Bridget Bishop was another of the numerous victims.  The usual charges were brought against her, and she was speedily condemned to death.  Before the sentence was executed, the custom of taking council with the local clergy was followed.  These good men, while they counseled caution in accepting testimony, humbly recommended the government to the speedy and vigorous prosecution of such as “had rendered themselves obnoxious by infringing the wholesome statutes of the English Nation for the detection of witchcraft.”  Following this recommendation, double and treble hangings took place, and there was enough brutality to appease the appetite of the most vindictive and malicious.

Perhaps the most extraordinary record of witchcraft persecution at the end of the Seventeenth Century was that of Giles Corey and his wife Martha.  The singular feature of the case is, that the husband had been one of the most enthusiastic declaimers against the unholy crime of witchcraft, while his good wife had been rather disposed to ridicule the idea, and to condemn the prosecutions as persecutions.  She did her best to prevent Giles from attending trials, and one of the most serious charges against her was that on one occasion she hid the family saddle, so as to prevent her lord and master from riding to one of the examinations.

This attempt to assert woman’s rights two hundred years ago was resented very bitterly, and two enthusiastic witch-hunters were sent to her house to entrap her into a confession.  On the way they made inquiries, which resulted in their being able to patch up a charge against the woman for walking in ghostly attire during the night.  When the detectives called at the house she told them she knew the object of their visit, but that she was no witch, and did not believe there was such a thing.  The mere fact of her knowing the object of their visit was regarded as conclusive evidence against her, although a fair-minded person would naturally suggest that, in view of local sentiment, her guess was a very easy one.  The poor woman was immediately arrested and placed on trial.  Several little children were examined, and these shouted out in the witness-stand, that when the afflicted woman bit her lip in her grief, they were seized with bodily pains, which continued until she loosened her teeth.  The chronicles of the court tell us, with much solemnity, that when the woman’s hands were tied her victims did not suffer, but the moment the cords were removed they had fits.

Even her husband was called as a witness against her.  His evidence does not appear to have been very important or relevant.  But another witness, a Mrs. Pope, who appears to have been an expert in these matters, and to have been called at nearly every trial, took off her shoe in court and threw it at the prisoner’s head, an act of indecorum which was condoned on the ground of the evident sincerity of the culprit.  The poor woman was condemned, as a matter of course, and when she was removed to jail, a deputation from the church of which she was a member called upon her and excommunicated her.  She mounted the ladder which led to the gallows with much dignity, and died without any attempt to prolong her life by a confession.