William Penn presided over Pennsylvania’s one and only witch trial on this week in Philly history
Neighbors accused Margaret Mattson of putting a hex on cattle, which had not been giving milk.
Pennsylvania’s one and only witch trial started over cow’s milk.
“If your cow is not giving milk, it’s obvious that somebody put a hex on it,” Doug Miller, who runs William Penn’s estate Pennsbury Manor, said to explain the thinking of the time.
In the 1680s, neighbors accused Margaret Mattson, who was of northern European descent and didn’t speak English, of putting a hex on local people.
Although Pennsylvania was William Penn’s colony, it was still part of England. And in English rule, witchcraft was a capital offense.
Witch trials had been held throughout England and elsewhere in Europe, but only a few had been held in the colonies. And this would be the first in Pennsylvania.
On Feb. 27, 1684, William Penn himself presided over the witch trial in Philadelphia.
He arranged for a prominent citizen, Lasse Cocke, who was also Penn’s chief negotiator with the Lenni-Lenape, to act as an interpreter.
Three witnesses testified that Mattson had cast a spell over her neighbor’s cattle, which had not been giving milk. Over a daylong trial in Philadelphia, a jury ultimately found Mattson guilty of having “the common fame of a witch, but not guilty in the manner in form that she stands indicted.”
So, yes, she had the reputation of being a witch, but there was no evidence she participated in any witchcraft.
“This was a crafty way on his part to avoid harsh punishment for her and any hint of a death penalty under English law,” Miller said.
Mattson and a co-defendant, Yesro Hendricksen, whom we don’t know much about, were each fined 50 pounds, which was a chunk of change back then, Miller said.
Quakers at this time would expect the person to put forth a bond similar to bail today.
It was called a peace bond, and it was good for six months.
Eight years later, witch hysteria would hit Salem, Mass., and kick off the infamous witch trials.
“The fact that he really didn’t want to encourage the idea that there were witches,” Miller said, “or inflict a penalty on somebody he felt was not guilty of what she was accused, speaks highly of Penn.”