Taney County Missouri -- Late 1800's. The notoriety of the vigilante group known as the BAID KNOBBERS had - expanded well beyond the boundaries of the small Southwest Missouri county in which it was founded. A group originally formed to rectify the injustices that were taking place in the community, the vigilantes became increasingly unruly, behaving more like the people they swore to combat. Greed and power had corrupted the group, resulting in disputes over various things ranging from name calling to ownership if land rights. Sometimes these disputes turned volatile, often ending in serious injury or death. One such dispute involved a squabble over the right to lease some prime farm property ten miles south of Forsyth, Mo. Now this may seem like an ordinary disagreement except for two things. The first is the fact that one of the organizers of the Bald Knobbers, Nathanial "Cap." Kinney was involved. The other being that the nephew of a Baptist preacher was on the opposing side. By coincidence that man happened to be an Anti-Bald Knobber by the name of John H. Haworth, my Great-Grandfather. As the story goes Haworth held a lease on the Dick Moore farm, which included fifty acres of uncleared land, fifteen acres of which were subleased to a Bald Knobber for a corn field. The lease had another year left, if Haworth picked up the option, his plans were to continue working the land. The Bald Knobbers got wind of this and decided to scare the farmer off because one of them coveted the land. Haworth continued to farm the acreage, but as a precaution moved to his uncle's house, the Rev. Jordan "Jurd" Haworth. One evening several horsemen approached the Haworth house. They split up into roughly three groups. One riding up to the open yard in front of the house, the second hiding behind outbuildings, and the third hiding in the woods. Joe McGill rode up to the gate and called John out. "Are you goin' to tend that farm down there again?" asked McGill. "Yessir, I am," Haworth replied. "We've come to notify you that you can't do it," stated the Bald Knobber. "I'll tend to that place if every ear of corn costs me one dollar!" Haworth said. "If you do that," shouted McGill, "we'll crack your neck!' With that gunshots rang out, Haworth came clean out of his shoes as the gunmen in the trees fired shots at the roof of the house. The riders wheeled their mounts around and rode off to the south, where they gave a man by the name of Ed Boyd a brutal whipping. After the incident, Haworth grew considerably more cautious. In an effort to protect himself and his family, he and a neighbor, Wesley Brown, set up a camp in between the Haworth house and the old John Stoup place where Brown lived. They slept at the camp every night, if the riders went past traveling either north or south, the men from camp would follow them until the Bald Knobbers were well past the farmsteads. Not much else is recorded over what happened between the two groups after this. But one could just imagine what might have taken place in the days following the incident. The stories and the myths about the Bald Knobbers can make the imagination nm wild with speculation. This is where our scenario begins. THE SET UP It is a moonlit October night. The air is brisk and blows through the Autumn leaves as nightingales sing their evening lullaby. The countryside has been rather quiet as of late, but recent events have caused many to believe that a ruckus is bound to happen. On this particular night, Haworth left the camp to visit with his uncle. Several members of the Anti- Bald Knobbers were also on their way to Rev. Haworth's house to discuss plans about how to deal with the vigilantes. Due to the fact that his neighbor left for the night, Mr. Brown invited three kinsfolk and a friend to spend the night with him at camp. When Haworth arrived at his uncle's place, he was greeted by his uncle and six others, all of whom carried weapons of some sort. Being a simple family man, Haworth was opposed to violence, but he was about to his wits end over the situation with the night riders. The farmer knew how to use a rifle from hunting trips and was known to be a fairly decent shot. In fact, most of the gentlemen at the meeting were old hunting partners. They lit their oil lamps and started the process at hand. As darkness crept in, several riders rode to within five miles of the Haworth house. They had bypassed the camp and stopped at this point. One of them, a tall, muscular man, dismounted from his horse and gathered the men up. His voice was stem and deep and barked orders like a military officer. That man was Cap. Kinney. The Chieftain had been informed that something was going to happen tonight and he wanted to find out what. Kinney's plan was to dismount from their horses and hike the last five miles to the Haworth house. There they would sneak up to the house and try to listen in on the proceedings taking place. Then they would call out the occupants and deal with them accordingly. THE LAYOUT Rev. Haworth's farm was like any other typical Ozark Mountain farmstead. The spread consisted of the main house, several outbuildings, a corral, and in particular a grove of fruit trees. The following drawing gives a representation of the farm at that time. The farm house is designated A, with an outbuildings B. The corral is C and last but not least is the outhouse, D. The wavy line is the start of an uphill sloe that expands south. This is where the fruit tree grove is located There are woods to the west and east. The campsite is located to the north. THE PARTICIPANTS The forces consist of thirteen Bald Knobbers and thirteen Anti-Bald Knobbers. These forces may be divided amongst the players at hand, it seems to play well with eight players (four per side with one of the players controlling the lead characters from each side). All figures on each side will be of average quality except that one figure per player may be veteran 'in quality. Haworth and Cap. Kinney are considered to be elite. Weapons can consist of any combination of items. The general rule in our games is "what ya' carry is what ya7 got." Also, 1D6 worth of Bald Knobbers; will carry torches which they can use after they get the information they need. To determine this, once a night rider comes into contact with the house, roll 1D6. This notes how many turns that figure must stay in that position before he can decipher the info. Mr. Brown will show up on the scene after the first outburst occurs. Roll 1D6, this indicates the degree of readiness that the campers are in. They will arrive in that number of turns. When the game star , the Anti-Bald Knobbers, roll 2D6, keep this a secret. The total will be the number of turns- that go by before someone needs to take a trip to the outhouse. That figure will stay in there for 2 turns, then may return to the house. After this takes place, roll again and start the process over. Line of sight for the game will be 24", unless a figure is prone or in woods. That distance is then reduced to 12" for a prone figure and 6" if in the woods. A torch will illuminate a 24" radius area while any building will cast light in a IT' radius, from the center of a window. BIBLIOGRAPHY Hartman, Mary and Elmo Ingenthron. Bald Knobbers: Vigilantes on the Ozarks Frontier. Pelican Publishing Co., Gretna, LA Back to Table of Contents Penny Whistle #26 Back to Penny Whistle List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1997 by Lion's Den Publications. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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