AN
ANSWER
OF
A LETTER FROM A GENTLEMAN IN FIFE, &c.
MY LORD,
I reckon myself very much honoured by your Lordship"s letter, desiring me to write you an account of that horrible murder committed in Pittenweem. I doubt not, but by this time, your Lordship has seen the gentleman"s letter to his friend thereanent; I refer you to it, the author thereof being so well informed, and so ingenous, that I"ll a.s.sure you, there is nothing in it but what is generally talked and believed to be true.
All I can contribute to your Lordship"s further information, shall be by way of a brief narrative of the minister and baillies unwarrantable imprisoning, and barbarous treating of the poor women.
I need not write your Lordship a character of Patrick Morton, being now sufficiently known for a cheat.
It was upon his accusation allennarly the minister and baillies imprisoned these poor women, and set a guard of drunken fellows about them, who by pinching and p.r.i.c.king some of them with pins and elsions, kept them from sleep for several days and nights together, the marks whereof were seen by severals a month thereafter. This cruel usage made some of them learn to be so wise as acknowledge every question that was asked them; whereby they found the minister and baillies well pleased, and themselves better treated.
Notwithstanding of all this, some of the more foolish continued, as the minister said, hardened in the devil"s service, such as White, Jack, Wallace, Patrick, and others; all which, save the first, were ordered to the stocks, where they lay for several weeks.
All this while Patrick Morton"s melancholly fancy (to give it no harsher term), being too much encouraged by severals, and particularly by the minister"s reading to him the case of Barrgarran"s daughter, continued roving after a wonderful manner, accusing for his tormentors some of the most considerable mens" wives in the town, but such as the minister and baillies durst not venture to imprison.--By this your Lordship may see, it was only the weakest that went to the walls.
My Lord Rothes, accompanied with several gentlemen of good sense and reputation, came to Pittenweem, where finding these poor womens"
confessions no wise satisfying, and Patrick Morton a cheat, informed the privy council thereof, who sent an order to send Patrick over to them. This turn being given, and Patrick finding that things were not likely to go so favourably with him as he before fancied, began to draw to his breeches, and in a short time recovered his former health, in which he still continues. By this time the baillies began to be as earnest in emptying their prisons, as ever they were forward in filling them; so after a long and serious deliberation, they set them at liberty: but that their last step might be as illegal as their first, obliged each of them to pay the town-officer the sum of 8 lib. Scots; to pay which, some of them were forced to sell some linnen they had reserved for their dead shirts and wynding sheets.
I beg your Lordship"s further patience a little to read these few following observations: _Obs. 1st_, The baillies and minister sent and brought several of these women from places without their jurisdiction--one from Anstruther, and another from the country at six miles distance.
_Obs. 2d_, What good could the minister propose to Patrick Morton by reading to him the book int.i.tuled the case of Barrgarran"s daughter?
_Obs. 3d_, After so much injustice done to these poor women, the baillies and minister obliged them to pay the town-officer eight pound Scots, is worthy of your Lordship and the rest of the Lords of the privy council"s considerations; and it would be the height of charity to fall on a method to oblige the minister and baillies to refound it seven-fold.
_Obs. 4th_, One Thomas Brown, the only man accused by Patrick Morton, and imprisoned by the minister and baillies, after a great deal of hunger and hardship, died in prison, so as this poor woman"s murder was not the first, neither will it be the last, unless by severe punishments prevented.
_Obs. 5th_, The baillies in a manner justified these two murthers, by not allowing them Christian burial, but burying them like dogs, scarce covering them from the ravens.
_Obs. 6th_, You may wonder why all along I should say the minister and baillies? The reason is, because during all this narrative he exercised more of the civil authority than any of the baillies, and so continues to do, as you may see by the following late instance.
The baillies of Pittenweem being conveened before the Lords of Privy Council on the 14th or 15th of February, I am informed gave in to them a subscribed account of the murther; and to justify themselves, a.s.sert they had imprisoned several of the murtherers before they left Pittenweem. It is very true they did so, but they were not long from the town when the minister set them at liberty. This, I think, is exercising the office of a civil magistrate: perhaps the minister may say he did it by the magistrates" order left behind them; then I think the magistrates were mightily in the wrong to give in to the Lords of the privy council an account they knew to be false.
My Lord, this is not the tenth part of what may be said upon this subject, I hope some other person will be more particular.
I am, My LORD, Your Lordship"s Most humble servant.
AN
ACCOUNT
OF AN
HORRID AND BARBAROUS MURDER,
IN A
_Letter from a Gentleman in Fife to his Friend in Edinburgh_.
I doubt not of your being exceedingly surprized with this short and just account I give you of a most barbarous murder committed in Pittenweem the 30th of January last. One Peter Morton, a blacksmith in that town, after a long sickness, pretended that witches were tormenting him--that he did see them and know them--and, from time to time, as he declared such and such women to be witches, they were by order of the magistrates and minister of Pittenweem, apprehended as such, to a very considerable number, and put into prison. This man, by his odd postures and fits, which seemed to be very surprizing at first, wrought himself into such a credit with the people of that place, that unless the Earl of Rothes, our sheriff, had discovered his villany, and discouraged that practice, G.o.d knows how fatal it might have proved to many honest families of good credit and respect. Sir, however, at first many were deceived, yet now all men of sense are ashamed for giving any credit to such a person; but how hard it is to root out bad principles once espoused by the rabble, and how dangerous a thing it is to be at their mercy, will appear by the tragical account I give you of one of these poor women, Janet Corphat.
