The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1885-07-10
TAR AND FEATHERS.
REcoLLEcTloNs OF A COLD NIGHT
N A COLORADO CAMP.
Furnishing Bruts-Tar, Cold Weather
and Fatal Resuit-why
Cont Of Tar Will Caus.
Death.
tCor. 8. Loni< Globe. Democrat


In the Carbnnville camp wa. II Mrs. Jake
Cory, who ran little lunch-room and res.
taurant She was sweet-faced and sweet
tempered, aud had an abiding fund Of pa
tienca that enabled her to put up with the
vagariss of one of tue worst husbands In the
world. Wo in tho camp thought that Jake
Cory was absolutely the worst Oh the face of
the EARTH He was u drunken, foul mouthed
brutal Scandinavian, who divided his time
between the gambling houses and worse re
sorts. At these places he spent every dollar
his wife earned and all he could borrow on
her good name. He oncs went SO far as to
pawn her furniture down to the cooking
stove over which she suppo; ted him mem
tiou these things to show that tho seuual
was not altogether unprovoked.
One evening Cory came into the restaur-
ant drank and struck his wife savagely In
the face. He escaped through the back door
Of the kitchen, and she came in, scared and
bleeding, and told the story to some OF the
boariers An impromptu Indignation meet.
ing was held among the "boys," and it was
decided to tar and feather the fellow and
run him out OF town. The phrase sounded
woll In the mouth Of the man who suggested
1t, and everybody agreed that il was the
correct thing to do
No time was lost. A couple OF men ran
over to the refining works and got big iron
bucket OF pitch. and Others procured al old
feather tick from a lodging house. Then u
committee started out to get Cory.
They found him asleep in a saloon, and
hustled him over to a vacant lot in the rear
Of some buildings. He was half -dazs1 and
confused with drink, and thought the affair
was joke, until the men began to strip off
t1 Lot ha, L..
man. In truth, believe he was mad with
terror. His shirt and underclothes had Ia
be literally torn Off of him, and it was n
good fifteen minutes work before he stood.
shivering and stark naked, in the moou-
light.
APPLYING THE TAR.
can see him now-his blsared eyes di-
lated and his shock Of yellow hair bristling
on his head. His nude body stood out In
bold relief against the group that sur
rounded him, and the chill, penetrating air
must have struck the wretch to the bone.
At any rate he couched down and somebody
callel out: "Give it to him nowr At the
same instant the bucket of tar was lifted,
and about gallon thrown with a swash
over his bare shoulders 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 he stood petrifsd, the
black stuff trickling down his body and
legs, and uniting with great puddle of 1t
ON the ground. Then he slowly raised his
hands to his eyes and tried to brush them
clear, but as his fingers had received q 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 hap
pensd and wagged 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. suppose it was as complete a job Of
the sort as was ever undertaken; at least
nothing was overlooked to make it q sue
cess. Cory looked like nothing human, but
some strange specie Of monster blotched all
over with fluffy white His head seemed
about the size and shape Of bushel basket.
and his features were oblitera:ed in the gen.
eral blackness.
1T 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 building
lying on the ground and moaning. The tar
had by this time rubbed all over him and
partly solidified. As it grew hard 1t con-
tracted, and every contraction had drawn
with 1t the thousands of microscopic hairs
with which the body is covered.
In places 1t had broken the skin,
and the men who carried him
into shed found blood on their hands. A
physician, then located there, and now liv-
ing at Greeley, Col, was called in and at
tempted to remove the stuff with benzine
1t was an utter failure, as was every thing
else tried, from grease to ammonia
saw him In the course OF the morning.
Tho lower portion Of his body was covered
with blanket, but his face was q spectacle
not easily forgotten. The hard pitch was
cracked all over 1t, like alligator skin, and
that caked SO solidly around one eye that It
was i'm possible to remove it The other eve
was opened, but dreadfully indamed and
suppurating. At places over the surface
were sodden splotches Of feathers.
Business called me away from Carbon
vile for about two weeks, and few days
after I returned Cory died. Meantime most
Of the tar had been removed by successive
washes, but his skin was covered with min.
ute black specks like the shaved chin of a
man who has heavy beard. They were the
choked up pores Of the skin, and this was
probably the real cause Of the death. A
short time after the punishment he had been
taken with q raging fever. and then symp-
toms Of q singular blood disorder set IN. The
skin over the chest, neck, cheeks and out, @
side the arms rose In hard ridges, totally de-
void Of feeling These rapidly sioughsd of.
leaving open ulcers.
I shall not enlarge upon these details,
which would only perhaps interest q medical
were in all save one respect Identical WITT
leprosy. This sole difference was the fright
ful rapidity of their development The dis
torted remains were hurried into A coffin
and hurried into the ground.
THE CAUSE OF DEATH.
A wise phyaician Of Denver told me after
ward that this closing up OF the pores pre-
impurities, and when the poison that M W every s
instant escapes in perspirstion Is held back
or driven inward the blood Is yitiated with
inconceivabls swiftness. He took down
book and showed me q case quoted
E from 1-,. French government report
OF Sson. l7'a where a9s.r,g the College Of Sur.
boy with gold leaf. In six hours he was
seized with fever, then torpor, and then
died. The principle, he said, was identical
man could no moro live with his pores
closed than he could with his mouth and
nostrils bermetically sealed, and IL any con-
siderable number were stopped up blood dis
orders Of the most dreadful character were
absolutely certain TO ensue.
had seen enough, however. without the
aid Of science or history, to tell me that
covering man with tar was one OF the
most horrible punishments that cruelty
has ever devised. l have no impulse
to laugh when hear Of q case OF II,
but rather to walk away with a picture
floating before my eyes OF hideously gro
tssque figure shivering In . cold night air
and bloated corpse in rough pine coffin.
VIII Always Tell.