At the beginning of act three, what hard evidence do Giles and Francis provide to show that the girls are frauds?

Giles Corey brings a deposition, his written testimony, that he heard "from an honest man" who overheard Thomas Putnam say that on the day his daughter accused George Jacobs of witchcraft, "he said she'd given him a fair gift of land." The Jacobs property is, apparently, near the Putnam property, and it is a large and extensive tract of land. If Mr. Jacobs is convicted for witchery -- and it is almost certain that he will be -- his land will be forfeited to the state and go up for public auction. As Giles tells the court, "there is none but Putnam with the coin to buy so great a piece." In other words, only Thomas Putnam has enough money to actually purchase such a big property. Giles claims then, now and in his written deposition, that Putnam prompted his daughter to accuse Jacobs so that he would have the opportunity to buy Jacobs's property. Giles deposition isn't necessarily what I would call "hard evidence"—as it is his word against Putnam's—but it is at least some kind of evidence against the girls and their lies. Further, Francis Nurse, Giles, and John Proctor also present a written document signed by ninety-plus individuals, testifying to their wives' good reputations.

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