diff --git a/splunklib/modularinput/event_writer.py b/splunklib/modularinput/event_writer.py
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index b868a18f..5f8c5aa8
--- a/splunklib/modularinput/event_writer.py
+++ b/splunklib/modularinput/event_writer.py
@@ -82,5 +82,6 @@ def write_xml_document(self, document):
 
     def close(self):
         """Write the closing </stream> tag to make this XML well formed."""
-        self._out.write("</stream>")
+        if self.header_written:
+          self._out.write("</stream>")
         self._out.flush()