What was the name of the man pressed to death for refusing to plead?

Giles Corey was the man pressed to death for refusing to plead during the Salem witch trials.

Corey, an English-born farmer living in Massachusetts, was accused of witchcraft in 1692. He refused to enter either a guilty or not-guilty plea, a decision that prevented the court from proceeding with a formal trial. Under the English legal practice known as peine forte et dure, officials placed heavy boards over his body and added stones.

The pressing began on September 17, 1692, and Corey died two days later. Later accounts traditionally report that, when urged to plead, he answered, “More weight,” although historians note that the precise wording of his final statements is uncertain. His refusal also protected his estate from automatic forfeiture, allowing it to pass to his heirs.

Corey is sometimes confused with his wife, Martha Corey, who was separately convicted and hanged on September 22, 1692. Giles Corey remains the only person executed by pressing in the Salem proceedings.