ICE investigates after Colorado group says agents left 'death cards' in arrested immigrants' abandoned cars

[GreatGazoo]

4. Brief history of "the death card"

England was the last country in europe to get printing presses. At the time of Shakespeare there were less than 25 printers in the whole country, the language and spelling was not standardized and illiteracy was over 90%.

So printing playing cards was a common use for the presses and the decks were taxed. Each deck had to have a tax stamp as proof of payment and this stamp was on the Ace of Spades. Failure to pay the tax was punishable by death (although it is unclear if people were killed for it), hence the name "Death Card."