As gunfire roared in the log schoolhouse, men began to fall on both sides. Nobody knows how many men Zeke Proctor shot, but he produced a weapon from somewhere, most likely a revolver, and the range was point-blank. He probably took shelter in a convenient chimney corner, which gave him at least a little cover.

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Another old-timer said later that Zeke snatched a Winchester 'out of the hands of the guard nearest him,' which probably would have been Tom Walkingstick. This version is a little doubtful, if only because the same witness quite incorrectly said that the verdict had been handed down before the Beck party rushed the building, and that Zeke hid out in Mexico for the next four years.

Another witness to the fight, a youngster at the time, said Zeke killed'six or seven men.' Since a lot of people were banging away simultaneously, that seems a large bag even for Zeke Proctor, and indeed, the young witness' opportunity to see what happened may have been considerably limited by the dictates of his good sense: 'I fell down under a bench and stayed there when it happened,' he said, 'and they thought he had killed me too.'

At the door, Sam Beck stepped in front of White Sut, and somebody cut him down. Then White Sut dropped, and more and more men fell in agony as weapons roared in and outside the building. The Beck faction quickly realized they were badly outgunned. They scattered then, those who could still stand, and the firing and the shouting died away.

As the smoke blew away, the ground was littered with bodies. Four corpses lay in a welter of blood just inside the schoolhouse door. Three more bodies sprawled silent just outside. A few paces away was another corpse, a badly wounded man lay moaning behind the building, and still another was dying in a nearby clump of bushes.

Judge Sixkiller took two buckshot in the wrist, and lawyer Alberty lay dead near Johnson Proctor — both of them elderly and unarmed. One juror had a hole in his shoulder, and several others also had wounds, most of them minor. Close by, in Mrs. Whitmire's house, Deputy U.S. Marshal Owens was dying, gasping that he had tried his best to hold back the Becks.

The Becks had taken terrible casualties. Black Sut, Samuel and William Beck were dead or dying. So were William Hicks, Jim Ward, George Selvidge (or Selvage) and Riley Woods. White Sut Beck was terribly hurt — although he would survive — and Isaac Vann had a bad elbow wound.

In addition to Johnson Proctor, the Proctors lost Andrew Palone, a Civil War veteran of the Pea Ridge fight, variously described as either killed or wounded. Various others, both partisans and bystanders, had suffered more or less minor injuries. Zeke's only wound was the buckshot from White Sut's weapon, and Zeke could still fight and ride. Having fought, he now rode.

Widow Whitmire got her teenage boys to hitch the family mules to a wagon and began to collect the dead, the dying and the wounded. The bodies of those killed were conveniently arranged on the Whitmire front porch so their kinfolk could easily collect them. The wounded were gently carried inside, to be cared for by Mrs. Whitmire and others.

Next day, the 16th, the jury reconvened at Captain Arch Scraper's nearby house to finish the job. Scraper, who was foreman of the jury, found he still headed a complete panel, counting a new juror appointed to replace a member too badly hurt to continue. Zeke Proctor was there, too, announcing that he would not give up his right to be present at his own trial, wounds and all. The jury deliberated long enough to acquit Zeke. They then intelligently departed in some haste, on the sound theory that Fort Smith would send more marshals, or more Becks would appear, and whoever came would be angry men.

James Huckleberry, the U.S. marshal, was indeed an unhappy man. No doubt angry over the death of a fine officer, he accused Sixkiller of obstructing justice, even of deliberately holding court where the marshal's posse could best be resisted. He sent a 21-man posse down to Going Snake, but by the time the lawmen arrived on the 17th nearly everybody had scattered. Jury foreman Scraper, who had not fired a shot, was one of the unlucky ones who was arrested and taken to Fort Smith. But he was eventually released.

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