following day. The
friend appears to have been an enemy in disguise, and, turning to
Margaret, told her that if she talked that way she would herself be
tried as a witch. As an evidence of how vindictive justice was at this
time, the poor girl was arrested by the sheriff on the following day, in
the name of the King and Queen, on a charge of witchcraft. The young
girl was led through the streets and jeered at by the crowd. Arrived at
the court, her alleged friend gave a variety of testimony against her.
The usual stories about aches and pains were of course told. Some other
details were added. Thus, Margaret by looking at a number of hens had
killed them. She had also been seen running around at night in spectral
attire. The poor girl fainted in the dock, and this was regarded as a
chastisement from above, and as direct evidence of her guilt. She was
removed to the jail, where she had to lie on a hard bench, only to be
dragged back into court the following day, to be asked a number of
outrageous questions.

With sobs she protested her innocence, but as she did so, the witnesses
against her called out that they were in torment, and that the very
motion of the girl's lips caused them terrible pain. She was sentenced
to be hanged with eight other alleged witches two days later, and was
carried back, fainting, to her cell. In a few minutes the girl was
delirious, and began to talk about her lover, and of her future
prospects. Even her sister was not allowed to remain with her during the
night, and the frail young creature was left to the tender mercies of
heartless jailors.

A few hours before the time set for execution, young Orcutt sailed into
the harbor, and before daybreak he was at the house. Here he learned for
the first time the awful calamity which had befallen his sweetheart in
his absence. At 7 o'clock he was allowed to enter the jail, with the
convicted girl's sister. At the prison door they were informed that the
wicked girl had died during the night. Knowing that there was no hope
under any circumstances of the sentence being remitted, the bereaved
ones regarded the news as good, and although they broke down with grief
at the shipwreck of their lives, they both realized that, to use the
devout words of the victim's sister, "The Lord had delivered her from
the hands of her enemies."

The record of brutality in connection with the witch agitation might be
continued almost without limit, for the number of victi