1

The Governor laid before the Board a Message he received last Night from the Assembly, which was read, and is as follows, viz" :

A Message to the Governor from the Assembly.

May it please your Honour:

"We are obliged to you for laying before the House the Accounts you have received relating to the unprovoked Massacre of the Indians on Middle Creek. The Intelligence you have given us of the Murderers being apprehended, affords us great Satisfaction, but we cannot help being surprized at the Rash and insolent Conduct of some of the inferiour magistrates in Cumberland, (which appears from their own Letters), in Combining to disobey the King's Process. Instead of permitting the Sheriff to bring down the Offenders to this City, as by the Warrant expressly commanded, they have presumed to commit them to Carlisle Gaol, and thereby prevented his obeying the Precept.

"No motives whatever, we conceive, can Justify or Countenance those Gentlemen in not only thus Superceding the Process of the chief Justice, but acting in open Contempt of your Orders. We, therefore, think it our duty to press your Honour to take the most effectual Measures to enforce an immediate and punctual Obedience to the King's Writ, and to call the Magistrates to account for their extraordinary behaviour, and should they be incapable of giving you Satisfaction in that Point, to remove them from their Offices. Nor do we think the Neglect of Duty in the Sheriff and Coroner of the County, should pass unnoticed, for should such a daring Insult on the Powers of Government be permitted, by those who ought to support them, to go unpunished, or at least unaccounted for, it cannot fail in the end to involve the Province in confusion, and Subvert all order and Authority.

"Signed by Order of the House,

"February 2d, 1768.

"JOSEPH GALLOWAY, Speaker.

The Bill entituled "An Act for incorporating the Society known by the name and Stile of the Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insuring Houses, &c," was then read and agreed to, and returned to the Assembly with the Governor's Assent.

Then was read the Bill entituled "An Act for raising by way of Lottery, the Sum of £5,20, for the purchasing a public Landing, &c," which was referred to a future Consideration.

Council Chamber, 1 o'Clock, P. M.

A Committee of two Members of Assembly having this forenoon waited on the Governor with a Message from the House, requesting His Honour would be pleased to appoint a time for passing the Bill for removing the People settled on the Indian Lands, and his Honour having appointed to receive the House for that purpose, at this Hour, sent them a Message by the Secretary, requiring their attendance in the Council Chamber.

The House accordingly attended, and the Speaker presented to the Governor the Bill entituled "An Act to remove the Persons now Settled, and to prevent others from Settling on any Lands in this Province not purchased of the Indians," which His Honour enacted into a Law, and appointed a member of Council to accompany a Member of the House to see the Seal affixed thereto, and to deposit the Law in the Rolls Office.

Eodem die, 2 o'Clock, P. M.

An Express arrived with Letters to the Governor from Edward Shippen and John Armstrong, Esquires, with the disagreeable Account of the Rescue of Frederick Stump and his Servant, out of the Gaol at Carlisle on the 29th Ultimo, by a party of Armed Men. His Honour immediately sent the said Letters to the Assembly for their perusal, the latter of which was ordered to be entered upon the Minutes of Council, and is as follows, viz":

A Letter to the Governor from John Armstrong.

"Honoured Sir:

"CARLISLE, 29th January, 1768.

"In this Perturbation of Mind, I cannot write, but in real distress, only inform your Honour that we are deceived and disgraced at once; for about ten o'Clock this Morning, to the Number of Seventy or Eighty Men, under Arms, surrounded our Gaol, when a Number of them, unknown to the Magistrates, I must say, appears to have had but too ready entrance into the Dungeon, and in less than ten Minutes time they carried off Stump and his Servant, in open Triumph, and violation of the Law.

"The few magistrates that were present, Messieurs Miller, Lyon, and myself, have, I hope, obviously enough done our Duty, but whilst we were engaged at the Prison Door exerting ourselves both by Force and Argument, a Party, utterly without our knowledge, was in the Dungeon, of which we were not acquainted either by the Jaylor or any other Person, who, before we were Aware, had the Prisoners in the open Street, where we were unable to make farther opposition, and gone in less than a Second.

"The Jaylor says that a Pistol was held at his Breast, and this is all we can at present say of that Circumstance.

"These Rioters give as Reasons of their Conduct, that the Prisoners were to be carried to Philadelphia for Tryal; that a number of White Men have been killed by the Indians since the Peace, and the Indians have not been brought to Justice, &c. &c2

"At present we know not what Step to take for the best, and beg ✨to be favoured with your Honour's farther Instructions.

"I have wrote in the presence of the two Magistrates mentioned above, and am

"Your Honour's most obedient humble Servant, "JOHN ARMSTRONG. "P. S. the bearer, Mr. Cunningham, is a prudent Young Man, knows the State of these things, & may be depended on in any Questions your Honour or the Chief Justice may think proper to ask."

At a Council held at Philadelphia, on Wednesday 3d February, 1768, at 6 o'Clock, P. M.

