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Hunted down by vigilantes, man survived being tarred, feathered

On August 19, 1918, a mob of more than 100 townspeople in Luverne, Minnesota, targeted John Meints, tarring, feathering, and whipping him as a suspected German sympathizer during World War I.
Because Meints edited the Rock County Leader and supported Nonpartisan League candidates, the Forum-Advocate labeled him an "alleged slacker and seditionist," fueling local hostility and making him a target.
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court ruling, finding Meints was "unlawfully restrained of his liberty" and entitled to $100,000 in damages from the 32 defendants involved.
Instead of a full trial, Meints settled out of court for $6,000—about $110,000 today—while Rev. H.W. Bedford, a Methodist minister accused of participating, faced no charges and received praise for "patriotic work."
Meints later moved to Hardwick, Minnesota, where he died in 1942 from coal gas asphyxiation, years after his story appeared on the front page of the Sisseton Weekly Standard in 1921.

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Hunted down by vigilantes, man survived being tarred, feathered

LUVERNE, Minn. — The lashes from a doubled-up rope whip came down hard and fast on John Meints’ back, smeared with hot, sticky tar and feathers. A mob of about 32 anti-German townsfolk left him, still conscious, on the South Dakota border. Four masked men remained. “I counted the blows — one, two, three, four. I could stand it no longer; I turned to the man who was flogging me. ‘For God’s sake, don’t,’ I cried. He stopped. The man’s mask had sli…

2 days ago·Cherokee County, United States

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