Newtown Township.

cent, - his entire fortune. To-day the man who might have been the possessor of a quarter of a million of dollars will be borne to his grave from an obscure part of the district of Southwark."

In 1835, Charles Cooper, a Revolutionary soldier, who entered the army in January, 1777, and was discharged in 1783, was a resident of Newtown, and was then in the seventy-fourth year of his age. In the great Whig procession at Chester, July 23, 1840, the delegation from Newtown bore in the ranks a tattered flag, bearing the motto "United We Stand," and the date 1776. The flag belonged to the old Pennsylvania line, and was carried in the fight at Brandywine.

Roads. - When the townstead of Newtown was laid out, in 1783, a straight road extending from the south to the north boundaries of the township was projected, and, with the exception of that part south of the present square which tends to the southwest into Marple and the variation from the direct course at the old square, the present road is the same as that then known as Newtown Street. At court held at Chester Tenth month, 1689, a highway was ordered to be laid out from Newtown, Marple, and Springfield "to ye landing at Amosland." The grand jury on the 9th day of Twelfth month, 1687, made report of the present Springfield road.

"By virtue of an order from y^e last County Court given to us, whose names are hereunto subscribed, being of y^e Grand Jury for to lay out a roadway that should serve for Newtown, Marple, & Springfield, and y^e Inhabitance that way to y^e Landing Place att Amosland did opon y^e day above written. Begin att a Road way on y^e land of George Maris, which road goeth from Chester through Marple to Newtowne soe from that road through Bartholomew Coppocks land near to his house, his House being on y^e left hand, soe on through Robert Taylor's land straight on through more of George Maris', his land leaving his Plantion on y^e right hand, soe bearing on a little on y^e right hand through George Simcock's land, soe on through Jacob Simcocke's land, leaving his Plantation on y^e left hand, soe on straight forward through lands joyning to Amosland, soe into y^e King's road that comes from Darby marking the trees as wee came, soe on to y^e landing Place by the maine creeks Side beyond Morten Mortenson's House.

At the court held on the 24th of Twelfth month, 1701/2, we learn that the people of the township had some difficulty respecting one of the highways therein. For on the date given "the Inhabitants of Newtown petitioned this Court against Morgan James for stopping a road laid out through his land. This Court orders that if the said Morgan James do not lay open the said Road as soon as his corn is off the Road ground the Sheriff shall levy the fine, according to law, on the state of the said Morgan James."

The following persons have been justices of the peace for Newtown township:

The Murder of Squire Hunter. - In March, 1817, Edward Hunter, a justice of the peace, residing in Newtown, was sent for by one Isaiah Worrall, of Upper Providence, a well-to-do farmer, who was then very ill, to put in form the latter's will. This Squire Hunter did, and when it was finished to the satisfaction of the testator, the former and Isaac Cochran, at that time landlord of the Rose Tree Tavern, witnessed Worrall's signature to the document. After the death of Worrall, the disposition he had made of his property was highly distasteful to several of his children, and a caveat was lodged against the probate of the alleged will by two of his daughters, one of the objectors being Martha, the wife of John H. Craig. The legal proceedings to test the validity of the alleged will had gone so far that the case was on the calendar for the August term, and both parties to the controversy were making preparations for the trial. On Thursday afternoon, July 19, 1817, Edward Hunter, while mounting his horse near his dwelling, was shot and fatally wounded. The person who fired the gun was concealed among some low-growing bushes near by, and the house and barn being on rolling ground, brought the figure of the squire into prominence by reason of the setting sun, which shone brilliantly back of where he then was. The report of the fire-arm was unusually loud, as though made by a heavy charge, and Hunter's daughters hearing it, hastened out of doors to ascertain why a shot had been fired so close to the dwelling. They then noticed that their father had fallen to the ground, and immediately ran to his assistance. The wounded man believed that he had been struck by lightning, as his back was towards the clump of bushes, because of the heavy report, the flash, and the sharpness of the stroke. He was then bleeding profusely from the wound in his body on the left side, a little above the left hip. They bore the unfortunate man to the house, medical aid was promptly summoned, and search made to discover the person who fired the fatal shot. Their investigation was rewarded by finding an old musket, which the murderer in his alarm, after committing the act, had thrown away in his flight. Squire Hunter lingered until Sunday following, July 21, 1817, when he died of his injuries.

The gun directed suspicion to Craig, for it was identified as his, and the motive for the deed was the fact that if the will of Isaiah Worrall was refused probate, his wife would receive a very much larger share of her father's estate than came to her under its provisions. John H. Craig had also disappeared, and every effort to discover his whereabouts having failed, on Aug. 6, 1817, William and Edward Hunter, sons