Upon visiting her place of employment, he learned that her employer, photographer Bob Mullens had plans to marry her, also. It is alleged that Mullens attacked Puckett. Puckett sought out El Dorado city marshal, Guy B. Tucker as a protective measure while he and his fiancée got married. Marshal Tucker and Constable Harrison Dearing accompanied the newlyweds to the train, where they were boarding to leave El Dorado for Texarkana.

While they were at the train depot, Mullens showed up and Constable Dearing arrested him promptly. Mullens was put in jail but released shortly thereafter. The next day, Mullens approached Constable Dearing and started an argument over the arrest of the previous day. The argument escalated into a fight, during which, Mullens was shot. He died the next day.

Mullens’ friends, the Marshall Parnell family, had been at odds with several El Dorado businessmen and politicians. The Parnells owned a store in El Dorado, as did Marshal Guy Tucker and Constable Dearing. When the Parnells started having construction work done on a sidewalk, it obstructed traffic to the stores owned by Tucker, Dearing and others, causing the stores to loose business. With the death of Mullens, the eight Parnell boys became quite vocal over the shooting of Mullens, who was known to be a hothead. The Parnells felt that the two had a vendetta against them as a result of the sidewalk incident.

Dan Parnell was subpoenaed to testify in the trial involving the death of Mullens; he had witnessed the incident. Mat Parnell was apparently intended to be subpoenaed, but never received his subpoena. This angered the Parnells, who wanted every chance to tell their side and to testify against Marshal Tucker and Constable Dearing.

On the afternoon of October 9, at approximately 4:30 pm, Marshal Tucker, Constable Dearing and grocer Frank Newton, an adversary of the Parnells, were walking on the east side of the town square when they were confronted by Tom, Walter and Jim Parnell. Immediately an argument ensued. Within the next few moments, all hell broke loose on the streets of El Dorado!

All men pulled firearms and according to reports, Jim Parnell fired several shots at Newton, completely missing him. Newton returned fire, missing Jim Parnell.

Constable Dearing then shot Tom Parnell, but did not kill him.

Mat Parnell arrived on the scene as did Clarence Tucker, the younger brother of Marshal Tucker. Clarence Tucker and Mat Parnell immediately engaged in a fight in which Clarence cut Mat Parnell with a knife.

Dr. R.A. Hilton entered the fight and shot Mat Parnell, but did not kill him.

Constable Dearing and Walter Parnell exchanged gunshots, killing each other.

Newton and Marshal Tucker both shot the wounded Tom Parnell several times, killing him.

By the time the shooting stopped, three men lay dead, Walter Parnell, Tom Parnell and Constable Dearing. Marshal Guy Tucker had been shot six times, but recovered in time.

A crowd quickly formed to see the aftermath. The crowd consisted of two factions, those supporting the Parnells and those supporting Marshal Tucker. Union County Sheriff, H.C. Norris arrived and separated the two factions.

Life in El Dorado and Union County became very tense following the shootout. With the two opposing factions taking actions against each other, shootings and killings resulted. The Parnells were charged in the shootout; the charges were dropped when brothers, Mat and Jim Parnell agreed to leave Arkansas. The Parnells believed Tucker had used his position to sway the justice system against them in Union County. The violence continued across Union County.

In August 1903, Marshal Tucker received a gift, a jug of whiskey from an unknown source. The whiskey was laced with strychnine! The attempted murder failed. At about the same time, John Parnell had written an angry letter to the local newspaper condemning Marshal Tucker.

On August 8, Marshal Tucker confronted John Parnell on the town square. The two engaged in a heated argument, which ended with Marshal Tucker shooting John Parnell to death. Almost immediately, there were threats and rumors that mobs would take over the town and that bombings would occur.

Tucker was charged in the murder of Parnell, but in March 1905 he was acquitted.

At some point following the trial, Guy Tucker resigned from his position, apparently thinking that with his resignation, peace would return to Union County. He was wrong!

Guy Tucker opened the Mink Eye Saloon in Champagnolle (Union County), Arkansas. Afterward, two of his friends were shot and killed and while traveling along the banks of the Quachita River, he himself was wounded by gunfire from an unknown assailant. He lost one arm as a result of this attack.

Finally, Guy Tucker moved to Little Rock in Pulaski County and gradually peace began to return to Union County.

In 1993, Governor Jim Guy Tucker, great-grandson of Marshal Guy Tucker, visited El Dorado. While in El Dorado, he briefly met with one of the city’s biggest benefactors, Blanche Parnell Wade, the daughter of Walter Parnell. This feud was over!