From our archives, 100 years ago

Some citizens in Prosser, Wash., enraged by the conduct of a young doctor, resorted to an ancient punishment: They tarred him and feathered him.

The doctor had been charged earlier with “misconduct” with the daughter of the town marshal. The doctor was free on bail and was preparing to board a wagon for Mabton with his father.

A mob of angry men, some brandishing guns, approached. One of them shot the doctor in the arm. Then they hauled him to the nearby I.X.L. Livery Barn, where he was coated with tar, covered over with feathers and given an ultimatum: settle up his affairs and leave town within one week.

Instead, he went to the police judge and made a complaint against his assailants, one of which, he alleged, was the town marshal himself.

Charges were then filed against the marshal, his brother and several other men. The entire affair would have to be sorted out later in court.

The doctor was apparently not gravely wounded by the gunshot – nor too badly burned by the tar.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1807: Former Vice President Aaron Burr was charged with treason and high misdemeanor (he was later acquitted). … 1908: Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th U.S. president, died at age 71.