knew,  was  to  confess.  Others,  no  doubt  did  not
believe  the  testimony  against  themselves,  but
acknowledged  themselves  to  be  witches  because
those  who  confessed  were  discharged,  while
those  who  did  not  were  eventually  convicted  and
executed.  Some  stood  to  the  confession  and
were  saved.  Others,  under  the  promptings  of
their  consciences,  repudiated  the  confession  and
suffered  death.  It  is  difficult  to  reconcile  the
conduct  of  Thomas  Putnam,  and  his  wife  Ann,
and  their  daughter  Ann,  jr.,  with  other  than
motives  of  personal  malice.  Young  Ann,  as  we
have  seen,  was  a  leading  complainant  and  wit-
ness in  all  the  important  cases.  The  mother
testified  at  several  trials,  telling  some  of  the
most  improbable  stories  recorded  in  all  this  his"
tory.  Thomas  was  an  active  and  leading  charac-
ter throughout  from  first  to  last.  He  prepared
many  of  the  depositions  for  his  daughter,  and
on  several  occasions,  made  statements  for  her
over  his  own  signature.  Why  he  was  thus
prominent  does  not  clearly  appear.  It  may  be
that  he  was  prompted  solely  by  what  he  believed
to  be  for  the  public  good  :  that  he  was  honest,
but  misguided,  yet  his  zeal  was  certainly  extra-
ordinary.
