1p, 7 1/2 x 8 1/4 in. (dampstaining causing some fading to ink, scattered marks, creasing at folds). The Commonwealth of Kentucky directs the Sheriff of Taylor County [KY] to take William I. Thompson and keep him in custody until he makes payment in the amount of $20 assessed as a fine for gambling with an African American. Docketed on verso.

In an effort to curtail gambling especially among "the lower classes," the Kentucky penal code was amended in 1836 to address gambling between whites and African Americans. The statute mandated that "all persons hereafter guilty of playing with a free Negro, mulatto or slave, any game at cards, or with dice, or any game whatever...shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined therefore, at the discretion of a jury, a sum not exceeding fifty dollars...." 

[With:] A group of nearly 60 court documents spanning ca 1850s-1870s, constituting in large part replevin bonds related to the Taylor County Circuit Court. Two documents, dated 1853 and 1864 respectively, are associated with the appointment of an overseer for "new cut" roads.