While Rayner was being led away, Rennick remarked, I have been imposed upon long enough, and I won’t stand for it. He slid off the stool he had been sitting on and shifted into the lookout chair next to the table so that he could watch the door. He spotted a pistol in the open drawer of the faro table, stepped down from the chair and took it out of the drawer and put it into his pocket. He then asked Criswell if the back door was open. Criswell advised him to go out over the theater stage.

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Rayner, still in the grasp of Cahill, was tall enough to see over the screens, and he saw this activity. Struggling to get free, he said, The SOB has got a pistol, and I am liable to have trouble with him. Rennick headed for the closed door, while in the other room Cahill scuffled with Rayner. Turning on Cahill, Rayner screamed: Turn me loose you SOB. Do you want to see me murdered? At that point, he pulled free, jerked his revolver, and pushed open the closed door just as Rennick approached it from the other side.

Rayner and Rennick faced each other at a distance of six feet. Rayner fired immediately. Rennick stepped back, dropped to his knees and, holding the revolver with both hands, returned the fire. Rayner’s shots went wide. Rennick’s first bullet struck Rayner in the left shoulder, and as he turned, a second slug tore through his body from hip to hip. Rayner stumbled back into the other room, emptying his gun into a pool table.

When the melee broke out, Linn started toward the back room from the bar and fired several shots in the direction of Cahill. He had seen Cahill scuffle with Rayner, but he could not see Rennick. Therefore, he apparently assumed that Cahill had shot Rayner. Cahill, who was unarmed, ran past Linn and out the front door of the saloon into the street, pursued by Linn, who fired at Cahill again as he ducked into the Ranch Saloon down the street. Linn then followed and disappeared into the Ranch himself.

Rayner, in the meantime, stood dazed beside the pool table. He then walked out through the front of the saloon to the street, where he got onto a streetcar and laid down on a seat. Rennick, with the revolver still hanging by his side, followed him to the door, but Look caught up to him, took him by the shoulder, and told him to go on out back and get out of the way.

Look entered the streetcar and found the badly wounded Rayner lying on the seat with his arms folded. Tell my mother I died and died game, he said quietly. Look called for help, and Rayner was soon carried away, in pain but still alive. Dr. A.L. Justice examined him and knew the wounds were fatal.

Rennick wasted no time. He left by the back way and crossed the river into Paso Del Norte, but the drama at the Gem Saloon was not over yet. Linn was still searching the saloons for Cahill and threatening to kill him on sight. Cahill managed to elude Linn and returned to the Gem a few minutes after Rayner was removed. He was out of breath and still very much agitated. He rushed through the bar and into the back room, where he asked Jim Gregory, one of the bartenders, to take over for him at the faro table because Linn was looking for him. He then asked Criswell to keep Linn out of the gambling room.

Cahill was understandably shaken by the string of events and asked for a pistol. Dan Tipton gave him a .45. What’ll 1 do? Cahill asked. I never was in a gunfight in my life. According to one account, Wyatt Earp advised him to leave and assured him that Linn could be quieted. Cahill said he would not run, whereupon Earp supposedly gave him the following advice: All right. If you’re going to make your fight take your time. He’ll come shooting. Have your gun cocked, but don’t pull until you’re sure what you’re shooting at. Aim for his belly, low. The gun’ll throw up a bit, but if you hold it tight and wait until he’s close enough, you can’t miss. Keep cool and take your time.

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