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"It was in 1656 that another victim of
the [witch] delusion was claimed by the Boston gallows.
What the testimony [was] against Anne Hibbins we do not know; yet we may rest assured it was only on a par with
that which sent
Margaret
Jones to [her] death.
Anne Hibbins was a Bostonian, widow
of William Hibbins, who had been a prominent man of the town, a magistrate,
and, by an earlier marriage, a brother-in-law to [Governor] Richard
Bellingham, who now sat in judgment upon his widow.
She had been arrested probably in
late 1655, tried and indicted by a Grand Jury. And in May of next year her
case came for final judgment before the General Court of the colony, in
session at Boston.
"Mrs. Hibbins was called forth,"
says the scant and only record in the case, "appeared before the bar; the
indictment against her was read, to which she answered not guilty, & was
willing to be tried by God and this Court.
"The evidences against her was read,
the parties witnessing being present, her answers considered on, and the
whole Court, being met together, by their vote, determined that Mrs. Anne
Hibbins is guilty of witchcraft, according to the bill of indictment found
against her by the jury of life & death.
"The Governor in open Court
pronounced sentence accordingly, declaring she was to go from the bar to
the place from whence she came, & from thence to the place of execution, &
there to hang till she was dead."
And immediately following is this:
"It is ordered, that warrant shall
issue out from the secretary to the marshal general for the execution of
Mrs. Anne Hibbins on the 5th day next come fortnight, presently after the
lecture at Boston, being the [29th] of June next, the marshal general
taking with him a sufficient guard."
So, with the townsfolk, just out
from Thursday lecture in the meetinghouse, crowding around, the grim tragedy
is enacted. Anne Hibbins, twice a widow, the mother of three grown sons back
in England, is led by the guard up the long street [Washington Street] that
runs out to Roxbury. Near where [East Berkeley Street] now crosses, the
dismal procession turns into the fields of a knoll, where the gallows-tree
stands.
And when the scene is done, and the
lifeless body cut down, the good people go their way, giving thanks
that the witch is dead and that the menace is removed from the town. |
