the defiant ones
In September 1659, William Robinson, Marmaduke Stevenson and Mary Dyer came to Boston expressly to defy the cruel law and were banished. The three returned and on the 27th day of October they were led to the gallows on Boston Common, under escort of a hundred soldiers. Many people had begun to cry shame on such proceedings and it was thought necessary to take precautions against a tumult. The two men were hanged first and when the halter was placed upon Mrs. Dyer, the proceedings were stopped as her son arrived and won a reprieve on the promise that he would take her away. One of the soldiers attending was Edward Wanton, who was so moved by the courage and peace with which these souls faced their death that he soon converted and became the founder and leader of the Scituate Friends.
The following spring, against all efforts of her husband and son to keep her home in Rhode Island, Mary Dyer returned to Boston. On the first day of June, she was taken to the gallows, and at the last moment was offered her freedom if she would promise to stay away. She refused, "In obedience to the will of the Lord I came,” she said, "and in His will I abide faithful unto death." So she died.
The following spring, against all efforts of her husband and son to keep her home in Rhode Island, Mary Dyer returned to Boston. On the first day of June, she was taken to the gallows, and at the last moment was offered her freedom if she would promise to stay away. She refused, "In obedience to the will of the Lord I came,” she said, "and in His will I abide faithful unto death." So she died.
Public sentiment in Boston was so strongly against the magistrates that they began to weaken in their purpose. Yet there would be one more victim. In November of 1660, William Leddra returned from banishment. He was kept in prison four months and every effort was made to induce him to promise to leave the colony, but in vain. In March he was put to death. A few days before his execution, another banished Quaker, named Wenlock Christison, strode into the courtroom and with uplifted finger addressed the judges in words of authority. "I am come here to warn you," he said, "that ye shed no more innocent blood." He was instantly seized and dragged off to jail. After three months he was brought to trial and condemned to death, but the sentence was never carried out. Meanwhile, the legislature assembled and modified the law. In 1661, King Charles II, who had recently been returned to the throne, issued a letter to Endicott and other New England governors ordering them to suspend all proceedings against the Quakers.
The martyrs had not died in vain. Their cause was I victorious. The Puritan ideal of commonwealth composed of a united body of believers was I broken down, never again to be I restored. The principle had been, admitted that the heretic might come to Massachusetts and stay there.
