I was struck dumb, and so continued for about three days’ time; and also shook many of the apples off from the tree which it flew over.”

Before removing to his farm, Edward and Bridget Bishop made the alterations, before mentioned, on their town estate.  John Bly, Sr., aged fifty-seven years, and William Bly, aged fifteen, were employed in the operation of removing the cellar wall of “the ould house;” and testified, that they found in holes and crevices of said cellar wall “several puppets made up of rags and hogs’ bristles, with headless pins in them with the points outward.”

Upon such evidence, Bridget Bishop was condemned, and executed the next week.  The death-warrants, in these trials, were collected together in one envelope, marked as such.  The envelope remains, but its contents have all been abstracted.  The death-warrant of Bridget Bishop was probably overlooked when the others were gathered together.  The consequence is that it has been preserved, and is the only one known to be in existence.

The sheriff seems to have proceeded, immediately after the execution, to the clerk’s office, and indorsed his return on the warrant.  When he wrote it, he added, after the word “dead,”—­“and buried her on the spot.”  On its occurring to him that the burying of the body was not mentioned in the warrant, he drew his pen through the words; as is seen in the photograph.  This superfluous clause, thus partially obliterated, is the only positive evidence we have of the disposal of the bodies at the time.  They were undoubtedly all thrown into pits dug among the rocks, on the spot, and hastily covered by the officers having in charge the details of the executions.  There were no prayers over their graves, except those uttered by themselves in their last moments.

[Illustration:  [death warrant]]

[Illustration:  [return on warrant]]

The descendants of Bridget Bishop are very numerous in Salem; embracing some of our oldest and most respectable families, and branching widely from them.  There is no evidence of issue by her first marriage.  Thomas Oliver, her second husband, had daughters by a former wife, who were represented in the next generation under the names of Hilliard, Hooper, and Jones.  By his wife Bridget, he had but one child,—­a daughter, Christian, born May 8, 1667.  She married Thomas Mason, and died in 1693; leaving an only child, Susannah, born August 23, 1687.  Edward Bishop was her guardian.  She married John Becket in 1711, and by him had a son, John, and six daughters, as follows:  Susannah, married to David Felt, Elizabeth to William Peele, Sarah to Nathaniel Silsbee, Rebecca to William Fairfield, Eunice to Thorndike Deland, and Hannah to William Cloutman.

After the condemnation of Bridget Bishop, the Court took a recess, and consulted the ministers of Boston and the neighborhood respecting the prosecutions.  The response of the reverend gentlemen, while urging, in general terms, the importance of caution and circumspection in the methods of examination, decidedly and earnestly recommended that the proceedings should be vigorously carried on; and they were, indeed, vigorously carried on.