Aubrey Searle

Dr. Jenel Cope, History 1700

MWF 11:00 am- 12:00 pm
11/11/2016
Tituba: Witch or Pawn?
Tituba was a slave woman accused of witchcraft in Salem Village
Massachusetts in 1691. She confessed she practiced witchcraft, and set off a
chain reaction of accusations which resulted in over two hundred accused,
and twenty deaths. The deaths were results of execution, or poor living
conditions the accused were placed in. Why did Tituba make these false
accusations? I believe she was beaten by her owner who was the minister of
the village. Tituba had hoped that if she were to confess her abusers, and
oppressors would leave her be and overlook her. She had nothing these men
wanted except the confession they would beat and goad out of her. So she
gave it to them. The results were disastrous, families, friends, and neighbors
all turned against each other.
Tituba was a slave who worked for Samuel Parris in Salem Village
which is present day Danvers Massachusetts. She was born in an Arawak
village in South America, where she was captured as a child and sent to the
Barbados as a slave. This confuses scholars on her ethnicity a little bit. The
documents take to calling her Indian Woman Servant though many

scholars believe she was black. The Indian name may come from the fact
that she was married to another slave called John Indian. Parris bought
Tituba and moved her to Massachusetts where she would later be accused of
Witchcraft.
Tituba was accused of witchcraft after Sam Parriss daughter Betty, his
niece Abigail Williams, and other girls took sick. It is said that Sarah Good,
Tituba, and her husband John made a witch cake which was made from rye
flour, and the urine of the afflicted girls. They fed this cake to a dog in hopes
that the girls would get better, but their conditions only took a turn for the
worse. Tituba and Sarah Osborne were to be apprehended after being
accused of witchcraft by Thomas Putnam, Edward Putnam, Joseph
Hutcheson, and Thomas Preston on behalf of the afflicted girls who were too
young to testify.
The accusation by Thomas Putnam is extremely important. Thomas
was the father of Ann Putnam one of the afflicted girls, and he wrote all the
depositions for the afflicted girls. He is one of the most prolific accusers of
the Salem Witch Trials, and an advocate to continue trials while exerting his
influence over the courts. He accused and testified against forty-three
people. Putnam was one of the wealthy elite who lived in the village of
Salem, and many believe he used his status as a way to snuff out his rival
neighbors and enemies over land disputes.

The arrest warrant to apprehend Tituba and Sarah Osborne was written
by John Hathorne, and Jonathan Corwin. John Hathorne was a successful
merchant who owned most of Salem Village. He established himself as a man
of importance, and was appointed Justice of the Peace in Essex County.
Hathorne was to become chief examiner in the coming trials, and was good
friends with the accuser Thomas Putnam.
Jonathan Corwin was a wealthy merchant, a politician, and a
magistrate. He acted as a judge for the trials. It seems all of these powerful
men had come together to change the course of so many lives for the worse.
These men all seemed to have ulterior motives, and were all hungry for more
and more power. Tituba was to be a pawn on a chessboard.
The arrest warrant called on Constable Joseph Herrick to apprehend
Tituba and Sarah Osborne in the name of the King. Joseph was also to bring
in at the same tyme Eliz. parris Abigl Williams Anna Putnam and Eliz.
Hubert (Warrant vs. Tituba and Sarah Osborne). These were the afflicted
girls who accused the women of witchcraft. They could provide evidence
against the accused. Tituba was apprehended by Joseph Herrick on March 1.
1691. As stated in the officers return letter to Hathorne and Corwin.
Tituba initially did not confess to witchcraft but it is believed that, from
some of the other court documents that Tituba herself had said that Samuel
Parris beat a confession out of her. She confessed while being examined by
John Hathorne. The confession took place on the same day of her

apprehension on March 1. 1691 and was notarized by a clerk of the court

named Ezekiell Chevers.
In the examination Tituba made statements that by todays standards
seemed quite outlandish. She claimed The devil came and bid me serve
him (Examination of Tituba). She told them she conversed with the Devil,
and confessed to seeing Sarah Osborne, Sarah Good, and two other people
she didnt recognize. These two people were a tall blond man in dark
clothing, and a woman who wore white and black clothing, and had her hair
styled in a top knot.
Tituba confessed these people were agents of the devil and they had
forced her to do their bidding, all the while terrorizing Tituba and hurting the
afflicted children. Some of the outlandish claims Tituba made stated that
animal familiars worked with the accused servants of Satan and spoke to her.
Animals such as hogs, cats, wolves, and dogs were used to terrorize Tituba
and the afflicted the black dog said serve me but I said I am afraid he said
if I did not he would doe worse to me (Examination of Tituba) is one such
example of the animal familiars speaking to Tituba. She also claimed Sarah
Osborne transfigured into a creature with a head like a woman with 2 legs
and wings (Examination of Tituba). Tituba said that Abigail Williams herself
had seen the woman transform from this creature. When asked how they got
to place to place Tituba explained that they rode on sticks.

While these claims might be taken for madness today the villagers of
Salem Village took these accusations quite seriously. Life in Salem at the
precipice of the accusations was already pretty stressful. The English Crown
had implemented a strict government, and were afraid that the English was
attacking their religion and way of life. They had recently suffered a smallpox
epidemic, and were under the constant threat of attack by local native tribes.
Local families had turned into rivals, and enemies. All of these factors
played a pivotal role in the attitude the villagers of Salem had that the work
of Satan was already afoot. The people of Massachusetts were staunch
Puritans who believed in moral purity down to the smallest of things. They
were convinced that the devil had infiltrated Salem, and panic spread like
wildfire.
The wealthy elite who made up the courts, and the Putnam family took
advantage of the chaos fueling the flames. They reaped the benefits by
preying upon the weak and helpless. They could acquire the assets, and land
of the accused who had been executed or jailed and split the profits between
themselves.
Tituba having confessed was overlooked, as she must have surely
hoped for. Her accusations quieted any opposition that the devil had come to
Salem, and created a domino effect of death and heartbreak. That being
said, I do not believe the resulting death and chaos were her fault. From what
Ive learned of Tituba and the wealthy power hungry men of Salem, I believe

she was nothing put a pawn in the hands of men who wished to manipulate
her and make her bend in the direction they wanted. These men had an
agenda to acquire more wealth and power by taking advantage of a person
who was ultimately powerless, and the wary people of Salem themselves.
Tituba was jailed after she rescinded her confession, but she was never
taken to the gallows. She was released when the people of Salem realized
how horrific their behavior had become, and the monstrous things that they
had done. On the whole this didnt really affect the Colonies at the time it
took place, as news was slow to spread. Even if news of the trials had spread
I dont think anyone would object as settlers all over the colonies had the
same superstitious beliefs. Whats important is that Americans today can see
the harm done when people who are committed to a singular notion of good
believe they can snuff out evil, but instead commit evil themselves.

Works Cited:
Http://historyofmassachusetts.org/tituba-the-slave-of-salem/
Http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/texts/tei/swp?div_id=n125&print=yes
http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/people/tituba.html
http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/people?group.num=mb46
http://historyofmassachusetts.org/thomas-putnam-ringleader-of-the-salemwitch-hunt/