read this and post

[Inziladun]

The prisoners were brought before (the Elvenking) : and though he looked grimly at them, he told his men to unbind them, for they were ragged and weary.

Barrels Out of Bond

That's the only instance of what you refer to that I could quickly find, though there may be others. In this quote, the reference to 'men' is not capitalized, as is usual when Tolkien is speaking of Men as a race. That leads me to believe that here it is simply a different word for 'folk' or 'people', and not an error.