Run Out of Town on a Rail

John Malcom was a customs official in Boston who  was tarred

and feathered in 1774. In reality, he was threatened with

hanging and stripped to the waist first. Still, this engraving was

done in France and the artist may not have had first hand

knowledge of the incident.

Source: Wikimedia commons

This work is in the public domain because its copright

has expired.

One of the many, many, many things that differentiated the American Revolution from the French Revolution was the approach to influencing fellow citizens toward your way of thinking. While the French seemed to prefer the lethal, and probably very convincing, threat of Madame Guillotine, the Americans preferred the non-lethal approach of humiliation.

Most people are familiar at least with the concept of tarring and feathering. The man (or woman) is sometimes stripped naked, covered in tar and then feathers. While this had to be a painful in addition to humiliating experience, it was seldom lethal. (I have yet to find an example of any deaths from the experience, so if you know of one, let me know.) Still, as painful as hot tar being poured over you must have been, I’m sure getting it off was no walk in the park either.

One of the other humiliating “punishments” inflicted on Tories was the “riding around on a rail.” I’m sure many of you have heard the term “run out of town on a rail.” I always assumed it was a saying that stemmed from sometime in the 19^th or 20^th century where someone was tied to a railway car (or found refuge in one) and run out of town. Not until I started researching the 18^th century for my novels, did I realize that it stemmed from the American Revolution – decades before trains became a common way to move goods or people.

Running someone out of town on a rail involves tying them to a rail or fence post and then riding them about town with the rail supported on the shoulders of two men, the goal being to humiliate the individual so that they either join your side or leave town.

Sometimes they are tarred and feathered first and other times they are stripped naked. They might be forced to sit astride the rail, which would be particularly painful on some sensitive areas, or they might have their hands and feet bound to the rail and then be carried hanging underneath the rail. (On the latter method, think of the way the cannibals carried people back to their camps in all the B movies and you’ll get the picture.)

While I'm certain tarring and feathering was nothing new in the late 18th century, I haven't found any earlier references (yet) to riding out of town on a rail. Still, humans have a way of being beastly to each other. I doubt it would have taken them until the American Revolution to dream something like that up.

MJ

P.S. For those of you who think I must have been a Tory in my previous life, I'm not taking sides here. Wait until I start in on the British!