1. Giles Corey is believed to have died in the field adjacent to the prison that had held him, in what later became the Howard Street Cemetery in Salem, Massachusetts, which opened in 1801.
13 Facts About Giles Corey
1. 2.
Giles Corey originally lived in Salem Town but later moved to nearby Salem Village to work as a farmer.
3.
Giles Corey is believed to have married his first wife, Margaret, in England.
4.
In 1676, Giles Corey was brought to trial and charged with murder in Essex County, Massachusetts, for beating to death one of his indentured farm workers, Jacob Goodale, son of Robert and Catherine Goodale and brother to Isaac Goodale.
5.
The local coroner, as well as numerous witnesses and eyewitnesses, testified against Giles Corey, including neighbor John Proctor, who testified that he heard Giles Corey admit he had beaten Goodale.
6.
Since corporal punishment was permitted against indentured servants, Giles Corey was exempt from the charge of murder and instead was charged with using "unreasonable" force for which he was found guilty and fined.
7.
At the time of the witch trials, Giles Corey was 80 years old and living with Martha in the southwest corner of Salem Village, in what is Peabody.
8.
About noon at Salem, Giles Corey Cory was pressed to death for standing mute; much pains was used with him two days, one after another, by the court and Captain Gardner of Nantucket who had been of his acquaintance, but all in vain.
9.
Since Giles Corey refused to plead, he died in full possession of his estate, which would otherwise have been forfeited to the government.
10.
Giles Corey had a son from a previous marriage named Thomas; he showed up as a petitioner for loss and damages resulting from his mother being executed illegally during the witch trials.
11.
Giles Corey is a character in Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, in which he is portrayed as a hot-tempered but honorable man, giving evidence critical to the witch trials.
12.
Giles Corey appears in Robert Ward's operatic treatment of the play, in which his role is assigned to a tenor.
13.
Giles Corey was the namesake behind one of Dan Barrett's musical projects.