Because the Proctor family was large and well connected, and because Zeke was a prominent Keetoowah, the Beck family was not sure that their notion of proper justice would be done at the Whitmire schoolhouse. And so on April 11, Jim Kesterson and a party of Becks rode into Fort Smith to hedge their bets. There, they swore out a federal warrant for Zeke’s arrest. They also got warrants for seven other men, including two Walkingsticks, a couple of Sixkillers and the entire jury.

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Most accounts say they got warrants for the defense counsel and Judge Sixkiller as well. In spite of the treaty, the U.S. commissioner in Fort Smith issued the warrants, based on the proposition that the United States had jurisdiction over offenses against white people, and Kesterson, adopted Cherokee or not, was white.

The warrants were then passed on to a couple of luckless deputy marshals for service. These unfortunate lawmen also received the curious instruction that they were to arrest everybody named in the warrants only if Zeke were acquitted. In case of conviction, however, they were not to serve the warrants at all. It was a recipe for trouble.

And so came the day of trial. The makeshift courthouse was jammed with people, many of them Proctor partisans armed to the teeth — including, one account says, the defendant himself. Outside stood a dense crowd of Cherokees, eager to hear the proceedings…or to be available in case of trouble. Among them were a number of Beck partisans, also armed, wearing twigs of wild plum blossoms in their hats as a sort of badge.

Inside, Judge Sixkiller sat at a little wood table facing the single door. Just to his left was Joe Starr, the court clerk, and Proctor’s lawyer, Mose Alberty, sat on the judge’s right. Zeke sat next to Alberty, and close to Zeke stood Tom Walkingstick, one of his guards.

At about 11 a.m. on April 15, not long after proceedings had begun and prosecutor Johnson Spake was arguing some procedural matter, trouble appeared. It came in the form of a federal posse, which included some of the toughest of the Becks and their supporters. Out in front were Deputy U.S. Marshals J.G. Peavy and J.G. Owens, both well respected and well liked in Indian Territory. Owens had ordered his possemen to stay out of the schoolhouse turned courthouse, and to remain outside until the verdict was reached. Unfortunately, Owens quickly lost control.

The possemen dismounted, formed a rough column of twos and pushed through the crowd toward the door. Other armed Beck partisans joined them from the crowd waiting outside. Nobody doubted they meant business, for they were cocking their weapons as they came. In the lead was Surry (’White Sut’) Beck, cradling his double-barreled shotgun. Inside the schoolhouse, juror George Blackwood saw the grim-faced posse coming. ‘Look out!’ he shouted. ‘Look out! They’re coming to get Zeke Proctor!’ Near the doorway, White Sut shoved aside one of the Indian lighthorsemen, or policemen, and stormed into the building. Inevitably somebody, probably White Sut, fired a shot, and then all hell broke loose.

White Sut pulled down on Zeke with his shotgun, but Johnson Proctor, Zeke’s brother, grabbed Sut’s weapon and took one barrel full in the chest. Johnson, mortally hurt, still hung on to the shotgun, forcing the second shot down toward the floor. Zeke was hit in the foot by a couple of buckshot, but his brother had saved his life. Zeke’s defense counsel, Mose Alberty, never had a chance. He was sitting at the clerk’s table or judge’s desk, apparently reading some document, when he was hit with two shotgun rounds and went down dying.

Another version of the fight had White Sut getting close enough to press the muzzle of his weapon ‘right against Zeke Proctor’s breast. ‘Now, old man,’ he crowed, ‘I have got you.” But he didn’t. Johnson clung to the shotgun, and other Proctor partisans grabbed for their weapons. White Sut then murdered Johnson Proctor, according to one old-timer, who added, ‘He hated to have to shoot him, but he had to, to get him loose from the gun; so he pulled a pistol out of his pocket and shot him dead.’

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