The Gunfight in O.K. Corral is a 30-second firefight between lawyers and members of a loosely organized group of criminals called Cowboys that takes place at around 3:00 pm. on Wednesday, October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, Arizona Territory. It is generally regarded as the most famous fight in American Wild West history. The battle was the result of the old feud, with Cowboys Billy Claiborne, Ike and Billy Clanton, and Tom and Frank McLaury on one side and the town Marshal Virgil Earp, Special Police Morgan Earp, Special Police Wyatt Earp, and police while Doc Holliday on the other. The three Earp brothers have been the target of the recurrent death threats perpetrated by the Cowboys, who objected to the disruption of the Earps in their illegal activities. Billy Clanton and the two brothers McLaury were killed. Ike Clanton claimed that he was unarmed and ran away from the fight, along with Billy Claiborne. Virgil, Morgan, and Doc Holliday were injured, but Wyatt Earp was not hurt. The shootout came to represent a period in the Old West of America when the border was almost a clearing for criminals, most of which were not opposed by law enforcement officers scattered over a wide area.
The shooting was not known to the American public until 1931, when Stuart Lake published a biography that Wyatt Earp was originally well received: Frontier Marshal two years after Earp's death. This book became the basis for the 1946 film My Darling Clementine, directed by John Ford, and the 1957 movie Gunfight at O.K. Corral , after which the firefight is known by that name. Since then, the conflict has been portrayed with varying degrees of accuracy in many Western films and books, and has become an archetype for many of the popular imagery associated with the Old West.
Regardless of its name, the firefight does not occur inside or next to O.K. Corral, which overlooks Allen Street and has a back door lined with horse stalls on Fremont Street. The shooting actually took place in a narrow spot by the Photography Studio C. S. Fly on Fremont Street, six doors west of O.K. Corral back door. Some members of the two opposing sides are initially only about 6 feet (1.8 m) apart. About 30 shots fired in 30 seconds. Tom and Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton were killed. Ike Clanton then filed murder charges against Earps and Doc Holliday. The lawmen were eventually acquitted by local justice after a preliminary 30 day trial and then by a local jury.
The shootout is not the end of the conflict. On December 28, 1881, Virgil Earp was ambushed and maimed in an assassination attempt by the Cowboys. On March 18, 1882, a Cowboy was fired from a dark alley through the glass door of a sedan, killing Morgan Earp. The suspects in both incidents equipped the alibi provided by other Cowboys and were not charged. Wyatt Earp, newly appointed as US Deputy Marshal of Cochise County, then took his own action in a personal grudge. He was chased by Sheriff county's Johnny Behan, who had received a warrant from Tucson for the shooting of Wyatt over Frank Stilwell.
Video Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
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The tombstone, near the Mexican border, was established in March 1879. After silver was found in the area, Tombstone grew rapidly into a border mining border. At its founding, it had a population of just 100, and just two years later, by the end of 1881, its population of over 7,000 (excluding Chinese, Mexican, women, and children), made it the largest boomtown in the Southwest. Silver mining and the wealth of its officers attract many professionals and merchants, who bring their wives and families. Together they come church and minister. They brought Victorian sensibilities and became the city's elite. In 1881 there was a fancy restaurant, a bowling alley, four churches, an ice house, a school, an opera house, two banks, three newspapers, and an ice cream parlor, along with 110 salons, 14 gambling halls, and many brothels, all located between a number of dirty and stubborn mines.
The bearers of horses and bandits from the countryside often come to town, and shootings are frequent. In the 1880s, illegal smuggling and the theft of livestock, alcohol, and tobacco on the Mexican-American border, about 30 miles (48 km) from Tombstone, was commonplace. The Mexican government sees heavy export taxes on these goods, and smugglers make huge profits by stealing them in Mexico and selling them on the border.
James, Virgil, and Wyatt Earp arrived at Tombstone on December 1, 1879, when the town was largely made up of tents as a residence, several salons and other buildings, and mines. Virgil has been hired as US Deputy Marshal for Eastern Pima County, with his office at Tombstone, just days before his arrival. In June 1881 he was also appointed as marshal city (or police chief).
Although not universally favored by city dwellers, Earps tends to protect the interests of business owners and citizens; Even so, Wyatt Earp helped protect Cowboy "Curly Bill" Brocius from being hanged after he accidentally killed Tombstone Marshal Fred White. In contrast, Sheriff Cochise County Johnny Behan is generally sympathetic to the interests of rural farmers and members of a loose group of criminals called Cochise County Cowboys, or just Cowboys (at that time and region, the term cowboys generally means criminals, Legitimate Cowman is referred to as a cattle herd or a rancher.)
Maps Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
Version of the conflicting incident
Many supporting facts about events leading up to the shoot-out and detail of the shoot-out itself are uncertain. The day's newspapers are not above taking sides, and news reporting is often editorial on issues to reflect the interests of the publisher. John Clum, publisher of The Tombstone Epitaph, helped set up the "Committee of Safety" at Tombstone in late September 1881. He was elected the city's first mayor under the new city charter. 1881. Clum and his paper tended to side with the interests of local business owners and support American Vice Marshal Virgil Earp.
Harry Woods, another major newspaper publisher, The Daily Nugget , is a general from Behan. He and his paper tended to side with Behan, Cowboy (some of whom were part-time ranchers and landowners), and the rural interests of the breeders.
Much of what is known about the event is based on a full month-long preliminary hearing afterwards, commonly known as the Spicer trial. Journalists from both newspapers covered the trial and recorded testimony there and at coroner examination, but only reporters from The Daily Nugget who knew shorthand. The testimonies recorded by court recorders and two newspapers vary widely.
According to the Earps version of the show, the fight was self-defense because Cowboys, armed with breaking local rules, aggressively threatened lawmen and opposed legitimate orders to surrender their weapons. Cowboys maintained that they raised their hands, offered no resistance, and were shot in cold blood by the Earps. Sorting out who says the truth is difficult and remains so to this day.
