She was not tried at the time appointed, in consequence, it is stated, of “an imposthume in the head,” and finally escaped the fate to which she chose to consign herself, rather than remain under a violated conscience.  In judging of her, we cannot fail to make allowance for her “young and tender years,” and to sympathize in the sufferings through which she passed.  In making confession, and in accusing others, she had done that which filled her heart with horror, in the retrospect, so long as she lived.  In recanting it, and giving her body to the dungeon, and offering her life at the scaffold, she had secured the forgiveness of Mr. Burroughs and her aged grandfather, and deserves our forgiveness and admiration.  Every human heart must rejoice that this young girl was saved.  She lived to be a worthy matron and the founder of a numerous and respectable family.

George Jacobs, Sr., is the only one, among the victims of the witchcraft prosecutions, the precise spot of whose burial is absolutely ascertained.

[Illustration:  THE JACOBS HOUSE.]

The tradition has descended through the family, that the body, after having been obtained at the place of execution, was strapped by a young grandson on the back of a horse, brought home to the farm, and buried beneath the shade of his own trees.  Two sunken and weather-worn stones marked the spot.  There the remains rested until 1864, when they were exhumed.  They were enclosed again, and reverently redeposited in the same place.  The skull was in a state of considerable preservation.  An examination of the jawbones showed that he was a very old man at the time of his death, and had previously lost all his teeth.  The length of some parts of the skeleton showed that he was a very tall man.  These circumstances corresponded with the evidence, which was that he was tall of stature; so infirm as to walk with two staffs; with long, flowing white hair.  The only article found, except the bones, was a metallic pin, which might have been used as a breastpin, or to hold together his aged locks.  It is an observable fact, that he rests in his own ground still.  He had lived for a great length of time on that spot; and it remains in his family and in his name to this day, having come down by direct descent.  It is a beautiful locality:  the land descends with a gradual and smooth declivity to the bank of the river.  It is not much more than a mile from the city of Salem, and in full view from the main road.

John Willard appears to have been an honest and amiable person, an industrious farmer, having a comfortable estate, with a wife and three young children.  He was a grandson of Old Bray Wilkins; whether by blood or marriage, I have not been able to ascertain.  The indications are that he married a daughter of Thomas or Henry Wilkins, most probably the former, with both of whom he was a joint possessor of lands.  He came from Groton; and it is for local antiquaries to discover whether he was a relative of the Rev.