Witchcraft and Swashbuckling

[shawnhcorey]

Originally Posted by Dangerious P. Cats

All those witches in Salem must have got to the New World somehow...

There were no witches in Salem. The witchhunts there, like those in Europe, were about money, not religion. Those who pleaded guilty were given a minimum punishment, they wealth confiscated by the authorities, and then set free. Those who plead innocent, were convicted, accused, tried, and killed, and their wealth confiscated by the authorities. It was not until Giles Corey did the killing stop. By refusing trial (legal under Massachusetts law at the time) he was crushed to death by stone, but since he was never convicted, his wealth went to his heirs.