Although usually opposed to each other in their event reporting, reports by Epitaph and Nugget initially support the version of the lawmen incident. Woods, pro-Cowboy publisher Nugget, was out of town during the trial, and an experienced reporter, Richard Rule, wrote the story. The Nugget staff have a close relationship with Sheriff Behan, but the Rule story, as it was printed on Nugget the day after the shootout, supports the Earps version of the show. It varies greatly from Behan's and Cowboys court testimony. The next story about the firefight that was published in the Nugget after that day supported Behan and Cowboy's view of events. Other stories at Tombstone replied to Nugget ' s then looked at it and supported the lawmen. In addition, Dr. George Goodfellow, who examined the Cowboys after their deaths, told the court that the angle on Billy Clanton's wrists showed that his hands were impossible in the air, or holding his coat open by the collar, as witnesses loyal to the Cowboys testified.
Part-time newspaper reporter Howell "Pat" Hayhurst transcribed testimony from an audience in the early 1930s as part of the Federal Writer Project, which is part of the Job Progress Operation. According to a report, Hayhurst is a friend of the Behan family. After completing the transcription, he kept the original document at his home, where he was destroyed in a house fire.
The origin of the conflict
Earps versus Cowboys
The interpersonal and hostile conflict that led to the firefight was complicated. Each side has strong family ties. The brothers James, Virgil, Wyatt, Morgan, and Warren Earp are a close family, working together as pimps, lawmen, and saloon owners in several border towns, among other jobs, and have moved together from one city to another. Virgil served in the Union Army during the American Civil War and in 1877 became a police officer in Prescott, Arizona. He followed it with a job as a night watchman before he became a cop. Wyatt has held two jobs as a police officer in cattle-raising cities in Wichita and Dodge City, Kansas.
James, Virgil, and Wyatt Earp, along with their wives, arrived at Tombstone on 1 December 1879, during the initial period of rapid growth associated with mining, when there were only a few hundred inhabitants. Virgil was appointed US Deputy Marshal just before he arrived at Tombstone. In the summer of 1880, Morgan and Warren Earp also moved to Tombstone. Wyatt arrives hoping he can leave the "law" behind. He bought a postcard, only to find the business was very competitive. The Earps invests jointly in several mining claims and water rights. The Earps are Republicans and Northerners who have never worked as cowmen or breeders.
The Earps quickly became a conflict with Frank and Tom McLaury, Billy and Ike Clanton, Johnny Ringo, and William "Curly Bill" Brocius, among others. They are part of a large association of cow and horse thieves known as Cowboys, criminals who have been involved in various crimes. Ike Clanton tends to drink a lot and threatens the brothers of Earp many times.
Tombstone resident George Parson writes in his diary, "A Cowboy is a rustler on time, and rustler is a synonym for hopelessness - bandits, criminals, and horse thieves." The San Francisco Examiner wrote in an editorial, "Cowboys [the] most desperate criminal class in the wild country... is much worse than ordinary raiders." At that time in the 1880s in Cochise County, it was an insult to call a legitimate breeder as "Cowboy". Cowboys work together for a variety of crimes and help each other out. Virgil Earp thinks that some Cowboys have met in Charleston, Arizona, and took "the oath of blood taken from the arm of Johnny Ringo, the leader, that they will kill us."
The Earps as a lawmen
Among the lawmen involved in O.K. Coral shooting, only Virgil has a real experience in battle, and he has much more experience than his brothers as sheriffs, police, and marshal.
Earps' work as a lawmen was not welcomed by the Cowboys, who viewed the Earps as a tyrant badge that cruelly imposed the city's business interests. In a direct conflict with the role of the Earps as a lawmen, Johnny Behan is a Cochise County Sheriff.
Virgil Earp had been in charge for three years during the Civil War and was also involved in police shootings in Prescott, Arizona Region. He was appointed as US Vice Marshal to Pima County east by US Marshal Crawley Dake, on November 27, 1879, before the Earps arrived at Tombstone on 1 December 1879. He was appointed acting marshal town (or police chief) on September 30, 1880, after marshal Tombstone's popular Fred White was shot and killed by Curly Bill Brocius.
Only a few days later, Virgil ran for office on November 12, 1880 but lost to Ben Sippy. However, on June 6, 1881, Sippy asked for a two-week hiatus. The city soon found $ 3,000 in financial irregularities in Sippy's record. A few days later Virgil was appointed as a city marshal in his place. At the time of the shoot-out, Virgil was the US Deputy Marshal and marshal of the city. The city suspended him as a marshal city after Ike Clanton filed a murder charge, and after he was injured in an assassination attempt on December 29, 1881, Wyatt succeeded him as US Deputy Marshal.
After Wyatt Earp first arrived at Tombstone, his business endeavor generated little profit, and he took a job as a stagecoach rifle postman for Wells Fargo, keeping silver shipments in hand. On July 28, 1880 Wyatt was appointed Deputy Sheriff of Pima County. He held this position only three months until after the election of 9 November 1880, when he resigned. When Virgil was paralyzed by an assassination attempt, Wyatt was appointed as US Deputy Marshal in his place. He held that position until he left Cochise County in April 1882. Wyatt Earp was a handsome, handsome: blonde, 6ft (1.8m) tall, weighing about 165 to 170 pounds (75 to 77kg), broad shoulders , armed long, and muscular. He is a boxer and is known as an expert with a pistol. According to author Leo Silva, Earp shows no fear to any man.
Wyatt had been a marshal assistant when he and police James Masterson, along with several other residents, fired their pistols to several cowboys who had fled the city after climbing a theater. A member of the group, George Hoyt (sometimes spelled Hoy), was shot in the arm and died of his injury a month later. Wyatt always claimed to be the one who shot Hoyt, though it could be anyone among the lawyers. Wyatt had developed a reputation for being unassuming and stubborn lawyers, but before the shootout in October 1881 he was involved in only one other shooting, in Dodge City, Kansas during the summer of 1878.
The 1931 book Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal is a best-selling biography by Stuart N. Lake. This sets the role of Wyatt Earp as a fearless lawyer in Old West America and the legend of "Gunfight in O.K.Corral" in public consciousness. But Lake and many others in the popular media greatly admired Wyatt's role as a central figure in the crossfire. It was only discovered long ago that Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal, based on eight interviews with Earp, was largely fictitious. The book and then Hollywood depictions adorn Wyatt's reputation and magnify his mystique as a western lawyer.
