Drawing blood from a witch

A woman of Wiveliscombe believed her daughter had been bewitched for a year by an old neighbour, Mrs Burges, and consulted old Baker, the Devonshire wizard, who gave her a charm and a medicine. He told her the spell would only break if blood was drawn from the witch. When Mrs Burges called, the mother and her daughters seized her and tore her arm with an iron nail while a crowd outside called her a witch. At their trial they were found guilty and given four months more in gaol, and the judge said he wished he had Baker in the dock.