The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-06-25
TAR AND FEATHERS.
Recollection of Cold Night in Colorado
Camp.
Special Correspondence of G1obc-Democrat.

this evening, when gentleman reae
aloud to group of friends telegraphi'
account of the tarring and feathering O
Roy S. Hathaway, the editor of the To
ledo Sunday Dispatch. I observed tha
they all laughed and seemed to con
slider the thing exquisitely funny
The fact is, tarring and feathering, a:
far as sympathy goes, is placed in a gooe
deal the same category as having q tooth
pulled, or falling down on banana skin
I used to laugh at it myself, but I altered
my opinion two years ago last Fall.
This change of heart did not come
about through my being tarred and feath.
cred myself, but through an episode o. o.
which I was spectator. 1t was in 1882
and took place at little Colorado min.
ing camp called Carbonville.
TAR AND FEATHERS IN COLORADO.
Carbonville lies just over the CONT
mental divide on the Pacific side, in Lake
County, about twelve miles from Lead
Vile as the crow flies. 1t was mush'
room city, and at that time was in the
hectic heyday of its prosperity. Its
business portion was made up largely Of
saloons and faro banks, and the fact that
its population was mainly gentlemen ex-
lied for various offenses from Leadyille
will give an idea of its moral status.
One of the very few respectable" wo'
men in the camp was Mrs. Jake Cory,
who ran little lunch room and restau.
rant. She was sWeet.faced and sweet.
tempered, and had an abiding fund of
patience, that enabled her to put up with
vagaries of one of the worst husbands in
the world. We in the camp thought
that Jake Cory was absolutely the worst
on the face of the earth. he was a
drunken, foul moutned, brutal Scandina.
vian, who divided his time between the
gambling houses and worse resorts. At
these places he spent every dollar his
wife earned and all he could borrow on
her good name. He once went so far as
to pawn her furniture down to the cook.
ing stove over which she supported him.
I mention these things to show that the
sequel was not altogether unproVoked.
For STRIKING A WOMAN.
One evening Cory came into the res.
taurant drunk and struck his wife saw
agely in the face. He escaped through
the back door of the kitchen, and she
came in, scared and bleeding, and told
the story to soue of the boarders. An
impromptu Indignation meeting was held
among the ''boys" and it was decided to
tar and feather the fellow and run him
out of town. The phrase sounded we'll
in the mouth of the man who suggested
it, and everybody agreed that it was the
correct thing to do.
No time was lost. a couple of men
ran over to the refining works and got a
big iron bucket of pitch, and others pro-
cured IN old feather tick from lodging
house. Then committee started out to
get Cory.
They found him asleep in saloon and
hustled him over to vacant lot in the
rear of some buildings. He was half
dazed and confused with drink, and
thought the affair was q joke, until the
men began to strip off his clothes. Then
he fought like madman-in truth, 1 be.
lieve he was mad with terror. His shirt
and underclothes had to be literally torn
off of him, and it WAS q good fifteen
minutes work before he stood, shivering
and stark naked in the moonlight.
APPLYING THE TAR.
can see him now-his bleared eyes
dilated and his shock of yellow hair
bristling on his head. His nude body
stood out in bold relief against the ground
that surrounded him, and the chill, pen
etrating air must have struck the wretch
to the bone. At any rate, he crouched
down and somebody called out: "Giye it
to him now !" at the instant the bucket
of tar was lifted, and about a gallon
thrown viii swash over his bare shoul-
ders. He sprang erect at the cold touch
of the pitch, and whirled around just in
time to receive the rest of it on the head,
face and chest.
For moment lie stood petriGed, the
black stuff trickling down his body and
legs, and uniting with great puddle OF
it on the ground. Then he slowly raised
his hands to his eyes and tried to brush
them clear, but as his fingers had receiv-
ed good share of the pitch, he only
made matters worse, and dropped his
arms again. He did not seem to be able
to realize what had happened, and
Nagged his head blindly from side to
side.
As he stood thus, one Of the men took
the upper edge of the tick and inverted
it over him. 1 suppose it was as COM
plete q job of the sort as was ever under
taken /; at least, nothing was overlooked
to make it a success. Cory looked like
nothing human, but some strange species
of monster blotched all over with fluffy
white. His head seemed about the size
and shape of a bushel basket, and fea.
lures were obliterated in the general
blackness.
IT WAS A COLD NIGHT.
When the work was done he was given
fifteen minutes to get out of camp. He
was made to understand with difficulty,
but was finally started on the trail and
the crowd dispersed.
EARLY next morning some miners, going
to work, found Cory back of a building
lying on the ground and moaning. The
tar had by this time rubbed all over him
and partly solidi6ed. As it grew hard it
contracted, and every contraction had
dragged with it the thousands of micro
scopic hairs with which the body is cov-
cred. In places it had broken the skin,
and the men who carried him into shed
found blood on their hands. A physi-
clan, then located there and now living
at Greedy, COL, was called in and at
tempted to remove the stuff with benzine.
1t was an utter failure, as was everything
else he tried, from grease to ammonia.
saw him ia the course of the morn.
ing. The lower portion of his body was
covered with blanket, but his face was
a spectacle not easily forgotten. The
hard pitch was cracked all over it, like
alligator skin, and caked so solidly