The Wessaguscus Hanging
: TALES OF PURITAN LAND: Myths And Legends Of Our Own Land
Among the Puritans who settled in Wessaguscus, now Weymouth,
Massachusetts, was a brash young fellow, of remarkable size and strength,
who, roaming the woods one day, came on a store of corn concealed in the
ground, in the fashion of the Indians. As anybody might have done, he
filled his hat from the granary and went his way. When the red man who
had dug the pit came back to it he saw that his cache had been levied on,
the colonists and demanded justice. The matter could have been settled by
giving a pennyworth of trinkets to the Indian, but, as the moral law had
been broken, the Puritans deemed it right that the pilferer should
suffer.
They held a court and a proposition was made and seriously considered
that, as the culprit was young, hardy, and useful to the colony, his
clothes should be stripped off and put on the body of a bedridden weaver,
who would be hanged in his stead in sight of the offended savages. Still,
it was feared that if they learned the truth about that execution the
Indians would learn a harmful lesson in deceit, and it was, therefore,
resolved to punish the true offender. He, thinking they were in jest,
submitted to be bound, though before doing so he could have cleaned out
the court-room, and ere he was really aware of the purpose of his judges
he was kicking at vacancy.
Butler, in Hudibras, quotes the story, but makes the offence more
serious--
This precious brother, having slain,
In time of peace, an Indian,
Not out of malice, but mere zeal,
Because he was an infidel,
The mighty Tottipotimoy
Sent to our elders an envoy
Complaining sorely of the breach Of league.
But the Puritans, having considered that the offender was a teacher and a
cobbler,
Resolved to spare him; yet, to do
The Indian Hoghan Moghan, too,
Impartial justice, in his stead did
Hang an old weaver that was bed-rid.
The whole circumstance is cloudy, and the reader may accept either
version that touches his fancy.
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