ABSTRACT
Having successfully withstood the challenge posed by the pious and highly regarded Rebecca Nurse, the Court of Oyer and Terminer reconvened on August 5 to face six more defendants: George Burroughs, John and Elizabeth Proctor, George Jacobs Sr., John Willard, and Martha Carrier. Indirectly, two developments might well have resulted at least in part from John Proctor's petition. First, apparently in retaliation, Proctor's relatives in Lynn were immediately cried out against and arrested. Second, Increase Mather decided to visit Salem to see for himself how the trials were conducted. According to Robert Calef, Cotton Mather was present upon the occasion of the mass hanging of August 19, and he made record of an incident that has remained indelibly ingrained in the history of the Salem witch trials, forever exemplifying in most minds Mather's zealous role therein. Many did believe the confessors, including the judges of the Court of Oyer and Terminer.
