xxx        Early Maryland County Courts.

           these records, although the Provincial Court sometimes ordered a larger num
           ber. These lashes may always have been given on the bare back, but that this
           is sometimes not specified, raises a question as to this point. Both men and
           women were whipped indiscriminately, women on the bare back apparently as
           frequently as men. Jail sentences do not seem to have been imposed in criminal
           cases, although of course pending trial in both criminal and civil cases, where
           security was not given, imprisonment in the custody of the sheriff was usual,
           and debtors were imprisoned until their debts were paid. Those convicted by
           the court were frequently given the alternative of a fine or whipping. There
           are several cases where offenders were ordered to work on the roads. There are
           other instances where men were ordered to repair bridges as punishment (Arch.
           Md. liv, 51, 103). There is a case where the Kent County Court ordered twenty-
           five lashes for a chronic runaway servant, and directed that if he again ran
           away, " the inhabitants that find him shall whip him home again” (Arch. Md.
           liv, 184). A servant, Elizabeth Lockett, of Kent, found guilty of bastardy at
           the April 1661 court, and ordered twenty lashes, escaped by claiming the bene
           fit of the recent act of indemnity (Arch. Md. liv, 211).
            Under the act of 1663 each county, except Baltimore and Talbot then sparsely
           settled, was ordered to set up a pillory and stocks at the court house, and a
           ducking stool at the most convenient place (Arch. Md. i, 490). The Assembly
           probably thought it unnecessary to order a whipping post as this punishment
           was so constantly inflicted there must be one already at hand. At the Janu
           ary, 1663/4, Charles County Court the sheriff was ordered to have erected
           a ducking stool “at Mr. Pope's Creek “, and the pillory and stocks at the
           court house, as well as a new whipping post, and 1500 pounds of tobacco
           was appropriated to pay William Robinson for making them (pp. 432,
           459, 523). The activities of the court seem to have been stimulated by this new
           equipment for during the next year or two there was a marked increase in the
           number of floggings ordered. The pillory and stocks were occasionally used
           but there is no reference in any of these county court records to the ducking
           stool having been employed, although suits for slander against women, who
           would have been the victims, were quite frequent. In March, 1663, the Pro
           vincial Court ordered the commissioners of every county to provide branding
           irons (Arch. Md. xlix, 16-17). There is no instance in which a county court
           ordered branding as a punishment, and it is likely that the Provincial Court
           alone had the authority to do so, doubtless directing that convicted persons be
           branded by the sheriff in their respective counties as an example to evildoers
           (Arch. Md. xlix, 16-17). There are instances in which, for this reason, the
           Provincial Court ordered that criminals be hanged in their own counties.
            There are a large number of cases in which the offender was obliged to
           apologize in open court, occasionally “ upon bended knees” (Arch. Md. liv, 169,
           316). On one occasion it was ordered by the Kent County Court, February I,
           1655/6, that the offender, William Price, under suspicion of hog-stealing,
           “shall in Open Court stand with a papper upon his breast declaring his offence,
           soe longe tym as the Court shall appoint, And shall make a publicke acknowledg
           ment of his fault, and also shall Repaire Cranie bridge so as to be halfe a
           Foote above a Common high watt” (Arch. Md. liv, 51, 60).