Never too late for a pardon.
More than three centuries after a woman in the US was wrongly convicted of witchcraft and sentenced to death, she is finally on the verge of being exonerated – thanks to a class of curious school pupils.
State senator Diana DiZoglio, a Democrat from Methuen, Massachusetts, has introduced legislation to clear the name of Elizabeth Johnson Jr, who was condemned in 1693 at the height of the Salem Witch Trials but never executed. Ms DiZoglio said she was inspired by sleuthing done by a group of 13 and 14-year-olds at North Andover Middle School. Civics teacher Carrie LaPierre’s students painstakingly researched Johnson and the steps that would need to be taken to make sure she was formally pardoned.
If legislators approve the measure, Johnson will be the last accused witch to be cleared, according to Witches of Massachusetts Bay, a group devoted to the history and lore of the 17th-century witch hunts.
Twenty people from Salem and neighbouring towns were killed and hundreds of others accused during a frenzy of Puritan injustice that began in 1692, stoked by superstition, fear of disease and strangers, scapegoating and petty jealousies. Nineteen were hanged, and one man was crushed to death by rocks.
In the 328 years that have ensued, dozens of suspects were officially cleared, including Johnson’s own mother, the daughter of a minister whose conviction was eventually reversed.
But for some reason, Johnson’s name was not included in various legislative attempts to set the record straight.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/world/arid-40362269.html