Ipswich trial witch

Thomas Bradbury of Salisbury, and was sentenced to death as witch in , but was not executed. Over a hundred neighbors testified in her support.

On May 23, , a complaint for witchcraft was filed against Sarah Buckley and her widowed daughter Mary Witheridge. Held in shackles in the cold crowded jail, both were acquitted in January, Elizabeth Morse of Newbury was accused and found guilty of being a witch.

She was initially sentenced to be hanged, but after spending a year in the Boston jail, she was sent home. The wife of Rev. John Proctor was hanged and Elizabeth was given a reprieve in jail, until her baby was born. Her sentence was never carried out. Joseph Herrick, the Constable of Salem, testified that she had been committed to his charge to carry to Ipswich.

Many of the accused were kept in the Ipswich gaol jail which was erected near the Meeting House in The Ipswich jail was filled with the accused. She petitioned the Court to proceed with caution, as many self-confessed witches had belied themselves:. The Lord above knows my innocence then and likewise doth now, as at the great day will be known by men and angels. She was carried to execution with her fellow-prisoners, Martha Corey, Ann Pudeater, and five other unfortunates:.

Robert Lord Jr. In both Joan Braybrook and her year-old stepdaughter Mehitable were accused of witchcraft and landed in jail, and are found among the 10 persons petitioning for release. The trials came to an end before the judges heard their cases and they were released. Giles Corey was taken from Ipswich prison, where he made his will, to Salem, and there was pressed to death by heavy weights upon his chest, because he refused to plead.

John Harris , the Deputy Sheriff, had charge of transporting the prisoners, and his account with the County reveals many sorrowful journeys of the reputed witches, through the streets from the Prison to Salem Court or Gallows Hill. The early trials of the accused were before the Court of Assistants, of which Major Samuel Appleton was a member, but a special Commission of Oyer and Terminer was issued to several Justices, and Major Appleton had no part in the deliberations of this Court, which proceeded at once to pass severe sentence upon the reputed witches.

Major Appleton, though an Assistant, and a Magistrate at the first trial, had no further connection with the matter, and his disappearance from the scene may be interpreted as indicating that his broad and well-balanced mind condemned this travesty of Justice.

The Grand Jury included Mr. Robert Paine, Mr. Richard Smith and Mr. Thomas Boardman of Ipswich. Robert Payne the junior graduated in the Harvard class of , was a preacher, and attained regretful prominence as foreman of the Grand Jury that brought in the indictments in the witchcraft trials in Salem in Jacob Perkins, Jr. Matthew Whipple Sen. The Grand Jury, of which Mr. Paine was foreman, found nothing against thirty who were indicted for witchcraft, and true bills against twenty-six.

Of those on trial, three only were found guilty, and sentenced to death. These were the last to suffer. All the ministers put themselves on record as out of sympathy with the popular delusion, and Mr.

Hubbard and Mr. Wise made formal appeals for the accused. John Wise , the minister of the Chebacco Parish had roused the Town to brave resistance of the Andros edict and had suffered fine and removal from his pulpit. Accused along with a neighbour, Alice Denham, of practicing witchcraft with the intention to cause harm, Lakeland was said to have admitted to murdering her husband, causing William Lawrence and his son upset and eventual death after he asked for the repayment of a loan she could not afford, and murdering the maid servant of a Mrs Jennings who had also asked for the repayment of a small loan made to Lakeland.

Lakeland further admitted to bringing illness to a former suitor of her grand daughter — the man had spurned the girl and so she, Lakeland, had taken revenge by sinking his ship and causing a wasting illness that had ravaged his body. Furthermore, she confessed to making a pact with the Devil, where he had scratched her hand with his claw, the contract between them signed with her own blood.

Example of a written contract with the devil,. Unlike their continental counterparts, the use of torture was forbidden by law in English trials, but Hopkins and his fellow witchfinders got around this prohibition by using less overt methods such as sleep deprivation and walking the suspect up and down for days on end.

In February the public accusations of witchcraft began, and year-old daughter Ann Putnam, the daughter of Thomas and Ann quickly became the ringleader of the afflicted girls, with no discouragement from her mother. Thomas Putnam signed ten of the 21 formal complaints issued against accused witches. The Salem Witch Trials would soon begin, and he would sit on the jury.

Soon the Perley family revived their long-standing accusations against Elizabeth Howe. Conditions in the unheated jails were harsh. James Howe remained true to his wife and visited her in prison each week with the assistance of their daughters Mary and Abigail.

The Perley family organized a vicious attack on Elizabeth Howe. Timothy and Deborah Pearly said their cows would no longer give milk. When they began to build the fence so many rails broke that they had to buy 30 more.

Isaac Cummings, senior, gave testimony that eight years before, James Howe had asked his son Isaac to borrow a horse, which was refused, and that the next day his mare fell down dead. The younger Isaac confirmed the story. His wife testified that Elizabeth had cursed the horse with oil and brimstone. They tried this old folk prescription three times with the same results each time and decided they would rather lose the mare than the barn.

He recounted that the next day at sunset his sow leaped up three or four feet high. James Howe Sr, age 94, testified that Elizabeth had been a wonderful daughter-in-law for 30 years. Daniel, John, and Sarah Warren swore that they had never heard Elizabeth Howe utter an un-Christian word about the accusers. Joseph and Mary Knowlton told the jury that their neighbor Elizabeth Howe was faithful to her word and honest in her dealings and had expressed no ill feelings toward the accusers.

Ann Putnam screamed that Elizabeth Howe had stuck a pin in her hand. His father Increase Mather, president of Harvard College cowardly failed to take a stand against the court even though he questioned the use of spectral evidence. They changed the verdict after not receiving an adequate answer to a question they put to Rebecca, who was partially deaf and did not understand what they were asking.

On June 10, , Bridget Bishop was the first of the accused to be hung. They were buried in a crevice on Gallows Hill. By September, eighteen accused had been hung and Giles Corey was pressed to death from stones piled on his body for refusing to answer the charges.

Public opinion turned against the proceedings. The ministers of Ipswich joined spoke out against the proceedings and the actions of their fellow pastor Samuel Parris. It is said that the group of accusing girls were brought to Ipswich but were refused permission to cross the bridge into town. The courts issued a written apology on March 18, in response to public demand.

In , a sum of approximately pounds was distributed among the survivors. James Howe died in Thomas Putnam and his wife Ann died a couple of weeks apart of unknown causes in , he age 47, she 38, leaving young Ann Putnam to raise her nine siblings. In she recanted her testimony, asserting that she herself had been deluded by Satan. Ann Putnam never married and died at the age of Samuel Perley died in ; the date of death for his wife is unknown.

There is no record that they ever apologized or recanted their accusations.