Newburyport witch escaped hangman's noose

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NEWBURYPORT - She was the witch who got away.

Elizabeth Morse of Newbury was found guilty of witchcraft a dozen years before the 1692 Salem hysteria that even now engulfs that city and reaches its peak every Halloween.

But instead of being hanged or crushed to death by stones - the preferred methods of punishment in Salem for 20 people - Morse was sentenced to a year in jail and the 17th-century equivalent of house arrest with an ankle bracelet.

She was initially sentenced to be hanged, but the execution was never carried out and, after a year in jail in Boston, Morse was sent home to live with her husband - with a catch: She was forbidden to travel more than 16 rods (264 feet) from her property unless she was accompanied by a pastor or a deacon.

The Morse Society, a nonprofit organization that researches and compiles Morse family genealogical records in the United States and Canada, placed a bronze commemorative plaque on a building where it is believed Morse's house once stood. The plaque is on the Liberty Street side of Market Square Jewelers in downtown Newburyport. Newburyport was part of Newbury until 1764.

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