Miller makes it clear that Abigail is lying right from the start of the novel. In a private conversation with John Proctor, she claims "Oh, Posh!" to his claim that the villagers are speaking witchcraft and again to her uncle she claims, "Betty is not witched." By letting the reader know that the accusers are lying at an early part in the play, Arthur Miller is implying that the cry "witchcraft" is a fabrication. Another example of vengeance spurring the accusations that Miller includes in the play is completely non-fictional. The accuser: Thomas Putnam. Thomas Putnam holds a feeling of resentment towards Francis Nurse before the accusations ever started. Francis Nurse prevented his brother-in-law from being elected to the office of minister which would have increased Thomas Putnam's reputation greatly. It is therefore no shock when Putnam's daughter accuses Rebecca Nurse of witchcraft. Putnam's accusation is pure and evil vengeance. Miller also notes that each being accused by Thomas Putnam's offspring owned a desirable plot of land, showing that not only was Putnam vengeful, but greedy in his killings as well. The last important example found in "The Crucible" that illustrates vengeance as a motive for accusation occurs between the "possessed" girls and Mary Warren, a child once possessed but now ready to speak the truth. When Mary tells the judge that the girls are all being deceitful, the girls decide out of vengeance to punish Mary. "Why-? Why do you come little bird? Oh, Mary, this is a black art to change your shape. No, I cannot, I cannot stop my mouth; it's God's work I do." Prompted by Abigail's accusation, the girls cry, "Her claws, she's stretching her claws!" "Mary, please don't hurt me!" "Look, she's coming down!" and other such lies. Arthur Miller makes it painfully clear that the constant accusations based upon vengeance is a driving force in the continuation of the trials and he also shows the reader that vengeance is one of the stronger main motives for the horrible deaths of the innocent in Salem.