KSLINCOL-L Archives

From: Scott Holl <>
Subject: [KSLINCOL] Shady Bend tarring incident (long)
Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2000 23:35:42 -0600

Last week I posted a message about an incident that happened in Shady
Bend at the beginning of the 20th century involving a young school
teacher who was tarred by a mob. I finally found a bunch of newspaper
clippings handed down to me by my father that record the event and the
subsequent trial. I thought I might post one article that seems to give
the most complete facts about the case here. I do so only out of
historical interest and hope that it does not offend anyone--the story
is rather horrifying. Some of the people involved still have descendants
in Lincoln Co. and some may even be on this list (one man involved was
related to my family). That said, there are a number of familiar Lincoln
Co. names mentioned in the articles.

Interestingly enough, the newspaper clippings I have are mostly from a
paper called the Oregonian and none from Lincoln Co. papers. One of the
articles reports that there was an accusaton of a cover up of the
incident by local law enforcement, though this was denied by the county
sheriff in his court testimony.

The articles mention a Jay Fitzwater, who is undoubtedly the long lost
uncle of Marlin Fitzwater, whom I mentioned in my earlier post. Marlin
Fitzwater, former press spokesman for Presidents Reagan and Bush, is
from Abilene, by the way.

_____________________________________


The Morning Oregonian
November 17, 1911

MEN WHO TARRED WOMAN IN A PANIC

Three of Band Suddenly Admit Guilt

ANOTHER TRIO STAND TRIAL

Jealous Wives Blamed for Attack on Schoolma’am

VILLAGE GOSSIPS ACTIVE

Prosecutor Says No Clemency Has Been Promised to Culprits Who
Confessed—Change of Venue Plea Denied


LINCOLN CENTER, Kan., Nov. 16—Sherrill Clark, a wealthy merchant; A. N.
Simms, a millworker, and John Schmidt were placed on trial late today
for "assault and battery" in connection with the tarring of Miss Mary
Chamberlain, after Judge Grover’s denial of their application for a
change of venue.

Before court closed 12 jurors, all subject to preemptory challenges,
were in the box.

Earlier in the day Everett G. Clark, president of the Shady Bend Milling
Company; Watson Scranton, a farmer, and J. Fitzwater, astonished the
prosecution by entering pleas of guilty and throwing themselves on the
mercy of the court. Previously Edward Ricord, a barber, had entered the
same plea.

Panic Seizes Culprits
Panic seems to have seized upon the men who stripped and tarred the
pretty schoolteacher, the night of August 7 last, after she had been
lured to a lonely spot by the local barber, Ricord, who had invited her
to a dance. At a spot in the woods, far from any habitation or chance
that her screams would be heard, they were intercepted by a band of men
who had an iron bucket of tar warming over a small fire.

Miss Chamberlain was dragged from the buggy, her clothing stripped off,
and, while two men held her down, another applied the tar from her waist
to her knees.

Meanwhile, other members of the tarring party, fearful of consequences,
took no part in the actual work, but viewed it from a hedge beside the
road.

Twelve Men in Ambush
There were 12 men in the ambush and they fled when the girl fainted.
When she revived Ricord took her home and she managed to get into her
room at the boarding house without awakening any member of the family.
The next day she told her story to her brother, who immediately started
the present action.

Jealousy of the girl, who was more attractive and vivacious than the
women and girls of Beverly and Shady Bend, was the sole cause for the
outrage. Miss Chamberlain is 26 years old and last year taught school in
Beverly, her home. When the Summer vacation began, she secured
employment in L. V. Green’s store, and many friends in both towns
visited her there and patronized the establishment.

Tongues Begin to Wag
Among the customers was a married man, and Miss Chamberlain had not been
in the store two weeks until the wife of this man had started a campaign
against her. Other women, jealous girls, snubbed suitors and ordinary
run of small-town gossips, took up the secret hue and cry, and before
long every smile, laugh and action of the girl were set down as damning
evidence against her. There was laid the plot to disgrace her and give
her a touch of vengeance.

Judge Grover said tonight that he would pass sentence upon the men who
confessed and pleaded guilty after hearing the other cases.

No Leniency Agreed To
That no leniency in sentence had been agreed to by the prosecution was
declared by S. N. Hawkes Assistant Attorney-General of Kansas.

"None of the men who have pleaded guilty," said Mr. Hawkes, "has any
promise from the prosecution." He will prosecute the other accused men
as vigorously as possible.

A $500 fine and a sentence of a year in jail is the maximum sentence
that can be passed upon the men.

That the prosecution expects difficulty in proving the identity of the
men who attacked Miss Chamberlain was admitted by one of the lawyers
attached to the prosecution. He pointed out that the tarring was
accomplished in silence, not a work being spoken by the mob. Even the
men who tore Miss Chamberlain’s clothes and those who applied the tar to
her body said nothing.

Tar Meant as Hint
The only conversation that passed was between Miss Chamberlain and
Ricord, the girl’s escort, who was paid to decoy her to the spot. As the
pair were driving home after the attack, Miss Chamberlain said:

"What did they mean?"

"I think," Ricord replied, "that they meant the tar as a hint for you to
leave the country."

The only excuse for the act, said the Assistant Attorney-General, "was
that several meddling, suspicious women had whispered evil of the girl
and incited their "men folks" to punish her. An investigation by the
county prosecutor convinced him that the remarks about Miss Chamberlain
were unfounded.

Five men, Harry Armstrong, Fenton Hall, Alfa Lindermuth, Benjamin
Painter and Roscoe Anderson, laborers of Beverly, have already paid
fines of $1 each for their connection with the case. There were among
those who witnessed the "tarring" from behind a hedge and were convicted
and fined to prevent them from refusing to testify against friends.

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• [KSLINCOL] Shady Bend tarring incident (long) by Scott Holl <>