The weekly tribune and the Cape County herald. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1914-1918, 1915-11-26
two weeks, and having it charged.

two weeks, and having it charged.
"I'm going to pay you up" he told
the proprietor of the place. We've
been found out, and l expect trouble
right away. l want to pay you all we
owe you now, because no one knows,
maybe neither one of us will be in
shape to pay you anything by the time
tomorrow gets around"
He then returned to the hut on the
Heisserer farm and took along four
companions, one of whom was Den
mis- All of them were fighting men
and they went to the farm prepared to
put up a battle that night
The hut on the Heisserer farm is
placed in the center of swamp field.
All the country around is swamp, and
there is no other habitatiOn for a long
way.
The field in which the hut is the
center piece, is dotted densely with
tree stumps, the remains of clearing
work that had been started Many of
the stumps are quite large.
The hut itself is an old ramshackle
building with but two rooms. The
walls were not thick and the Windows
were high from the ground. The place
was even poorly furnished with such
things that would become handy in i'm
promising a barricade against an at
tacking force.
The six men thOughtfully arranged
their armament of rifles and revOlvers
at the various vantage points inside
the hut, after they had finished their
supper. They selected places for each
mans defense and built up the best
possible barricade with the materials
at hand.
From information they had received
that they, the Hulls were certain an
attack would be made upon them
They knew the "nightriders" expected
to take them by surprise. They did not
even know what would be the nature
of the attack.
The evening wore on and the men
took turns in getting what sleep they
could. The place was kept darkened.
Outside, the moon illuminated the
field with the almost brilliance of day,
but objects at a distance in the stumpy
field lacked a clearness of distinction.
The men inside the hut, however, were
clearly in the advantage.
Midnight finally approached and
short time later, George Hull said he
heard the attacking party approach
from the direction of the swamp trail.
The party apparently was confident of
a successful night on account of num-
bers.
The party could be heard at much
greater distance than the men in the
hut could see them. 1t was hard to
make them out in the half light, NOV
ing about in the stumps.
Finally we saw the CLINT of the
moonlight upon the steel barrels of
their rifles and shotguns," George re-
lated in Clarkton yesterday afternoon.
''The rifles sparkled at points on vir-
tually all sides of US at the same time,
and almost simultaneously with that
feature in the fight, they opened fire.
1--WE all knew we were in for it and
that our lives depended upon our
ability to lay low as the saying is.
We were afraid to risk standing up in
that hut, because the sides of the place
were no real protection from the bull
lets that rained in upon us as soon as
they began shooting.
"The bullets hit against the sides of
our house with regularity that made
me think everyone of those fellows
was out for business and meant to get |
US. It seemed like their game was to
riddle the house with bullets, depend
ing on some of them hitting US.
eve poked our guns out through !