In 1877, a prospector named Edward Schieffelin was digging for silver at Goose Flats, a desert area some 12 miles from Charleston Arizona. Some soldiers stationed nearby laughed at Ed and told him of the Apaches that roamed the area and told him, “The only thing you’ll find out there is your own tombstone”.
His digging eventually paid off and he discovered a rich vein of silver. He staked a claim and called his mine Tombstone as a reminder of the soldier’s warning. The find prompted a rush of other miners to the area and by December 1878, a notice in the Arizona Weekly Star newspaper read, “Tombstone mill site is now the scene of much activity, Houses, shanties and jackals (huts) are going up rapidly and several families are now on the ground” it ends by noting, “a restaurant has been opened by Mr Ike Clanton”.
The new town and its silver mines soon attracted its share of gamblers and ne’er do wells as well as rustlers who roamed the wild country of Arizona and New Mexico stealing cattle from Mexican ranchers and reselling them to legitimate ranchers. Across the border in Mexico, the government had imposed high taxes on alcohol and tobacco which attracted hordes of smugglers buying cheaply in the US and selling to dealers in Mexico. These smugglers in turn were targets for bandits who ambushed them as they returned to the US.
By 1879, lawlessness was so bad that settlers petitioned the government to clamp down and Virgil Earp, a deputy US Marshal for the region, was sent to Tombstone and was later followed by his brothers, James and Wyatt and their wives, who together bought a mine and some water rights in the town. Wyatt’s investments came to nothing and he took a job as shotgun messenger with Wells Fargo, protecting bullion shipments. The next year he was appointed a Pima County Deputy Sheriff, the only official law enforcement position he would hold in Tombstone up to the time of the gunfight. Two other brothers, Morgan and Warren joined them early the next year. The brothers were a tight knit family and had much experience in policing frontier towns with Wyatt himself having been Marshall in Wichita and Dodge City. It should also be noted that Wyatt himself was not whiter than white, having been in trouble with the law in his early years for horse theft, misappropriation of funds and working in a floating brothel in Illinois. John Behan, the Cochise County Sheriff and his deputies were also ordered to stamp out the rustling. Behan, who has been described as, “at best ineffective, at worst crooked”, sided with the cowboys and tension grew between him and the Earps, who tended to support the businesses and townspeople of Tombstone. A Wells Fargo officer at the time was quoted as saying, “Even the sheriff of the county is in with the cowboys, and he has got to be or his life would not be worth a farthing”.
It is interesting to note that the term “cowboy” was used at the time to indicate a rustler or thief; legal cowmen were generally called herders or ranchers. The two local newspapers were divided in their opinions, with The Tombstone Examiner supporting the Earps and the townspeople, while the Nugget backed Behan and the ranchers. Much of the later reporting of the gunfight should be viewed in the light of these preferences.
In October 1880, the Town Marshall, Fred White was shot by William “Curly Bill” Brocious, a fellow rustler and friend of the local Clanton and McLaury families who owned local ranches and were thought to be responsible for much of the cattle rustling in the area. They were prone to heavy drinking and general trouble making and had threatened the Earps on a number of occasions. Wyatt Earp, acting as an unofficial deputy to his brother, arrested Curly Bill, along with Pony Diehl, Tom and Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton. During the arrest, Wyatt pistol whipped Curly Bill, beating him to the ground and starting the first real confrontation between the cowboys and the Earps. Virgil Earp took over as Town Marshall and appointed Wyatt and Morgan as special deputy policeman.
Further friction was caused when the Earps assisted the US Army in finding six mules that had been stolen. The mules were found on the McLaury ranch, together with branding irons to change the US brand to D8. The cowboys protested their innocence and undertook to return the mules, but showed up two days later without the mules and laughed at the lawmen.
In March 1881, a stagecoach, travelling from Tombstone to Benson was attacked and the driver, Eli Philpot, and passenger Peter Roerig were killed. The horses were spooked by the gunfire and ran on for a mile before they could be controlled, leaving the robbers with nothing. Jim Crane, William Leonard and Harry Head were identified as three of the robbers. A posse was organised, consisting of Virgil, Wyatt and Morgan Earp, Wells Fargo agent Marshall Williams, former Kansas sheriff Bat Masterson and Sheriff Behan and that same night, a fourth man, Luther King, was arrested on a nearby ranch and admitted his involvement. He was brought back to Tombstone, but, reportedly with the aid of Behan, broke out of jail and fled.