PRESENT

The Honourable JOHN PENN, Esquire, Lieutenant Govermor, &c

The Letter received this Afternoon from John Armstrong, Esquire, was read, and the Council desired the Governor to send immediately for James Cunningham, who brought the said Letter, in order to take his Examination respecting the rescue of Frederick Stump and John Ironcutter, but the Secretary immediately afterwards appearing at the Board, informed them that he had just been with Mr. Cunningham, and while he was conversing with him, the Serjeant at Arms came with an Order from the Assembly requiring him to appear before the House, to be examined, and that he was accordingly gone to them; Whereupon, it was Ordered, that he should have notice to appear at the Council to-morrow Morning.

VOL IX.-29.

At a Council held at Philadelphia, on Thursday 4 February, 1768.

PRESENT:

The Honourable JOHN PENN, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor, &ca.

The Honourable James Hamilton, Esquire.

William Logan,
Benjamin Chew,

Richard Penn,

James Tilghman, Esquires.

Mr. James Cunningham from Carlisle being sent for by Order of the Governor, appeared at the Board, and was immediately examined, with regard to what he knew concerning the Rescue of Frederick Stump and John Ironcutter from the Gaol at Carlisle, and his Deposition was taken and is as follows:

"The Deposition of James Cunningham, of Lancaster County, concerning the Rescue of Frederick Stump & John Ironcutter, from the Gaol at Carlisle.

"James Cunningham, of Lancaster County, Farmer, being Sworn on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, deposeth and saith, that on Friday the Twenty-Ninth day of January last, about Nine or Ten o'Clock in the Forenoon, as he was sitting at Breakfast with John Armstrong, Esquire, in the Town of Carlisle, in the County of Cumberland, he was surprized to see a number of Armed Men surrounding on a sudden the public Gaol in the said Town; the He and the said John Armstrong, apprehending that the said Company were come with an Intention to Rescue from the said Gaol a certain Frederiek Stump and John Ironcutter, who were confined there for the Murder of a number of Indians, they both Instantly Ran to the said Gaol in order to prevent if possible the execution of so wicked and illegal a Design. That when they got up to the Gaol, the said John Armstrong made his way through a number of Armed Men, who stood before the Door of the said Gaol, which was open, and Guarded by four Men, who stood within the Door. with Arms in their Hands: that the said Armstrong and John Holmes, high Sheriff of the said County, both attempted to go into the Door, of the Gaol, but were several times pushed back and prevented; that as the said John Armstrong stood on the Steps under the Door he addressed himself frequently to the Armed Company who were about him, and used many arguments to persuade them to desist from their Lawless undertaking, and told them, among other things, that they were about to do an Act which would subject themselves and their Country to Misery. That while the said Armstrong was speaking, this Deponent saw one of the Armed men take hold of him and draw him down the said Steps, upon which the said Armstrong by violence pushed back the Person who had hold of him, and regained his Stand on the said Steps, saying at the

same time, that they should take his Life before they should rescue the Prisoners. This Deponent further saith, that while the said John Armstrong, and Robert Miller and William Lyon, Esquire, and the Reverend John Steel, who had joined the said Armstrong, were endeavoring to disperse the said Company, several other Armed Men appeared within side the said Gaol, to the very great surprize of every one, with the two Prisoners above mentioned in their Possession, whom they brought forward, and after pushing the said Armstrong, Miller, Lyons, Steel, Holmes, and this Deponent, by Violence, and crowding from before the said Gaol Door, carried them off with Shouts and Rejoicing, and immediately left the Town.This Deponent further saith that he cannot with certainty declare what numbers were in the Company which made the said Rescue, but that from the best Judgment he could form, they were Seventy or Eighty, all Armed with Guns and some Tomahocks. This Deponent further saith on his solemn Oath, that he does not know, nor has any Personal knowledge of any one of the Persons he saw in the said Armed Company concerned in the said Rescue, and that after the said Company had left the Town, the Reverend Mr. Steel came to the said John Armstrong and William Lyons and John Holmes, and informed them that the said Rescuers desired they would come to and confer with them at the Plantation of John Davis, to come to some Terms with them. That the said three last mentioned Persons immediately mounted their Horses and went towards the said Davis's, but informed this Deponent on their Return, that the said Company had altered their Resolution and had gone on without waiting for them, and further saith not.

“JAMES CUNNINGHAM.” · "Taken and Sworn before the Governor and Council at Philadelphia, before me, Recorder of the City, February the 4th, 1768. "BENJAMIN CHEW, Recorder."

The Council took this important Matter into their most serious Consideration, and advised the Governor to send immediate Instructions to John Armstrong, Esquire, and the other Magistrates of Cumberland County, with regard to the measures most expedient to be pursued by them on this interesting occasion, for regaining the Prisoners that have been rescued, and bringing them and the Rioters to Justice.

Accordingly a Letter of Instructions, agreeable to the Sentiments of the Board, was drawn at the Table, and dispatched by Express to Carlisle, which Letter follows in these words, viz" :

A Letter from the Governor to John Armstrong, Esquire.

"Sir:

PHILADELPHIA, 4th February, 1768.

"The information given in yours of the 29th Ultimo, of the Rescue of Frederick Stump and his Servant, gives me the greatest