- Title
- Warrant for the execution of Bridget Bishop, and officer's return
-
-
- Creator
- ["Massachusetts. Court of Oyer and Terminer (Essex County)"]
-
- Date
- 08 June 1692 - 10 June 1692
-
-
- Description
- Warrant for the execution of Bridget Bishop, and officer's return. Hand #1 Thomas Newton; hand #2 George Herrick (Rosenthal 313).
Annotation text from the Salem Witch Trials: Restoring Justice Exhibition:
Chief Justice William Stoughton never wavered in the belief that witchcraft was an existential threat to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Confident in the validity of spectral evidence, Stoughton relentlessly sought to purge the community of accused witches. On June 8, he signed and affixed his wax seal to this warrant, setting the execution date of Bridget Bishop. Sheriff George Corwin, nephew of magistrate Jonathan Corwin and son-in-law of Justice Bartholomew Gedney, was charged with bringing Bishop “to the place of execution” between 8 a.m. and noon and hanging her there. On June 10, at the bottom of the document, Corwin reported he completed his task.
-
-
- Is Part Of
- ["Massachusetts Court of Oyer and Terminer records (DEP 01)"]
-
- Format
- ["legal instruments","judicial records"]
-
Warrant for the execution of Bridget Bishop, and officer's return
Select what you would like to download. If choosing to download an image, please select the file format you wish to download.
Please note full document download may take several minutes (PDF only).
Certain download types may have been restricted by the site administrator.
Select the document elements you would like to include in the embed code.