The Earps continued to pursue the other robbers for a further 17 days, but after travelling some 400 miles without food and little water, they were forced to abandon the chase. Behan submitted an expenses claim of $796.84 to the county for the posse, but refused to reimburse the Earps. They were later paid by Wells Fargo, but the incident caused further enmity between the factions.
On June 13th, Wyatt met Ike Clanton in the Eagle Brewery saloon and offered him $6000 in reward money to help him capture or kill those involved in the stage robbery. Earp guessed that Clanton would be aware of those involved in the robbery and hoped to bribe him to give them up. Clanton thought about it for a while, but turned Earp down, fearing his life would be in danger if the story ever got out.
Wyatt Earp had previously come into conflict with the Cochise County Sheriff John Behan over a woman, Josephine Sarah Marcus who had been living with Behan before becoming Earp’s third wife. Earp also wanted Behan’s job as sheriff and planned to stand against him in the next election. By coming down hard on the cowboys he reckoned to earn the votes of the townspeople.
Things got worse when Behan arrested Earp’s friend John Henry “Doc” Holliday on suspicion of being part of the gang that robbed the stage, following an affidavit by Holliday’s live in girl friend Big Nose Kate, implicating him in the robbery. She had been kicked out by Holliday after a drunken argument and Sheriff Behan saw an opportunity of exploiting the situation. He plied her with drink and persuaded her to sign the statement. Wyatt and a local saloon keeper posted a $5000 bail.
Doc Holliday was a one time dentist who gave up his practise in Atlanta Georgia after being diagnosed with tuberculosis and moved to the South West in the hope that the climate would improve his health. He became a professional gambler and gained a reputation as a gunfighter. He is known to have taken part in at least eight gunfights and killed two men. He had been friends with the Earps for many years and in 1878, had saved Wyatt’s life in a barroom shootout. It is thought that he moved to Tombstone from Dodge City to help the Earps in their confrontation with the cowboys.
Holliday was acquitted of the charge by a Grand Jury, but Virgil Earp retaliated against Behan by arresting Behan’s deputy Frank Stilwell on suspicion of robbery. On June 23rd, the Arizona Daily Star recorded that two of the suspected stagecoach robbers, Bill Leonard and Harry Head had been shot and killed in Eureka New Mexico, by the Haslett brothers.
With tension increasing and feelings running high, the city council passed an ordinance banning the carrying of weapons in the town. In August, a Mexican mule train with $4000 in bullion was ambushed in Skeleton Canyon and all the mule drivers killed. It was an open secret that the Clanton gang were responsible. A few days later, Newman “Old Man” Clanton was ambushed and killed in retaliation by Mexicans in Guadalupe Canyon, together with Dixie Lee Gray, Charley Snow and Jim Crane. One outcome of the killings was that there was no accomplices left that could testify against Doc Holliday as being part of the stage robber’s gang.
Ike Clanton remained convinced that Holliday had been involved and began spreading rumours to that effect. For his own reasons Holliday encouraged this and taunted Ike with titbits of information that appeared to confirm his involvement. He also told Ike that he knew of Wyatt’s offer of a reward for help in catching the stage robbers and threatened to let it be known that Ike had considered ratting on his friends. Ike Clanton arrived in Tombstone on the 25th October 1881 and accused Earp of leaking his secret to Holliday. Earp denied this and sent for Holliday who was in Tucson. The two met in The Alhambra, a Tombstone lunch house where Clanton was eating a sandwich. Holliday, backed up by the Earps, accused Clanton of spreading lies about him and called him” a damned liar” and dared Clanton to go for his gun, but Clanton refused as he was unarmed. Holliday is reported to have replied,” The next time we see you Ike, we are going to kill you”. The Earps broke up the fight and Wyatt escorted Holliday back to his room at Fly’s lodging house.
Strangely, after retrieving his gun, Clanton sat down to a poker game with Virgil Earp, Tom McLaury and John Behan. The game broke up around 7 am and Clanton told Virgil,” Tell that son of a bitch Holliday that he has got to fight”. Virgil replied, “I am a law officer and I don’t want to hear you talk that way, I’m off to bed and I don’t want any disturbance”. Clanton retorted, “You may have to fight before you know it”. Ike Clanton spent the rest of the morning drinking heavily and lurching from saloon to saloon and making threats against the Earps, telling anyone who would listen that, “As soon as the Earps or Holliday appeared on the street they would have to fight”.
