WEBVTT - S1 – 6: Consequences 0:00:10.200 --> 0:00:14.680 John Richards was an inspiration. He started out life as 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:17.400 a servant, but as the years would show, he was 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:21.160 born to climb the social ladder. He had a knack 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:24.880 for relationships. It seems, over the course of his life 0:00:24.880 --> 0:00:28.440 he made powerful friends. Maybe in his time as a 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:32.400 servant he overheard enough conversations about the inner workings of 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:34.640 power that he got a feel for the ebb and 0:00:34.680 --> 0:00:37.199 flow of it. All. He gained the approval of his 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:41.320 superiors and the respect of his peers. Whatever the case, 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:45.479 John was making a move that few men dared he 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:49.360 was climbing. It didn't hurt that he married into the 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:53.239 Winthrop clan, whose estimable name carried the legacy of a 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:56.680 Puritan leader who had founded it all. But John was 0:00:56.840 --> 0:01:00.520 no slouch. He swiftly picked up the skills of favorite 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:04.680 game of the Boston elite, land speculation. He saved up 0:01:04.720 --> 0:01:07.759 his money and then began to purchase property, the first 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:12.800 being Aerosick Island off the southern coast of Maine. By 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:14.640 the age of forty eight, he had one of the 0:01:14.720 --> 0:01:19.280 largest property holdings of anyone in Massachusetts. After all of that, 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:22.360 it's safe to say that few individuals in the Boston 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:26.800 establishment were as inspiring as John Richards, but it went 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:33.440 beyond wealth, or maybe that hard earned fortune unlocked new opportunities. Money, 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:38.959 after all, pairs very nicely with power. Richards served on 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:42.920 the General Court of Massachusetts, that ruling body that guided 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:45.679 the colony. He had served as a judge in a 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:49.120 number of important cases that spanned the church and the state. 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:54.400 In six e and Samuel Sewell had ruled to suspend 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:58.360 a local minister due to foul language and unseemly behavior 0:01:58.520 --> 0:02:03.120 in a tavern that wasn't hypocritical of him either. Richards 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:06.000 was a well respected puritan in his own church, a 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:08.919 church that was led by none other than Cotton Mother, 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:13.040 son of the powerful Increase Mather. He was so respected 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:16.000 that Cotton Mother leaned on Richards for him to help 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:20.440 sway the congregation on important matters. John Richards, you see, 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:27.760 had it all money, power and respect. But this self 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:30.640 made man was about to face the biggest challenges of 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:34.799 his life. The situation in s looked quite dire to 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:37.560 men like John Richards, and like a lot of things 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:40.720 in his life, that all came down to money. Like 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:43.520 so many of his peers, Richards had made his fortune 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:47.839 buying and selling land, frontier land, land on the edge 0:02:47.840 --> 0:02:50.920 of the colonies far to the north and Maine, and 0:02:50.960 --> 0:02:55.200 that land was being taken away from him. Well, that's 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:59.280 a bit misleading. The land wasn't really his to begin with. Yes, 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:02.080 he had purchased stit from the local Native American tribe 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:05.359 known as the Wabanakis, but never at a fair price, 0:03:05.880 --> 0:03:08.920 and the Wabanakis didn't care to have their homeland stripped 0:03:08.919 --> 0:03:11.960 of timber and mind for copper just to build someone 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:15.560 a grand house hundreds of miles away, so they took 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:21.160 it back. Losing that land to the enemy, literally, allies 0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:23.600 of the Devil in the minds of the Puritans, was 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:27.760 a blow against his lifetime of achievement. And now Satan's 0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:31.720 power was bleeding southward, inching ever closer to the safety 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:34.960 of the Boston area. You have to imagine John Richards 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:38.840 and his wealthy, powerful friends were more