Governor Endecott’s Order of Reprieve [But Only After a Trip to the Gallows](October 26, 1659)

Governor John Endecott

Whereas Mary Dyer is condemned by the General Court to be executed for her offenses, on the petition of William Dyer, her son, it is ordered that the said Mary Dyer shall have liberty for 48 hours after this day to depart out of this jurisdiction after which time, being found herein she is forthwith executed, and in the meantime she is to be kept a close prisoner until her son, or some other be ready to carry her away within aforesaid time. It is further ordered that she will be carried to the place of execution and there to stand upon the gallows with a rope about her neck, till the rest be executed, and then to return to the prison and remain as aforesaid.

Source: Ruth Plimpton. Mary Dyer: Biography of a Quaker Rebel (1994), p. 171.