Around noon, Virgil and Morgan spotted Ike carrying a six shooter and a rifle. Virgil struck him on his gun hand and then the head with his pistol and dragged him down to Judge Wallace’s courtroom. Wyatt Earp then entered the room and called Clanton a dirty cow thief who had threatened the lives of the brothers, saying, ” I would be justified in shooting you down anyplace I would meet you”. Clanton replied angrily, “If you fellows had been a few seconds later, I would have furnished a Coroner’s inquest for this town”. Morgan held up Ike’s gun and taunted him saying he would pay the fine if Ike would make a fight of it. Ike refused saying he did not like the odds, he was fined $25 for carrying a weapon in town limits. Virgil told Ike that he would leave his confiscated weapons at the Grand Hotel which was favoured by cowboys when in town.
In the street outside, Wyatt got into an argument with Tom McLaury after asking him if he was armed. Mclaury said he was not, but Wyatt later testified that he saw a pistol in plain sight on McLaury’s hip. The argument ended with Earp slapping the cowboy and beating him over the head with his pistol. Meanwhile, Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton had arrived in town to back up their brother after hearing from a neighbour that Ike had been stirring up trouble and they were drinking in the saloon at the Grand Hotel when their friend Billy Claiborn told them of the beating. Frank said angrily that he would not drink and they left the bar to seek out their brothers. By law they should have left their weapons at the Grand Hotel, but they remained fully armed.
By early afternoon, Tom and Ike had seen doctors for their head wounds. They were not in the best condition with the weather chilly and snow still on the ground in places. They had spent the night drinking and gambling without sleep. Tension grew in the town and all knew a fight was brewing. Wyatt later testified that he saw the four cowboys buying cartridges in Spangenbergs gun shop and filling their gunbelts. In Ike’s testimony after the gunfight, he stated that he had not heard Virgil tell him where his guns had been stored and tried to by a pistol from Spangenberg. The gunsmith, noticing his wounds and condition, refused. A local man named Coleman told Virgil that the four cowboys had just left the Dunbar and Dexter stables and were heading for the OK corral and were still armed and making threats against the Earps. Virgil then decided that they had to be disarmed.
At 2.30pm, Sheriff Behan saw the four in a narrow empty lot west of Fremont Street where Holliday’s room was located and was also the route to the Earp’s homes. Their location may have been viewed as a threat by the Earps and Holliday in light of Clanton’s threats. Behan tried to persuade the men to give up their weapons, but Frank insisted that they would only do this if the Earps were also disarmed. Ike later testified that the four were about to leave town on business and were not seeking trouble. Virgil collected a 12 gauge short double barrelled shotgun from the Wells Fargo office and gave it to Doc Holliday who concealed it under his overcoat. Virgil took Holliday’s walking stick in return.
The Earps carried revolvers in their coat pockets or in their waistbands. Holliday was carrying a pistol in a holster, hidden with the shotgun under his coat. They walked west down Fremont Street towards the cowboy’s last reported location and saw them and Sheriff Behan, who left the group and came towards them looking nervously back over his shoulder several times. Virgil later testified that Behan said, “For God’s sake don’t go down there, they will murder you” and confirmed that he had disarmed the group. Behan later denied this and said he had only gone down “For the purpose of disarming them”.
When Behan said he had disarmed them, Virgil sought to avoid a fight, “I had a walking stick in my left hand and my right hand was on my pistol in my waistband and when he said he had disarmed them, I shoved it clean around to my left hip and changed the walking stick to my right hand”. Wyatt said, “I took my pistol that I had in my right hand and put it in my coat pocket”.
Approaching the cowboys Wyatt noted that, “Frank McLaury, Tom McLaury and Billy Clanton were standing in a row against the east side of the building on the opposite side of the vacant space west of Fly’s Photographic Gallery. The McLaury’s had horses with them. Ike and Billy Claiborn and a man I don’t know (Wes Fuller) were standing in the vacant space about half way between the gallery and the next building west”. Conflicting versions of the gunfight were given by the surviving participants and witnesses. In the trial that followed, both sides blamed the other for starting the shooting.
