about six o'clock
Another account would have it that a dispute over a boundary fence marching between the Tatum homestead on Cache Creek and one of the Stackpole farm holdings ripened into a prime quarrel by reasons of Stackpole stubbornness on the one hand and Tatum malignity on the other . By yet a third account the lawsuit and the line-fence matter were confusingly twisted together to form a cause for disputation . Never mind that part though . The incontrovertible part was that things came to a decisive pass on a July day in the late 80 's when the two Tatums sent word to the two Stackpoles that at or about six o'clock of that evening they would come down the side road from their place a mile away to Stackpole Brothers ' gristmill above the big riffle in Cache Creek prepared to fight it out man to man . The warning was explicit enough -- the Tatums would shoot on sight . The message was meant for two , but only one brother heard it ; for Jeffrey Stackpole , the senior member of the firm , was sick abed with heart disease at the Stackpole house on Clay Street in town , and Dudley , the junior , was running the business and keeping bachelor 's hall , as the phrase goes , in the living room of the mill ; and it was Dudley who received notice . Now the younger Stackpole was known for a law-abiding and a well-disposed man , which reputation stood him in stead subsequently ; but also he was no coward .