The earliest mention of the punishment appears in orders that Richard I of England issued to his navy on starting for the Holy Land in 1189. The image of a tarred-and-feathered outlaw remains a metaphor for severe public criticism. The victim then either had feathers thrown on them or was rolled around on a pile of feathers so that they stuck to the tar. Wood tar (sometimes hot) was then either poured or painted onto the person while they were immobilized. The victim would be stripped naked, or stripped to the waist. It was used in feudal Europe and its colonies in the early modern period, as well as the early American frontier, mostly as a type of mob vengeance. Tarring and feathering is a form of public torture and punishment used to enforce unofficial justice or revenge. Minnesota historians have cited this incident as an example of nativism and anti-German sentiment in Minnesota during World War I. German-American farmer John Meints of Luverne, Minnesota, was tarred and feathered in August 1918 during World War I for allegedly not supporting war bond drives.

North brunswick township tax collector