Judging by his “Report of Fines”—dated 5 January 1835—the Fall of 1834 was certainly a busy season for Thomas Crawley, Justice of the Peace in frontier Kentucky.
Crawley hailed from Adair, Kentucky, and as the primary lawman in the area, tried alleged offenders and handed down fines and sentences. He had the difficult job of maintaining justice in the rugged area of Adair, in central Kentucky, and his notes indicate just how much of a chore this was. It appears that the men of the region loved to brawl.
October 13, 1834, seems to have been a particularly volatile day in Crawley’s jurisdiction.
On October 13, 1834, Isaac Clark of Green County assaulted David Coop of Wayne County. For this crime, Crawley fined Clark the not-too-trivial sum of two dollars, which was enough to buy more than a few rounds at the local saloon.
Crawley then faced the rugged Carmen crew—Elisha (actually spelled “Elijah” according to the 1830 census, which lists him as a resident of Breckinridge, Kentucky), George (Jessamine), Joseph (Hardin), and John Carmen (Breckinridge)—for committing a “fray” on that same date, possibly after downing one too many shots of whiskey. The JP heard enough to convince him that George and John caused the ruckus and fined them a dollar each plus “costs of suit.” He acquitted Elisha and Joseph.
Elisha Carman wasn’t quite off the hook, yet. Responding to Isaac Clark’s complaint stemming from an incident that took place on the same date—October 13, 1834–Crawley tried Carman for assault and battery, but found insufficient grounds and acquitted him.
These three incidents appear linked somehow, perhaps a tavern brawl that got out of hand and wound up in front of the JP.
The final two trials were also apparently linked. William and James Gray (both of Harrison County in the “Western Division” of Kentucky) tangled with John H. (his last name is illegible) on November 12, which led to assault and battery charges against the Grays. Crawley found William innocent of the charge, but not James, who had to ante up a fine of a dollar plus court costs.
Apparently, when James Gray attacked John H., the latter lost his temper and let loose with a few blue words, which led to perhaps the most fascinating item in the list: the trial of John H. on a charge of “profane swearing.” For his crime, he was fined a dollar, and, while Crawley’s handwriting is at times difficult to decipher, it appears that he spent a night in jail as well.
Crawley’s notes provide an important lesson about free speech in America: contrary to popular belief, Americans did not, and still do not, enjoy complete free speech. These notes prove just how seriously the law considered blue words in 1834: Crawley fined John H. a dollar—the same fine he meted out to James Gray for assault and battery! Today. most jurisdictions maintain anti-profanity statutes, although they are seldom enforced (barring a few extreme examples). The bottom line: swearing in certain contexts is illegal.
Another fascinating aspect of Crawley’s ledger is his (or his scribe’s) spelling, which is atrocious. He spells “tried” as “tride” and “assault” as “asault” and “assalt.” One is tempted to condemn him as an ignorant hillbilly, but Crawley wrote out these notes only a few years after Webster published the first edition of his dictionary in 1828 and several years before the revised 1841 version.
Justice Crawley didn’t have stellar spelling, but he would not tolerate blue words. Not in his jurisdiction!
About the item: approximately 6 ½ ” by 13” on one side of thick, paper with light foxing, the ink has faded from black to a chocolate-brown.
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