20th August 1962 (Salem)

Anna Maria Hätälä

After Abigail Williams disappeared with Mercy Lewis few days ago, Reverend Samual Parris begged Judge Hathorne and Danforth for reprieve in the Meeting House in Salem yesterday. He claimed that Abigail had vanished and explained John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse are innocent. Reverend John Hale of Beverly turned up as well after trying to convince the accused witches of confessing so they would not be hanged and he would be relieved of his bad consciense. But Judge Danforth could not pardon any of them. He stated the people in the town are expecting to see them hanged just as the other ones were, and it would certainly display a failure and mistake of the court. When John and Elizabeth Proctor entered the room, Hale hoped Elizabeth has by then persuaded John to confess of witchcraft (cf. page 2: Interview with Reverend John Hale). The judges declared the court in session and started questioning John Proctor. Everything seemed to work out well, Proctor confessed of witchcraft and seeing the Devil, even though he did not give the Judges any names of whom he had seen with the Devil. However, when Judge Danforth asked him to hand him the signed testimony, Proctor refused: "Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and I sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!" After saying this with tears in his eyes, he had teared the paper apart and Rebecca Nurse and him have been brought away. Elizabeth Proctor did not go with them anymore, she told Hale and Parris "He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him."

20th August 1962

"He have his goodness now."