On the evening of Friday, August 3, 1894, Deputy Nix rode out of Vian, a small town ten miles west of Sallisaw, on his large gray horse. He had told friends he was going out to arrest James Gertie, who had taunted the deputy earlier in the day saying he had whiskey and for the Nix to come get it. About midnight Nix’s gray horse returned to Vian, without Nix. The next morning Nix was found dead with numerous shotgun pellet wounds in his body. James Gertie was arrested for the murder of the deputy that same day.
On August 6th, a black man named William Ford walked into the U. S. Marshal’s office in Ft. Smith and said he had killed a white man riding a gray horse a few miles from Vian. Ford had been visiting relatives and they were setting on their porch when the man rode toward their house with a gun in his hand. The man got off his horse and ordered everyone to raise their hands. Fearing for his safety Ford grabbed his shotgun and ran into a corn field with the man in pursuit. When Ford saw the man raise his gun Ford turned and fired hitting the man. The man turned and started to walk back to his horse then fell to the ground. Ford went to him and found he was dead. An investigation made the marshals think Deputy Nix had mistaken Ford for an escaped convict named Andy Hunter, as they resembled each other. James Gertie was released. Ford was later also released after a federal grand jury found that Ford had fired in self defense as Nix had never identified himself as a deputy.