After their rescue from the Carlisle jail both Stump and Ironcutter returned to the neighborhood of their bloody crime, but as their presence was not longer agreeable to the inhabitants, Stump soon left and went to the residence of his father at Tulpehocken and Ironcutter was spirited away by friends. They were never again arrested, for the settlers generally sympathized with them, but Stump and his servant both went to Virginia, where it is known that Stump died at an advanced age. ---------- First Records of Courts in State Preserved January 11, 1682 Nearly a month after the signing of the charter, March 4, 1681, King Charles II, April 2, issued a declaration informing the inhabitants and planters of the Province that William Penn, their absolute Proprietary, was clothed with all the powers and pre-eminences necessary for the Government. A few days later, April 8, the Proprietary addressed a proclamation to the inhabitants of Pennsylvania. Captain William Markham, a cousin of William Penn, was appointed Deputy Governor and his commission contained five items of instructions, the fourth being “to erect courts, appoint sheriffs, justices of the peace, etc.” These courts were established and the new Government was soon functioning. The records of these early courts are interesting to both the lawyer and those who care for the history of our State. Most of our citizens are but little attracted by the tedious accounts of routine practice, or the fine distinction between one jurisdiction and another, yet they find gratification in contemplating the manners, customs and modes of thought once prevalent in our courts of justice. A review of the practice of the courts of Pennsylvania in the seventeenth century and as late as the eighteenth present many interesting subjects. The power to erect courts of justice and to appoint all judicial officers in and for the Province of Pennsylvania was by the express terms of the charter conferred upon the Proprietary. But, in deference to the wishes of the people, Penn was willing to forego to some degree the exercise of this extraordinary right and the concurrence of the Assembly was invariably required to the bill for the erection of a court. The judges during the early years of the Province were also selected by the Provincial Council, the members of which were elected annually by the people in accordance with provisions of the Frame of Government.