Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-11-29
THE SHADY BEND INCIDENT.

Miss Chamberlain, twenty-six years
old and pretty, finoing 1t necessary
TO work during the vacation period
when she was not teaching school,
went from Beverly, Kas., to Shady
Bend, near by, and took job clerk
ing in a mercantile store. One OF
the married men of the town charm
ed by her beauty, spent more time In
the store tLan was needed for the
transaction of his business, until his
wife's suspicious were aroused that
the attractiyeness of the girl held
him there.
Thereupon, the wife, at a meeting
of the Mothers Club" of the viii
lage aired her suspicious concerning
Miss Chamberlain. Every woman
there sensed danger to the security
of her home and the peaceful poses
sion of her husband. When they
went home that night the women
told their husbands about Miss
Chamberlain, and we imagine that
as the story was repeated it took on
new color and fresh detail until it
became a lurii chronicle and Miss
Chamberlain took on the aspect of
an enchantress.
The husbands of a few of the
wives-husbands with a charity OF
spirit and breadth of judgment re-
minding us that one reason why
witches are not burned today is be-
cause there are no witches it
upon themselves to save the honor
of the homes Of Sfandy Bend. They
met in secret and decided to tar and
feather Miss Chamberlain as warn
ing TO her to leave alone the married
men, though there was no evidence
that she cared hang for any or all
the married men in Shady bend.
How to get Miss Chamberlain out
into the dark night and to a spot
which should be secluded, was the
problem of the moral reformers OF
the village. They finally found an
other low down whelp of a man who
agreed to invite her to attend q
dance with him. She accepted the
invitation and he delivered her into
the hands of the custodians of the
masculine virtue OF Shady Bend.
They did the rest. Stripping Miss
Chamberlain of her clothing, after
4u5 lnG4ISClhCS W COnCEdI IuelT
identity, they tarred and feathered
her.
AS was to be imagined, when Miss
Chamberlain told her story there was
a conscience found and a sense OF
decency that rose up in wrath against
the perpetrators Of the outrage. This
conscience and sense of decency got
one of the gang to confess and the
arrest of the whole crew followed.
The trial is now proceeding and in
def,aRcc of the request of the com
mercial interests of Shady Bend
the details OF the trial are being
given wide publicity.
The incident points the fact that
mothers clubs" like most women S
clubs. are clubs for gossip, and that
there are men in the world who
ought TO have died in the me ddle
.ages.-DubuQue Telegraph-Herald.
Since the above was written the
perpetrators of the outrage have
been found guilty. Four of them
confessed and were sentenced to one
year each in the county Jail, the
eXtrgne penalty for this crime. Two
others pleaded not guilty but were
convicted by jury of their peers
and will be likewise sentenced.
The same deplorable condition OF
society exists in too many commune
ties in this present day, and Decorah
is unfortunately situated in this re-
gard. Let a handsome young lady
walk down the street, or let her be
found in the company Of q young
man, stranger perhaps. and many
scandal-mongl:ng tongues are at
once set to waggiing, and the young
| lady has forever lost her correct
position in society. There is no city
anywhere the size OF Decorah that
has more beautiful young ladies just
blossoming into womanhood, and il is
the truth that not few of them
young, pretty and beautiful in every
sense, have been sent to their ruin
and robbed of their purity and in
nocence by the waggling tongues oi
trouble-makers and character thieves
who defame by their thoughts and
expressions the pretensious positions
they assume In society