour, was subjected to this supreme test. It is recorded that the body bled freely when they approached which caused her to confess not only murder but adultery, both of which crimes were punishable by death. She was hanged.
Probably the last instance in Massachusetts when this "ordeal of touch" was inflicted, occurred in a little old meetinghouse in the parish of West Boxford, in Essex County, one July day in the year 1769. The previous December, Jonathan Ames had married Ruth, the eldest daughter of the widow Ruth Perley. He took his bride to the house of his parents, some five miles distant, and lived there. As in some instances since that time, the mother-in-law soon proved to be not in full sympathy with the young bride living under her roof. In May a child was born and a few days after the young mother died under circumstances which caused suspicion in the neighborhood. The body was hastily buried, none of the neighbors were invited to be present, and soon, about the parish, were flying rumors, which a month later crystalized into a direct accusation and a coroner's inquest. It was held in the meetinghouse that formerly stood in the sandy pasture near the old cemetery. The Salem newspaper records that the building was "much thronged by a promiscuous multitude of people."
The court opened with prayer, the coroners then gave the jury "their solemn charge" and then the entire company proceeded, "with decency and good order," over the winding roadway up the hill to the burying ground, where for five weeks had lain the body of the young bride. During the exhumation the crowd surged around the grave so eagerly that they were only held in check by the promise that all should have an opportunity to inspect the remains. The autopsy at the meetinghouse resulted in a report from the jury that Ruth Ames "came to her death by Felony (that is to say by poison) given to her by a Person or Persons to us unknown which murder is against the Peace of our said Lord the King, his Crown and Dignity." When it was found that no sufficient evidence could be adduced to hold either the husband of the murdered girl, or his mother, then was demanded an exhibition of that almost forgotten "ordeal of touch." The body was laid upon a table with a sheet over it and Jonathan and his mother were invited to prove their innocence by this gruesome test. The superstition required the suspected party to touch the neck of the deceased with the index finger of the left hand. Blood would immediately follow the touch of the guilty hand, the whiteness of the sheet of course making it plainly visible. Both mother and son refused to accept the ordeal. Whether or no they believed in the superstition, we never shall learn. Fear may have held them motionless before the accusing eyes. Certainly the nervous tension at such a time must have been very great.
The Gazette states that the examination gave great occasion to conclude that they were concerned in the poisoning, and a week after the inquest they were arrested and confined in the ancient jail in Salem where the persons accused of witchcraft were imprisoned many years before. They were indicted and brought to trial. John Adams, afterwards President of the United States, then thirty-four years of age, was counsel for the accused. Jonathan Ames turned King's evidence against his mother. It was midnight before the counsel began their arguments and two of the three judges were explicit in summing up the evidence, that there was "a violent presumption" of guilt, but at nine o'clock in the morning the jury came in and rendered a verdict of "not guilty." May the result be attributed to John Adams's eloquence and logic or to the vagaries of our jury system?
But we are a long way from the third session of the Court of Assistants held September 28, 1630. Not until this time did the law begin to reach out for its victims. John Goulworth was ordered whipped and afterwards set in the stocks for felony, not named. One other was whipped for a like offence and two Salem men, one of whom has given us an honored line of descendants, were sentenced to sit in the stocks for four hours, for being accessory thereunto. Richard Clough's stock of strong water was ordered seized upon, because of his selling a great quantity thereof to servants, thereby causing much disorder. No person was to permit any Indian to use a gun under a penalty of £10. Indian corn must not be sold or traded with Indians or sent away without the limits of the Patent. Thomas Gray was enjoined to remove himself out of the Patent before the end of March, and the oath was administered to John Woodbury, the newly elected constable from Salem.
At the next session William Clark, who had been brought to book at a previous Court for overcharging Mr. Baker for cloth, now was prohibited cohabitation and frequent keeping company with Mrs. Freeman and accordingly was placed under bonds for a future appearance. Three years later this offender became one of the twelve who went to Agawam and founded the present town of Ipswich, and ten years later still another William Clark of Ipswich was sentenced to be whipped "for spying into the chamber of his master and mistress and reporting what he saw."
November 30, 1630, Sir Richard Saltonstall was fined £5, for whipping two persons without the presence of another assistant, as required by law; while Bartholomew Hill was whipped for stealing a loaf of bread, and John Baker suffered the same penalty for shooting at wild fowl on the Sabbath Day. And so continues the record of intermingled punishment and legislation.
