National Affairs: Susannah & the Elders

Susannah Martin, the Salem fathers believed, was every inch a witch. She sent the devil into cattle, raised phantom puppies and came into the house dry out of a drenching rainstorm. She was therefore hanged on Gallows Hill in 1692, the year of the great Salem witch trials.

Last week, acting on the petition presented by a descendant of Ann Greenslade Pudeator, another victim of Salem's witch-hunting elders, the Massachusetts House of Representatives approved a bill reversing the convictions of Ann, Susannah and four other women—Bridget Bishop, Alice Parker, Margaret Scott, Wilmot Reed—who were hanged for witchcraft.