What Tarred and Feathered Means.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4395, 3 February 1883, Page 4

What Tarred and Feathered Means.

" Most people," said a . prominent NevaJa man to a reporter, " don't know what a terrible punishment tarring and feathering really, is. They suppose that it is nothing worse than a badge of infamy, rather uncomfortable, perhaps, but not painful unless the tar gets into the eyes. This is a great mistake. I helped to daub Jones. He was a vile beast, a disgrace to humanity, and he deserved what he got for endeavouring to ruin an innocent young girl and for grossly insulting respectable women on the streets. But I had no idea until I saw that fellow plastered what a tough deal the process is. We painted him all over pretty thick with a broom, and some enthusiastic vigilante poured a few gallons' of tar on his head. Then the feathers, taken from a big pillow, were dusted on him, and he stood out white and fluffy in the starlight like some huge and grotesqueoJobking bird- He bad to put his clothes on over the whole mess, and then he was ridden on a rail for fifty yards or so, and we put him on board the west bound train at midnight with instructions not to come back on pain of being banged. I saw him on the train. He was sitting with his head on his arms on the back of the seat. The tar was so thick on his bead that it covered the hair out of sight, and his poll shone in the light of the car lamps like a black rubber ball ju9t dipped in the water. The poor'fellow was groaning, and I couldn't help feeling mean at having taken a hand in the job. You see the body is covered with short hair, and when the tar hardens a little the slightest movement causes acute pain, as if one's beard were being pulled out with pincers, hair by hair. Then there is,the stoppage of all perspiration, which would soon kill a man if he didn't make a lively time in get- , ting scrubbed. Bt-sides, the smell of the tar turns the stomach, and about half an hour | after a man has been coated he must feel mighty sorry he wasn't hanged:'. Then comes the scrubbing with oil. It took two | Chinamen and a darkey three days to reduce Jones to a mild brown. The rubbing makes the skin tender, and must be as sore as a boil for weeks."

;. ";Do you think they will tar any tramps in Reno shortly P" asked the reporter. - "I don't know;?' replied the Washoe man, " but I hope not. No such punishment hßb.ould be inflicted on a man except for some crime for which death, would hardly be too severe a penalty.