than a little nervous, 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:43.000 which is why when word began to spread about an 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:46.200 outbreak of witchcraft in the town of Salem, all of 0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:49.680 them drew a line in the sand. Satan would have 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:52.880 no more ground. They would stop him to save the 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:57.680 Puritan mission, yes, but also to save their fortunes, but 0:03:57.760 --> 0:04:01.160 with dozens of people already in jail and more being 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:05.800 added to their number each day, the clock was ticking. Thankfully, 0:04:05.920 --> 0:04:09.800 Governor Phipps had ordered an official trial the Oyer and Terminer, 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:14.320 and that meant judges were needed. What better place for 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:18.640 Boston's most powerful to take control than the front of 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:56.400 the courtroom. This is unobscured. I'm Aaron Mankey. When I'm 0:04:56.400 --> 0:04:59.919 trying to explain what the power structure of the colony 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:03.719 was like at the time of the witchcraft crisis, I 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:07.880 am fond of saying the following analogy in the US today, 0:05:08.440 --> 0:05:12.120 If the joint chiefs of Staff were also the President's 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:15.400 cabinet and also the judges of the Supreme Court, that's 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:19.320 the power structure of Massachusetts at the time. The same 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:23.360 men were the judges in the trials, and the chief 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:27.760 advisers of the governor, and the men who led the 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:31.520 local militia in the Indian War. So you talk about 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:36.080 consolidation of power there it is. That's Mary Beth Norton, 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:40.240 Professor of American History at Cornell University, and it's a 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:44.000 powerful picture she paints. The only thing I would add 0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:46.800 to her overlapping circles on the ven diagram would be 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:50.279 that not only were these men advisors and military leaders 0:05:50.279 --> 0:05:53.200 and judges, but they were also the wealthiest in the land. 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:55.680 In a day and age when the wealth gap between 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:58.440 the one percent and the rest feels like a canyon, 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:03.839 these men from teen two sound awfully familiar. Each of 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:06.480 them had built a fortune through a combination of land 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:10.599 speculation and the exploitation of that land. Some of them 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:13.520 own mills in the frontier country to the north, which 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:17.440 provided some of the prime exports of the colonies. Others 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:20.680 parceled out their massive tracks of land, earning a fortune 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:24.280 off the smaller sales. But while they all seem to 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:26.720 be cut from the same cloth and most of them 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:29.479 held a lot of the same positions of power, it's 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:32.479 important to note that the events of six two would 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:35.400 test them to the limit. Some of these men would 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:38.120 seize the reins of the crisis and drive it towards 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:41.800 its bloody conclusion. Others would take a more passive role, 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:45.520 their names barely mentioned in the court documents, preferring instead 0:06:45.600 --> 0:06:48.400 to watch from the passenger seat while the victims get 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:53.400 trampled by injustice. So who were the nine judges of 0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:57.119 the Oyer and Terminer trial. Some of them you've already met, 0:06:57.320 --> 0:07:01.680 such as John Richards, John Hawthorne, and Jonathan Corwin. The 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:07.479 others were Peter Sargent, Samuel Sewell Wait Still Winthrop, Bartholomew Gedney, 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:12.240 and Nathaniel Saltonstall. Which is eight not nine, and that's 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:14.880 on purpose because I want to share their leader with 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:18.360 you in more detail. The man who would lead the 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:22.200 Court of Oyer and Terminer as chief magistrate, presiding over 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:25.240 the other eight judges was none other than the Massachusetts 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:29.800 Lieutenant Governor himself, William Stoughton. WILLIAMS. Stonton is a ghost character, 