Diary of Urban Dweller

From the Diary of Mr. Praisegod Romney, Merchant of Boston, November 1688.

Today, I witnessed the hanging of the Irish witch, Goodwife Ann Glover, and it inspired in me a desire for closer-self-examination and reflection on my relationship with God, my family and the community of saints here in New England. Goodwife Glover was a woman with an evil reputation who had been sold into slavery in the West Indies with her husband, and he had been put to death there for refusing to renounce his Catholic faith, which of course is all Papist superstition and idolatry. She was accused of bewitching the family of Mr. John Goodwin of Boston, a sober and well-respected citizen of this city, after she and her daughter had been caught stealing from the household. She spoke English only poorly, and out of stubbornness persisted in using the native Irish language,...
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