Thomas and Bridget Oliver
Brought to Court for Verbal Abuse
(1677)
Summons to Accused and Witnesses
Summons, dated 24: 10: 1677, to the wife of Thomas Oliver, and to witnesses, James Simonds, John Leach, Sr., and wife Sarah, and Benjamin Horne as witnesses, signed by Hilliard Veren, cleark, and served by Nathaniel Beadle, constable of Salem.
Verdict
Bridget, wife of Thomas Oliver, presented for calling her husband many opprobrious names, as old rogue and old devil, on Lord's days, was ordered to stand with her husband, back to back, on a lecture day in the public market place, both gagged, for about an hour, with a paper fastened to each of their foreheads upon which their offence should be fairly written.
Upon request of Mary West, daughter of said Thomas, who paid 20 s., he was released.
Salem, Jan. 29, 1677/78