Who arrests Elizabeth Proctor?

Ezekiel Cheever and Marshal Herrick come to arrest Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible.

Cheever, the court clerk, arrives at the Proctor house with an arrest warrant after Abigail accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft. Marshal Herrick is with him as the law officer. Cheever searches for poppets, finds the doll Mary Warren gave Elizabeth, and notices a needle stuck in it. Since Abigail has claimed that Elizabeth’s spirit stabbed her with a needle, Cheever treats the doll as evidence, even though Mary says she made it herself and put the needle there.

John Proctor tries to stop the arrest by ripping up the warrant and ordering Cheever and Herrick out, but they have men waiting outside and take Elizabeth away. The scene shows how quickly the Salem court turns Abigail’s accusation into legal force, even when the evidence is weak and easily explained.