Salem Witch Trials
Salem, MA, 17th century
S. Sewall Court Document Involving Three Participants in Salem Witch Trials
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[WITCHCRAFT.] Stephen Sewall, Autograph Document Signed, Writ of Attachment in March v. Arnold, September 10, 1698, Salem, Massachusetts. Includes Sheriff?s Return on verso, September 13, 1698. 2 pp., 7.625" x 6.25".

This ordinary writ of attachment from the debt case of John March against John Arnold becomes remarkable because it involves three men who played roles in the Salem witch trials of 1692. It is written and signed by Stephen Sewall, who served as the clerk for the Court of Oyer and Terminer that conducted the trials. The defendant in the case is John Arnold, who as a jailer in Boston, released one of the accused women based on a forged order and lost his job because of it. The document is witnessed by William Brown, whose testimony six years earlier about Susannah Martin?s responsibility for his wife?s insanity sent Martin to the gallows as a witch.

Complete Transcript
William the Third by the Gra[ce of Go]d King of England Scotland ffrance and Ireland, Defendr of the [Faith &]ca
To our sheriff of our Coun[ty of] Suffolk or Undersheriff or Deputy Greeting
Wee Command you to Attach [the] Goods or Estate of John Arnold of Boston In New England Anchor-Smith [to?] the Value of five pounds money and for want thereof to take the body of sd John Arnold (If he may be bound in your precinct) and him safely keep [so?] that you have him before our Justices at our next Inferior Court of Comon Pleas to be holden at Newberry for our sd County of Essex on the last Tuesday of Septembr Instant then and there to Answer to Major John March of Newberry in New England In An Action of Debt for the nonpaymt of four pounds money justly due unto ye Plt for two thousand of boards which the sd John Arnold bought of the Plt & were received by him the sd John Arnold Some time in the latter End of June or beginning of July last past being then delivered unto him by One James Webber Sloop-man On the Account And by the Order of the Plt for which sd two thousand of boards the sd John Arnold was to pay unto the Plt the sd Sume of four pounds upon demand; Nevertheless the aforesd John Arnold (tho often therto requested) unto the Plt Aforesd as yet hath not paid but hitherto hath denyed & still denyeth to pay unto him Major John March the Sume of five pounds, as Shall then and there appear with other due damages & have you there this Writt, with your doings therein. Witness William Brown Esqr At Salem this tenth day of September in the tenth year of our Reigne Annoq Domi 1698.
Steph. Sewall / M.

[Sheriff?s Return:]
Suffolk Ss September 13 1698
By virtue of this precept to Me Directed I Attached a New House wth ye Land And [warfe?] thereunto belonging Standing and being at the Southerly End of Boston in the County aforesd wh was the Estate of ye within mentioned [?] John Arnold and I Left a Sumons the Same day at ye place of Said Arnolds usuall abode
Samll Gookin Sherrife

Historical Background
Between February 1692 and May 1693, more than two hundred people in Salem Village [modern Danvers], Andover, Topsfield, and other neighboring towns in Massachusetts Bay Colony were accused of practicing witchcraft. Trials were held for this capital crime in a Court of Oyer and Terminer in 1692 and in a Superior Court of Judicature in 1693. Ultimately, the courts found thirty people guilty, and nineteen of them were executed by hanging between June 10 and September 22, 1692. Another man, 81-year-old Giles Coney, died under torture, after refusing to enter a plea, and five others died while in jail.

The entire event is one of America?s most notorious cases of mass hysteria. The earliest accusations were by teenage girls, who were allegedly afflicted with unexplained fits. The first three persons accused and arrested were socially marginal women, one of whom was an enslaved West Indian woman named Tituba. The accusations soon grew to include more women, men, and even children, some of whom were church members in good standing.

By 1693, the mass hysteria had lessened, and although more than two dozen more people were tried, only three were found guilty, and Governor William Phips pardoned them, sparing their lives. In January 1697, one of the judges, Samuel Sewall, issued a public apology, as did several of the trial jurors. Over the next two decades, the colonial government reversed the judgments against nearly two dozen of the accused, and some local churches reversed the excommunications of some who had been accused. Over the next three centuries, various petitions led to the exoneration of additional persons who had been accused or convicted and executed. The last conviction was finally reversed in 2022 by the Massachusetts Senate.

Stephen Sewall (1657-1725) was born in Baddesley, Hampshire, England, and moved with his family to Newbury, Massachusetts. He was the younger brother of Salem witchcraft trial judge Samuel Sewall (1652-1730). He attended Harvard College but did not graduate. In 1682, he married Margaret Mitchell and settled in Salem, where they had seventeen children. He served in the military during the Bay Colony?s wars with Native Americans and held several court offices, including register of probate, register of deeds, and clerk of courts. During the witchcraft hysteria of 1692, Sewall served as clerk of the Court of Oyer and Terminer, which had been convened to address charges of witchcraft and for which his brother Samuel Sewall was one of the nine judges. Stephen Sewall and his wife harbored one of the afflicted girls, who ceased to report fits under their care. He later served as a member of a committee to recommend compensation for the victims? families and was appointed to distribute compensation, all of which he did without pay. He also participated in the capture of convicted pirate John Quelch and several of his crew in 1704.

John Arnold (1655-1725) was born in Braintree, Massachusetts Bay Colony, and became a blacksmith. He served as a militia member in Weymouth and was also a prison keeper for Boston. During the period of the Salem witchcraft hysteria, he served as a jailer for at least four women accused of witchcraft. One of these he freed on a forged order of release and was discharged from his position. In 1700, he moved to New London, Connecticut, where he worked as an anchor smith.

John March (1659-1712) was in Newbury, Massachusetts, where he became an innkeeper, ferry operator, and ship-builder. He served in the Massachusetts Bay militia and was involved in several military operations against the French and their Native American allies in King William?s War (1688-1697) and Queen Anne?s War (1702-1713). In 1702, he moved with his family to the frontier at what is now Portland, Maine. A year later, he was wounded and lost most of his property to a raid, but he commanded the fort there until 1707. He eventually rose to the rank of colonel in the militia, though he nearly faced a court martial for cowardice for his behavior in a 1707 expedition against the French in Nova Scotia.

Samuel Gookin (1652-1730) was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and served as sheriff of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, from 1692 to 1702.

William Brown (bef. 1615-1706) was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, and migrated to New England in the 1630s. He and his family settled in Salisbury, Massachusetts. He married Elizabeth Murford in 1645, and they had at least six children. In May 1692, he testified in the witchcraft trial of Susannah North Martin (1621-1692) and attributed his wife?s insanity to Martin?s actions around 1660. Based on this testimony and that of others, Susannah Martin was convicted and executed as a witch.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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7.625" x 6.25"