Salem witch trials document up for auction
Mar 14, 2012, 2:38 PM
SALEM, Mass. (AP) – A document from the Salem witch trials is expected to fetch as much as $35,000 when it hits the auction block.
The original court indictment of Margaret Scott, a Rowley widow in her 70s and one of the last people hanged during the 1692 hysteria in colonial Massachusetts, is part of a private collection of historical documents being sold Thursday at Swann Auction Galleries in New York.
The pre-auction estimate is $25,000 to $35,000, but one local expert thinks that is too low.
Richard Trask, the Danvers town archivist and a leading expert on the trials, tells The Salem News (
http://bit.ly/x2RBmQ) it’s just the third time in a 50-year career he can recall a witchcraft document being sold.
Nineteen people were hanged and one person was crushed to death during the trials.
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Information from: The Salem (Mass.) News,
http://www.salemnews.com
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
