h prediction it is said in Salem,
came true--Master Noyes dying of an internal hemorrhage bleeding
profusely at the mouth.

It was not a scene that men of sound and kindly hearts would wish to
witness; and yet Joseph Putnam and Ellis Raymond felt drawn to it by an
irresistible sense of duty. Hard, indeed, it was for Master Raymond; for
the necessity of the case compelled him to suppress all show of sympathy
with the sufferer, in order that he might more effectually carry out his
plans for Dulcibel's escape from the similar penalty that menaced her.
And he, therefore, could not even ride around like Master Putnam, with a
frowning face, uttering occasional emphatic expressions of his
indignation and horror, that the crowd would probably not have endured
from any one else.

There were some incidents that were especially noticeable. Samuel
Wardwell had "confessed" in his fear, but subsequently taken back his
false confession, and met his death. While he was speaking at the foot
of the gallows declaring his innocence, the tobacco smoke from the pipe
of the executioner, blew into his face and interrupted him.

Then one of the accusing girls laughed out, and said that "the Devil did
hinder him," but Joseph Putnam cried, "If the Devil does hinder him,
then it is good proof that he is not one of his." At which some few of
the crowd applauded; while others said that Master Putnam himself was no
better than he ought to be.

The Reverend Master Burroughs, when upon the ladder, addressing the
crowd, asserted earnestly his entire innocence. Such was the effect of
his words that Master Raymond even hoped that an effort would be made to
rescue him. But one of the "afflicted girls" cried out, "See! there
stands the black man in the air at his side."

Then another said, "The black man is telling him what to say."

But Master Burroughs answered: "Then I will repeat the Lord's prayer.
Would the Devil tell me to say that?"

But when he had ended, Master Cotton Mather, who was riding around on
his horse, said to the people that "the Devil often transformed himself
into an angel of light; and that Master Burroughs was not a rightly
ordained minister;" and the executioner at a sign from the official, cut
the matter short by turning off the condemned man.

Rebecca Nurse and the other women, with the exception of their last
short prayers, said nothing--submitting quietly and composedly to their
legal murder. And before the close of one