Rowan County, NC - John Kimbrough, 1786 HARD JUSTICE Because "hard money" was scarce in colonial times, money in the form of pounds, shillings and pence was published on paper and could be easily be counterfeited. The General Assembly of the Colony of North Carolina passed a law in 1779 for the punishment of counterfeiting money and lottery tickets. Because the severity of the punishment, few attempted to violate the law! The ruling concerned everyone who lived in the Colony. In Salisbury District Superior Court, one John Kimbrough of Montgomery County was found guilty in manner and form as charged in the bill of indictment for counterfeiting money. It was the "judgement of the court that the defendant stand in the pillory three hours and have his right ear nailed to the pillory and cut off and receive on his bare back thirty nine lashes and be branded on the right cheek with a red hot iron with the letter C and on the left cheek with the letter M, that he forfeit one-half of his goods and chattels, lands and tenements of which he was seized or possessed, on the 8th day of June Anno Domini 1786 and that he be imprisoned six months in the District Goal at Salisbury and that he give good and sufficient security in the sum of two hundred pounds for himself and two securities in the sum of one hundred pounds each for his good behavior for the space of one year and that the Sheriff of Rowan County put this Order in Execution half an hour past three o'clock this evening." The branding iron was ordered to be at least 1 inch long and 3/4 inch wide. This type of punishment today is considered by some to be cruel and unusual. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, millions of dollars have been counterfeited and are now in circulation. I dare say the offense of counterfeiting would considerably be reduced if the punishment today was as meted in colonial times.... SOURCE: General Assembly Session Laws of North Carolina, 1779, Chapter Vlll, page 9 Minute Docket Salisbury District Superior Court 1782 - 1786 Public Affairs, U.S. Treasury Department. ______________________________________________________________________ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by John Blair Hagler - johnblair69@msn.com ______________________________________________________________________