Tarring and feathering
Tarring and feathering is a physical punishment, used to enforce formal justice in feudal Europe and informal justice in Europe and its colonies in the early modern period, as well as the early American frontier, mostly as a type of mob vengeance (compare Lynch law).
Both tar, which was used in and around 1774, and feathers from edible fowl sources (such as chickens) were plentiful. In a typical tar-and-feathers attack, the subject of a crowd's anger would be stripped to the waist. Hot tar was either poured or painted onto the person while he or she was immobilized. Then the victim either had feathers thrown on him or was rolled around on a pile of feathers so that they stuck to the tar. Often the victim was then paraded around town on a cart or a rail. The aim was to hurt and humiliate a person enough to leave town and not cause any more mischief.
The practice was never an official punishment in the United States, but rather a form of vigilante justice. It was eventually abandoned as society moved away from public, corporal punishment and toward rehabilitation of criminals.
- A more brutal derivation called pitchcapping, designed to badly damage skin and flesh on the head, was used by British soldiers against suspected rebels during the period of the Irish Rebellion of 1798.
- Sometimes only the head was shaven, tarred and feathered.
- In a milder form, avoiding wounds by fixing the tar on (under)clothing, it is still occasionally used, as a humiliating or jocular punishment, as for disobedient fraternity pledges (compare hazing).
First degree burns are sustained after a split second contact with a material that is about 70 °C (160 °F). The same is also sustained after thirty seconds of contact with 55 °C (130 °F) material. The tar of that period was of such a quality that it only melted at about 60 °C (140 °F). At temperatures of 60 °C (140 °F) burns can be created with a three second contact. The thin tar layer presumably cooled quickly; nevertheless, the victims probably sustained burns in addition to their humiliation.
Furthermore, after the tar had cooled, it and the the feathers would have to be peeled or rubbed off with lard, usually taking a good deal of skin with them. These would leave ugly scars and marks and infection could set in. Depending on how "complete" the job was done, there was also a risk of heat stroke as the tar would act as a strong insulator.
As a public or vigilante punishment, the purpose is to socially ostracize the victim. The hot tar scars and disfigures so the victim would be seen, wherever he went, to have suffered the punishment. The feathers serve to dehumanize the victim and expulsion from the community by carting or running him out of town completes the act. Riding a rail (especially the old sharp-edged triangular style) could cut and damage the crotch and impair the victim's ability to walk without pain. The agonized screams of the victim were typically drowned out by the noise of the crowd and the clanging of metal objects (pans,bells, etc.).
Portal:Torture methods and devices
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