IENNET BIERLEY, ELLEN BIERLEY, _and_
IANE SOVTHWORTH, _which hereafter followeth._
The said Examinate vpon his oath saith, That hee hath often heard
his old Master, Sir _Iohn Southworth_[L4_b_2] Knight, now deceased,
say, touching the late wife of _Iohn Southworth_, now in the Gaole,
for suspition of Witchcraft: That the said wife was as he thought an
euill woman, and a Witch: and he said that he was sorry for her
husband, that was his kinsman, for he thought she would kill him. And
this Examinate further saith, That the said Sir _Iohn Southworth_ in
his comming or going betweene his owne house at Salmesbury, and the
Towne of Preston, did for the most part forbeare to passe by the
house, where the said wife dwelled, though it was his nearest and best
way; and rode another way, only for feare of the said wife, as this
Examinate verily thinketh.
* * * * *
_The Examination of_ WILLIAM
ALKER _of Salmesbury, in the Countie of Lancaster,
Yeoman: Taken the fifteenth day of Aprill_, Anno Reg.
Regis IACOBI, Angliæ, Franciæ, & Hiberniæ, Decimo
& Scotiæ, quadragesimo quinto.