The Torturer's Dilemma: Analyzing the Logic of Torture for Information

it was precisely in these terms that opponents of the trials such as Robert Calef had been arguing – that
the Salem trials resembled nothing so much as the dreaded witch-hunts of Europe. 56
Mather concluded his attack on the empirical foundations of the proceedings by stating in
startlingly strong terms that “[i]t were better that ten suspected witches should escape, than that one
innocent person should be condemned.” This statement inverted the accepted understanding of the
crisis: that the whole of society was so endangered by sorcery, by the vast witch conspiracy, that only
extraordinary measures could root out the infection, and to do less might be to allow the whole to
sicken and die. But Mather's arguments were not new – he had merely collected, argued, and given his
considerable imprimatur as the most respected minister on the continent to ideas that had circulated
(both in words and in print) for months. Nonetheless, with Mather now firmly against the trials (until
such time as passions could begin to cool) the authorities began to worry that they had innocent blood
on their hands.
Since the court of Oyer and Terminer had been adjourned until November, the elites had time to
consider how to proceed. The judges themselves were split on the issue: some, like William Stoughton,
were convinced that the conspiracy was real, and that delay could only allow the Devil to strengthen his
grip on the community; others, like Samuel Sewall (gripped with panic at his part in the proceedings)
and Nathaniel Saltonstall (who ended up resigning, and was himself accused) were certain that
something had gone horribly wrong. (Boyer and Nissenbaum, p. 32) On October 29 th , the Royal
Governor William Phips ordered the Court permanently adjourned – just three days before it was
scheduled to reconvene. (Roach, pp. 325-326) He may have been helped in his decision by rumors that
his own wife had been named a witch – and while this need not have meant an examination (much less
a trial), it must have given him clear evidence that rumors of witchcraft could attach to anyone, guilty
or innocent. (ibid. p. 304; Boyer and Nissenbaum, p. 32) In either case, Phips reported to the Clerk of
the Privy Council in London that “The Devil hath taken upon him the name and shape of several
persons who were doubtless innocent and to my certain knowledge of good reputation.” (Gragg, p. 176)
When special courts were ordered to reexamine the evidence against the accused – this time without the
acceptance of spectral testimony by the court – all of the remaining suspects were either acquitted or
pardoned over the next several months.
56 Interestingly, the states most brutally engaged in the anti-witch project tended to be just those enlightened Protestant
regimes that the Puritans sought to emulate – Spain, Portugal and the Italian statelets rarely engaged in the practice,
preferring instead to hunt heretics, with remarkably similar effects. (Golden, p. 413; Reuthven)
56