The door was of course
locked, but when half a dozen vigorous young Americans charged it
like so many battering rams, it gave way, and the soldiers surged
forward into a large hallway. A wide staircase led upward from one
side of this hall, and from an upper landing a spiteful rain of
bullets zipped about the Americans. One fell, but the others, led
by the big sergeant, rushed up the staircase, emptying their
pistols as they went. The resistance met here was the most solid
they had encountered that day, and they soon found that they had
their work cut out for them.
When they reached the landing and engaged in hand to hand work
with the Germans, other doors giving on the landing opened, and
more rioters appeared to give aid to their companions. For a time
the fight seemed to be in favor of the Germans, as their number
told, and then in favor of the Americans, who had the advantage of
discipline and team work on their side. Two more of their number
had fallen, however, and the remaining Americans fought with the
fury of desperation added to their usual dauntless courage. They
took merciless toll of German lives, and at last the rioters,
astonished and dismayed at their own losses, began to give way.
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