The Murder Of Rebecca Bishop

In that tiny segment of the whole case, Bishop on numerous occasions states she is innocent and hasn’t even met the girls that accuse her. Also, it is stated in the confession of Abigail Williams, one of the five girls who accused Bishop, that she “practiced and exercised” the use of witchcraft and “afflicted torture” on Williams. Although pleading her innocence, Bridget Bishop was convicted and hanged June 10, 1692, making her the first of 20 to be executed during the trials. Five more people were hanged in late July, one of them being a well-respected and loved member of the community, Rebecca Nurse. This was a major deal within the community as many people signed a petition to release her after her arrest. Her verdict was not guilty initially but as the accusers began throwing “fits” in the courtroom, the judge reconsidered the verdict and the jury changed their minds as Rebecca Nurse was convicted and executed July 19th. This led to colonists questioning the verdicts of the jury and their truthfulness during these trials.

English law at the time allowed torture so they can force the plea out of them. The torture consisted of “laying the prisoner on the ground, naked, with a board placed on top of him. Heavy stones were loaded onto the board and the weight was gradually increased until the prison either entered a plea or died.” After three days of this method, Corey died a gruesome, slow, and painful death and this encouraged the growing opposition towards the trials. As the trials continued, more and more people started to realize that maybe innocent people were tried and put to death due to the fact that this many people couldn’t possibly be