On this day on May 26th, 1647 in Hartford, Connecticut was the first recorded hanging of a person convicted of being a witch. Alice "Alse"Young won't be identified as the victim until December 3rd 1904 through an article in the Hartford Courant. In 1642 a law was passed in the Connecticut Colony making a conviction of practicing witchcraft a capital offense punishable by death. The historical record of the colony seems to suggest the law was based on references to the King James version of the Bible: Exodus (22:18) and Leviticus (20:27) which stated, "...a man or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them."
Alse Young had a daughter who would also be accused of being a witch in Springfield, Massachusetts three decades latter. Though there is a record of an influenza outbreak in early 1647, especially in the town of Windsor, Connecticut there is no evidence it was related to Ms. Young or that her trial and subsequent conviction was based on any such evidence. Not until 1750 will the offense of witchcraft disappear from the list of capital laws in the colony.
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