Synopsis
Mary Dyer was executed on Boston Common in 1660 for entering the city when Quakers were not welcome there. Her story, told by one of her descendants, reminds us today that U.S. religious freedoms came at the cost of lives. A perfect companion to Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.
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About the Author
The recently deceased Robert S. Burgess (d. 2006), a graduate of Brown University and the University of Chicago, worked with the American Friends Service Committee, and as a consultant in Human Services. Like his ancestor Mary Dyer, he put his ideals into action. Unlike his ancestor, he lived in a time when doing so tended not to endanger his life.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Boston had spent a restless night. Now it was morning. May had given way to June. It was the morning of the execution. A small group of colonists had gathered around the walls of the prison in the vain hope of getting word to the prisoner. Earlier, when she had been found talking with friends gathered around her cell window, she had been moved to a remote part of the prison where none could speak or signal to her. All night the faithful band of friends remained outside the walls. At first the evening had been warm, but after midnight the wind shifted to the northeast, and with the onshore breeze had come a thick, penetrating fog. Now and then two or three visitors would move away into the mist---only to be replaced by three or four more. As dawn lightened the mist, more and more gathered, until the entire west wall of the building was flanked by shadowy figures, coats and scarves pulled tightly around them against the cold fog, holding furtive, quiet conversations along the wall. This was the year 1660---June, 1, 1660. It was only a day after Governor Endicott had sentenced Mary Dyer to die. His words were fresh in her memory: "You must return to the prison, and there remain until tomorrow at nine o'clock; thence you must go to the gallows and there be hanged until you are dead."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mary had slept little during the night and spent the hours sitting on the crude bench in the corner of her cell in silent prayer. No candle had been provided for her, but as dawn came she was able to make out the words in her small Bible, those of Isaiah chapter 30, verses 20 and 21: "And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers; and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, 'This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. . . .'" Her meditation was interrupted by the clank of keys and the opening of the heavy door. The chief jailer himself entered, carrying a wooden tray from which a faint line of steam trailed in the cool morning air. Mary smiled. "Good morning, friend Jailer. Thee hast brought me more than my appetite demands. Will thee join me in my final repast?" "Speaking with you is against my orders, Mary Dyer. I feel sure that sharing your meal would place me in even more difficulty," said the chief jailer. He left as quickly as he could get out the door.
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To Try the Bloody Law: The Story of Mary Dyer
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