SOURCE: "Witchcraft, Alas!," in The Hawthornes, Columbia University Press, 1951, pp. 130-37.

Here, Loggins examines Hathorne's role in the Salem witchcraft trials and contends that, although Hathorne was involved in the preliminary hearings, he was not active in the sentencing of the accused.

On at least one occasion Mr. Hathorne himself, in order to bring about an identification, resorted to magic. Certain afflicted girls and women were having difficulty in pointing out a man they were charging of wizardry. Mr. Hathorne ordered all to move into the yard in front of the meetinghouse. A great circle was drawn on the ground, and it was no sooner completed than one of the girls, in a trance, cried, "There's John Alden, a bold fellow, with his hat on before the judges! He sells powder and shot to the Indians and French, and lies with the Indian squaws, and has papooses!" Mr...