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:34.400 one of my least favorite people. That's Emerson Baker, professor 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:38.960 of history at Salem State University. William Stoughton might have 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:41.320 put on a humble front, but he was just like 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:44.840 the rest of the judges, filthy, rich, and deeply embedded 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:48.480 in powerful circles. Stoughton had managed to trick the Native 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:52.320 Americans of western Massachusetts into selling him over a million 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:55.240 acres of their land, which he then proceeded to cut 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:58.440 up and sell in pieces for massive profit. It was 0:07:58.480 --> 0:08:01.480 so successful that he repeat of the process in Connecticut 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:05.280 a short while later, and he was using his political 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:09.120 positions to make it all happen, enriching himself through his 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:13.920 public office. Taking it all into account, William Stoughton seems 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:16.520 to have been a man focused purely on his own 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:19.680 advancement of power and wealth, and he was willing to 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:22.600 be ruthless to get it done. The coup that had 0:08:22.720 --> 0:08:25.680 ended the rule of Governor Andrews had set him back 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:28.680 a bit, but thanks to his connections, he landed on 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:32.920 his feet and managed to secure a place alongside Governor Phipps, 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:35.680 a position he was now about to use to deliver 0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:40.480 hard justice to the people of Salem. If it's not 0:08:40.559 --> 0:08:44.760 already clear, this group of wealthy and interconnected power players 0:08:44.880 --> 0:08:48.760 were accustomed to the comfort and stability of their high positions, 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:52.440 but in six they were shaking in their boots. The 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:55.400 New Charter had only just arrived and their future was 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:59.720 still uncertain, and all the while, Wabanaki forces were advancing 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:04.400 as Maine and western Massachusetts, wiping out their personal fortunes. 0:09:05.840 --> 0:09:08.640 The witches of Salem were the closest thing these men 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:11.280 could find to its target upon which they might vent 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:15.800 their frustration. The Catholic French and their heathen Native American 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:19.280 allies were all agents of the devil, sure, but so 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:22.040 were the witches of Salem. While the battles to the 0:09:22.040 --> 0:09:25.400 west and north were less within their control, nothing was 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:28.200 standing in their way to strike a decisive blow to 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:33.080 these new enemies that threatened the Puritan mission. The first 0:09:33.080 --> 0:09:36.040 step was to assemble the jurors, which was done on 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:40.360 more importantly, though, they needed a prosecutor to bring those 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:43.480 minions of Satan to trial, and for that job they 0:09:43.520 --> 0:09:45.920 turned to a man named Thomas Newton. He was a 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:50.120 lawyer trained in English law who was currently practicing in Boston, 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:53.840 and he had a track record for ruthlessly pursuing the 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:59.080 very thing that the judges needed, convictions. He would bring 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:01.520 the cases before or the group of judges in the 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:04.520 presence of the jury, and then a decision would be 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:07.440 made for each. But rather than beginning with those who 0:10:07.440 --> 0:10:10.120 had been waiting the longest, or even those who were 0:10:10.120 --> 0:10:13.880 the most prominent in the community, Newton chose instead to 0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:17.760 start with his best chance of landing in early victory. 