Great stones they lay upon his chest until he plead aye or nay. They say he give them but two words. "More weight," he says. And died…It were a fearsome man, Giles Corey.
– Arthur Miller
The Crucible, Act 4. The particularly gruesome and brutal death of Giles Corey is described here by Elizabeth. He was crushed to death by the piling of heavy stones and rocks on top of his chest. Giles was a man of great courage and moral integrity. He had been ordered by Judge Danforth to reveal the name of a man who overheard Thomas Putnam admit to falsely accusing people of witchcraft to get their land. Giles refused in order to protect the man and was tortured to death by Salem’s rough justice.