Morgan Earp had no known experience with a shoot-out before their arrival at Tombstone. While Wyatt was the Pima County Sheriff's Deputy on July 27, 1881, Morgan Earp took over his job as a rifle envoy for Wells Fargo. Morgan also occasionally helped Virgil and at the time of the shootout was wearing a city marshal deputy badge and paying salaries.
Doc Holliday has a reputation as an armed man and reportedly been in nine shootouts during his life, though it only verified that he killed three people. A well documented episode occurred on July 19, 1879, when Holliday and his business associate, former marshal deputy John Joshua Webb, sat in their saloon in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Former US Army guide Mike Gordon fought violently with one of the saloon girls he wanted to take with him. Gordon stormed out of the saloon and started firing his pistol into the building. Before Gordon could unleash his second shot, Holliday killed him. Holliday was tried for murder but released, largely based on Webb's testimony.
Holliday has saved Wyatt Earp's life at one time and has become a close friend. He has lived in Prescott, the Arizona Region and earned a living as a gambler since the end of 1879. There, he first meets the future Tombstone sheriff Johnny Behan, a gambler and a saloon owner. At the end of September 1880, Holliday followed the Earps to Tombstone.
Cowboy Rural vs. Tombstone Interests
The farm owned by Newman Haynes Clanton near Charleston, Arizona is believed to be a local hub for Cowboys' illegal activities. Tom and Frank McLaury worked with the rustlers to buy and sell stolen cattle.
Many rural breeders and Cowboys hate the growing influence of city dwellers over political and local law enforcement. The breeders largely retain control over the country outside Tombstone, largely due to sympathetic support of Sheriff Cochise County Johnny Behan, who likes Cowboys and rural breeders, and who is also very fond of the Earps. Behan tends to ignore the Earps complaints about McLaurys and Clantons horse abductions and cattle milling. The Earps are known to bend the laws that benefit them when it affects their gambling and saloon interests, which makes them increasingly hostile to the cowboy faction.
Relevant law in Tombstone
To reduce the crime at Tombstone, on April 19, 1881, the city council passed an ordinance of 9, requiring anyone carrying a bowie knife, dirk, pistol or rifle to store their weapons in a livery or saloon immediately upon entering the city. Ordinance is the legal basis for City Marshal Virgil Earp's decision to face the Cowboys on a firefight day.
Smuggling and stock theft
On the southern border of Tombstone there is only one route that can be traveled between Arizona and Mexico, a section known as Guadalupe Canyon. In August 1881, 15 Mexicans carrying gold, coins and gold to make their purchase were ambushed and killed at Skeleton Canyon. The next month Mexican Commander Felipe Neri sends troops to the border, where they kill five Cowboys, including Old Man Clanton, in Guadalupe Canyon. The Earps knew that McLaurys and Clantons were thought to be involved in robberies and murders at Skeleton Canyon. Wyatt Earp said in testimony after the firefight, "I naturally keep my eyes open and do not intend that one of the gangs should drop me if I can help."
Earp lost the sheriff's office to Behan
On July 27, 1880, Pima County Sheriff Charles A. Shibell, whose office was in the county seat of Tucson, appointed Wyatt Earp as deputy sheriff. On October 28, 1880, Tombstone Town Marshal Fred White attempted to disarm some late-night people who shot their guns in the air. When he tried to disarm Curly Bill Brocius, the gun was released, beating White in the stomach. Wyatt spotted Brocius's shooting and pistols, knocked him out, and caught him. Wyatt then told his biographer John Flood that he thought Brocius was still armed at the time, and did not see Brocius's gun on the ground.
Brocius frees the preliminary hearing so that he and his case can be immediately transferred to Tucson. Wyatt and a deputy took Brocius to the cart the next day to Tucson for trial, possibly saving him from the death penalty. Wyatt testified that he thought the shooting was unintentional. It also shows that Brocius's gun can be fired from half a chicken. Fred White left a statement before he died two days later that the shooting was unintentional. Based on the evidence presented, Brocius was not charged with White's death.
The Tombstone Council convened and appointed Virgil Earp as "temporary assistant marshal city" to replace White with a salary of $ 100 per month until the election can be held on 12 November. Over the next few weeks, Virgil represents federal and local law enforcement and Wyatt represents Pima County.
In the November 2, 1880 election for the Pima County sheriff, Democrat Shibell ran against Republicans Bob Paul, who is expected to win. The sound arrived on November 7, and Shibell was unexpectedly re-elected. He immediately appointed Johnny Behan as the new sheriff's deputy for Pima County east, the job Wyatt wanted. A controversy occurred when Paul found a ballot by Cowboys and he sued to cancel the election.
Paul eventually became a sheriff in April 1881, but it was too late to reinstate Wyatt Earp as deputy sheriff because on January 1, 1881, the eastern part of Pima County containing Tombstone had been split into the new Cochise County, which would need its own sheriff, headquartered in the largest city in the district, Tombstone. This position was filled with political promises from the governor, and Wyatt and Behan both wanted the job. The Cochise County sheriff's position is worth over $ 40,000 per year (about $ 1,014,345 today) because the office holder is also a local appraiser and tax collector, and the supervisory board allows him to retain ten percent of the amount paid.
Behan took advantage of his existing position and his superior political connections to successfully lobby the position. He also promised Wyatt a position as his superiors if he was appointed over Wyatt. Wyatt resigned from the political contest and governor and legislature appointed Behan for the sheriff's work of Cochise County on February 10, 1881. Behan reneged on his deal with Earp and appointed Harry Woods as deputy superiors. Behan says he broke his promise to appoint Earp because Wyatt Earp used Behan's name to threaten Ike Clanton when Wyatt recaptured his stolen horse from Clanton.
Earp clashing with Cowboys
The tension between the Earp family and both Clanton and McLaury increased until 1881. On July 25, 1880, Captain Joseph H. Hurst, of Company A, 12th Infantry, and Fort Bennett Commanding Officer, asked US Deputy Marshal Virgil Earp to help him track down the Cowboys who had stolen six US Army mules from Camp Rucker. This is a federal issue because the animals belong to the US. Hurst brought four soldiers, and Virgil invited Wyatt and Morgan Earp, as well as Wells Fargo Marshall Williams agents. The troops found mules at McLaury's Farm at Babacomari Creek, northwest of Tombstone, as well as the branding iron used to turn the "US" brand to "D8".
