A little later, the Swedish colonists in Pennsylvania asked from their government the same privilege of reclaiming fugitives.[4] The preamble of an act against fugitives in East Jersey, in 1686, explains these provisions. They found that "the securing of such persons as Run away, or otherwise absent themselves from their master's lawfull Occasion," was "a material encouragement to such Persons as come into this country to settle Plantations and Populate the Province."[5] In many of the Southern colonies, as Maryland and South Carolina, so severe were the acts against this class of bound colonists that a runaway might be declared outlawed, and might rightfully be killed by any person.[6] [Sidenote: Treatment of Fugitives] =§3. Treatment of fugitives.=--From 1640 to 1700, laws were also passed in New Jersey, Maryland, South Carolina, and Virginia. It is not necessary to follow out the provisions here,[7] but each of the Southern colonies, as in later regulations, provided most minutely for all possible cases. By a Virginia law of 1642, all persons who entertained runaways, whether slaves or hired freemen, were to be fined twenty pounds of tobacco for each night's hospitality. The fugitives were to add to their tenure of service double their time of absence, and on a second offence to be branded with the letter R.[8] A curious regulation in 1660-1, in Virginia, provided that if a negro and white bound servant ran away together, since the negro's time of servitude was for life, and he was therefore incapable of making up his lost time, the white servant's punishment should be doubled by adding the negro's sentence to his own.[9] Another regulation, entitled "How to Know a Runaway," commanded that all recovered fugitives have their hair "cutt" close about their ears.[10] Sometimes the penalties were even more severe, but the processes were much the same. A person who found a slave or vagabond without a pass usually took him before the next justice, who took cognizance of the captor's good service, and certified it in the next Assembly: the runaway was then delivered from constable to constable, until he was returned to his master.