• downvote_hunter@midwest.social
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      2 days ago

      Interesting term, run out of town on a rail. From Wikipedia: Riding the rail (also called being “run out of town on a rail”) was a punishment most prevalent in the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries in which an offender was made to straddle a fence rail held on the shoulders of two or more bearers. The subject was then paraded around town or taken to the city limits and dumped by the roadside.

      A story attributed to Abraham Lincoln has him quoting a victim of being ridden out of town on a rail as having said, “If it weren’t for the honor of the thing, I’d just as soon it happened to someone else.”