The fate of her husband was still more terrible.  Notwithstanding his zeal, and the fact that he had given evidence against his own wife, he was arrested, charged with a similar offense.  Whether hypnotic influences were exerted, or whether the examining justices merely imagined things against the prisoner, cannot be known at this time.  The court records, however, state that while the witnesses were on the stand, they were so badly afflicted with fits and hurts, that the prisoner’s hands had to be tied before they could continue their testimony.  Unlike his wife, the poor man did not deny the existence of witchcraft, and merely whined out, in reply to the magistrate’s censure, that he was a poor creature and could not help it.  The evidence against him was very slight, indeed, and he was remanded to jail, where he lay unmolested, and apparently forgotten, for five or six months.

He was then excommunicated by his church, and brought before the court again.  Sojourn in jail seems to have made the old man stubborn, for when he was once more confronted by his persecutors he declined to plead, on the ground that there was no charge against him.  An old obsolete English law was revived against him, and the terrible sentence was pronounced that for standing mute he be remanded to the prison from whence he came and put into a low, dark chamber.  There he was to be laid on his back, on the bare floor, without clothing.  As great a weight of iron as he could bear was to be placed upon his body, and there to remain.  The first day he was to have three morsels of bread, and on the second day three draughts of water, to be selected from the nearest pool that could be found.  Thus was the diet to be alternated, day by day, until he either answered his accusation or died.

On September 19th, 1692, death came as a happy relief to the miserable man, who had begged the sheriff to add greater weights so as to expedite the end.  This is the only case on record of a man having been “pressed to death” in New England for refusing to plead, or for any other offense.  There are a few cases on record where this inhuman law was enforced previously in England, but it was always regarded as a relic of mediaeval barbarity, and the fact that it was revived in the witch persecutions is a very significant one.  After his death, an attempt was made to justify the act by the statement that Corey himself had pressed a man to death.  This justification appears feeble, and to be without any corroborative testimony.

Another very remarkable witch story has about it a tinge of romance, although the main facts actually occurred as stated.  A sailor named Orcutt, left his sweetheart on one of his regular voyages, promising to return at an early date to claim his bride.  The girl he left behind him, whose name was Margaret, appears to have been a very attractive, innocent young lady, who suffered considerably from the jealousy of a rival.  Soon after the departure of her lover,