Headstone Of Ten Year Old Boy Hung By Guerrillas In Missouri During The Civil War
The gravesite is maintained by the Dunklin County Historical Society located at nearby Malden.
He was hanged by three Union militiamen because he wouldn’t tell them where his father was. Apparently, these men had heard that Mr. DeMint had sold a plot of land and had a sack of gold from the sale. As Billie was riding home from an errand, he was stopped by the outlaws. During the course of trying to find out where the senior DeMint was, Billie was threatened with death and, when he wouldn’t divulge his father’s whereabouts, they executed him and left him hanging in the tree.
Billie’s father and friends, having gotten the identities of the soldiers tracked them to a local tavern.
His father and his friends burst in on them, accusing them of the crime and demanding their surrender. Guns were drawn; shots fired, and when it was over, two of the perpetrators lay dead. The one remaining culprit confessed to the crime in all its details. What was his fate? We don’t know for certain, but justice was probably meted out in the same fashion as was dealt to Billie.
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