Q: Is this 1768 "tar and feather" useful?

[Joel S. Berson]

OED3 has "tar and feather" under tar (v) sense b. 1769-, and tar
(n.1) sense 4. 1775-.  Is the following a useful antedating?  And for
which headword, the verb or the noun?  (I'll submit with the details
if this is useful.)

On 1768 Sept. 13 there is:  "... he was taken ... and conducted to
the Common, where his Head, Body and Limbs were covered with warm
Tar, and then a large Quantity of Feathers were applied to all Parts
... [colorful description of his appearance and the procession
follows]".  Is this a useful antedating?  And for which headword, the
verb or the noun?  (I'll provide the specifics if this is useful.)

This is cited in Alfred Young, in Liberty Tree: Ordinary People and
the American Revolution (2006).  He also writes that the first known
episode of of the revolutionary era is Norfolk, VA, in 1766 (for this
I think I can find a quotation); that another writer claims there was
a tarring and feathering in Essex County between 1670 and 1680 (no
written documentation cited by Young); and there was a case in New
York in 1762 (imprecise source given).

Joel

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