Which accused prisoner died in jail on June 16, 1692?

Roger Toothaker was the accused prisoner who died in jail on June 16, 1692. A physician and folk healer from Billerica, Massachusetts, he had been accused of witchcraft during the expanding Salem prosecutions and was held in Boston Jail.

Toothaker was arrested in May along with members of his family and other suspects. He had a reputation for claiming that he could detect or punish witches, a background that likely made him especially vulnerable when accusations spread. He died before he could be tried or executed.

His death is sometimes confused with the people hanged later in 1692, including George Jacobs Sr., Samuel Wardwell and John Willard. Toothaker was not one of the executed victims. Contemporary and later accounts generally describe his death as natural, although imprisonment, illness, poor conditions or inadequate food may have contributed. He was one of several accused people who died in custody during the crisis.