save, as has been said, in hog-stealing.

In Maryland branding was legal, and every county was ordered to have
branding-irons. The lettering was specifically defined and enjoined.
S. L. stood for seditious libel, and could be burnt on either cheek. M.
stood for manslaughter, T. for thief, and could be branded on the left
hand. R. was for rogue or vagabond, and was branded on the shoulder.
Coiners could for the second offense be branded on the cheek F. for
forgery.

Burglary was punished in all the colonies by branding. By the Provincial
laws of New Hampshire, of 1679, a burglar was branded with a capital B
in the right hand for the first offense, in the left hand for the
second, "and if either be committed on the Lord's Daye his Brand shall
bee sett on his Forehead." By Governor Eaton's Code of Laws for the
Connecticut colonists the punishment was equally severe.

"If any person commit Burglary or rob any person on the Lord's Day he
shalbe burned and whipped and for a second offense burned on the left
hand, stand in the Pillory and wear a halter around his neck in the
daytime visibly as a mark of infamy."

A forger of deeds could be branded in the forehead with the letter F;
while for defacing the records the offender could be disfranchised and
branded in the face. A forger was branded in Worcester in 1769. A man
who sold arms and powder and shot to the Indians was branded with the
letter I. Counterfeiters were branded and often had the ears cropped.

A conviction and sentence in Newport in 1771 was thus reported in the
daily newspapers:

"William Carlisle was convicted of passing Counterfeit Dollars, and
sentenced to stand One Hour in the Pillory on Little-Rest Hill, next
Friday, to have both Ears cropped, to be branded on both Cheeks with the
Letter R, to pay a fine of One Hundred Dollars and cost of Prosecution,
and to stand committed till Sentence performed."

In Virginia many offenses were punished by loss of the ears or by
slitting the ears. Among other penalties decreed to "deceiptful bakers,"
dishonest cooks, cheating fishermen, or careless fish dressers was "to
loose his eares."

Truly long hair and wigs had their ulterior uses in colonial days when
ear-cropping was thus rife. Romantic old tales of life on the road tell
of carefully hidden deformities, of mysterious gauntleted strangers,
whose hands displayed when revealed the lurid brand of past villainies.
Life was dull and cramped in those days, but