180 Records of the Rising in the West } A.D. 1655. 



u A stubborne froweard man, active in this business, and riding with them ; 

 [the risers] and the horses, for which he was convicted, taken for that purpose." 



Perfect Proceedings 3 April 12th to 19th, 1655, says 



" John Woodward was taken with an horse he had stolen at the same time and 

 so was indicted and condemned for felony. 



Of the trials of Margaret Gingell for witchcraft, Sampson Pichfatt 

 for horse stealing, and John Dole for sheep-stealing, there are no 

 particular notices. 



It may be Gingell was acquitted. The Every day Intelligencer, 

 April 19th, mentions amongst the acquittals, " A maid," 1 but one 

 paper says she was executed. 



On Saturday morning. April 14th, the court sat before eight 

 o'clock, for the purpose of passing sentence on the prisoners. 2 I 

 suppose the years of war and bloodshed had somewhat blunted men's 

 sensibilities ; but few in that crowded court could have heard without 

 emotion the awful sentence of the law, pronounced upon 15 or more 

 fellow beings. Perchance there was then an exceeding bitter cry 

 from Deane's mother, " O spare him, good my Lord ! Oh spare him^ 

 as you would be spared ! He is my only child/'' But the law must 

 be vindicated. " Let that woman be removed from court/'' Mr. 

 Justice Wyndham, we may conclude, enacted with feeling and 

 dignity his most solemn and disagreeable duty. On Lucas, Dean, 

 Kensey, Thorpe, Fryer, Lawrence, and Mackes the sentence was, that 

 they be hanged, drawn, and quartered. The rest to be hanged. 

 Day of execution not fixed, the reason given out was, that the 

 Sheriff of Wilts was wanted as a witness at Exeter. The real one 

 was that the Protector's pleasure as to reprieve might be known. 

 And so the proceedings terminated. 



1 There is a wholesome order to be found in one of the Western Circuit Books 

 relating to a Wiltshire witchcraft case, which, though "wise women "and 

 "evil-eyed men " are well-nigh extinct in these days of education; yet deserves 

 notice. The witch is not tried but transmitted to the next assizes. The girl 

 bewitched is still bound upon her recognizances. Then comes the order. The 

 persons (naming them) who "incited " the girl bewitched to go to the witch, 

 they being now absent, are to be bound over upon sufficient securities to appear 

 at the next assize, there to abide the order of the court. 



2 3 Th., 376. 



