Thomas Kanes listened quietly in March 1688 as the indictment was read in the small Sussex County courtroom, “Thomas, Kanes, thou standest here indicted …[for] wickedly and feloniously spread and disperse abroad among the good and peaceable subjects of our Lord the King several pieces of coined money being not only false coin, but false metal, on purpose to deceive, cheat, cozen [deceive] and abuse the good and peaceable subjects of our said Lord the King.”
When European colonists arrived in southern Delaware in the late 17th century, they cleared the forests, built homes and planted crops. The self-sufficient settlers grew food, raised livestock and, on some patches of land, they grew cash crops, such as tobacco.
When the southern Delaware tobacco was sold, the money was used to buy manufactured goods that could be shipped back to the colonists from Europe.
Unfortunately, these colonial trade practices discouraged the flow of cash to Sussex County; and to supplement the limited amount of English coins that were in circulation, the settlers of southern Delaware used tobacco as a medium of exchange.
Just like today when people do not carry around a pocket full of bitcoins; when Delaware colonists stopped at their local tavern for a hearty meal and a refreshing drink, they did not slap a handful of tobacco leaves on the table in payment. Many transactions were made by exchanging receipts for tobacco that had been shipped or were in storage.
In addition to tobacco and English currency, southern Delaware settlers sometimes came into the possession of foreign coins, which were usually made of gold or silver that gave them an intrinsic value.
One of the more common foreign coins to circulate among the English colonists of Delaware was the Spanish silver dollar that was worth 8 reales. In the 17th century, people often lacked the currency to make change, and it was not unusual to take an 8 reale coin and cut it into smaller chunks to create “pieces” of eight.
In 1688, Kanes decided to buy a gun from Thomas Sherman for three pieces of eight. After Kanes gave Sherman the money, and Sherman took a cursory look at the three pieces of eight, he put the money into his pocket.
Sometime later, Sherman took a closer look at what Kanes had given him; and he discovered that the coin fragments were not silver, but pewter, which was made mostly of tin with copper, lead and other common metals. Sherman complained to the authorities, who charged Kanes with counterfeiting. At the trial, the outcome would turn on a pair of britches.
Clothing was also in short supply in colonial Delaware, and Kanes had recently borrowed a pair of britches from Alexander Draper. When Kanes returned the britches, Draper found a piece of eight in the pants pocket.
Draper showed up at Kanes’ trial and he gave the court the piece of eight. It was compared to the fake pieces of eight that Kanes had given Sherman, and like the other pieces, it was made of pewter. According to the court records, “They [were] exactly alike as if they had been all cast in one mold.”
Kanes was found guilty of passing counterfeit pieces of eight, and was sentenced to “twenty-one stripes upon his bare back well laid on, and the [counterfeit] money to be melted and he to pay three good pieces of eight to the person wronged.”
When Kanes heard the verdict, he pleaded for mercy; and the court reduced the whipping from 21 lashes to 10. Kanes was immediately taken to the whipping post. As the members of the court watched, the counterfeiter’s shirt was ripped off his back, the whipping was administered, and the case of counterfeit pieces of-eight and borrowed britches was closed.
Principal sources
Craig W. Horle, ed., Records of the Sussex County Delaware, 1677-1710, 1991, Vol. 1, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991, pp. 526-528.
Sea History: What is a piece of eight?, https://www.kingmanyachtcenter.com/sea-history-what-is-a-piece-of-eight/.
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