TARRING AND FEATHERING.
This was a punishment frequently resorted to at the commencement of the war whicli produced the American revolution. It was practised by the Bishop of Haberstadt, when, in the year Ki23, he invaded the territories of the Elector Palatine. Having plundered and burnt two monasteries, the bishop gave particular directions to his soldiers to secure the persons of the nuns and friars unhurt as they rushed from the flaming edifices. Then, ordering them to be stripped naked, their bodies _ smeared with tar, after which each individual was tumbled into a feather-bed ripped open and prepared for the purpose. When the terrified inhabitants had been thus reclothed, they were hunted out of the camp towards the interior parts of the country. Tarring and feathering is also mentioned in an ancient military code, said to be drawn up by Richard Cceur de Lion, previous to starting on his expedition to the Holy Land. The reason given by the royal legislator for adopting so singular a mode of punishment is, that the offender being landed at the first place tlxey touched after his conviction, and .being thus marked, would be generally known and universally avoided.
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Bibliographic details
Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 88, 15 April 1933, Page 9 (Supplement)
Word Count
195TARRING AND FEATHERING. Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 88, 15 April 1933, Page 9 (Supplement)
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