To avoid bloodshed, Cowboy Frank Patterson promised Hurst they would return the donkey and Hurst coaxed the posse to retreat. Hurst went to nearby Charleston, but the Cowboys appeared two days later without a donkey, laughing at Hurst and Earps. In response, Hurst had printed and distributed a flyer in which he named Frank McLaury as a special help to hide the donkey. He reprinted this on The Tombstone Epitaph on July 30, 1880. Virgil later said that McLaury had asked him if he had posted the flyer. When Virgil said he did not do it, McLaury said if Virgil had printed the flyer it was Frank's intention to kill Virgil. He warned Virgil, "If you ever follow us as close as you are, then you have to fight." This incident is the first run-in between Clantons and McLaurys and Earps.
March March march and murder
On the night of March 15, 1881, a Kinnear & amp; The company's Stagecoach brings US $ 26,000 in silver bullion (about $ 659,324 in today's dollars) on its way from Tombstone to Benson, Arizona, the nearest cargo terminal. Bob Paul, who has run for Sheriff Pima County and participated in the election he lost for voting, temporarily working once again as a Wells Fargo rifle. He has taken over the reins and the driver's seat in Contention City because the usual driver, a famous and famous man named Eli "Budd" Philpot, is ill. Philpot was riding a gun.
Near Drew's Station, just outside Contention City, a man stepped into the street and ordered them to "Hold!" Three Cowboys tried to rob the stage. Paul, in the driver's seat, fired his gun and emptied his gun at the robber, wounding a Cowboy who was later identified as Bill Leonard in the groin. Philpot, riding a rifle, and passenger Peter Roerig, climbed in a rear dickey chair, shot and killed. The horses were frightened and Paul was not able to carry the stage under control for almost a mile, leaving the robbers without anything. Paul, who usually rides a gun, then says he thinks that the first shot that killed Philpot was meant for him.
Suspect identified
US Deputy Marshal Virgil Earp, along with temporary federal deputy Wyatt and Morgan Earp, Wells Fargo agents Marshall Williams, former Kansas Bat Masterson (who handles faro at Oriental Saloon), and County Sheriff Behan set out to search for robbers. Wells Fargo publishes game posters that offer a prize of US $ 3,600 ($ 1,200 per robber) to catch robbers, dead or alive. Post letter mail looters are federal crime and territorial crime, and the posse consists of local and federal government and deputies. The fence followed the robbers to a nearby farm, where they found a rider named Luther King. He will not say who the confederate is until the troop lies and tells him that his girlfriend Doc Holliday has been shot. Afraid of Holliday's reputation, he confesses to taking control of the robbers' horses, and identifies Bill Leonard, Harry "The Kid" Head and Jim Crane as robbers. They are all known as Cowboys and rustlers. Behan and Williams drove the King back to Tombstone.
Suspect of escaping Behan prison
Somehow the King walked in the front door of the prison and a few minutes later came out from behind. King had arranged with Undersheriff Harry Woods (publisher of Nugget ) to sell his horse to John Dunbar, Sheriff Behan's partner at Dexter Livery Stable. On March 19, King manages to escape while Dunbar and Woods issue a sales bill. Woods claims that someone has deliberately opened a safe back door to the prison. The Earps and the townspeople are angry at the easy King's escape. Williams was later dismissed from Wells Fargo, leaving some debt, when it was determined that he had been stealing from the company for years.
Earp chases the suspect
The Earps pursued two others for 17 days, horseback riding for 60 hours without food and 36 hours without water, where Bob Paul's horse died, and Wyatt and Morgan horses became so weak that both men walked 18 miles (29 km ) back to Tombstone to get a new horse. After chasing the Cowboys for over 400 miles (640 km) they could not get more fresh horses and were forced to give up chasing. They returned to Tombstone on April 1st. Behan filed a bill of $ 796.84 into the area for expenses, but he refused to reimburse the Earps fee. Virgil was very angry. They were eventually replaced by Wells, Fargo & amp; Co later, but the incident caused further friction between the district and federal law enforcement, and between Behan and Earps.
Wyatt offers a prize money to Ike
After he was missed by Johnny Behan for the shepherding position, Wyatt thought he might beat him in the next Cochise County election in late 1882. He thought of catching the killer Bud Philpot and Peter Roerig would help him win the sheriff's office. Wyatt later said that on June 2, 1881 he offered Wells, Fargo & amp; Co prize money and more to Ike Clanton if he will provide information that leads to arrest or death of stage robbers. According to Wyatt, Ike was initially interested, but the plan failed when the three suspects - Leonard, Chief and Crane - were killed in an unrelated incident.
Ike starts to fear that the words of cooperation that may have been leaked, threaten to compromise among the Cowboys. The Wells Fargo Company undercover agent M. Williams suspects a deal, and says something to Ike, who fears that another Cowboy might learn about his double-cross. Ike is now beginning to threaten Wyatt and Doc Holliday (who already know the deal) as it seems to express Ike's desire to help capture his friends.
Earp, Cowboy fallout
The collapse of the Cowboys' effort to engage Holliday and Earps in a robbery, along with Behan's involvement in the King's escape, was the beginning of a worsening feeling between the Earp brothers and the cowboys.
Earp and Behan are interested in Josephine Marcus
Wyatt Earp and Sheriff County Sheriff Johnny Behan are interested in the same sheriff's position and may also have similar interests in the same woman, Josephine Marcus, known as Sadie. Residents of Tombstone believe that Behan and Marcus are married, but Behan is a woman who is known and has sex with prostitutes and other women. Marcus ended the relationship after he came home and found Behan in bed with a friend's wife and drove him away, though he used the Behan family name until the end of that summer. He rented his home some time before April 1881 to the doctor, George Goodfellow.
Wyatt Earp still lives with his wife-in-law, Mattie Blaylock, who is listed as his wife in the 1880 census, but he has an addiction that develops on opiate opiates. There is no contemporary Tombstone record that shows the connection between Marcus and Earp, but Earp certainly knows him, since both Behan and Earp have offices above Crystal Palace Saloon.
