RESIDENCE OF GOVERNOR CODDINGTON, NEWPORT, 1641.
Mr. Coddington became involved in the Anne Hutchinson controversy, as did Wheelwright, the founder of Exeter. Mrs. Hutchinson was banished, and took refuge with Coddington and others on Rhode Island. In the presence of Governor Winthrop and of Dudley, his deputy; of the assistants, among whom were Endicott, Bradstreet, and Stoughton; confronted by the foremost and hardest-shelled ministers in the colony, such as Hugh Peters, Eliot, and Wilson, this woman defended herself, almost single-handed and with consummate address, against a court which had already prejudged her case, and which stubbornly refused, until the very last stage of the proceedings, to put the witnesses upon oath. As a specimen of the way in which justice was administered in the early day, and of judicial procedure, this trial is exceedingly curious.[260] Here is a specimen of brow-beating that recalls "Oliver Twist:"
Deputy-governor. "Let her witnesses be called."
Governor. "Who be they?"
Mrs. Hutchinson. "Mr. Leveret, and our teacher, and Mr. Coggeshall."
Governor. "Mr. Coggeshall was not present."
Mr. Coggeshall. "Yes, but I was, only I desired to be silent until I was called."
Governor. "Will you, Mr. Coggeshall, say that she did not say so?"
Mr. Coggeshall. "Yes, I dare say that she did not say all that which they lay against her."
Mr. Peters. "How dare you look into the court to say such a word?"