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Governor Endicott's threat, "take heed ye break not our ecclesiastical laws, for then ye are sure to stretch by the halter." William Penn 
Quakers, like Puritans, had their origins in the hotbed of European religious dissent. In addition to the many Quakers who suffered abroad, there were some who felt called to go further afield. The Quaker faith soon came to American shore. (Stratton) Though some had undoubtedly embraced the tenets of the Quakers prior to the arrival of two female missionaries in 1656, there is apparently no evidence to indicate that they had proclaimed themselves or adopted the name of the despised sect. Had they done so, they probably would have been at least named in the recommendation of the Court made in May of the same year, that "the 11th day of June next…be kept as a public day of humiliation, to seek the face of God in behalf of our native country, in reference to the abounding of errors, especially those of the Ranters and Quakers," etc. Plymouth, somewhat less severe in its approach to the Quaker "problem," still deemed them the "pernicious sect called Quakers . . , who sowed their corrupt and damnable doctrines, both by word and writings . . .so as the number of them increased, to the great endangering and subversion of the whole . . ." The enemy arrived in Boston in the form of the two female Quakers from England traveling through Barbados aboard the ship "Swallow". Mary Fisher who, having suffered imprisonment and brutality at York and at Cambridge, went with Ann Austin across the Atlantic, first to Barbados and then on to Boston. What they found was not religious freedom, but immediate and disdainful imprisonment. Though they would escape with their lives, others, including Mary Dyer executed in 1660, were less fortunate Mary Fisher was a young ex-servant from Yorkshire, a "Maid whose Intellectual Faculties [were] greatly adorned by the Gravity of her Deportment." Yet she had been "convinced of the Truth" by George Fox in England, and had been whipped earlier that year at the University of Cambridge for speaking against preaching as a vocation. Now her inner light had led her to New England. Ann Austin, a woman "striken in years," and the mother of five children, accompanied her. Governor Endicott being out of town, the deputy governor, Richard Bellingham, sent officers aboard the ship, who searched the baggage of the two passengers, and seized their books, which, by order of the authorities, were burned by the common executioner. The women were committed to prison, where they were confined for five weeks, when they were sent back to Barbadoes, the master of the ship being bound in one hundred pounds to take them there, and ordered not to suffer any to speak with them after they were put on board. ". . . a board was nailed up before the
window It seems that while in gaol they used their own beds, which were brought out of the ship; these and their Bibles the gaoler confiscated to satisfy his fees. During their imprisonment no one was allowed to visit or to speak with them, and a board was nailed up before the window so that none might see them; they were denied all writing material, and no lights were permitted at night. They were so ill-fed or so starved, rather, that Nicholas Upsall, a church-member and freeman since 1631, bribed the gaoler with five shillings a week for the privilege of sending them provisions. Prior to this humane deed, he, or some other person whose heart had been touched by their sufferings,—it was probably Upsall,—had in vain offered to pay the five pounds penalty if permitted to visit the prisoners. As is usual with official despots, Bellingham made some show of legal procedure. Ann Austin and Mary Fisher, "upon examination are found not only to be transgressors of the former laws, but to hold very dangerous, heretical, and blasphemous opinions . . ." The Boston council was convened, and a declaration issued, wherein it was said that "there are several laws long since made and published in this jurisdiction bearing testimony against heretics and erroneous persons," and that Ann Austin and Mary Fisher, "upon examination are found not only to be transgressors of the former laws, but to hold very dangerous, heretical, and blasphemous opinions; and they do also acknowledge that they came here purposely to propagate their said errors and heresies, bringing with them and spreading here sundry books, wherein are contained most corrupt, heretical, and blasphemous doctrines contrary to the truth of the gospel here professed amongst us. A few weeks after the enforced departure of Ann Austin and Mary Fisher, another vessel anchored in the harbor with nine Quakers aboard. They were immediately arrested and were imprisoned for about eleven weeks, when they were sent away in the ship that brought them, the master of the ship having been compelled by an arbitrary imprisonment to give security to take them to England at his own charge. During their confinement Governor Endicott bullied them with threats of hanging. "Take heed," he said to them, "ye break not our ecclesiastical laws, for then ye are sure to stretch by a halter." On the 19th of May, 1658, for a third time the General Court issued its decree against the Friends, forbidding, under severe penalties, the holding of meetings or attendance at meetings. This law, also, is well flavored with the usual reviling and calumny.On the 19th of October, 1658, the Court enacted the fourth law, in which they incorporated Endicott's threat, "take heed ye break not our ecclesiastical laws, for then ye are sure to stretch by the halter." The preamble not only recites the old list of calumnies, but lengthens it with fresh slanders. It is followed by an order banishing both visiting and resident Quakers upon pain of death if they return. Very properly this order is amply padded with Puritan railing and abuse. Quakers, both men and women, are to "be stripped naked from the middle upwards, and tied to a cart's tail and whipped through the town;" also to "be branded with the letter R on their left shoulder,"
On the 22d of May, 1661, finding the hanging business had been somewhat overdone, the Court, with vindictive epithet, enacted a new statute, wherein it is ordered that Quakers, both men and women, are to "be stripped naked from the middle upwards, and tied to a cart's tail and whipped through the town;" also to "be branded with the letter R on their left shoulder," and "the constables of the several towns are empowered…to impress cart, oxen, and other assistance for the execution of this order." (Upsall) Between about 1660 and 1664 in Massachusetts twenty-two Quakers had been banished on pain of death, three martyred, three had their right ear cut off, one had been burned in the hand with a letter H, three had been ordered by the court to be sent to Barbadoes as slaves, thirty-one had received six hundred and fifty stripes administered with extreme cruelty, £1044 of property had been taken, and another was martyred in 1661 Not All Colonists In Favor Of Harsh Treatment In his long letter to England of December 1658, James Cudworth expressed his indignation and many grievances: He that will not Whip and Lash, Persecute and Punish Men that Differ in Matters of Religion, must not sit on the Bench nor sustain any Office in the Common-wealth. Last Election, Mr. Hatherly, and my Self, left off the Bench, and my Self Discharged of my Captainship because I had Entertained Some of the Quakers at my House (thereby that I might be the better acquainted with their Principles)…. But the Quakers and my self cannot close in divers Things; and so I signified to the Court, I was no Quaker…. But withal, I told them, That as I was no Quaker, so I would be no Persecutor. He went on to say that In the Massachusets (namely, Boston-Colony) after they have Whipp'd them, and Cut their Ears, they have now, at last, gone the furthest step they can, They Banish them upon pain of Death. We expect that we must do the like; we must Dance after their Pipe: Now Plimouth-Saddle is on the Bay-Horse. While tolerance for the Quakers, came slowly and painfully over time, the precipitating cause for some abatement in their dire punishements came under orders from King Charles in November 1661. " . . .that if there be any of those people called Quakers amongst you, now already condemmed to suffer Death, or other Corporal Punishment, or that are imprisoned or obnoxious to the the like Condemnation, you are to forbear to proceed any farther . . ." One can imagine Endicott's indignation--all the more so that it was delivered by a Quaker whom he had formerly sentenced to stripes and banishment. Primary Sources:
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1670 Quaker whipping in Boston