Downing and Leal clashed again the following evening. Ralph E. Cushman, the Southern Pacific agent and Wells Fargo operator at nearby Dragoon, later testified that he had had “some money on the table, nine dollars,” which was stolen, and that Downing “suspected [Leal] of getting the money.

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“I told him [Downing] that I wanted to spend the money and did not mind if it was taken away from me,” Cushman recalled. “He went out and upbraided the woman, and she hit him in the head with a glass, and he tried to push her away, and I stepped in between them.”

Leal fled to rival George McKittrick’s Ranchman’s Corral saloon. McKittrick, a fearless and bitter Downing adversary—he had sworn out the two July warrants for Downing’s arrest—was the former Willcox constable who had taken Johnny Boyett into custody for the July 6, 1900, killing of Warren Earp, the youngest of the “Fighting Earps.” The saloon owner again hunted up Justice Page, who issued another warrant for Downing’s arrest. Afterward, McKittrick rented a room for Leal at the hotel and cautioned her to steer clear of the Free and Easy. Page, meanwhile, handed the warrant to Snow. The constable later testified, “[I went] Speed’s house and told him I had a warrant for Downing and that I had to arrest him, and Billy told me to let it go until morning, and we will attend to when he comes out of the house.”

Wednesday morning, August 5, Downing started his day with a breakfast of whiskey and was in an ugly humor. “They are after me to arrest him,” he told Cushman, who had spent the night at the saloon. Then Downing announced he would head for Justice Page’s office. The agent advised him to “act like a man and go down and pay your fine if you are guilty, and if you are not guilty, you could get clear.” Downing walked to the bar to retrieve his secreted revolver. As he moved to put the six-shooter in his pocket, Cushman warned, “Don’t be a damn fool.” Even in his stupor, Downing heeded the caution, replaced the gun and blurted out that they were coming after him. “If I don’t come back,” he added, “the saloon is yours.” He then stumbled out the front door and started down Maley Street toward the Railroad Avenue intersection. It was 6:45 a.m.

Snow spied Downing emerge from the saloon and raced to tell Speed, who was in John P. Cummings’ barbershop. Only then did the constable tell Speed of Downing’s threat to “kill the son of a bitch.” But Cummings had forewarned the ranger several weeks earlier. “Downing told me about the trouble he had with the officers here and about him having to pay fines,” the barber later related, “and he told me to tell Speed and Snow both, that if they ever came to arrest him again, it would be a fight to the finish and that he would get them or that they would get him.”

When Downing spotted Snow on the corner, he hurried to the rear of a nearby shack, ducked inside and glanced out a window as Speed and Snow walked up the street and then separated. Snow walked behind the shack as Speed started down the Alley. After a couple of minutes, their quarry emerged. As Speed rounded the corner of the Alley, Cummings hollered that Downing was coming. The ranger crossed to the middle of Maley Street and strolled toward Downing.

As the two adversaries closed, Speed ordered Downing to raise his hands. He obeyed, but as the ranger approached, Downing dropped his hands and quickened his step in an apparent effort to maneuver into pistol range. Speed continued to yell at him to raise his hands, but the gunman ignored the demand and continued forward. Suddenly, Downing reached behind his left hip, an action that convinced bystanders McKittrick, Cummings and Joe Brady that he was going for a gun. Speed waited until the two were about six steps apart before acting on Captain Wheeler’s admonition “to kill him, for I believe he will otherwise kill you.” Speed raised his .30-40 Winchester and fired. Downing dropped as though paralyzed; he lived for about three minutes. The bullet from the ranger’s rifle had smashed into his right breast, punctured his right lung and exited beneath his right shoulder blade.

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