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:22.280 Salem's new oyer and terminal trial would begin with the 0:10:22.360 --> 0:10:33.800 charges brought against just one person, bridget Bishop. If bridget 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:37.520 Bishop's name sounds familiar, that's because we briefly discussed her 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:41.920 examination in episode four that said she has a powerful 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:46.560 story that requires a bit more exploration. Then honestly, if 0:10:46.600 --> 0:10:49.559 we can't slow down and unveil the humanity behind a 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:53.520 list of names, we're missing the point. Bridget story is 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:59.120 her own, but at the same time it's everyone's. Bridget's 0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:02.320 journey to the New World had begun painfully. She had 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:05.120 married a man named Samuel in England, and the couple 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:09.280 swiftly became parents. But sometimes joy is as fleeting as 0:11:09.320 --> 0:11:12.200 the morning fog, and that newborn infant and died before 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:15.960 it could thrive. A short time later, Samuel passed away 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:21.680 as well, leaving Bridget alone, well, not exactly. She was 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:25.240 pregnant with their second child, which was at once both 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:29.160 hopeful and sad. This child would never know its father 0:11:29.520 --> 0:11:32.679 or older sibling. It was a lot of darkness for 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:35.680 one person to deal with, which might explain why Bridget 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:38.720 boarded a ship bound for the New World. Maybe she 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:43.160 just wanted to escape it all. She arrived in Boston 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:45.960 in sixteen sixty four, and a short while later she 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:49.400 gave birth for the second time in her life. This child, 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:52.720 just like her first, failed to thrive, and when it 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:55.880 was over, Bridget had no one, no one to care for, 0:11:56.280 --> 0:11:59.280 no one to care for her alone in a strange 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:04.319 new land. She was lost two years later, though she 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:08.240 married again. Her new husband, Thomas Oliver, seemed like a 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:11.840 good man. He, like her, had lost a spouse, although 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:15.120 the details were far different from her own. Thomas had 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:17.720 three grown children, and his wife had been known to 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:21.600 be a troublemaker, always insulting him and the people around them. 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:24.320 Perhaps a fresh start was what both of them needed. 0:12:25.600 --> 0:12:28.640 It wasn't idyllic, though. Thomas turned out to be an 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:31.600 abusive husband, perhaps shedding a bit of light on why 0:12:31.720 --> 0:12:35.360 he and his first wife quarreled so often. Soon Bridget 0:12:35.400 --> 0:12:39.000 and Thomas had their own version of that reputation, although 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:41.400 most of the rumors and reports had to do with 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:46.440 the physical abuse that he heaped upon her. One neighbor, 0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:50.200 Mary Ropes, later testified that she often saw Bridget with 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:53.160 a bloody face or covered in black and blue marks. 0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:57.040 When the authorities got involved in sixteen seventy, they ordered 0:12:57.080 --> 0:13:00.560 both of them to be whipped publicly, ten stripes a piece, 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:04.160 they said, and then find for their behavior. They took 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:07.720 their beating and They paid their fine, but the trouble continued. 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:12.720 Seven years later, they were in court again. Bridget was 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:16.760 an abused woman fighting for her dignity and safety. Thomas 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:19.720 was a smooth, talking wife beater in a society that 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:23.760 elevated men high above the station of women, so naturally 0:13:23.960 --> 0:13:27.400 his deeds never went on record, while Bridget's behavior was 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:32.440 seeing as stubborn, disobedient, and offensive. Despite that, both of 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:35.560 them were punished again, and in the most public and 0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:39.680 humiliating way possible. They were forced to stand in the 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:42.800 public market place with their backs to each other. Both 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:45.560 of them were gagged to keep them silent, and each 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:48.319 had a note tied to their forehead describing their crimes. 