On June 10th Bridget Bishop became the first person to be hung on the Gallows Hill tree; this was the first official execution of the Salem Witch Trials. She was accused by five of the afflicted girls and 23 townspeople. Following her execution, accusations of Witchcraft rocketed. Though the trials were not unopposed, several towns' people signed petitions on behalf of the accused people that they believed were innocent.
From June 29th to the 30th Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Sarah Wildes, Sarah Good and Elizabeth How were tried for Witchcraft and sentenced to execution. On July 19th Nurse, Martin, Wildes, Sarah Good and How were brought up to Gallows Hill on a rickety cart and executed. While Nurse prayed by the large oak tree, Reverend Nicholas Noyes pleaded and urged Good to confess her sin. He told her that he knew that she was a Witch. Good snarled, "You are a liar. I am no more a Witch than you are a Wizard [male witch], and if you take away my life, God will give you blood to drink." (Zeinert, 55)
From August 2nd to the 6th George Jacobs, Sr., Martha Carrier, George Burroughs, John and Elizabeth Proctor and John Willard were tried for Witchcraft and sentenced to execution. George Jacobs, Sr., Martha Carrier, George Burroughs, John Proctor and John Willard were lead to Gallows Hill on August 19th. Elizabeth Proctor was pregnant at the time, and she was reprieved until she gave birth to the baby and then she would be executed. In November, Elizabeth Proctor and her children were released from jail.
On September 9th Martha Corey, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann Proctor, Dorcas Hoar, and Mary Bradbury were tried and sentenced to execution. On September 17th another group was tried and sentenced to executions. This group included: Margaret Scott, Wilmott Redd, Samuel Wardwell, Mary Parker, Abigail Faulkner, Rebecca Eames, Mary Lacey, Ann Foster, and Abigail Hobbs. Abigail Faulkner pleaded pregnancy and she was reprieved. Eames, Lacey and Hobbs were all reprieved. Ann Foster died in prison; her son had to pay two pounds, 16 shillings before he could get her body for burial.
