what distresses giles corey

There are a couple of things that distress old Giles Corey. Corey is an incredibly strong old farmer prone to litigating his problems in court. At times Correy is not too smart. Correy unwittingly condemns his wife of practicing witchcraft when he publicly states that his wife reads strange books. Now any book would be strange to Corey and it is almost said in jest. In witch paranoid Salem, this is enough proof to cry WITCH! Corey stands with Proctor in challenging the girls' accusations, believing that Thomas Putnam is using charges of witchcraft to secure land. When Corey refuses to name the person who heard Putnam declare these intentions, Corey is charged with contempt of court and dies when the court orders him to be weighted with stones to coerce him to admit the name. He never does and instead cries "more stones" until he is crushed to death.