When Giles Cory's wife, Martha, stood trial for witchcraft in Salem Village he had condemning things to say of her. Perhaps he had failed to notice that when one marital partner was accused and convicted of witchcraft it was not long before the other partner suffered the same fate. If he thought this would not happen to him, he was mistaken.
Giles Cory Arrested for Witchcraft
Shortly after Giles Cory testified against his own wife he was arrested for witchcraft. He was examined but refused to be tried. His reasoning was that if he were tried the same witnesses would testify against him that had at his examination. He felt he would surely be found guilty. He also pointed out that no one tried by the present court set up for trying suspected witches had been found innocent. In stead, he chose "to undergo what death they would put him to."
When Cory was taken to court in September he refused to speak, neither for or against himself.
The Murder of Cory
On September 19, 1692, Giles Cory, an old man in his eighties, was led to some open space. He was then made to lie on the ground while his pious fellow Puritans piled rocks upon his chest.
Cory would have certainly suffered far less if he had pleaded innocent and allowed his fellow church members to hang him. Towards the end of his ordeal of being crushed to death by piled stones, before his ribs finally cracked and squeezed the air completely form his lungs, his tongue was forced from his mouth. The attending sheriff pushed it back in with the tip of his cane.
Putnam Justifies Murder
Pressing to death had never before occurred in the New World and it had an "extremely unsettling effect" on the citizens. Thomas Putnam, perhaps fearing that the event would cause opposition to the witch-hunt wrote a letter to Judge Samuel Sewall the following day. He advised him that his daughter, Ann, had the previous night, been tormented by witches that threatened to press her to death. Also, a man appeared to Ann and told her that Cory had "murdered him by pressing him to death."
Whether or not Ann had actually had this experience, Putnam had now justified murdering Giles Cory.
The Salem Inquisition Begins: continues with: The Witch Hunt Spreads: Validity of Spectral Evidence Doubted.
Previous: Death on Gallows Hill: More are Convicted for Witchcraft in Salem.
