Executed Today, April 12th, 1652 — Joan Peterson, for Witchcraft.Condemned for witchcraft, Joa

Executed Today, April 12th, 1652 — Joan Peterson, for Witchcraft.Condemned for witchcraft, Joan Peterson was hanged today in the town of Tyburn, England.  A local healer with a talent for medicine, she was approached with a bribe to accuse one of her patients, Mrs. Anne Livingston, of witchcraft.  The conspirators were after Mrs. Livington’s inheritance and wanted the old woman out of the way quickly.  Mrs. Peterson, however, was an honest woman who refused the bribe.  As a result, the conspirators accused Mrs. Peterson of witchcraft.  Some of the conspirators had connections with the local judges.  Thus Peterson was convicted of witchcraft even though there was no condemning evidence, a great wealth of evidence that proved her innocent, and her refusal to confess.  After the trial, one of the conspirators approached Joan and offered her a pardon for her crimes if should would name Mrs. Livingston a witch.  Joan not only refused, but punched the man in the face, breaking his nose.On April 12th, 1652 Joan Peterson was executed by hanging.  Her last words were, “I have made peace with God; and therefore desire to dye in quiet, for now I am to appeare before God who presently would Judge me, and that God was witnes, that I dyed Innocently, and was in no wise guilty of what was laid charge.” -- source link

More pics about