On 27 December 1861, Peisley went to Tom McGuinness’s inn at Bigga and left the next day with fellow drinker James Wilson, stocked with wine and brandy. They rode to a nearby farm owned by William and Stephen Benyon and continued drinking and arguing with the two brothers. He accused, 17 years earlier, when he was a kid, William had swapped a horse with him, which was no good. A fight erupted and Wilson took Peisley’s revolvers, which William’s wife Martha hid in the garden. At her husband’s insistence, she returned the revolvers. Peisley pursued Stephen Benyon to the barn followed by William Benyon. Both brothers were shot by Peisley; Stephen in the arm and William in the throat; witnessed by Martha Benyon, Wilson, farmhand George Harmer, servant girl Mary Samson and Thomas Weavers. 