No ”eye of newt and toe of frog, nor wool of bat and tongue of dog . . .” 

But on May 4, 1651, Sarah Veale, wife of Thomas Veale (Vaile, Vayle), town blacksmith, was brought in front of the Magistrates at the Quarter Court of Southampton, charged with imprecations, or spoken curses. Such outspokenness by a female was considered against church doctrine of the day, which added up to witchcraft. 

According to the laws of the Bible as rewritten by the Rev. Abraham Pierson, Southampton’s first minister, and consented to by the inhabitants of the colony (as recorded in the Town Records, Book One, page 3), witchcraft , a “fellowship by consent with a familiar spirit,” ranked quite high on the list of offenses, and was punishable by death, while conjuring, consulting, and cursing were punishable by banishment. 

Sarah and Thomas Veale  had gotten themselves mixed up in a bit of neighborly miscommunication with George Wood. Thomas sued George for trespass against his wife, and George countersued. The men were acquitted, but Sarah, apparently upset by the whole ordeal, used her sharp tongue against George Wood, and she became the focus of the controversy.  

Sarah was sentenced by the magistrates for exorbitant words of imprecation, and was to stand trial with her tongue in a cleft stick* so long as the offense committed by her was read and declared.  

Perhaps Sarah was not seen as a witch, or the Magistrates went “easy” on her, but not long afterward Thomas, Sarah,  and family left Southampton to settle in Westchester County. And the Salem Witch Trials didn’t really get into full swing until 40 years later.  

* A cleft stick is one with a split at one end used to carry written messages, hold a candle, or for some other purpose requiring a secure grip. 

For more witchcraft trials on the East End, see Goody Garlick of East Hampton.