Massachusetts Families Find New Ties to Salem Witch Trials
NEWBURYPORT, Mass. (AP) — If her friends and family hadn't believed in her innocence and broken her out of Ipswich Jail, Salisbury's Mary Perkins Bradbury would have been hanged as a witch 320 years ago because of a grudge held by a disappointed suitor.
Bradbury's tale of what could have been a fatal case of revenge isn't uncommon in the scope of the Salem witch trials during the late 17th century. But the happy ending in Bradbury's story came because the wife of 55 years and mother of seven children was rescued. She was able to live out the remainder of her 80 years in what is now Amesbury before dying in 1700.
By Oct. 29, 1692, when Gov. William Phips dissolved the Court of Oyer and Terminer that held the trials, the 10 months of hysteria that overwhelmed the Massachusetts Bay Colony resulted in 27 people dying after being convicted of practicing witchcraft. Seven died while imprisoned, 19 by hanging, and one was pressed to death.
http://www.countytimes.com/articles/2012/10/09/news/doc5071746b42d88088327557.txt