The struggling communities that had planted themselves along the shores of the Massachusetts Bay largely had refused to conform to the rules and ordinances of the English Church. If the records of the Quarterly Courts are studied it will be seen that the settlers also failed to obey the rules and laws laid down by the magistrates of their own choosing. To be sure there were large numbers of indentured servants and the rough fishermen along the coastline have always been unruly. Much also may be attributed to the primitive and congested life in the new settlements. Simple houses of but few rooms and accommodating large families, surely are not conducive to gentle speech or modesty of manners nor to a strict morality. The craving desire for land holding, and the poorly defined and easily removed bounds naturally led to frequent actions for trespass, assault, defamation, slander and debt. The magistrates exercised unusual care in watching over the religious welfare of the people and in providing for the ministry. It has been stated frequently that in the olden times everyone went to church. The size of the meetinghouses, the isolated location of many of the houses, the necessary care of the numerous young children, and the interesting side lights on the manners of the times which appear in the court papers, all go to prove that the statement must not be taken literally. Absence from meeting, breaking the Sabbath, carrying a burden on the Lord's Day, condemning the church, condemning the ministry, scandalous falling out on the Lord's Day, slandering the church, and other misdemeanors of a similar character were frequent. A number of years before the Quakers appeared in the Colony it was no unusual matter for some one to disturb the congregation by public speeches either in opposition to the minister or to some one present. Zaccheus Gould, a very large landholder, in Topsfield, in the time of the singing the psalm one Sabbath afternoon sat himself down upon the end of the table about which the minister and the chief of the people sat, with his hat on his head and his back toward all the rest of them that sat about the table and although spoken to altered not his posture; and the following Sabbath after the congregation was dismissed he haranged the people and ended by calling goodman Cummings a "proud, probmatical, base, beggarly, pick thank fellow." Of course the matter was ventilated in the Salem Court.
At the February 29, 1648, session of the Salem Court eight cases were tried. A Gloucester man was fined for cursing, saying, "There are the brethren, the divil scald them." Four servants were fined for breaking the Sabbath by hunting and killing a raccoon in the time of the public exercise to the disturbance of the congregation. If the animal had taken to the deep woods instead of staying near the meetinghouse the servants might have had their fun without paying for it. A Marblehead man was fined for sailing his boat loaded with hay from Gloucester harbor, on the Lord's Day, when the people were going to the morning exercise. Nicholas Pinion, who worked at the Saugus Iron works, was presented for absence from meeting four Lord's Days together, spending his time drinking, and profanely; and Nicholas Russell of the same locality was fined for spending a great part of one Lord's day with Pinion in drinking strong water and cursing and swearing. He also had been spending much time with Pinion's wife, causing jealousy in the family; and the lady in question, having broken her bond for good behavior, was ordered to be severely whipped. The other cases were for swearing, in which the above named lady was included; for being disguised with drink; and for living from his wife. And so the Court ended.
A curious instance of Sabbath breaking occurred at Hampton in 1646. Aquila Chase and his wife and David Wheeler were presented at Ipswich Court for gathering peas on the Sabbath. They were admonished. The family tradition has it that Aquila returned from sea that morning and his wife, wishing to supply a delicacy for dinner, fell into grave error in thus pandering to his unsanctified appetite.
While we are discussing matters relating to the Sabbath and to the church it may be well to allude to the ministry. It has been shown that the first concern of the Court of Assistants was a provision for the housing and care of the ministry. Much the larger number were godly men actuated by a sincere desire to serve their people and to preserve their souls. But many of them were men, not saints, and so possessed of men's passions and weaknesses. While all exercised more or less influence over the communities in which they lived, yet the tangible result must have been negative in some instances. Take for example the small inland town of Topsfield, settled about 1639. Rev. William Knight rendered mission service for a short time early in the 40's and a dozen years later Rev. William Perkins moved into town from Gloucester. He had been one of the twelve who settled the town of Ipswich in 1633; afterwards he lived at Weymouth where he was selectman, representative to the General Court, captain of the local military company and also a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. He also was schoolmaster in 1650 and the next year appears at Gloucester as minister, from which place he soon drifted into Court. Cross suits for defamation and slander were soon followed by the presentment of Mrs. Holgrave for unbecoming speeches against Mr. Perkins, saying "if it were not for the law, shee would never come to the meeting, the teacher was so dead … affirming that the teacher was fitter to be a ladys chamberman, than to be in the pulpit."