Selected as a judge for the special Court of Oyer and Terminer, responsible for the trial and sentence of people accused during the 1692 Salem Witch Trials. He eventually resigned, presumably displeased with the proceedings. Although he left no indication of his feelings toward witchcraft, he is considered one of the more principled men of his time. Rare ADS, signed “Nath: Saltonstall,” one page, 8.25 x 4.5, November 11, 1702. Saltonstall summarizes his examination of a sailor who escaped from prison. In part: “He ownes his name to be John Ford; & that he came from Portsmouth; That he came w’th one Joseph Stevens into this country as a Sailor, & yet because he was not willing to go to Sea with him again, The Commander Stevens caused him to be put into prison; where he lay neer Six weeks and then that he broke ye Lock of ye Prison Door & gott out, & made his escape from thence. He saith that he received Telve pounds and thirteen shillings of ye master, & yet he is not now any thing indebted to ye s’d Capt. Stevens; nor obliged to sail with him.” In very good condition, with intersecting single horizontal and vertical folds, scattered light toning and soiling, a bit heavier to central vertical fold, and a couple pinholes of paper loss at junction of folds.
Signed material from any of the Salem Witch Trial judges is seldom encountered, with most of the jurists virtually impossible to obtain as only a scant few examples have reached the market in the past fifty years. This is a well-preserved and legible example. RRAuction COA.
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