The Outhouse Attack(Rusty C. Winters) THE OUTHOUSE ATTACK


I was twelve and still wet behind the ears in this little farming town in northern Minnesota. There was never a boring day or a shortage of things to do because I just would not let that happen: not acceptable! It was the fall of 1958 and I think everyone had raked up a pile of leaves and had them burning; the whole town had a smoke fog about four feet off the ground and the smell of burning leaves was still in the air when you arose for breakfast the next morning. The Back yard Gang was still going strong with all the neighborhood kids coming and going daily. The Shed Club House out behind my parents house was still in use and full of items that all club members used to build, invent, and create excitement.

At recess one day at the Beltrami grade school across from my house, Louis Doyea and myself were talking about Halloween: how many days away it was and the neat tricks we could pull that night. I was talking about soaping old people’s windows and Louis was taking about tipping over outhouses. I finally thought it over and realized that I should graduate up from the soapy windows to a higher challenge in my gang life: Wooden Outhouses! Louis and I looked at the outhouse at the COOP Store which would serve as a training aid for the great adventure! We both tugged and pushed on that Big Two Holer and never moved a cob web? It was about two weeks later when Louis and I hustled together five other kids from our home town that we finally had the manpower to get the Big Two Holer past center and over she went! Crash! Success! We all ran for our lives and hoped that we would not get caught by anyone! With our gangland practice complete we had obviously identified our number one target for the upcoming Halloween night and started numbering the days.

Much to our disappointment the COOP Store Two Holer had been set back up and repaired. Louis and I were in our final planning stage for the Halloween evening of 1958. Our number one target item had been modified; someone had put a large post on each corner of the COOP Store Two Holer and bolted the structure to the posts? With only 5 days to go until Gangland Fun Day Louis informed me that he had an alternative plan! We would tip over Roy Logan’s One Holer on the south end of town. It seems that Louis had been teasing Roy Logan that come Halloween night his pride and joy was going to be lying on its side. We even drove by Roy’s structure on our bicycles to make sure that we could find it in the dark and make a clean get away!

Halloween night of 1958 had finally come! I met Louis downtown with some other gang members where we commenced throwing rotten tomatoes at cars passing through Beltrami on highway #9. We hid behind the telephone booth on main street at Elsie’s Café and waited for each sucker to slow down and we all jumped out for the attack. We also had a second backup tomato group between the gym hall and the post office. My mother’s one acre garden had no tomatoes left in it; for they were all on the main street of my little town. This strategy was going just fine until our next victim looked rather familiar? It was my uncle Earl Mosher; the Polk County Sheriff. We all hit the bricks and ran everywhere to hide in the dark. After about fifteen minutes we saw Earl’s squad car head north towards Crookston and we all came out of hiding ready to go again. Out of tomatoes and targets we were finally ready to go south for the big score!

We enlisted a big kid; Darrell Newell, to help us with Roy’s One Holer. Darrell was strong and could run like a deer. We made our way on foot to the back yard of Roy Logan’s and checked it out; all was clear. The moon was yellow in the east and made good lighting: our weeks of planning were soon to become a reality. We snuck over to the One Holer and all three of us guys got a good grip on the south wall and we began rocking it to get it past center. All of a sudden there was a Loud Roar like a 500 POUND GRIZZLEY BEAR STEPPING ON HOT COALS from inside that One Holer and then a voice said “LOUIS DOYEA I’M GOING TO SHOOT YOU”! In just a split second Louis yelled “RUN”! We did! Louis ran north east; Darrell and I ran north like two runners shot out of a cannon. Three seconds after we had started running I heard a Sharp Blast or Shot and my first thought was that Louis had gotten shot. Man was I scared! Rushing past the Light poles and trees I ran over Otto Gast’s front yard and into my house out of breath; trying to act like nothing had happened. My Mom knew I was up to no good and asked if I had been trick or treating? I answered yes and went to the telephone to call Louis. When I got in touch with Louis he was laughing and saying that someone had shot at him and he was ok. Thank God! No casualties!

It seems the old Cigar smoking bachelor Roy Logan from the south end of town was waiting for us. Roy was a big man and a World War II Veteran whose house had large brass shell casing ashtrays from the battle of somewhere? If he had a gun we will never know to this day but Louis said that Roy Logan told him later “I’ll get you next time Louis” and we all made vows to do something different in the little farming town for Halloween 1959.

Today in my little town of Beltrami there is no COOP Store, no Gym Hall, no Post Office, no Phone Booth, no Elsie’s Café, no One Holer or Two Holer, and no Shed Club House; but I’ll bet you I could find some tomatoes that need to be thrown come this October 31!







This is a true story written from my childhood memory.
3/8/2006 – Author Rusty Winters
Copyright: © ACO00014 - 2011

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