Corey Under Pressure (Literally)

 

  

SALEM- September 18, Giles Corey was pressed to death. Not one but multiple boulders were laid on his chest as he was asked a number of times whether or not he was a wizard, and with each unsaid response, or answer which was neither yes or no, another rock was placed.
It took a series of days to kill this great man, his last breath spent on the words “More weight”. Corey was executed on accounts of accused witchcraft, and disturbance of the court, and is one of many “witches” and “warlocks” already condemned to hell. The man is known by most as a “cranky fiery old man with an uncanny knowledge in law”. Because he did not deny nor accept his conviction, he died a Christian under the law. He would not answer aye or nay, and was able to preserve his family’s hold on their land.

      Despite being a theocracy, politics are very much involved in Salem life. One major political aspect of life in Salem is land ownership. Giles Corey is like most people in Salem, a long time farmer and resident of the town. His entire family has inhabited the region, and as an elderly man has witnessed, and been involved in many land conflicts with neighboring families across multiple generations. One such family is the Putnams. Corey, has had multiple land disputes with Thomas Putnam’s grandfather, and still harbors a grudge against his family. The feeling may be mutual as, it is rumored that before assisting Proctor in the gathering of lumber off of land said to be in the Putnam will (despite belonging to Francis Nurse), Thomas Putnam threatened to “clap a write on him”(32). One of the laws of Salem is that if one is hanged as a witch, that person forfeits their property, and given his previous history with the Proctor’s, and the fact that Ann Putnam and one of their servants were accusers, in court he declared that “this man (Thomas Putnam) is killing his neighbors for their land!(96) ”. He went on to say, “The proof is there! I have heard it from an honest man who heard Putnam say it! The day his daughter cried out on Jacobs, he said she’d give him a fair gift of land! (96)”. However, this accusation could not be supported with a name.

   Corey’s involvement in the Salem trials is largely due to his love for his family, and the Salem politics interference with that. He tried to defend his wife against accusations of the chickens she sold Walcott being bad. He blamed his self for his wife’s conviction, and did everything he could in order to ensure that she was saved, as well as his wife’s property. Salem is a near ghost town, a place of wandering orphans and he tried to make it less so. Giles Corey is no devils spawn; he is a man wrongly killed. In a couple months time, John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse will be hanged. Will their circumstances be of a similar nature? Or will an unseen layer of Salem be brought to light?
~Article Written by Lysa Legros