In September 1692, the Salem Witch Trials were at their horrific peak. Eighty-one-year-old farmer Giles Corey was accused of witchcraft, a charge that almost guaranteed a guilty verdict and the subsequent forfeiture of all personal property to the Crown. Corey recognized that under English common law, a trial could not proceed unless the defendant formally entered a plea of guilty or not guilty.
If he refused to plead, the legal system halted. To force a plea, authorities subjected Corey to peine forte et dure—a torture method where heavy stones were piled upon the accused's chest until they yielded or expired. Over three agonizing days in a field near the Salem jail, Corey refused to utter anything other than his famous final words, 'More weight.'
By dying without pleading, Corey was never legally convicted. This legal technicality prevented his estate from being seized by the corrupt local magistrate, George Corwin. Consequently, his sons-in-law inherited his farm and assets intact, turning his brutal execution into a defiant act of asset protection.