Volume 15 , Issue 38

Woman Teacher In Coat of Tar (1911)

It was in the Tulsa Daily World, Saturday edition, 9 September 1911, that the headlines read: "Woman Teacher In Coat of Tar." The story came out of Shady bend, Kansas, September 8, 1911, when fifteen assailants were arrested for the tar and feathering of a teacher because she talked too much of other women. The fifteen members of prominent families were charged with the complicity in the affair.

Shady Bend, Kan., Sept. 8 (1913) -- Fifteen men and boys had been arrested and placed under bond in Shady Bend, Kansas for alleged connection with the tarring and feathering of Miss Mary Chamberlain a young school mistress 29 August 1911, by a mob.

A strong effort had been made to keep the matter quiet, but county Attorney McCandless refused to allow the affair to go without investigating. The trails of several of the alleged perpetrators had been set for the next month (October). Other arrests were expected. Practically all the men and boys accused of complicity in the assault were members of prominent wealthy families. Miss Chamberlain belonged to one of the most prominent families in Shady Bend, Kansas.

The only excuse given for the affair was that she had "talked about" other women of the community. It is charged that one of the men under arrest took Miss Chamberlain for a ride in a buggy and that upon reaching a lonely spot upon the road he stopped the buggy and ran into the woods. Several men, it was said, were watching near the spot, their motorcycles leaning against a fence. These men, it is said, took Miss Chamberlain from the buggy, removed part of her clothing, applied the tar and feathers and left her. Her escort then returned and drove her back to her boarding place. Miss Chamberlain was not seriously injured.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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