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:52.480 Thomas's adult daughter paid the fine to have her father released, 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:57.040 but Bridget was left to suffer the humiliation alone. She 0:13:57.120 --> 0:13:59.839 suffered more than that, though, in the eyes of the 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:02.720 people around her, any woman with the tenacity to call 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:06.079 her husband an old devil most certainly had a bit 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:10.200 of familiarity with the devil himself. As a result, people 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:14.280 began to whisper that Bridget was a witch. Years before 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:17.120 the afflicted girls would claim to see spectral images of 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:21.120 their attackers. People in Salem were claiming to see Bridget 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:25.000 in their own homes, and these visions were linked to 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:28.800 unfortunate events. One man claimed to see Bridget spirit in 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:32.640 his home right before his infant daughter passed away. Another 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:35.560 man claimed Bridget had paid him for some labor, but 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:39.600 the money later vanished from his pocket. Yet another person 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:41.960 claimed to see her perched high up on a beam 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:47.480 in his barn, holding a stolen egg. These rumors in 0:14:47.640 --> 0:14:51.360 our own society today would never mature beyond that point, 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:54.280 but in the world of the Puritans, they were dark 0:14:54.320 --> 0:14:57.480 and ominous seeds that grew over time. In the winter 0:14:57.560 --> 0:15:00.840 of sixteen seventy nine, Bridget was charged with witchcraft and 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:04.080 ordered to appear before the Court of Assistants in Boston. 0:15:04.720 --> 0:15:07.400 She paid her bond and waited for a trial date, 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:12.920 but for whatever reason, the date never arrived. Thomas, the wife, 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:16.960 beat her, died in sixteen seventy nine, leaving Bridget alone again, 0:15:17.240 --> 0:15:19.520 Although that might have been the first time in her life, 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:22.280 she was glad to see a husband die, but as 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:25.920 death left her responsible for his outstanding debts, and she 0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:28.600 spent the next six years in legal battles trying to 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:34.240 take care of everyone demanding repayments. Then in sight, she 0:15:34.320 --> 0:15:38.240 met Edward Bishop. Edward had worked most of his life 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:40.720 at one of the sawmills in Salem, but he also 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:43.200 owned a bit of land in Salem Village, out on 0:15:43.240 --> 0:15:46.400 the north side of the territory. After their marriage, the 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:49.200 couple tore down the house Thomas had left Bridget in 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:52.880 Salem Town and constructed a tavern in its place, which 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:58.160 was managed and operated by Edward's son, Edward Jr. Life 0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:00.800 was supposed to get better for Bridget. She had found 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:03.360 a new husband and they had a promising future in 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:07.080 front of them. No, it wasn't a path to immense riches, 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:09.600 but it was better than a life of abuse and debt. 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:12.840 Bridget just wanted to move on from the failings of 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:16.200 her past and try to make a new start. Sadly, 0:16:16.480 --> 0:16:20.920 the community around her wasn't going to play along. Edward 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:23.840 Junior and his wife Sarah brought some of that trouble 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:27.040 back into her life. At one point, a neighbor woman 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:30.160 got fed up with the loud and disorderly behavior taking 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:33.520 place at the new Bishop tavern, and she confronted Edward Junr. 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:37.800 About it. Immediately after that, this neighbor woman fell ill, 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:41.720 She had seizures and spoke of wanting to die, all 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:46.840 while her family watched helplessly. A month later, this woman 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:49.400 was dead by her own hand. She had managed to 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:51.960 obtain a pair of sharp scissors, which she used to 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:55.120 stab herself in the side of the throat. Sarah Bishop, 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:58.640 Bridget's daughter in law, didn't get charged with witchcraft, as 0:16:58.640 --> 0:17:01.440 we might expect from the stories like this, but people 0:17:01.640 --> 0:17:06.639 certainly did take notice. Sometime after her marriage to Edward, 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:09.720 Bridget was arrested for theft and served three months in 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:12.399 jail before being charged with the crime and forced to 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:15.480 pay a large fine. It had only been a small 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:18.640 piece of brass hardware, but it was enough to ruin 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:23.520 her reputation for good. Bridget had lost two children and 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:27.040 a husband, only to find herself in an abuse of marriage. 