The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1900-11-16
TAR AND FEATHERS NO JOKE.
A Case That Took Five Days to Re-
IeVe the Man of the Coat.

n Ease Innt rive Ne~
lieVe the Mnn of the Coat.
Several hotel guests were sitting in the
lobby the other day reading the papers
and exchanging desultory comments. One
of them. reading of a man hcing tarred
and feathered remarked that a person
must look funny dressed in n coat Of
pitch and plumage.
"Did you ever see anybody tarred and
feathered" asked a red bearded man in
the next chair. NO? Well. let me as
sure you it's a pretty serious thing.
saw one case, and I'll never forget it in
my life. 1t was in the fall of 1887" he
continued in response to a general re-
quest for the story, ''and | was running
a Turkish bath house at Pittsburg. One
morning a big. athletic man of about 30
walked in and ordered a hot bath. y lit
tie later he rang the bell and sent for me.
and when l entered the room | was so
astonished l nearly topplcd over. From
his feet to his neck he looked like n half
picked black chicken. As it afterward
turned out he had been wayaid by par
ty of men at place called Sheldon. right
in the heart Of the district where the
coal strike is now in progress. and treated
to a coat of tar and feathers. He was
supposed to be n private detective who
had been sent to pry into the secrets OF
one of the miners societies. and | guess
the supposition was correct. Anyhow.
they did very thorough job and evident
~ stopped at his neck to give him Il
chance to get out of the district without
attracting attention. which was really
pretty shrewd move.
"The question before the house was
how to get the stuff off. and n more diff
cult problem l never tackled. He hal
ridden over 100 miles in the ears. and the
tar had become perfectly dry. In hard
ening it had contracted slightly and pull
ed out millions of the minute hairs with
which all human beings are covered,
which, of course, caused him intense ag-
ony. Moreover, it had choked up all the
pores, and if he hadn't been a man Of su-
perb physique I'm satisfied that he would
have succumbed before he reached the
city. Well. ! put him in hot bath to
begin with and set n couple of massage
operators to scrubbing him with flesh
brushes and carbolic soap. In little
while we saw that wouldn't do. They
got off q few small pieces. but the skin
came off along with them. and ! stopped
the f1aying and tried sponging with BEN
zine. That had about as much effect as
spring water on krupp armor plate.
''Then | sent for a doctor, who had 10
admit himself puzzled. He said he had
had very few cases of tarring and feath-
ering in his practice. But something had
to be done quick. so he tried soaking in
warm turpcntine. That proved to be
the correct thing but it was desperately
slow work, and meanwhile the man had
to be kept up on stimulants. for he was
getting very weak. Eventually the tur-
pentine dissolved the tar, and we got it
off with soft sponges. But how long do
you think it took? Five days. working
on and off as he could stand it. When
we got through. he was laid up for
month. got $50 for the job. No.
gentlemen, there is nothing humorous
about tar and feathers when seen Mt
close range."-New Orleans TimesDem-