It is a commonly held misconception that 'witches' were burned at the stake during the Salem Witch Trials. In reality, 25 people died: 19 by hanging, five in jail, and one by crushing. The Salem crushing death is the only court mandated crushing death in the history of the United States.
Giles Corey was an English immigrant who moved to Salem and became a farmer. Though he was a member of the local church, he had a bad reputation. In 1675, he was found guilty of the murder of a farm worker. Several years later, in 1692, Giles Corey's wife was accused of witchcraft. Corey originally testified against his wife, before changing his mind. The court in Salem then became suspicious that Corey himself was also a witch. Giles and his wife shared a jail cell for several months before his trial. I can only imagine how awkward those conversations must have been. At his eventual trial, the 80 year old man pleaded not guilty but refused to subject himself to the court. Corey believed that he would not receive a fair trial, which was not an unreasonable summation. He accepted whatever punishment would come from his refusal to cooperate.
For much of history, the punishment for refusing to accept a plea was pressing. Here are the recorded instructions given by a court to a marshal from an incident of pressing that took place in England:
“...that the marshal should put them in low and dark chambers, naked except about the waist; that he should place upon them as much weight of iron as they could bear, and more, so that they should be unable to rise; that they should have nothing to eat but the worst bread that could be found, and nothing to drink but water taken from the nearest place to the gaol, except running water; that the clay on which they had bread they should not have water… and that they should lie there till they were dead...”
Giles Corey was sentenced to this fate, even though Massachusetts had already banned peine forte et dure as a form of punishment. Corey famously took the weight bravely. He lived for two days under the crushing weight. Each time he was asked to enter a plea, he would reply, "more weight", and Captain John Gardner would oblige. It has been reported that he never once cried out in pain or showed any sign of discomfort. This makes his story unique in history. "More weight" were his last words.
Just before his death, his church excommunicated him so that he would not die belonging to their congregation. Martha Corey was hanged three days after the death of her husband. The rest of Massachusetts paid more attention to the actions of Salem following the news of Giles Corey. It was one of the main propellers of the movement against witchcraft trials. His story was dramatized in the play "The Crucible", which wasn't very historically accurate. He was also the subject of a less famous play, "Giles Corey of Salem Farms", in which he gives an impassioned speech at the end of his life to the Captain:
"I will not plead. If I deny, I am condemned already, in courts where ghosts appear as witnesses, and swear men's lives away. If I confess, then I confess to a lie, to buy a life which is not a life, but only death in life. I will not bear false witness against any, Not even against myself, whom I count least...I come! Here is my body; ye may torture it, but the immortal soul ye cannot crush!"
Though this speech is compelling, I prefer Corey's real, passive aggressive last words.
Resources:
Of The People: A History of the United States
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