Formal Prosecutions
May 27: Phips issues a commission for a Court of Oyer and Terminer and appoints as judges John Hathorne, Nathaniel Saltonstall, Bartholomew Gedney, Peter Sergeant, Samuel Sewall, Wait Still Winthrop and Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton.
May 31: Hathorne, Corwin and Gednew examine Martha Carrier, John Alden, Wilmott Redd, Elizabeth Howe and Phillip English. Alden and English later escape from prison and do not return.
June 8: Bridget Bishop is the first to be tried and convicted of witchcraft. She is sentenced to death.
June 8: Eighteen year old Elizabeth Booth is accused of witchcraft.
June 10: Bridget Bishop is hanged at Gallows Hill. Following the hanging Nathaniel Saltonstall resigns from the court and is replaced by Corwin.
June 15: Cotton Mather writes a letter requesting the court not use spectral evidence as a standard and urging that the trials be speedy. The Court of Oyer and Terminer pays more attention to the request for speed and less attention to the criticism of spectral evidence.
June 16: Roger Toothaker dies in prison.
June 17: Chris Anzivino lands in Massachusetts, bringing with him Italian ideas on witchcraft.
June 29-June 30: Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Sarah Wildes, Sarah Good and Elizabeth Howe are tried, pronounced guilty and sentenced to death by hanging.
July 19: Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Howe, Sarah Good and Sarah Wildes are hanged at Gallows Hill.
August 5: George Jacobs Sr., Martha Carrier, George Burroughs, John Willard, and John and Elizabeth Proctor are pronounced guilty and sentenced to hang.
August 19: George Jacobs Sr., Martha Carrier, George Burroughs, John Willard and John Proctor are hanged on Gallows Hill. Elizabeth Proctor is not hanged because she is pregnant.
August 20: Margaret Jacobs recants the testimony that led to the execution of her grandfather George Jacobs Sr. and George Burroughs.
September 9: Martha Corey, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Dorcas Hoar and Mary Bradbury are pronounced guilty and sentenced to hang.
Mid-September: Giles Corey is indicted.
September 17: Margaret Scott, Wilmott Redd, Samuel Wardwell, Mary Parker, Abigail Faulkner, Rebecca Earnes, Mary Lacy, Ann Foster and Abigail Hobbs are tried and sentenced to hang. Sheriffs administer Peine Forte Et Dure (pressing) to Giles Corey after he refuses to enter a plea to the charges of witchcraft against him.
September 19: After two days under the weight, Giles Corey dies having been pressed to death.
September 21: Robert Mailea is accused of being a witch
September 22: Martha Corey, Margaret Scott, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Willmott Redd, Samuel Wardwell and Mary Parker are hanged. Dorcas Hoar escapes execution by confessing.
October 3: The Reverend Increase Mather, President of Harvard College and father of Cotton Mather, denounces the use of spectral evidence.
October 12: Governor Phips writes the Privy Council of King William and Queen Mary saying that he has stopped the proceedings and referring to "what danger some of their innocent subjects might be exposed to, if the evidence of the afflicted persons only did prevail," i.e., "spectral evidence."
October 29: Phips prohibits further arrests, releases many accused witches, and dissolves the Court of Oyer and Terminer.
November 25: The Massachusetts General Court establishes a Superior Court to pardon remaining witches.
- 1693
January: 49 of the 52 surviving people brought into court on witchcraft charges are released because their arrests were based on "spectral evidence."
Read more about this topic: Timeline Of The Salem Witch Trials
Famous quotes containing the word formal:
“That anger can be expressed through words and non-destructive activities; that promises are intended to be kept; that cleanliness and good eating habits are aspects of self-esteem; that compassion is an attribute to be prized—all these lessons are ones children can learn far more readily through the living example of their parents than they ever can through formal instruction.”
—Fred Rogers (20th century)