Tar and Feathering: C or D?

http://www.americanrevolution.com/TarFeather1.jpg
US history books refer to the practice of tar and feathering as a "cruel, but mostly nonfatal punishment" doled out to pesky british tax collectors and unpopular politicians. Reconsiderations abound after watching last night's episode of "Carnivale" in which a carival worker is captured by a vengeful mob, stripped, smeared mouth to head to toe with boiling tar, covered in feathers, and left to die tied to a rail, all while his wife is forced to watch. Chilling shit. First-hand accounts of the practice are far more grusome than simple political humiliation.
http://timmer.org/HISTORY_17A/Readings/Hulton.htm
It's as if the feathers were added simply to cover up with comedy the extremity of violence underneath.