Sadie, traveling well as Mrs. J. C. Earp or Mrs. Wyatt Earp, left for Los Angeles on March 25, 1882, and then returned to his family in San Francisco. In July 1882, Wyatt left Colorado and went to San Francisco, where he sought out Sadie and his brother Virgil, who sought care for his arm. In February or March 1883, Sadie and Earp left San Francisco for Gunnison, where Earp runs the Faro bank until he receives a request in April for help from Luke Short at Dodge City. Sadie was his in-laws wife for the next 46 years.
September stage freeze
The tension between the Earps and McLaurys was heightened when another passenger stage at the 'Sandy Bob Line' in Tombstone area, headed for Bisbee, was held on September 8, 1881. Masked bandits robbed all their valuable passengers since the stage did not carry an iron box. During the robbery, the driver heard one of the robbers describing the money as "sugar", a phrase known to be used by Frank Stilwell. Stilwell until the previous month became Sheriff Behan's deputy but was fired for "accounting irregularities".
Wyatt and Virgil Earp rode with a sheriff's posse and tracked down Bisbee's stage robbers. Virgil had been appointed as marshal of Tombstone town (ie, police chief) on June 6, 1881, after Ben Sippy left the job. However, Virgil at the same time continues to maintain his position as US deputy marshal, and it is in this federal capacity that he continues to pursue stage coach robbers outside the city limits of Tombstone. At the scene, Wyatt found an unusual print boot left by someone wearing a specially repaired boots. The Earps examines a shoe repair shop in Bisbee that is known for providing widescreen boot heels and is able to connect a print boot to Stilwell.
Capture of Stilwell and Spence
Frank Stilwell had just arrived in Bisbee with his wildly stable partner, Pete Spence, when both were captured by US Deputy Marshal Virgil Earp for a robbery. Both are friends of Ike Clanton and McLaurys. At the preliminary hearing, Stilwell and Spence were able to provide several witnesses who supported their alibis. Judge Spicer dropped the charges because there was not enough evidence as he did for Doc Holliday at the beginning of the year.
Released on bail, Spence and Stilwell were re-arrested October 13 by Marshal Virgil Earp for Bisbee robbery over new federal allegations that disrupt mail delivery. The newspapers, however, reported that they had been arrested for a different stage robbery that occurred on October 8 near the City of Dispute.
Ike and other Cowboys believe the new arrest is further proof that the Earps illegally persecute the Cowboys. They told the Earps that they could expect vengeance. While Virgil and Wyatt were in Tucson for a federal hearing on the charges against Spence and Stilwell, Frank McLaury faced Morgan Earp. He tells him that McLaurys will kill the Earps if they try to catch Spence, Stilwell, or McLacays again. The Tombstone Epitaph reported "that since the arrest of Spence and Stilwell, the veiled threat [made] that the defendant's friends will get the Earps."
Cowboys accuses Holliday of robbery
Milt Joyce, regional supervisor and owner of Oriental Saloon, has a controversial relationship with Doc Holliday. In October 1880, Holliday had a problem with a gambler named Johnny Tyler at Milt Joyce's Oriental Saloon. Tyler has been hired by a competing gambling company to attract customers from Joyce's salon. Holliday challenges Tyler to a fight, but Tyler ran. Joyce does not like Holliday or the Earps and she continues to argue with Holliday. Joyce orders Holliday to be moved from the saloon, but will not return Holliday's gun. But Holliday again brought a double action revolver. Milt held up a gun and threatened Holliday, but Holliday shot Joyce in the palm of his hand, disarmed it, and then shot Joyce's business partner William Parker on the big toe. Joyce then hits Holliday overhead with his revolver. Holliday was arrested and pleaded guilty to attacks and batteries.
Holliday and again, the lady again Big Nose Kate has a lot of fights. After a very bad argument, drunk, Holliday kicked him out. Sheriff County John Behan and Milt Joyce looked at opportunities and exploited the situation. They showered Big Nose Kate with more liquor and advised him how to reply even with Holliday. He signed a statement involving Holliday in an attempted robbery and murder of a bastard. Holliday is a good friend of Bill Leonard, a former watchmaker from New York, one of three people involved in the robbery. Judge Wells Spicer issued an arrest warrant for Holliday. Earps found a witness who could prove Holliday's location at the time of the murder and Kate was conscious, revealing that Behan and Joyce had influenced him to sign a document he did not understand. With the Cowboy plot unfolding, Spicer frees Holliday. The district attorney dropped the charge, and marked it as "silly." Doc gave Kate some money and put it on stage outside the city.
Clanton Ike Conflict with Doc Holliday
Wyatt Earp testified after the shootout that five or six weeks before he met Ike Clanton outside the Alhambra Hotel. Ike informs Wyatt that Doc Holliday has told him that he knows about Ike's encounter with Wyatt and about Ike giving information about Chief, Leonard, and Crane, as well as their attempts to rob the stage. Ike now accuses Earp of telling Holliday about this conversation. Earp testifies that he told Ike that he did not tell Holliday anything. Wyatt Earp offers to prove this when Holliday and Clantons next return to town.
A month later, the weekend before shootout, Morgan Earp, was concerned about the possible problem with the Cowboys, bringing Doc Holliday back from a party feast in Tucson where Holliday had gambled. Upon his return, Wyatt Earp asked Holliday about Ike's accusations.
On the morning of Tuesday, October 25, 1881, the day before the firefight, Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury drove 10 miles (16 km) on a spring train from Chandler's Chandler Farm at the foot of the Dragoon Mountains to Tombstone. They are in town to sell large quantities of beef stock, mostly owned by McLaurys.
Seeing Clanton at the Alhambra Saloon around midnight, Holliday confronts Ike, accusing him of lying about their previous conversation. They fought fiercely. Wyatt Earp (who is not wearing a badge) encourages his brother, Tombstone Deputy City Marshal Morgan Earp, to intervene. Morgan ushered Holliday out onto the street and Ike, who had been drinking steadily, followed them. City Marshal Virgil Earp arrived a few minutes later and threatened to catch Holliday and Clanton if they did not stop arguing. Ike and Wyatt talk again a few minutes later, and Ike threatens to face Holliday in the morning. Ike tells Earp that the battle talks have been going on for quite a while and he intends to end it. Ike tells Earp, "I'll be ready for you in the morning." Wyatt Earp walks to the Oriental Saloon and Ike follows him. Ike sits down for another drink, his revolver in sight, and tells Earp, "You must not think I'm not going after you in the morning."
