Murder of Difficulty Talby

Difficulty Talby was born in 1635 to Dorothy and her husband  John in Salem, Massachusetts. The couple had moved to Salem from Lincolnshire, England in 1630. They were active church members in the Puritan community. Their 6th child Difficulty Talby was born in 1635 and was baptized in October of that year.

Dorothy was a faithful and respectable member of the church but she had a history of spiritual delusions.  At one point because of her delusions, she was cast out of the church. She had attempted multiple times to harm her husband and children. Even refusing meat. She had assaulted her husband in April of 1637 and failed to show up to court and was bound to a post till she "learned her lesson". She was again punished for infractions against her husband in July 1837 and was publicly whipped. She seemed to improve for a while, but it became worse. 

In November of 1638, Dorothy strangled and broke Difficulty's neck. She claimed that God had told her to do it. 

She was found guilty at trial and was hanged on December 6, 1638. It was said that she tried to make it less painful by putting the cloth covering her head under the rope and she was hanging she tried to grab onto the chair to save herself.

Difficulty may be buried at the Kings Chaple Burying Ground in Boston. 

SOURCES:

Find A Grave (Difficulty)

Find A Grave (Dorothy)

Executed Today 

Wikipedia

Winthrop's Journal