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:30.520 She had fought back for her safety and her dignity, 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:34.480 only to be branded as a disobedient and outspoken woman. 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:38.520 Now this, whether it was true or not, this theft 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:43.040 and conviction was the final straw in everyone's mind. If 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:46.720 any woman in Salem Village was a witch, it was Bridget. 0:17:48.040 --> 0:17:51.280 To a career prosecutor like Thomas Newton, Bridget offered a 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:53.919 chance to begin the court of oyer and terminer on 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:57.280 a strong note. Yes, she was one of dozens who 0:17:57.280 --> 0:18:00.600 had been dragged before the magistrates for months, and each 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:04.000 of them possessed their own dark past and social baggage. 0:18:04.600 --> 0:18:07.920 But Bridget Bishop was the key that Newton would use 0:18:07.960 --> 0:18:13.119 to unlock the floodgates justice. If we can fool ourselves 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:17.160 into calling it that was about to flow like a river. 0:18:23.600 --> 0:18:26.800 Newton began by requesting just eight of the prisoners be 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:30.520 transferred up from the Boston jail to Salem Town. He 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:33.520 explained that while yes, there were a lot more people 0:18:33.560 --> 0:18:36.440 awaiting trial, it was going to be a slow, tedious 0:18:36.480 --> 0:18:40.560 process working through all of them. The afflicted were sometimes 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:44.720 disruptive and the cases were complex, so eight would be 0:18:44.760 --> 0:18:48.879 all he needed for in the first week. Bridget would 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:52.240 be his first. Of course, his case didn't rest entirely 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:56.000 on old events and accusations. There were fresh stories about 0:18:56.000 --> 0:18:58.399 Bridget that helped move her to the front of the line. 0:18:59.160 --> 0:19:02.320 Mercy Lewis and Annie Putnam both had claimed to see 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:05.600 Bridget spirit in their home. They stated, as if it 0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:09.439 were indisputable fact, that she had bewitched her second husband, 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:13.480 Thomas to death. It was damning evidence given the circumstances, 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:17.840 but Bridget had also lied to the magistrates, and that 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:20.720 didn't help her case. When they asked her if she 0:19:20.840 --> 0:19:23.240 was a witch, she denied it and claimed that she 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:26.199 didn't even know what a witch was. She also claimed 0:19:26.200 --> 0:19:29.000 she hadn't known anyone else confessed to being agents of 0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:32.320 the devil, but that wasn't exactly true. On the morning 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:35.040 of her examination back in April, she had been told 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:38.800 that Abigail Hobbs and Mary Warren had confessed, and if 0:19:38.840 --> 0:19:42.000 Bridget was willing to lie about that, what else was 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:45.520 she lying about. It was all word games. It was 0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:48.880 all a classic example of Bridget being considered guilty even 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:53.320 before she was examined on April nineteenth, six two. Nothing 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:56.080 she could say would change the public perception of her. 0:19:56.320 --> 0:19:58.880 All she could do was deny it as each question 0:19:58.960 --> 0:20:02.520 was fired at her one by one. I am innocent. 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:08.760 I am innocent. I am innocent. It didn't help her. 0:20:09.560 --> 0:20:11.800 She had been carted off to jail on April nineteenth 0:20:11.880 --> 0:20:14.359 and remained there for a month and a half. Every 0:20:14.400 --> 0:20:17.320 day new accused arrived to join her. In the small, 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:21.480 filthy room, she watched the constables drop off Sarah Wilds, 0:20:21.480 --> 0:20:25.000 a woman from Topsfield with a very similar story to Bridgets. 0:20:25.359 --> 0:20:27.520 She was even there long enough to see her stepson, 0:20:27.640 --> 0:20:30.960 Edward Jr. And his wife Sarah, added to the already 0:20:31.000 --> 0:20:36.119 overflowing jail. On June one, Thomas Newton's request for the 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:40.400 transfer of eight prisoners was put into action. Bridget Bishop, 0:20:40.560 --> 0:20:44.480 along with John and Elizabeth Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, John Willard, 0:20:44.680 --> 0:20:47.720 Sarah Good, and two others were all placed in a 0:20:47.720 --> 0:20:51.480 wagon and carted north to Salem Town. While they rode north, 0:20:51.640 --> 0:20:54.879 another group of freshly accused were being sent south to 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:58.040 Boston to take their place in the jail. It must 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:01.639 have been maddening to everyone involved. Rather than making headway, 0:21:01.680 --> 0:21:07.000 they were just treading water and barely staying afloat. Well 0:21:07.160 --> 