Morning from firefight
Events leading to Ike Clanton trial
After Holliday's confrontation with Ike Clanton, Wyatt Earp took Holliday back to his room at Camillus Sidney's "Buck" Fly's Lodging House to sleep off his drink, then go home and sleep. Tombstone Marshal Virgil Earp played cards with Ike Clanton, Tom McLaury, Sheriff Cochise Johnny Behan and a fifth man (unknown Ike and history), until morning.
At around dawn on October 26, the card game broke up and Behan and Virgil Earp went home to sleep. Ike Clanton testified then he saw Virgil take his six-shooter out of his lap and paste it in his pants when the game ended. Unable to rent a room, Tom McLaury and Ike Clanton have nowhere to go. Shortly after 8:00 pm the barkeeper E. F. Boyle spoke to Ike Clanton in front of the telegraph office. Clanton has been drinking all night and Boyle pushes him to sleep, but Ike insists that he will not sleep. Boyle later testified that he saw Ike armed and covered his gun for him. Boyle later said that Ike told him, "'As soon as the Earps and Doc Holliday showed themselves on the way, the ball would open - that they had to fight'... I went to Wyatt Earp's house and told him that Ike Clanton had threatened that when he and his brothers and Doc Holliday show themselves on the path that the ball will open. "Ike said in his later testimony that he remembered not meeting Boyle or making such a statement that day.
Later in the morning, Ike picks up his rifle and revolver from West End Corral, where he keeps his weapon and moves his cart and his team after entering the city. By noon, Ike was still drinking and once again armed, violating city rules against carrying firearms in the city. He tells others that he is looking for Holliday or Earp. At about 1 pm Virgil and Morgan Earp surprised Ike on 4th Street where the Virgil pistol whipped him from behind. Disarming his gun, the Earps brings Ike to appear before Judge Wallace for breaking the rules. Wyatt waited with Clanton as Virgil went to search for Judge Wallace so the trial could be held.
Ike Clanton trial court
While Wyatt waited for Virgil to return with Judge Wallace, witnesses heard Wyatt tell Clanton, "You cattle thieves thugs, and you know that I know you are a thieving son of a cattle, you '" I'm quite threatening my life, and you have to fight! ", and Ike Clanton made the statement," Fighting is my mess, and all I want is four legs! "
Ike reported in his testimony after which Wyatt Earp cursed him. He said Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan offered him his weapons and fight him there in the courthouse, which Ike rejected. Ike also denied ever threatening the Earps. Ike was fined $ 25 plus court fee and after paying a left fine with no weapons. Virgil informs Ike that he will leave the gun and revolver seized by Ike at the Grand Hotel, which the Cowboys favored when in town. Ike testified that he took a weapon from William Soule, a prison warden, a few days later.
hidden weapon Tom McLaury
Outside the courtroom where Ike was fined, Wyatt almost got into the 28-year-old Tom McLaury because the two men had been raised from the nose to the nose. Tom, who had arrived in town the day before, was prompted by a famous city regulation to put his gun when he first arrived in town. When Wyatt demands, "Are you good or not?", McLaury says he is unarmed. Wyatt testified that he saw the gun in the right eye of Tom's pants. As the unpaid marshal's representative for Virgil, Wyatt used to carry a pistol in his belt, as was the custom of the day. Witnesses reported that Wyatt pulled his pistol from his coat pocket and his pistol whipped Tom McLaury twice, leaving him prostrate and bleeding in the street. Guards from Saloon Andrew Mehan testified at Spicer's hearing later that he saw McLaury save a revolver at the Capital Saloon between 1:00 and 2:00 pm, after a confrontation with Wyatt, also seen by Mehan.
Wyatt said in deposition afterward that he had temporarily acted as marshal city for Virgil the previous week, while Virgil was in Tucson for trial of Pete Spence and Frank Stilwell. Wyatt says that he still considers himself as the city marshal's deputy, which was later confirmed by Virgil. Since Wyatt is an off-duty officer, he can not legally seek or arrest Tom for carrying a gun inside the city limits --- a minor offense. Only Virgil or one of his city's deputies, including Morgan Earp and perhaps Warren Earp, could search for and take necessary action. Wyatt, a non-drinker, testified at the Spicer trial that he went to Haffords and bought a cigar and went out to watch the Cowboys. At the time of the firefight about two hours later, Wyatt did not know if Tom was still armed.
It was late afternoon when Ike and Tom had seen the doctor for a wound on their head. It was a cold day, with snow still on the ground in some places. Both Tom and Ike spent the night gambling, drinking a lot, and without sleeping. Now they're both outdoors, both wounded by beatings, and at least Ike still drunk.
More Cowboys enter the city
Around 1: 30-2: 00 pm, after Tom shuffled the gun by Wyatt, Ike's brother, Billy Clanton, and Tom's older brother, Frank McLaury, arrived in town. They had heard from their neighbor, Frink's "old man" that Ike had caused trouble in the city overnight, and they had ridden to the city on horseback to support his brothers. They arrived from Antelope Springs, 13 miles (21 km) east of Tombstone, where they had collected stock and breakfast with Ike and Tom the day before. Both Frank and Billy are armed with revolvers and rifles, as is the custom of riders in the country outside Tombstone. Apache warriors have engaged the US Army near Tombstone just three weeks before O.K. The battle of firearms, so the need for weapons outside the city is well established and accepted.
Billy and Frank stopped first at the Grand Hotel on Allen Street, and were greeted by Doc Holliday. They learn soon after their brother's beating by the Earps in the two hours before. The incident has generated a lot of talk in the city. Angry, Frank says he will not drink, and he and Billy leave the salon for Tom right away. By law, Frank and Billy should have abandoned their weapons at the Grand Hotel. Instead, they remain fully armed.
Virgil and Wyatt Earp's Reactions
Wyatt said that he saw Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury at the weapon and hardware store Spangenberger on 4th Street filling their gun belts with cartridges. Ike testified afterwards that Tom was not there and that he had tried to buy a new revolver but the owner saw Ike's head bundled and refused to sell it. Ike apparently has not heard Virgil tell him that the seized weapons are at the Grand Hotel round the corner from the Spangenberger store.
