A Strange St Louis Reference

As I was cleaning out some old files downstairs recently, I came across an old photocopy of a section of the letters of the 18th century American poet William Cullen Bryant. I did a research paper on his work in grad school.

During 1832 he traveled to the "West" at that time. He was going to see his brother who had bought a good bit of land near Jacksonville, IL. After this trip he wrote one of his more famous poems, "The Prairies," based on seeing the central part of the "Prairie State." 

On June 4th he wrote about the Black Hawk War a bit, but on that day he also related that he heard in St. Louis "there had been a commotion of another nature." A prostitute named "Indian Margaret" stabbed a "white man," and the "inhabitants were so exasperated that they rose en masse and attacked all the houses of ill fame in the place, tore down two, set fire to a third, and burned the beds and other furniture in all of them. The black man called Abraham who was the owner of 14 houses of this description having made a fortune in this way, was seized, a barrel of tar was emptied upon him and he was then slipped into a feather bed. The people among whom were some of the most respected inhabitants of the place began the work early in the morning and kept it up until sunset--while the magistrates stood looking on." 

Poor Abraham. He escaped to Canada, and Indian Margaret went to prison, so says Bryant.

But this incident got me to wondering: When was the last instance of tarring and feathering in this country? That practice is one of the most gruesome forms of mob brutality out there.