The Effluvial Redemption of Samuel Sewall
The Effluvial Redemption of Samuel Sewall
Samuel Sewall, a judge at the 1692 Salem witchcraft trials,
killed women. Sewage—from Old French essouier,
“to drain”—released to waterways
such as rivers flowing to larger bodies like seas.
A ghoulish, fire-breathing judge.
In a sedimentation tank,
fecal sludge is pumped, bacteria
dried, detoxified. Processed, treated,
purified. Sewall, in puritanical plumage,
fluent in the ruinous vernacular,
condemned twenty to death by hanging.
Any remaining organic material
dissolves in the effluent. Five years later
Sewall repented, admitting
he was wrong. Which is called humus.
In 1718, he was appointed chief justice,
superior court of judicature.
In these tanks, solids sink
to the bottom. In his old age, he criticized slavery.
These Ethiopians, he wrote,
ought to be treated
with a Respect agreeable.
Sewage can be used to run your car,
make methane, hydroelectric power,
coal. World history a draining.
So then, says the Son of Man,
because thou art lukewarm,
and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee
out of my mouth. An eruption,
regurgitation. It can even power
cell phones. A flood. Sewall
considered himself more at fault than others.
Fecal bacteria
may occur in ambient water
as a result of the overflow of domestic sewage.
No other judge
had a change of heart.
Trace amounts of feces exist in all water
on earth.
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