In the spring of 1662, the town of Haddington became the site of a profound judicial upheaval centered on the testimony of a young boy named James Welch. Among the individuals caught within the expanding circle of his accusations was Jean Daglas. The legal proceedings against her were deeply intertwined with the broader panic initiated by James, whose denunciations were treated with significant gravity by the local authorities. Although the boy was ultimately deemed too young to stand trial himself, his detailed confessions were accepted as a legitimate basis for the investigation and subsequent detention of those he named.
Following the formal accusations lodged on April 17, 1662, Jean was taken into custody as part of the legal effort to address the charges brought forward by the boy. The records of case C/EGD/550 confirm that she was held within the prison system as the authorities processed the fallout of James’s testimony. Jean’s experience highlights the administrative mechanisms of the period, where the corroborated naming of an individual—regardless of the age of the accuser—served as sufficient evidence to mandate the arrest and prolonged incarceration of the accused.