Did Joseph Barwell Have An Accuser

Though it seems that the defendants and accusers were only young girls and women, there were some men involved in the trials. One of these men that were involved was Samuel Wardwell. He confessed in doing witchcraft soon after he was arrested. He then claimed that his confession was fake and should die of perjury. His confession could have been to protect himself or out of fear. He most likely wanted to tell them what they wanted to hear, even though he was not guilty. Since he would also be shamed for perjury, he probably thought it was best to die. Despite the fake confession, he should not have requested to die. His request later led to the imprisonment of his wife and it left their five year old son homeless (Slavicek 76). Joseph Ballard, a man who eventually became an accuser, had a sickly wife and thought that she was bewitched. He wanted the bedeviled girls to help “identify her tormentors” (Slavicek 78). They identified five Andover residents. “Their testimony helped send 40 of their fellow townspeople… 10% of population to jail on witchcraft charges” (Slavicek 78). Ballard thinking that his wife was being bewitched was false. In 1692, doctors did not know much about deadly

He refused to enter a plea because he would not let anyone tell him that he committed a crime he did not commit (Brooks “History of the Salem Witch Trials”). He most likely witnessed all of the people who confessed get shamed in town and did not want to go through that. Since he didn’t want to enter a plea, he was then tortured long 3 days in September and finally died (Brooks “History of the Salem Witch Trials”). This proves that this system was completely one-sided and unjust. Today, if a plea is not entered, the defendant and his or her lawyer go to trial. Instead of giving him a chance to prove his innocence, they killed him. Giles Corey was accused of witchcraft and tortured to death because he did not enter a