18 Fithian, Journal and Letters, 38 (13 Dec. 1773); 220 (12 Aug. 1774).
19Ibid., 10 July 1774.
1 In 1659, an “old woman” named Katharine Grady was accused of witchcraft and summarily hanged from a yardarm on board an immigrant ship bound for Virginia. The authorities in the colony, far from approving the action, hauled the captain into court to answer for the affair. Bruce, Institutional History of Virginia, I, 280-81.
2 Judicial punishment for witchcraft was not unknown in Virginia. In 1655, a case appeared in the prosecution of William Harding of Northumberland County, by a clergyman recently arrived from Scotland. Harding was found guilty of sorcery by a jury and sentenced to banishment. Bruce concludes that “whilst accusations of witchcraft brought into court for investigation were numerous enough, there seems to have been little disposition on the part of justices or juries to affirm them by a favorable judgment or verdict.” Many defamation suits, however, were brought successfully by people denounced for witchcraft. For a review of the evidence, see Bruce, Institutional History of Virginia, I, 276-89.