Branded with the Letter M in the Brawn of the Thumb

Shultz's sentence seems bizarre today, but at the time was not at all out of the ordinary. According to John Bouvier, A Law Dictionary, Sixth Edition 1856, 'M. When persons were convicted of manslaughter in England, they were formerly marked with this letter on the brawn of the thumb.' A web search on 'brawn of the thumb' turned up two contemporary cases in the American South where defendants with manslaughter convictions received identical sentences: six months imprisonment and this brand.

Shultz did serve time (he datelined a message Edgefield Prison Dec. 1827 in Augusta Chronicle, 12 Dec 1827) but it seems he was released in January 1828, and it is not confirmed whether this brand was actually inflicted.