# What Does This Expression Mean...\[Run out of town on a rail\]? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 26, 2010, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-expression-mean-run-out-of-town-on-a-rail/530482 "2010-02-26T03:35:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-expression-mean-run-out-of-town-on-a-rail/530482/1 "2010-02-26T03:35:51Z")
What does the expression “run out of town on a rail” mean? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-expression-mean-run-out-of-town-on-a-rail/530482/2 "2010-02-26T03:39:00Z")
Pretty much what it sounds like. In the 19th century, when the townspeople didn’t particularly like someone (say, a petty swindler), they’d tie him to a wooden fence rail and carry him (hanging down from it) to the town limits, making it clear he wasn’t allowed back again. Tar and feathers were optional. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-expression-mean-run-out-of-town-on-a-rail/530482/3 "2010-02-26T03:49:12Z")
Ah! Thanks…I was thinking someone was simply thrown on a train. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-expression-mean-run-out-of-town-on-a-rail/530482/4 "2010-02-26T03:56:26Z")
[Tarred, feathered, and run out of town on a rail.](http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w16/rnw1964/tar_and_feather.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-expression-mean-run-out-of-town-on-a-rail/530482/5 "2010-02-26T03:57:07Z")
There is a scene of this in “O Brother, Where art Thou?”, perfect example. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-expression-mean-run-out-of-town-on-a-rail/530482/6 "2010-02-26T04:05:35Z")
Edited title to indicate subject. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-expression-mean-run-out-of-town-on-a-rail/530482/7 "2010-02-26T04:18:50Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > [Tarred, feathered, and run out of town on a rail.](http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w16/rnw1964/tar_and_feather.jpg) I remember that this was the fate of the Duke and the Dolphin at the end of “The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn” ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-expression-mean-run-out-of-town-on-a-rail/530482/8 "2010-02-26T13:27:34Z")
It was the subject of a famous Abraham Lincoln anecdote. A group of friends from Illinois was visiting the White House. One of them asked Lincoln how he enjoyed being President. Lincoln replied with a story of a man being tarred and feathered and ridden out of town on a rail. When the man was asked how he liked it, he was quoted by Lincoln as saying “If it weren’t for the honor of it, I’d just as soon walk.” ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-expression-mean-run-out-of-town-on-a-rail/530482/9 "2010-02-26T14:57:55Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > I remember that this was the fate of the Duke and the Dolphin at the end of “The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn” That’s the Duke and the Dauphin 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-expression-mean-run-out-of-town-on-a-rail/530482/10 "2010-02-26T16:23:28Z")
Not hanging from it, the picture shows him sitting astride it. (echoing the ball-crushing theme from another thread) ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-expression-mean-run-out-of-town-on-a-rail/530482/11 "2010-02-26T16:58:19Z")
Also from Mark Twain - in _Tom Sawyer_ there were moves afoot to run Injun Joe out of town on a rail for grave-robbing, but it turned out that no-one was willing to take the lead, and so the idea was quietly dropped. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-expression-mean-run-out-of-town-on-a-rail/530482/12 "2010-02-26T17:52:47Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Not hanging from it, the picture shows him sitting astride it. (echoing the ball-crushing theme from another thread) I’ve had it done both ways. It’s a long story, and I don’t want to talk about it. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-expression-mean-run-out-of-town-on-a-rail/530482/13 "2010-02-26T18:04:24Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > That’s the Duke and the Dauphin 😉 You do know that throughout the novel Huckleberry called him Dolphin, as he (a barely literate teen) wasn’t sure what the title Dauphin really denoted…