Tar and feathering was a popular method of intimidation, torture, and vigilanteism in the early 1900s. There were numerous reports of tar and feather parties across the southern and midwestern parts of the United States. The Ku Klux Klan were involved in many of these tar and feather parties, but there were also plenty of assaults occurring that were not part of the pillowcase clan.
Wisconsin Tar and Feather Parties
In 1918, it was reported that tar and feather parties were on the rise in Wisconsin. One of the victims was a local farmer, Martin Johnson.
The Knights of Liberty appeared one night at the Johnson’s farm in an automobile. They got out of the car, asked Johnson for the location of a nearby fishing stream, and abducted the farmer as soon as he stepped away from his home.
The so-called knights took Johnson to a secluded area and tarred and feathered him.
No possible reason was given for the punishment and Johnson was unable to identify the other men. No arrests were made. [1]
The Reverend was Involved
John Meints of Luverne, North Dakota was fortunate enough to be able to identify one of the men who attacked him. In 1918, Rev. H.W. Bedford and 32 business men attacked, tarred, and feathered Meints. After the horrible ordeal, the reverend, in his frenzy of hate, grabbed a rope and began beating Meints with it. It was during this frenzy that the handkerchief covering the reverend’s face slipped and Meints was later able to identify the man and testify against him in court. [2]
Married But Divorcing
Percy England was planning to divorce his wife. He had found another love interest in Pepperell, Massachusetts. Unfortunately for him, three of the other woman’s menfolk were none too pleased with Percy’s plans.
One night, the men grabbed Percy, drove him to a nearby pasture, and:
“England’s clothes were torn from his body down to his waist… he was beaten by hand and with a whip, and then the hot tar was applied to his back and head. With it the feathers were rubbed in.”
Fortunately, Percy was able to identify his attackers and they were sentenced to jail time and fined. [3]
Jealous Women
A case was brought to court back in 1939 where a mother and her daughter went to the apartment of a nurse, knocked on her door, and when the nurse opened the door, they dumped roofing tar and feathers on her.
According to the mother and daughter, the nurse had been flirting with the mother’s husband. The Calgary, Alberta nurse, however, claimed that the relationship was strictly platonic. [4]
He Already Bought Bonds
William A. Hunter, sixty-eight-years -old, was living in Williamsport, Indiana when he bought $5,000 in liberty bonds back in 1918.
Then he moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi where his new neighbors insisted he should buy more liberty bonds to fund America’s war. The old man tried to tell these nosey neighbors that he had already spent all of his money on bonds, but they refused to believe him. Instead, his neighbors tarred and feathered him for being unpatriotic. [5]
Insulted a Local Woman
A Greek restaurant owner was abducted from his business by seven masked men, taken to a remote location, tarred and feathered, and finally flogged back in 1922.
The reason given for this brutal attack was that a local woman felt that the Greek business owner has somehow insulted her.
The man was given 24 hours to leave the Florida town, to which he agreed to do. [6]
Texan Tarred Himself
A 45-year-old steel worker in Houston, Texas tarred and feathered himself back in 1927. According to multiple newspaper reports, the man did not like who his daughter was hanging out with so he pretended that he was grabbed, tortured, tarred and feathered by a group of men to scare his daughter into listening to him.
Instead of keeping the affair private, the police were called in to investigate the matter and it soon was revealed that the man had orchestrated the whole thing all by himself. [7]
Church was Tarred and Feathered
Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, the people of Brazil, Indiana decided to tar and feather a church back in 1902. That’s right. People became upset with the Evangelist sermons and decided to dump tar and feathers on the church’s steps and on a large church banner that announced local revival meetings. [8]