After she was committed prisoner to the tolbooth, upon a suspicion of her being a witch, she was well guarded with a number of men, who, by pinching her, and p.r.i.c.king her with pins, kept her from sleep many days and nights, threatening her with present death, unless she would confess herself guilty of witchcraft; which at last she did. This report spreading abroad, made people curious to converse with her upon the subject, who found themselves exceedingly disappointed. The Viscount of Primrose being in Fife occasionally, inclined to satisfy his curiosity in this matter, the Earl of Kellie, my Lord Lyon, the Laird of Scotstarvat, and the Laird of Randerston, were with his Lordship in Pittenweem. Three of the number went to the tolbooth and discoursed with her, to whom she said, that all that she had confessed, either of herself or her neighbours, were lies, and cried out, _G.o.d forgive the minister_, and said, that he had beat her one day with his staff when she was telling him the truth. They asked her how she came to say any thing that was not true; she cryed out, _alas, alas, I behoved to say so, to please the minister and baillies_; and, in the mean time, she begged for Christ"s sake not to tell that she had said so, else she would be murdered. Another time, when the Laird of Glenagies and Mr Bruce of Kinross, were telling her, she needed not deny what they were asking her, for she had confessed as much as would infallibly burn her; she cried out, _G.o.d forbid!_ and to one of the two she said, that from which he might rationally conclude, she insinuate she had a.s.surance from the minister her life should not be taken.
A little before harvest, Mr Ker of Kippilaw, a writer to the signet, being in Pittenweem, Mr Robert Cook, advocate, went with him to prison to see this poor woman; Mr Cook, among other questions, asked her, if she had not renounced her baptism to the devil; she answered, she never renounced her baptism but to the minister. These were her words, what she meant by them I know not. The minister having got account of this from Mr Cook, he sent for her, and in presence of Mr Cook and Mr Ker in the church, he threatened her very severely, and commanded the keeper to put her into some prison by herself under the steeple, least (as he said) she should pervert those who had confessed. The keeper put her into a prison in which was a low window, out of which it was obvious that any body could make an escape; and, accordingly, she made her escape that night.
Next day when they missed her, they made a very slight search for her, and promised ten pound Scots to any body that would bring her back. Mr Gordon, minister at Leuchars, hearing she was in his parish, eight miles distant from Pittenweem, caused apprehend her, and sent her prisoner, under custody of two men, on the 30th of January, to Mr Cowper, minister of Pittenweem, without giving any notice to the magistrates of the place. When she came to Mr Cowper, she asked him if he had any thing to say to her? he answered, No. She could get lodging in no house but with one Nicolas Lawson, one of the women that had been called witches.--Some say a baillie put her there.
The rabble hearing she was in town, went to Mr Cowper, and asked him what they should do with her? he told them he was not concerned, they might do what they pleased with her. They took encouragement from this to fall upon the poor woman, those of the minister"s family going along with them, as I hear; they fell upon the poor creature immediately, and beat her unmercifully, tying her so hard with a rope, that she was almost strangled; they dragged her through the streets, and alongst the sh.o.r.e, by the heels. A baillie, hearing of a rabble near his stair, came out upon them, which made them immediately disappear. But the magistrates, though met together, not taking care to put her into close custody for her safety, the rabble gathered again immediately, and stretched a rope betwixt a ship and the sh.o.r.e, to a great height, to which they tied her fast; after which they swinged her to and fro, from one side to another, in the mean time throwing stones at her from all corners, until they were weary; then they loosed her, and with a mighty swing threw her upon the hard sands, all about being ready in the mean time to receive her with stones and staves, with which they beat her most cruelly.
Her daughter, in the time of her mother"s agony, though she knew of it, durst not adventure to appear, lest the rabble had used her after the same manner, being in a house, in great concern and terror, out of natural affection for her mother, (about which the author was misinformed in the first edition.) They laid a heavy door upon her, with which they prest her so sore, that she cried out, to let her up for Christ"s sake, and she would tell the truth. But when they did let her up, what she said could not satisfy them, and therefore, they again laid on the door, and with a heavy weight of stones on it, prest her to death; and to be sure it was so, they called a man with a horse and a sledge, and made him drive over her corpse backward and forward several times. When they were sure she was killed outright, they dragged her miserable carcase to Nicolas Lawson"s house, where they first found her.
There was a motion made to treat Nicolas Lawson after the same manner immediately; but some of them being wearied with three hours sport, as they called it, said it would be better to delay her for another day"s divertis.e.m.e.nt; and so they all went off.
It is said that Mr Cowper, in a letter to Mr Gordon, gave some rise to all this; and Mr Cowper, to vindicate himself, wrote to Mr Gordon, whose return says, if he were not going to Edinburgh, he would give him a double of his letter. It"s strange he sent him not the princ.i.p.al. In the postscript, he a.s.sures him, he shall conceal it to meeting.
"Tis certain, that Mr Cowper, preaching the Lord"s day immediately after, in Pittenweem, took no notice of the murder, which at least makes him guilty of sinful silence. Neither did Mr Gordon, in his letter to Mr Cowper, make any regret for it; and this some construe to be a justifying of the horrid wickedness in both.
We are perswaded the government will examine this affair to the bottom, and lay little stress upon what the magistrates or minister of Pittenweem will say to smooth over the matter, seeing it"s very well known, that either of them could have quashed the rabble, and prevented that murder, if they had appeared zealous against it.
I am sorry I have no better news to tell you, G.o.d deliver us from those principles that tend to such practices.
I am, SIR, Your humble servant.
A
JUST REPROOF
TO THE
FALSE REPORTS and UNJUST CALUMNIES,
IN THE
_FOREGOING LETTERS._