. Both Dorothy and her mother were accused of practicing witchcraft
in Salem at the very beginning of the Salem witch trials
in 1692. Only 4 1/2 years old at the time, she was interrogated by the local magistrates and confessed to being a witch and incriminated her mother. Dorothy was in custody for nearly 9 months, from March 24, 1692, when she was arrested until she was released on bond for £50 on December 10, 1692. She was never indicted or tried, although her imprisonment led to insanity, from which she later recovered.
Her examinations by the magistrates were conducted on March 24, 25, and 26, according to Rev. Deodat Lawson
:
The Magistrates and Ministers also did informe me, that they apprehended a child of Sarah G. and Examined it, being between 4 and 5 years of Age And as to matter of Fact, they did Unanimously affirm, that when this Child, did but cast its eye upon the afflicted persons, they were tormented, and they held her Head, and yet so many as her eye could fix upon were afflicted. Which they did several times make careful observation of : the afflicted complained, they had often been Bitten by this child, and produced the marks of a small set of teeth, accordingly, this was also committed to Salem Prison; the child looked hail, and well as other Children. I saw it at Lievt. Ingersols After the commitment of Goode. N. Tho: Putmans wife was much better, and had no violent fits at all from that 24th of March to the 5th of April. Some others also said they had not seen her so frequently appear to them, to hurt them....
On the 26th of March, Mr. Hathorne
John HathorneJohn Hathorne was an executor in the Salem witch trials, and the only one who never repented of his actions. He was also a merchant in Salem, Massachusetts....
, Mr. CorwinJonathan CorwinJonathan Corwin was a wealthy New England merchant, and a judge in the Salem, Massachusetts area who was involved in the Salem Witch Trials....
, and Mr. Higison were at the Prison-Keepers House, to Examine the Child, and it told them there, it had a little Snake that used to Suck on the lowest Joynt of it Fore-Finger ; and when they inquired where, pointing to other places, it told them, not there, but there, pointing on the Lowest point of the Fore-Finger ; where they Observed a deep Red Spot, about the Bigness of a Flea-bite
"Dorothy" v. "Dorcas"
Dorcas's first name was correctly written as "Dorcas" on the warrant for her arrest by Magistrate John Hathorneon March 23, 1692, but was incorrectly called "Dorothy" elsewhere in the legal records. Deodat Lawson's accounts of her examinations always mention her first name, but later writers, such as Charles W. Upham in his influential book Salem Witchcraft (1867), repeated the initial error and she has subsequently become known by the wrong name.
Fictional portrayals
- Earhart, Rose. Dorcas Good: The Diary of a Salem Witch. Pendleton Books, NY, 2000. ISBN 1-893221-02-4