Witchcraft in Early North America - Alison Games [95]
7th. Asked if he does not know that his sister-in-law, Maria Lujan, wife of his brother, Sebastian Martin, had been bewitched, it is suspected, by the Indian women of the same village of San Juan, let him speak and declare; declarant said that he knew nothing about it having been away at that time and when he came back nothing was told him; and although other questions were put to him again and again concerning things, he said he knew nothing more than he had declared; and his declaration having been read to him, he said he had nothing to add nor to alter; that it was just as he stated, which he affirms and certifies under the oath which he has taken and that he is about twenty- two years old and he does not sign because he does not know how. . . .
May 25
Declaration of Juanchillo and his Wife
In this village of San Juan, on the twenty-fifth day of the month of May of the present year, pursuant to these writs, I, the sargento mayor, Juan de Uribarri, the judge appointed therein, required to appear before me the Indian carpenter, Juanchillo and Josepha, his wife, both versed in the Castilian language, and cited in the declaration of Leonor Dominguez, to whom I administered the oath in the name of our Lord God and the sign of the cross and, having taken it, they promised to speak the truth in whatever they might know or be asked.
Asked, what Spanish persons they had cured in past years, by what means and of what diseases, let them speak and declare; They said that Augustina Romero and Maria Lujan, the latter the wife of Sebastian Martin, and the former of Miguel Thenorio; and that the herbs with which they cured them are very beneficial, and that they did not do it with any spell or diabolic art and that although the said Spanish women said that an Indian of this village, named Micaela, also a linguist, had cast a spell on them, and they would see she would come to punish and beat them, these declarants never knew anything nor saw the said Micaela, nor anything else; and this they answer.
Asked, if they know that Catarina Rosa, wife of Zhiconqueto, Catarina Lujan or any other persons cast any evil spell upon Leonor Dominguez, or if they know that there are in this village, or in others, any sorcerers, or if they have heard it said or known, let them speak and declare; these declarants said they do not know whether the said Indians did any harm to the said Leonor Dominguez, nor do they know any other person who may bewitch or harm people, and, although many other questions were put to them, again and again, on various points, they said they knew nothing more than they had declared; which they affirm and certify under the oath taken; that they are about sixty years and they do not sign, because they do not know how. . . .
May 27
Decree And Writ.
Then, immediately, having seen and certified that Catarina Rosa has crippled legs and could not move herself with the weight of the irons with which she was confined, I ordered her to be freed from them, and thus returned to the house of the Captain Antonio y Sassi, placing her there for convenience, pending further proceedings. . . .
May 31
At the Villa of Santa Fe, on the thirty-first day of the month of May, seventeen hundred and eight, I, the Admiral, Don Joseph Chacón Medina Salazar y Villa, Knight of the Order of Santiago, Marqués de la Peñuela Governor and Captain General of this District and the Provinces of New Mexico, having seen and read the declarations certified in these proceedings, and the complaint lodged by Doña Leonor Dominguez against Catharina Rosa, wife of Zhiconqueto, and Angelina Pumazo, his daughter, and Catharina Lujan, Indians of the Village of San Juan, touching their having done her injury by diabolic art, and having considered the declarations thereupon with the attention that such matters