When Virgil Earp learned that Wyatt was talking to Cowboys at the Spangenberg arms shop, he went there himself. Virgil testified afterwards that he thought he saw the four men, Ike Clanton, Billy Clanton, Frank McLaury, and Tom McLaury, buying cartridges. Virgil went round the corner on Allen Street to Wells Fargo's office, where he picked up a 10-gauge or 12-gauge, short, two-barrel gun. It was an unusually cold and windy day at Tombstone, and Virgil was wearing a long coat. To avoid worrying about Tombstone's public, Virgil hid the rifle under his coat when he returned to Hafford's Saloon.
From Spangenberg, Cowboys moved to O.K. Corral where the witness heard them threatening to kill the Earps. For unknown reasons, the Cowboys then runs out from behind O.K. Corral and then west, stopping in a narrow, empty spot next to the C. S. Fly cottage.
Virgil initially avoided a confrontation with the newly arrived Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton, who had not kept their weapons in the hotel or stabilized according to the required law. The law is not specific about how far new arrivals may be "in good faith, and in reasonable times" traveling to the city with guns. This allows a traveler to store firearms if he goes straight to the livery, hotel or salon. The three main Tombstone corals are located west of 4th road between Allen and Fremont, one or two blocks from where Wyatt sees Cowboys buying cartridges. Miner Ruben F. Coleman then told The Tombstone Epitaph :
I'm at O.K. Corral at 2:30 pm when I saw two Clantons and two McLaurys in a serious conversation across the street at Dunbar's corral. I went to the streets and told Sheriff Behan and told them that I thought it meant trouble, and it was his job, as a sheriff, to go and disarm them. I told him that they had gone to the West End Corral. I then go and see Marshal Virgil Earp and tell him for the same effect.
Behan tries to disarm Cowboys
Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan, a Cowboys friend, later testified that he woke up about 1:30 pm after a late-night card game, and went to shave at the salon. That's where he first learned that the Cowboys were armed. Behan stated he quickly finished shaving and went looking for Cowboys. At about 2:30 pm he found Frank McLaury holding a horse and talking to someone on Fourth Street near the corner of Fremont. When he saw Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury near the photography studio C. S. Fly, he walked over there with Frank. He told the Cowboys that they should hand over their arms. Ike Clanton says he's unarmed, and Tom McLaury opens his coat to show that he's not carrying a gun.
Cowboys are located on a narrow 15-20 feet (4.6-6.1 m) lot between Harwood house and Fly's 12-room dorm and photography studio at 312 Fremont Street, where Doc Holliday roomed.
Behan later said he was trying to persuade Frank McLaury to surrender his weapons, but Frank insisted that he would only hand over the weapons after City Marshal Virgil Earp and his siblings were first disarmed.
Cowboys about a block and a half from the West End Corral on 2nd Street and Fremont, where carts and Ike and Tom's team were paralyzed. Virgil Earp later testified that he thought Ike and Tom were still in O.K. Corral at Allen between 3 and 4, from where he thought they would depart if they left the city.
While Ike Clanton later said he was planning to leave town, Frank McLaury reported that he had decided to stay to take care of some businesses. Will McLaury, Tom and Frank's brother and judge in Fort Worth, Texas, claimed in a letter he wrote during the preliminary hearing after the shootout that Tom and Frank were still armed because they planned to do business before leaving town to visit him in Texas. He writes that Billy Clanton, who came on horseback with Frank, intends to go with McLourys to Fort Worth. Will McLaury came to Tombstone after a shootout and joined the prosecutor's team in an attempt to punish the Earps and Holliday for killing his brothers. Paul Johnson tells a different story, that McLaurys was about to travel to Iowa to attend the wedding of their sister, Sarah Caroline, in Iowa. Tom and Frank are very close to Sarah, one of 14 siblings and half siblings. Caroline married James Reed in Richland, Iowa in late November of that year.
Virgil decides to disarm Cowboys
Residents reported to Virgil about the Cowboys movement and their threats told him that Ike and Tom had left their stable stable and entered the city when armed, violating the city's rules. Virgil Earp was told by some locals that McLaurys and Clantons gathered on Fremont Street. Virgil decided he had to disarm the Cowboys. His decision to take action may have been influenced by Cowboy's recurrent threat to the Earps, his proximity to Holliday's room at Fly's home, and their location on the Earps route usually took to their home two blocks further west on Fremont Street.
Some members of the citizens' awareness committee offered to support him with weapons, but Virgil refused. He had for the previous month pointed to Morgan as Special Police. He also appointed Wyatt as Special Police while Virgil was in Prescott for business. He also asked Doc Holliday that morning to help disarm Clantons and McLaurys. Wyatt speaks of his brothers Virgil and Morgan as "marshal" while he acts as a "representative."
Virgil Earp took the rifle he'd taken from Wells Fargo's earlier office. He handed it to Doc Holliday who hid it under his coat. He takes the walking stick of Holliday in return.
As always, the Earps brought their revolvers in their coat pockets or on their belts. Wyatt Earp carries the caliber of.44 American caliber 1869 Smith & amp; Wesson pistol. Holliday carries a nickel-plated pistol in a sarong, but it's hidden by his long coat, like a shotgun. The Earps and Holliday march west, along the south side of Fremont Street through the back door to O.K. Corral, but beyond the visual reach of the last location reported by Cowboys. Near the corner of Fourth St. and Fremont St., Earps ran to Sheriff Behan. He had left the Cowboys and came toward them, though he looked back nervously several times. Virgil testified afterwards that Behan told them, "For God's sake, do not go there or they'll kill you!" Wyatt said Behan told him and Morgan, "I've crippled them." Behan gave testimony afterwards that he just said he would go to the Cowboys "for the purpose of paralyzing them," not because he really cripples them. An eyewitness, laundry officer Peter H. Fallehy, wrote in his later testimony that Virgil Earp told Behan, "Those men have made their threats and I will not catch them, but I will kill them in sight."
When Behan says he has disarmed them, Virgil is trying to avoid a fight. "I have a walking stick on my left hand and my hand is on six shooters in my waist pants, and when he says he has stripped them, I push him clean into my left hip and turn my wand to my right hand. Wyatt says I "took my gun, which is in my hand, under my coat, and put it in the pocket of my coat." The Earps goes further down Fremont road and comes to the complete look of Cowboys in the parking lot.
