^^A funny image to precede a decidedly unfunny post.
In advance of Stubborn Things, let’s talk tarring and feathering. Because alas, this public torture and humiliation ritual will be highly relevant to the book.
Yes, it was torture, and yes, it was humiliation. But, for whatever this is worth… it wasn’t murder. Contrary to popular belief, tarring and feathering did not kill victims. In fact, it resulted in a grand total of zero known deaths.
While certain popular series (cough, John Adams, cough) portray tar as black like the asphalt tar of today, which is heated to temperatures that would immediately scald skin, the tar used in colonial times was actually pine tar, which would not be heated to the same degree. Sure, it’d leave nasty scars for some victims, and pulled the skin off for others, but the smallest comfort is that it didn’t steal their lives. Yay?
Tarring and feathering became fairly widespread in the colonies following the Townshend and Stamp Acts, and then after the Tea Act as well. Mobs would strip their victims (usually to the waist, but sometimes fully naked), paint tar on their skin, and then cover them in feathers. Oftentimes they would make the victim hold a lantern and call for townspeople to come and see what became of people who had mistaken loyalties. In Boston, the victims were often customs officials who were sent to enforce the various taxes imposed by Parliament.
Also of note? The victims were almost always not gentlemen, but working class. The working class could not afford justice (hiring lawyers to sue for damages was expensive) in the same way that an attack on a gentleman would demand punishment.
However, contrary to popular narratives and that same show, many founding fathers, including Sam Adams and John Hancock, were actually notably against the practice. Torture isn’t exactly liberty, and cruelty inspires fear, which doesn’t often lead to anything positive.
One customs official, John Malcolm, had to endure this torment not once, but twice. He was first assaulted in New Hampshire, but he managed to keep his clothes on him. As a result, he escaped without serious injuries.
Unfortunately for Malcolm, when he was in Boston, rumors of his having been tarred and feathered spread. In 1773, George Hewes found Malcolm scolding a boy. He intervened and mocked Malcolm to his face for having been tarred and feathered. Malcolm was outraged that he would bring this up and hit Hewes in the head with his cane. Big mistake.
While Hewes allegedly went to find justice and get a warrant for Malcolm’s arrest (fair), Malcolm retreated to his house. He wasn’t able to stay for long, because then the crowd gathered. He threatened the crowd with a sword. One man then broke into his house, claiming to be there to protect him, and tricked Malcolm into handing over his sword. That “friend” then opened the door to the mob, which dragged him away from his wife and children (two of whom were disabled and unable to hear).
The crowd stripped Malcolm, tarring and feathering him to the extent that strips of his skin fell off days later. He was beaten and forced to drink cup after cup of tea. The mob tied a rope around his neck and made him curse the royal family and governor by threatening to cut his ears off if he did not (whether that was a mockery of his children’s condition isn’t known). They also dragged him to his brother’s gravesite in Copp’s Hill–the irony being that his brother had sided with the colonists and quite emphatically so.
At this point Hewes heard what happened and rushed over. Even though he was the chief victim, he intervened and covered Malcolm with his own coat. Malcolm was released.
You can read more about the incident here.
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