Hamilton's group of exiles plus about 17 Missourians rode back into Kansas. They stopped at the village store and with guns drawn they disarmed the customers and tied their hands. Hamilton took a list from his pocket and read out the names. One by one the men on the list were taken from their cabins or fields. The village blacksmith had resisted the ruffians with a shotgun and was not taken. The eleven they did capture were led to a gulch that drained into the Marais des Cygnes River. They were lined up in the gulch as if before a firing squad. One Missourian lowered his gun saying he would "have nothing to do with such a piece of business as this". Hamilton then gave the order to fire. The eleven men fell to the ground. Then Hamilton dismounted and turned the bodies over with his boot. Any he found alive he shot in the head with his pistol. Five of the men were killed and five were seriously wounded. One escaped unharmed by pretending to be dead. Other Missourians went through the pockets of the men presumed to all be dead. Finally, they all rode out in different directions so as to make it harder to trail them.