May 25, 1647.Gov. John Winthrop Recorded the First Execution for Witchcraft in the New World: [           ] of Windsor, Connecticut
       

Your death, your town of Windsor were noted
but not your name. [           ], you were hung
in Hartford for having consulteth with a familiar

spirit and developing a relationship with Satan.
Stripped of your name, your clothing, dread
must have pulsed within you. Searched for signs

of the devil, there was no mark that would not
bleed when pricked, or blue and red spots
like a flea biting or flesh sunken into a hollow.

Finding nothing, judges were persuaded you had
covered them but in time they would come again.
[           ], sitting through sermons peppered with

Hell's abyss, you had always feared for your future.
Long days came to a close, putting your face against
muslin of your pillow, did you imagine being put

on trial, accused as no one had ever been? Did you
feel breathing grow difficult, your spirit slowly
compressing? [           ], you knew there were

no witches —but with red hot irons, scalding water,
you were certain you'd be compelled to believe..
The name passed doorstep to doorstep was [           ]

when goats were lost to wolves, crops to floods
along the Connecticut River. 1647, influenza and
smallpox, dozens of deaths were laid at your feet.

[           ], why didn't your husband protest?
Owner of land in Windsor, could it be he believed
there was no way to predict who would become

a witch, was reminded that you would not cleave
through thicket and vine to forage for medicinal
teas with the other women. The gallows were near

Hartford's Old State House; everyone could see.
After you were cut down and carted away, [           ],
to hold in their fear, women closed ranks, walked

close together, tried to outdo one another, quoting
verses from the Bible: Thou shalt not suffer a witch
to live. Exodus (22:18) Even when your daughter,

Alice Young Beamon, was accused of witchcraft
30 years later in Springfield MA, you were not
named. For almost 250 years, you were [           ].

By 1891, discovery of the diary of Matthew Grant,
Windsor Town Clerk, unearthed an entry dated
May 25, 1647, that filled in the blank: [Alyse Younges].

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from Connecticut River Review
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