A quick look at the internet tells me that the 'tar' used back in the old colonial days and after
wasn't the stuff grimy gangs put on roads nowadays, but 'pine tar',
made from carbonised pine-wood and used as a preservative on ships etc.
(And, it seems, to cheat in baseball, something wholly beyond my grasp
)
For it to be viscous enough to use, it would have been uncomfortably hot,
but there's no record of anyone being killed by it.
Turpentine was reportedly used to clean it off,
though that would have been a much weaker kind than modern turps.
which would have done more harm than good.
Otherwise rubbing with lard was apparently the best way.