BEVERIDGE IN HOT WATER OVER
TALK OF WITCHES.
Senator Beveridge’s Speech Arouses
Bitter Storm of Protest from
Historical Societies.
(The Tampa Tribune.)
Boston, Mass. —Salemites, who adore
accuracy of tradition above all
other earthly things, and who adore
the portraits of their ancestors as the
Incas did the rays of the sun, have
been lashed into a very frenzy of in
dignation against Senator Beveridge
in particular, and the rest of the world
in general, over what they declare to
be “an impious calumny” cast upon
the memory of the early settlers of
their community.
Senator Albert J. Beveridge, of In
diana, has dared proclaim that the
Puritan forefathers of the Witch
City wantonly burned the victims of
witchcraft there and so it is written
in the shadowry history of the col
onies.
In Salem indignant historical soci
eties and learned historians who have
spent years in gathering facts relat
ing to the details of the witchcraft
obsession declare that Senator Bev
eridge’s misstatement is the straw that
has broken the camel’s back; that the
fair name of Salem has been slander
ed long enough and that a movement
will now be organized to give nation
al publicity to truth about that lamen
table chapter of witchcraft.
Only Hanged Them.
That their misguided ancestors
hanged witches and did not burn them
is insisted upon by history reverenc
ing Salemites.
It is declared that even the cold,
superstitious hearts of the Puritans
forebore resorting to this last cruel
ty, as being contrary to their pious
beliefs.
