By the new charter courts of justice were to be established by the
General Court. The witch trials were, therefore, stranded and must
remain _in statu quo_, apparently, for several months, while awaiting
the action of the General Court. The Governor, however, by “an
unwarrantable usurpation of authority,” organized a court of final
hearing, called _Oyer and Terminer_, to act in the pending cases.
Deputy-Governor Stoughton was appointed chief justice, and Nathaniel
Saltonstall, of Haverhill, who declined to serve, and was succeeded by
Jonathan Corwin, of Salem; Major John Richards, of Boston; Major
Bartholomew Gedney, of Salem; Mr. Wait Winthrop, Mr. Peter Sargent, and
Capt. Samuel Sewell, of Boston, Associate Justices.
The panel of the Jury of Inquest was Thomas Fisk, foreman; William Fisk,
John Bachelor, Thomas Fisk, Jr., John Dane, Joseph Eveleth, Thomas
Perley, Sr., John Peabody, Thomas Perkins, Samuel Sayer, Andrew Eliot,
and Henry Herrick, Sr.
The commissions of the court were dated Friday, May 27th; the court
convened Thursday, June 2d; Bridget Bishop, of Salem, was convicted
Wednesday, the 8th, and hanged Friday, the 10th. The court, by
adjournment, next sat Wednesday, the 29th of June; then by several
adjournments, it was to sit the 1st of November.
The day on which Bridget Bishop was hanged, June 10th, the General Court
enacted a law of the old charter for capital cases, and under it
presumably the subsequent witch trials were held, while the personnel of
the court remained the same.
TRIALS ARRESTED, COURT SUSPENDED
LIST OF THOSE HANGED
The General Court in October established the Superior Court of
Judicature and gave it jurisdiction in witch cases. Governor Phipps
immediately arrested the witch trials, and suspended the court. _Oyer
and Terminer_ was dissolved. These were hanged:
FRIDAY, JUNE 10TH
1. Bishop, Bridget, wife of Edward, of Salem.
TUESDAY, JULY 19TH
1. Good, Sarah, of the village.
2. Wildes, Sarah, daughter of Wm., of Topsfield.
3. Howe, Elizabeth, wife of James, Jr., of Ipswich Farms.
4. Nourse, Rebecca, wife of Francis, of the village.
5. Martin, Susannah, of Amesbury.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 19TH
1. Burroughs, Rev. George, of Casco. See above.
2. Proctor, John, of Peabody.
3. Jacobs, George, of the Village, eighty years old.
4. Willard, John, apprehended at Groton.
5. Carryer, Martha, wife of Thomas, of Andover.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22D
1. Cory, Martha, wife of Giles, of Peabody.
2. Æstey, Mary, wife of Isaac, of Topsfield.
3. Parker, Alice, wife of John, of Salem.
4. Pudeator, Ann, widow of Jacob.
5. Scott, Margaret, widow of Benj., of Rowley.
6. Read, Wilmot, wife of Samuel, of Marblehead.
7. Wardwell, Samuel, of Andover.
8. Parker, Mary, of Salem.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19TH
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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