Unfortunately, their crossing also coincided with the great swelling of the infamous witchcraft delusion. More than 125 people had been arrested on charges of witchcraft and were being held in Boston and Salem prisons. On May 27, a special Court of Oyer and Terminer was created to hear the accumulated cases. This may have been Increase Mather's idea, as such courts were specifically mentioned in the new Charter, and no one had spent more time working on the details of the Charter than Increase Mather. Nonetheless, Phips signed the Order and may have composed it. The language of the Order itself is curious, as it speaks of concern for the welfare of those "imprisoned during this hot time of the year." Increase Mather's pick for Lieutenant Governor, William Stoughton, was chosen as Chief Judge of this new court. There was little then to indicate that Stoughton would proceed with such ruthless conviction. Phips later claimed to have chosen nominations for the Court from "persons of the best prudence and figure that could then be pitched upon" and indeed, as Thomas Brattle pointed out, most were well-known and respected merchants from the Boston area.