Terrance Finnegan's account pointed out such incidents were common in the area, especially in December at settlement time, when money was paid for crops. Such events most commonly happened with tenant-landlord relationships. In his account, Sanders was mad because Pullen used money to fix his house and purchase necessities. Pullen believed the money was his to pay for work previously done but wasn't paid for. Sanders went to Pullen's house with J.D. Manning. When Sanders demanded the money of $50, Pullen pulled out a .38 revolver and shot and killed Sanders. He then ran to the bayou as Manning got a sheriff posse. When the posse arrived, Pullen started shooting, hitting three of them. The posse then started shooting at him, and when that didn't work, got some gasoline and set the ditch he was in on fire. In the meantime, some others from the posse got a machine gun and automatic rifles from Clarksdale. When they came back, they set up and started shooting again. The gunfight lasted for an hour. When Pullen fled from the ditch, the machine gun shot him several times, seriously wounding him. The posse members then tied him to a car and dragged him to Drew. His ear was cut off, put into alcohol, and showed in a store display after that. Newspapers claimed he killed 5 people and wounded 9, but African-Americans in the area claim he killed 13 and wounded 26.
