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Authors: Katherine Howe
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asked her whether she thought they were bewitched. She said she could not tell what to think about them. Will Good and John Buxton Junior was by and he supposeth they heard her also.
Salem Village, April the 19th, 1692, Mr. Samuel Parris being desired to take into writing the examination of Bridget Bishop, hath delivered it as aforesaid. And upon hearing the same, and seeing what we did then see, together wit[torn] the charge of the afflicted persons th[torn] present, we committed said Bridg[torn] Oliver.
John Hathorne.
THE NOTORIOUS GILES CORY, TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 1692
Giles Cory, husband of accused witch Martha Cory, is one of the most notorious Salem witches because he was not only a man, but a man who was crushed to death between stones rather than hanged. With his case, we can see the spreading of the accusations not only across class lines, but also within families. Cory died because he refused to enter a plea, and the punishment of “peine forte et dure,” or “pain long and difficult,” was imposed in an attempt to compel him to plead. 1
Giles Cory, however, was no gentle and retiring soul. In 1675 he had kicked a servant to death, a crime which had largely gone forgotten in his community, but which reasserted itself in the public memory once Ann Putnam began to report seeing him in her spectral visitations. 2 Even choosing the death that would come from being pressed to death required a certain stoniness of character. Robert Calef, writing his later skeptical account of the Salem trials, reported that the pressure on his body was so great that his “Tongue being prest out of his Mouth, the Sheriff with his Cane forced it in again, when he was dying.” 3
The Examination of Giles Cory 4
The examination of Giles Cory, at a court at Salem Village, held by John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin, esquires, April 19, 1692.
[Q]: Giles Cory, you are brought before authority upon high suspicion of sundry acts of witchcraft; now tell us the truth in this matter.
[A]: I hope through the goodness of God I shall, for that matter I never had no hand in, in my life.
[Q]: Which of you have seen this man hurt you?
Mary Wolcott, Mercy Lewis, Ann Putman Jr., and Abigail Williams affirmed he had hurt them.
[Q]: Hath he hurt you too?
Speaking to Elizabeth Hubbard.
She going to answer was prevented by a fit.
[Q]: Benjamin Gold, hath he hurt you?
[Gold]: I have seen him several times, and been hurt after it, but cannot affirm that it was he.
[Q]: Hath he brought the book to any of you?
Mary Wolcott and Abigail Williams and others affirmed that he brought the book to them.
[Q]: Giles Cory, they accuse you, or your appearance, of hurting them and bringing the book to them. What do you say? Why do you hurt them? Tell us the truth.
[A]: I never did hurt them.
[Q]: It is your appearance hurts them, they charge you; tell us what you have done.
[A]: I have done nothing to damage them.
[Q]: Have you never entered into contract with the Devil?
[A]: I never did.
[Q]: What temptations have you had?
[A]: I never had temptations in my life.
[Q]: What, have you done it without temptations? 5
[Q]: What was the reason
(said Goodwife Bibber)
that you were frighted in the cow-house?
And then the questioner was suddenly seized with a violent fit.
Samuel Braybrook, Goodman Bibber, and his daughter testified that he had told them this morning that he was frighted in the cow-house.
Cory denied it.
[Q]: This was not your appearance but your person, and you told them so this morning. Why do you deny it? What did you see in the cow-house?
[A]: I never saw nothing but my cattle.
Diverse witnessed that he told them he was frighted.
[Q]: Well, what do you say to these witnesses? What was it frighted you?
[A]: I do not know that ever I spoke the word in my life.
[Q]: Tell the truth. What was it frighted you?
[A]: I do not know anything that frighted me.
All the afflicted were seized now with fits and troubled with pinches. Then the
Salem Village, April the 19th, 1692, Mr. Samuel Parris being desired to take into writing the examination of Bridget Bishop, hath delivered it as aforesaid. And upon hearing the same, and seeing what we did then see, together wit[torn] the charge of the afflicted persons th[torn] present, we committed said Bridg[torn] Oliver.
John Hathorne.
THE NOTORIOUS GILES CORY, TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 1692
Giles Cory, husband of accused witch Martha Cory, is one of the most notorious Salem witches because he was not only a man, but a man who was crushed to death between stones rather than hanged. With his case, we can see the spreading of the accusations not only across class lines, but also within families. Cory died because he refused to enter a plea, and the punishment of “peine forte et dure,” or “pain long and difficult,” was imposed in an attempt to compel him to plead. 1
Giles Cory, however, was no gentle and retiring soul. In 1675 he had kicked a servant to death, a crime which had largely gone forgotten in his community, but which reasserted itself in the public memory once Ann Putnam began to report seeing him in her spectral visitations. 2 Even choosing the death that would come from being pressed to death required a certain stoniness of character. Robert Calef, writing his later skeptical account of the Salem trials, reported that the pressure on his body was so great that his “Tongue being prest out of his Mouth, the Sheriff with his Cane forced it in again, when he was dying.” 3
The Examination of Giles Cory 4
The examination of Giles Cory, at a court at Salem Village, held by John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin, esquires, April 19, 1692.
[Q]: Giles Cory, you are brought before authority upon high suspicion of sundry acts of witchcraft; now tell us the truth in this matter.
[A]: I hope through the goodness of God I shall, for that matter I never had no hand in, in my life.
[Q]: Which of you have seen this man hurt you?
Mary Wolcott, Mercy Lewis, Ann Putman Jr., and Abigail Williams affirmed he had hurt them.
[Q]: Hath he hurt you too?
Speaking to Elizabeth Hubbard.
She going to answer was prevented by a fit.
[Q]: Benjamin Gold, hath he hurt you?
[Gold]: I have seen him several times, and been hurt after it, but cannot affirm that it was he.
[Q]: Hath he brought the book to any of you?
Mary Wolcott and Abigail Williams and others affirmed that he brought the book to them.
[Q]: Giles Cory, they accuse you, or your appearance, of hurting them and bringing the book to them. What do you say? Why do you hurt them? Tell us the truth.
[A]: I never did hurt them.
[Q]: It is your appearance hurts them, they charge you; tell us what you have done.
[A]: I have done nothing to damage them.
[Q]: Have you never entered into contract with the Devil?
[A]: I never did.
[Q]: What temptations have you had?
[A]: I never had temptations in my life.
[Q]: What, have you done it without temptations? 5
[Q]: What was the reason
(said Goodwife Bibber)
that you were frighted in the cow-house?
And then the questioner was suddenly seized with a violent fit.
Samuel Braybrook, Goodman Bibber, and his daughter testified that he had told them this morning that he was frighted in the cow-house.
Cory denied it.
[Q]: This was not your appearance but your person, and you told them so this morning. Why do you deny it? What did you see in the cow-house?
[A]: I never saw nothing but my cattle.
Diverse witnessed that he told them he was frighted.
[Q]: Well, what do you say to these witnesses? What was it frighted you?
[A]: I do not know that ever I spoke the word in my life.
[Q]: Tell the truth. What was it frighted you?
[A]: I do not know anything that frighted me.
All the afflicted were seized now with fits and troubled with pinches. Then the
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