WINIFRED BENHAM SENIOR and JUNIOR.  Wallingford, 1697.  Acquitted.

They were mother and daughter (twelve or thirteen years old), tried at
Hartford and acquitted in August, 1697; indicted on new complaints in
October, 1697, but the jury returned on the bill, “Ignoramus.” Records
Court of Assistants (1:  74, 77).

SARAH SPENCER.  Colchester, 1724.  Accused.  Damages 1s.

Even a certificate of the minister as to her religion and virtue, could not free Sarah from a reputation as a witch.  And when Elizabeth (and how many Connecticut witches bore that name) Ackley accused her of “riding and pinching,” and James Ackley, her husband, made threats, Sarah sued them for a fortune in those days, L500 damages, and got judgment for L5, with costs.  The Ackleys appealed, and at the trial the jury awarded Sarah damages of ls., and also stated that they found the Ackleys not insane—­a clear demonstration that the mental condition of witchcraft accusers was taken account of in the later and saner times.

NORTON.  Bristol, 1768.  Suspicioned.  No record.

“On the mountain,” probably Fall mountain in Bristol, the antics of a young woman named Norton, who accused her aunt of putting a bridle on her and driving her through the air to witch meetings in Albany, caused a commotion among the virtuous people.  Deacon Dutton’s ox was torn apart by an invisible agent, and unseen hands brought new ailments to the residents there, pinched them and stuck red hot pins into them.  Elder Wildman set out to exorcise the evil spirit, but became so terrorized that he called for help, and one of his posse of assistants was scared into convulsions.  This case may be counted among the last, perhaps the last traditions of the strange delusion which aforetime filled the hills and valleys of Quohnectacut with its baleful light. Memorial History Hartford County (2:  51).

ROLL OF NAMES

ALSE YOUNG 1647
MARY JOHNSON 1648
JOHN CARRINGTON 1650-51
JOAN CARRINGTON 1650-71
GOODY BASSETT 1651
GOODWIFE KNAPP 1653
LYDIA GILBERT 1654
ELIZABETH GODMAN 1655
NICHOLAS BAYLY 1655
GOODWIFE BAYLY 1655
WILLIAM MEAKER 1657
ELIZABETH GARLICK 1658
NICHOLAS JENNINGS 1661
MARGARET JENNINGS 1661
NATHANIEL GREENSMITH 1662
REBECCA GREENSMITH 1662
MARY SANFORD 1662
ANDREW SANFORD 1662
GOODY AYRES 1662
KATHERINE PALMER 1662
JUDITH VARLETT 1662
JAMES WALKLEY 1662
MARY BARNES 1662-63
ELIZABETH SEAGER 1666
KATHERINE HARRISON 1669