Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1904-04-09

hOru . Sdke, Spreau. linen as SUDDEN
ly as he had appeared he dropped down
into the weeds again. Lige and those
with him paused, and the whole body
came to a halt while the leaders con-
suited. There was a sound Of metallic
clicking and a thin rattle of steel From
far to the rear came the voice of old
Wilkerson:
John Browns body lies a-moldering in
the ground,
John Browns body lies a-molderinE In
the ground"
A few near him as they stood wait
ing began to take up the burden of the
song, singing it in slow time like a
dirge. Then those farther away took
it up. 1t spread, reached the leaders.
They, too, began to sing, taking Off
the whole concourse, solemn, earnest,
uncovered, was singing-a thunderous
| requiem for John HAIRLESS.
The sun was swinging lower, and
the edges of the world were embroider-
ed with gold, while that deep volume
of sound shook the air, the song of a
stern, savage, just cause-sung perhaps
as some of the ancestors OF these men
sang with Hampden before the bris-
| Ting walls of a hostile city 1t had
| 1roa and steel in it. The men lying on
their guns in the ambuscade along the
fence heard the dirge rise and grow
to its mighty fullness, and they SILVER
ed. One of them, posted nearest the
advance, had his rife carefully leveled
at Lige Willetts, fair target in the
road. When he heard the singing he
turned to the man next behind him
and laughed harsbly, 81 reckon Wen
see big jamboree other side Jordan
! tonight, huh?'
| The huge murmur OF the chorus ex-
banded and gathered in rhythmic
strength and swelled to power and
rolled and Numbered across the plain
! John Browns body lies a-moldering in
the ground,
John Browns body lies a-moldering in
the ground,
John Browns body lies a-moidering in
the ground,
| His soul goes marching ont
1 Glory, glory, halleluiahi
Glory, glory, hslleluiahi
| Glory, glory, halleluiahI
His soul goes marching oni'
A gun spat fire from the higher
ground, and Willetts dropped where
he stood, but was up again in a second.
with red line across his forehead
where the ball had grazed his TEMPLE.
The mob spread out like a fan, the
| men climbing the fence and beginning
the advance through the fields, thus
closing on the ambuscade from both
sides. Mr.. Watts, wading through the
L ierh IN. AL
road, perceived the barrel OF gun
shining from the fence some distance
in front of him and the same second.
although no weapon was seen in his
hand, discharged a revolver at the
clump of grass and weeds behind the
gun. Instantly ten or twelve men
leaped from their hiding places along
the fences of both fields and, firing
hurriedly and harmlessly into the scat
tered ranks of the oncomlng mob,
broke for the shelter of the houses,
where their fellows were posted. TAX
en- on the TANKS and from the rear,
there was but one thing for them to
do to keep from being hemmed in and
shot or captured. CThey excessively pre-
ferred being shot) With a wild, high,
joyous yell. sounding like the bay of
young hounds breaking into view OF
their quarry, the Plattville men fol-
| lowed
The most eastward of the debilitated
edifices of Six Crossroads was the sa-
loon. 1t bore the painted legends, on
the west wall, Last Chance" on the
east wall, First Chance" Next to
this and separated by two or three
acres of weedy vacancy from the cor
ners, where the population centered
thickest, stood-if one may so predi-
cate of building which leaned In sew
en- directions-the house of Mr.. Rob
ert Skillet, the proprietor of the sa-
loon. Both buildings were shut up as
tight as their state of repair permit.
ted. AS they were farthest to the east
they formed the nearest shelter. and to
them the Crossroaders bent their flight
though they stopped not here, but dis
appeared behind Skillett's shanty, put
ting it between them and their pur
suers, whose guns Were beginning tc
speak. The fugitives had good start
and, being the picked runners of the
Crossroads, they crossed the open
weedy acres in safety and made fol-
their homes. Every house had become
a fort. and the defenders would have
to be fought and torn out one by one
AS the guns sounded. woman in q
shanty near the forge began to scream
and kept on screaming.
| On came the farmers and the men of
Plattville. They took the saloon at a
run, battered down the crazy doors
with fence rail and swarmed inside
like busy insects, making the place
hum like a hive, but with the hotter
industries of destruction. 1t was empty
of life as a tomb, but they beat and
tore and battered and broke and ham
mered and shattered like madmen; they
reduced the tawdry interior to a mere
chaos and came pouring forth laden
with trophies of ruin, and then there
was charry smell in the air, and a
slender feather of smoke floated up
from a second story window
At the same time Watts led an as