0:21:11.119 maddening to most. Some of the people making decisions seemed 0:21:11.119 --> 0:21:14.680 to lack any sense of compassion or common decency at all. 0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:17.960 Remember Sarah Good, one of the first women to be 0:21:18.000 --> 0:21:21.120 accused and carted off to jail. Her four year old 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:24.760 daughter Dorothy was eventually accused as well, and together they 0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:27.160 had been waiting for their trial in the Boston jail. 0:21:27.800 --> 0:21:30.600 But when the constables transported Sarah Good and the others 0:21:30.640 --> 0:21:33.919 to sail in town on June one. They left Dorothy behind, 0:21:34.680 --> 0:21:37.679 a four year old girl, alone and afraid in a 0:21:37.760 --> 0:21:42.280 crowded room full of equally frightened strangers. It was abhorrent, 0:21:42.760 --> 0:21:45.040 but it didn't even cross their mind as the wrong 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:48.479 thing to do. There were bigger wrongs that needed writing. 0:21:48.680 --> 0:21:51.359 As far as they were concerned, what difference did it 0:21:51.400 --> 0:21:54.399 make if the authorities had separated a mother and her child, 0:21:54.720 --> 0:21:57.359 so long as they were wrapped securely in the blankets 0:21:57.359 --> 0:22:02.600 of moral superiority and justification. So as you might imagine, 0:22:02.680 --> 0:22:06.240 those eight prisoners rode north with a lot of emotional baggage. 0:22:06.600 --> 0:22:09.960 They were afraid for sure. This was the first official trial, 0:22:10.119 --> 0:22:13.640 not some simple examination. The court could make a decision 0:22:13.680 --> 0:22:16.360 that would impact their very lives, and that was more 0:22:16.400 --> 0:22:19.600 than enough reason to feel fear and stress. But there 0:22:19.680 --> 0:22:24.000 was more. They were all frustrated as well. You see. 0:22:24.080 --> 0:22:27.280 Back in April, Hawthorn and Corwin had visited the Salem 0:22:27.359 --> 0:22:30.480 jail to question Mary Warren, one of the accusers, who 0:22:30.480 --> 0:22:33.359 had confessed her guilt. As the others in the jail 0:22:33.440 --> 0:22:37.399 listened from a distance, Mary recanted her confession, denying that 0:22:37.440 --> 0:22:40.520 she was ever a witch, and she went further. She 0:22:40.600 --> 0:22:43.160 claimed that the visions she had described had been nothing 0:22:43.200 --> 0:22:45.959 more than stories she made up to distract the authorities. 0:22:47.240 --> 0:22:50.000 It was a bombshell if it was true. Some of 0:22:50.000 --> 0:22:53.040 the people awaiting trial and jail were doing so purely 0:22:53.080 --> 0:22:55.880 on the testimony of Mary Warren, and she had been 0:22:55.920 --> 0:22:59.760 overheard telling Hawthorne and Corwin that her testimony was all alive. 0:23:00.520 --> 0:23:03.679 So the prisoners mobilized. One of the wealthiest among them, 0:23:03.760 --> 0:23:07.200 a woman named Mary English, organized these prisoners a group 0:23:07.240 --> 0:23:10.720 that included Edward Bishop Junior and his wife Sarah, and 0:23:10.880 --> 0:23:14.639 helped them write a joint statement. If Mary Warren's testimony 0:23:14.760 --> 0:23:17.720 was false, then they should all be released and sent home. 0:23:18.840 --> 0:23:21.639 Then Yet here they were writing in a wagon toward 0:23:21.720 --> 0:23:24.640 the court of Oyer and Terminer and their final judgment. 0:23:25.280 --> 0:23:28.080 We know the magistrates received the statement. It's one of 0:23:28.080 --> 0:23:31.240 the few documents that survived to this day. But whether 0:23:31.359 --> 0:23:34.400 or not they even read it, let alone consider the request, 0:23:35.040 --> 0:23:38.439 is up for debate. The trials, even those for the 0:23:38.480 --> 0:23:44.159 people accused by Mary Warren, continued to march forward unchanged. Now, 0:23:44.240 --> 0:23:46.399 if we're looking for a reason why we don't have 0:23:46.520 --> 0:23:49.600 to go far beyond their Puritan mission. They had settled 0:23:49.640 --> 0:23:52.359 there decades earlier to build a city on a hill, 0:23:52.600 --> 0:23:56.080 a shining example of God's kingdom on earth. But the 0:23:56.119 --> 0:23:58.919 devil wanted to tear all of that to the ground. 0:23:58.920 --> 0:24:02.679 Things like false test ctimonies and lying prisoners were small 0:24:02.720 --> 0:24:05.399 matters when held up to the larger safety of the 0:24:05.400 --> 0:24:10.120 Puritan utopia they dreamt of. The day before the trials 0:24:10.119 --> 0:24:13.040 were to begin, that mission was driven home for a 0:24:13.080 --> 0:24:17.320 few of the presiding judges. Peter, Sergeant Samuel Sewell, and 0:24:17.440 --> 0:24:20.679 still Wait Winthrop all sat in their seats at Boston's 0:24:20.720 --> 0:24:23.720 Third Church that morning and listen to the minister. Samuel 0:24:23.760 --> 0:24:26.560 Willard preached from the Book of First Peter, chapter five. 0:24:27.520 --> 0:24:32.320 Be sober, be vigilant, It says, because your adversary, the Devil, 0:24:32.640 --> 0:24:38.960 as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Then, 0:24:39.160 --> 0:24:42.600 wanting to drive the point home, Willard issued his own 0:24:42.680 --> 0:24:46.360 personal warnings. He told the congregation that because God had 0:24:46.359 --> 0:24:49.840 banished the fallen angels from heaven, our world was full 0:24:49.880 --> 0:24:54.760 of invisible forces bent on our destruction. These invisible powers 0:24:54.800 --> 0:24:58.160 can assume any shape they desire, and they have enlisted 0:24:58.160 --> 0:25:03.040 evil people among us to do the work of the devil. Translation, 0:25:04.280 --> 0:25:14.800 prepare yourselves, we're about to go to war. M Sergeant 0:25:14.840 --> 0:25:18.320 Sewell and Winthrop weren't the only judges to receive messages 0:25:18.400 --> 0:25:21.960 from the church that weekend. John Richards, that self made 0:25:21.960 --> 0:25:24.560