.
From Mid-March to early April, Martha Corey, Rebecca Nurse, Elizabeth Proctor, and Sarah Cloyce were accused of witchcraft. Soon after Corey, Nurse, and Proctor were examined before Magistrates Hathorne, Corwin, Deputy Governor Thomas Danforth, and Captain Samuel Sewall. During this analysis, John Proctor was also jailed. Then Abigail Hobbs, Bridget Bishop, Giles Corey and Mary Warren were taken into account. The only one to confess was Hobbs. On April 22, Nehemiah Abbot, William and Deliverance Hobbs, Edward and Sara Bishop, Mary Easty, Mary Black, Sarah Wildes, and Mary English were examined before Hathorne and Corwin. Only Nehemiah was cleared of all charges. On May 2, Sarah Morey, Lydia Dustin, Susannah Martin, and Dorcas Hoar were examined, and trying to flee, George Burroughs was arrested in Wells, Maine on May 4. On May 10, Sarah Osborne died in a Boston prison, just a George Jacobs, Sr. and his granddaughter Margaret were examined by Hathorne and Corwin. Margaret admitted, saying, "They told me if I would not confess I should be put down into the dungeon and would be hanged, but if I would confess I should save my life," then testified that her grandfather and George Burroughs were both witches. .
On May 18, Mary Easty was released from prison, however due to the clamor and protests of her accusers, she was arrested a second time. Shortly after, Governor Phips set up a special Court of Oyer and Terminer consisting of seven judges to hear the witchcraft cases. The Magistrates based their judgments and evaluations on several kinds of abstract evidence including direct confessions, supernatural attributes (such as "witchmarks"), and the reactions of the afflicted girls. Mysterious evidence was based upon the assumption that Lucifer could enter upon the "phantom" of an innocent person, was counted in spite of its debatable characteristics. .
On June 2, at an initial session of the Court Oyer and Terminer, Bridget Bishop was the first to be named guilty of witchcraft and doomed to death.