Wyatt testified that he saw "Frank McLaury, Tom McLaury, and Billy Clanton standing in a row against the eastern side of the building on the opposite side of the empty space to the west of Fly's photo gallery Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne and a man I do not know." I know [Wes Fuller] is standing in the empty space about halfway between the photo gallery and the western building. "Addie Bourland reinforced Wyatt's testimony, stating that he saw" five men across from my house, leaning against a small house west of Fly Gallery and a man holding a horse, standing slightly out of the house. "
The Gunfight
Martha J. King is at Bauer's meat shop located on Fremont Street. He testified that when the Earp party passed through its location, one of the Earps outside the group looked across and said to the nearest Doc Holliday shop, "... let them have it!" which Holliday replied, "Okay."
Physical proximity
When the Earps approached the place, the four law men initially faced five Cowboys: Frank McLaury, Tom McLaury, Billy Clanton, Wes Fuller, and Ike Clanton. The Cowboys then stepped away from Harwood's house.
In testimony given by witnesses afterwards, they disagreed about the exact location of the men before, during and after the firefight. Sponer's coronary and auditory examination produced a sketch showing Cowboys standing, from left to right facing Fremont Street, with Billy Clanton and then Frank McLaury near Harwood's house and Tom McLaury and Ike Clanton roughly in the middle. Across from them and initially only about 6 to 10 feet (1.8 to 3.0 m), Virgil Earp is at the far left of the Earp party, standing a few feet deep in the clearing and closest to Ike Clanton. Behind him a few yards near the corner of the C. Fly's boardinghouse is Wyatt. Morgan Earp stood on Fremont Street on Wyatt's right, and Doc Holliday tethered the end of their lineup on Fremont Street, a few feet to the right of Morgan.
Wyatt Earp drew a sketch in 1924 and another with John Flood on September 15, 1926 depicting Billy Clanton near the center of the lot, close to Harwood's house. Tom and Frank McLaury stood deeper in the parking lot. Frank was in the middle between the two buildings, in control of his horse. Tom is closer to the boarding house C. S. Fly. According to Wyatt's sketch, Morgan is to the right of the lawyers, close to Harwood's house, across from Billy Clanton near Harwood's house and close to Fremont St. Virgil deeper in the place, across from Frank and Ike Clanton. Wyatt was to the left of Virgil, across from Tom. Doc Holliday hangs back a step or two on Fremont Street. Both Wyatt's sketches include Ike Clanton or Billy Clairborne, who ran from the fight.
The battle battle begins
Virgil Earp did not expect a fight. After Behan said that he had disarmed the Cowboys, Virgil traded the short short barrel gun he had brought for Holliday's wand. Virgil carried a stick in his right hand and shifted the gun from his right side to the left. Holliday hid a short shotgun under his long jacket. Wyatt also did not expect a fight and put his pistol in his coat pocket.
Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury wore a revolver in the holster on their belts and stood beside their saddled horses with rifles in their sarongs, possibly breaking city rules that forbid carrying weapons in the city.
When Virgil saw the Cowboys, he testified, he immediately ordered the Cowboys to "Throw your hands, I want your weapons!" Wyatt said Virgil told Cowboy, "Throw your hands, I came to disarm you!" Virgil and Wyatt both testified that they saw Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton drawing and rocking their six shooters. Virgil shouted, "Hold on! I did not mean that!" or "Wait, I do not want that!" The single action revolver performed by both groups should be cocked before firing.
Jeff Morey, who served as a historical consultant on the movie Tombstone, compared testimony by partisan and neutral witnesses and came to the conclusion that the Earps accurately described the situation.
The start of the first shoot is uncertain; accounts by both parties and eyewitnesses are contradictory. The smoke from the black powder used in the weapon was added to the confusion of gunfire in the narrow space. Those who are faithful to one side or another tell contradictory stories, and independent eyewitnesses who do not know the participants with sight can not say for sure who fired first. Six or seven men with guns fired about 30 shots in about 30 seconds.
- The first two shots
Virgil Earp reported afterwards, "Two shots rang together, Billy Clanton is one of them." Wyatt testified, "Billy Clanton pointed his gun at me, but I did not aim at him, I know that Frank McLaury has a reputation as a good and dangerous person, and I aim for Frank McLaury." He said he shot Frank McLaury after he and Billy Clanton went for their revolver: "The first two shots were fired by Billy Clanton and myself, he fired at me, and I fired on Frank McLaury." Morey agreed that Billy Clanton and Wyatt Earp shot first. Clanton misses, but Earp shoots Frank McLaury in the stomach.
All witnesses generally agree that the first two shots are almost indistinguishable from each other. The general shooting immediately broke out. Virgil and Wyatt thought Tom was armed. When the filming began, Tom McLaury's horse jumped to one side. Wyatt said he also saw Tom throw his hands to his right hip. Virgil says Tom follows the horse's movements, hides behind it, and fires once or twice on the horse's back.
- Holliday shot Tom
According to one witness, Holliday drew a "big bronze gun" (interpreted by some as coach Virgil coach) from under his long coat, stepped on Tom McLaury's horse, and shot him with a double barrel rifle in the chest at close range.
Witness C. H. "Ham" Light saw Tom run or stumble west on Fremont Street to Third Street, away from the crossfire, while Frank and Billy were still standing and firing. Light testified that Tom fell at the foot of a telegraph pole in the corner of Fremont and 3rd Street and lay there, motionless, through the duration of the fight. Fallehy also saw Tom stumbling across the street until he fell flat on his back. After shooting Tom, Holliday throws a blank rifle aside, pulls out his nickel-plated revolver, and continues to shoot Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton.
- Ike Clanton running
Wyatt told the court later that Ike Clanton had boasted that he would kill the Earps or Doc Holliday on his first occasion, but when the shootout occurred, Clanton ran forward and caught him, exclaiming that he was unarmed and did not want to fight. For this protest, Wyatt said, he replied, "Go fight or leave!" Clanton ran through the front door of the Fly dormitory and fled, indefinitely. Another account says that Ike pulled a hidden pistol and fired on the Earps before it disappeared. Billy Claiborne also ran from the fight.
- Billy Clanton fired
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Source of the article : Wikipedia
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