Giles Corey

Giles Corey was accused of witchcraft along with his wife Martha Corey during the Salem Witch Trials . After being arrested for witchcraft, Corey refused to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty. He was subjected to pressing in an effort to force him to plead the only example of such a sanction in American history but instead died after two days of torture. He is believed to be buried where he was pressed, in what is now the Salem Witch Trials Memorial and the Howard Street Cemetary.

Giles Corey was born in Northampton, England, beforeAugust 1611, the date on which he was baptized in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was one of the few Norman round churches in Britain. Giles was the son of Giles and Elizabeth Corey. His birth is recorded in the parish records of St. Sepulchre. It is not certain when exactly he arrived in the Americas, but there is evidence he was in Salem in 1640. There are quite a few entries in the court documents as to his behavior, which was not completely good, but in those times any accusation was an offense against the state. His name is quite often spelled Corey, but the baptismal record is Cory.

Source: Wikipedia