to torment her.  The meeting was in the pasture by Mr. Parris’s house, and she saw when Abigail Williams ran out to speak with them; but, by that time Abigail was come a little distance from the house, this examinant was struck blind, so that she saw not with whom Abigail spake.  She further saith, that Goody Wilds, to prevail with her to sign, told her, that, if she would put her hand to the book, she would give her some clothes, and would not afflict her any more.  Her daughter, Abigail Hobbs, being brought in at the same time, while her mother was present, was immediately taken with a dreadful fit; and her mother, being asked who it was that hurt her daughter, answered it was Goodman Corey, and she saw him and the gentlewoman of Boston striving to break her daughter’s neck.”

On the next day, warrants were procured against George Jacobs, Sr., and his grand-daughter, Margaret Jacobs.  They were forthwith seized and brought in by Constable Joseph Neal, of Salem, whose return is as follows:  “May 10, 1692.  Then I apprehended the bodies of George Jacobs, Sr., and Margaret, daughter of George Jacobs, Jr., according to the tenor of the above warrant.”  The examinations, on this occasion, were held at the house of Thomas Beadle, in the town of Salem.  All the preliminary examinations, so far as existing documents show, were either in the meeting-house at the village or that of the town; or at the house of Nathaniel Ingersoll at the village, or Thomas Beadle in the town,—­both being inns, or places of public entertainment.  Beadle’s house was on the south side of Essex Street, on land now occupied by Nos. 63 and 65.  The eastern boundary of the lot was forty-nine feet from Ingersoll’s Lane, now Daniels Street.  Its front on Essex Street was about sixty feet, and its depth about one hundred and forty-five feet.  What is now No. 65 is on the very spot where Beadle’s tavern stood; and with the exception of six feet built, as an addition, on the eastern side, subsequently to 1733, is probably the identical house.  The ground now occupied by No. 63 was then an open space.  It appears by bills of expenses brought “against the country,” that the inn of Samuel Beadle, a brother of Thomas, was also sometimes used for purposes connected with the prosecutions.  Thomas Beadle’s bill amounted to L58. 11_s._ 5_d._; that of Samuel to L21.  The latter, being near the jail, was probably used for the entertainment of constables and the keeping of their horses, as well as other incidental purposes connected with the transportation of prisoners.

A tradition has long prevailed, that the house, still standing, of Judge Jonathan Corwin, at the western corner of North and Essex Streets, was used at these examinations.  One form in which this tradition has come down is probably correct.  The grand jury was often in session while the jury for trials was hearing cases in the Court-house.  There may not have been suitable accommodations for both in that