In Lawrence County’s early days, people convicted of petty theft were sometimes whipped in public as punishment.

Crime and punishment were quite different in those days. Some of the most common offenses in Lawrence County’s first years were gambling and debt. In the August 1819 session of the circuit court, four men were fined $5.00 each after being caught gambling.

Similar rulings occurred that year against men found guilty of not paying their debts.

Patrick Gillespie was found guilty of petit larceny on October 6, 1825. As punishment, he received “twenty-five lashes on his bare back.”

When T.J. Lindsey was found guilty that same year of marrying a second time in Illinois while his first wife was still alive in Tennessee, his wife Nancy was granted a divorce from him.

In 1833, John Brandon became the first Lawrence Countian to be sentenced to the state penitentiary for horse-theft. For that crime, Brandon received a sentence of three years in the new state prison in Nashville.

In 1835, thirteen men were found guilty of gambling, and each was ordered to pay the $5.00 fine for that offense. (Five dollars in 1835 would be about $113 today, after adjustment for inflation).

T.J. Deavenport was found guilty of betting on elections in 1839, and ordered to pay a fine of $5.00, although, unfortunately, the court record does not tell us if Deavenport’s money was riding on the Whig candidate or the Democratic candidate that year.