12
very disagreeable. I never supposed he was crazy. His conver-
sation was very regular. He often complained bitterly that he
had given up all his property to the Shakers and in return they
used him thus. "

Various other Shaker men testified, sometimes about Babbit having
threatened them when he was upset, but mostly about the way he
was chained and sometimes beaten with a stick by Seth Blanchard.
One man's comment was that Babbit "was a passionate man and did
not govern his temper," that he had been put in the
Trustee's position where he had some authority and still thought
he could do as he did then.

However, several doctors testified in the Shakers' defense; one
saying that "his [Babbit's] recollection was mostly gone, did not
give correct answers relative to his own family. "I have seen
some deranged people confined in better places, and some in
worse. Saw him again the fore part of this month, and his under-
standing appeared more decayed than before. No person acquainted
with insanity could doubt his derangement."

Elder Asa Broklebank of the Shirley Society testified of knowing
Babbit since 1794 and that in 1814 "he began to fail and grow
forgetful" and then "had two shocks of palsy." He saw him con-
fined and "the room, dirty, and the bed and bedding carried out
to be cleansed & dried in consequence of his neglecting the
common decencies of nature. He has to be cleaned every day." He
also said that Babbit's father was "partially deranged several
years prior to his death" and that, in 1822, when he visited
Harvard just before Babbit was confined, the family had "fears of
violence, particularly the females. His daughter told me she was
afraid to go near him, as he would attack her as soon as anyone
else." Babbit's sister, Hannah, also told of his change in
behavior after having had two "palsy shocks," and of complaining
of a "bad feeling in his head."

After all this and more testimony, the jury "retired about five
minutes and returned verdicts of not guilty in favor of each of
the defendants. Seth died in 1826, aged 69.

In 1865, when the Ministry visited Harvard, they recorded that
the Second Family consisted of 3 adult males, 3 little boys and
12 sisters. "Two of the males are over 80 years, the other about
22 and not compos mentis."


NEW LEBANON, N.Y