John Richards (Salem witch trials) John Richards (Salem witch trials) John Richards (died April 2, 1694) was a colonial military officer, businessman, politician, and magistrate, best known for his participation in the Salem witch trials in 1692. John Richards was born in England, and traveled with his parents in 1630 to North America as part of the first major wave of migration to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1644 Ricards was enrolled in the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, which he would remain involved with for the rest of his life. A resident of Dorchester for most of his life, he operated a mill, and
Navarre witch trials (1525-26) people accused of witchcraft were handed over to them. They also insisted on inspecting the ongoing witch trials. In December 1526, the Spanish Inquisition issued guidelines in how to deal with witch trials. The guidelines cautioned skepticism against spells, which caused most accusations and death sentences, banned the confiscation of the property of anyone condemned for witchcraft, reserved for the Inquisition the right to try witches, and paid more attention to re-educating witches rather than issuing death sentences. These soft guidelines were followed by the Spanish Inquisition in witchcraft cases from 1526 until the Basque witch trials in 1609; during