Virgil Earp stated that he commanded the cowboys, “Throw up your arms, I want your guns”, but they reached for their guns. He shouted, “Hold it, I don’t mean that”.
Witnesses reported that Holliday then drew the shotgun from his coat and pointed it at Frank McLaury and at that point two shots were fired. Virgil’s testimony continued, “Two shots went off right together, Billy Clanton’s was one of them”. Wyatt’s version began, “Billy Clanton levelled his pistol at me, but I did not aim at him, I knew Frank McLaury had a reputation of being a good shot and a dangerous man and I aimed at him”. He stated that he shot Frank McLaury after both he and Billy Clanton went for their guns.
Both Virgil and Wyatt assumed Tom McLaury was armed. When the shooting started, the horse that Tom held jumped to one side and Wyatt swore that he saw Tom throw his hand to his right hip. Virgil stated that Tom McLaury followed the horse’s movement, hiding behind it and fired once, if not twice, over the horse’s back. It was at this moment that Holliday stepped around the horse and shot Tom McLaury in the chest with the shotgun at close range. Witnesses saw Tom stumble away westward on Fremont Street while Frank and Billy were still shooting. Tom fell at the foot of a telegraph pole on the corner of Fremont and 3rd Street and lay there for the duration of the fight. Holliday tossed away the shotgun, pulled out a revolver and continued firing at Frank and Billy.
Despite all his bragging about killing Holliday and the Earps, Ike Clanton lost his nerve and ran up to Wyatt shouting that he was unarmed and did not want to fight, Wyatt responded, “Go to fighting or get away”. Ike Clanton ran through the front door of Fly’s boarding house and fled. Billy Claiborn also ran from the fight.
Wyatt shot Billy in the chest and Morgan hit him in the right wrist, Billy changed the gun to his left handed and continued firing, half leaning and half sitting against a windowsill and supporting his gun on his leg. One of his bullets hit Morgan and tore through both shoulder blades, knocking him down. Frank Mclaury was shot in the abdomen and taking his horse by the reins, struggled into the street. He tried to pull his rifle from its scabbard, but the startled horse made this impossible.
He continued firing his pistol with one of his shots going through Holliday’s coat and grazing his side and another hitting Virgil in the calf. Holliday followed him across Fremont Street exclaiming, “That son of a bitch has shot me and I’m going to kill him”. Morgan picked himself up and also fired at Frank who was trying to get away from them. He fired two more shots before being hit by a shot in the head, fired by either Holliday or Morgan Earp. Some bystanders attempted to help him, but he died where he fell before he could be moved. The badly wounded Billy continued to fire until he ran out of ammunition, he called out for more cartridges but the owner of the boarding house took his pistol as the shooting ended.
Tom was carried into the Harwood house on the corner of Fremont where he died without speaking. Bystanders also carried Billy Clanton to the house, he told them, “They have murdered me, Chase the crowd away and give me air”, He then said, “Go away and let me die”. The wounded lawmen were carried to their homes and as they passed the Sheriff’s office, Behan told Wyatt Earp he was under arrest. Earp replied, “I won’t be arrested by you today, I’m not going away”.
Both Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborn said they were unarmed when they fled the gunfight.. Billy Clanton was armed and a revolver was found in his hand. It was taken from him by C.S.Fly. Frank’s revolver was recovered on the street a few feet from his body with two rounds remaining in it.
There was much controversy over whether Tom McLaury was carrying a weapon, no revolver or rifle was found near his body and he was not wearing a cartridge belt. His personal revolver was at the Capital Saloon on 4th Street about a block away. The saloon keeper testified that Tom had deposited it sometime before the fight and after he had been pistol whipped by Wyatt Earp.
In their defence, the Earps could not know whether Tom McLaury was unarmed and that he had left his pistol at the saloon. Hotel owner Albert Billickie, testified that he saw Tom McLaury enter Evrerhardy’s butcher shop around 2.30 and noted that Tom’s right hand pants pocket was flat when he went in, but protruded (as if it contained a pistol), when he left. However, the bulge in Tom’s pants may have been the $3,300 in cash and receipts found on his body and could have been payment for stolen Mexican beef purchased by the butcher.
During the ensuing trial, both sides contended that the other started the shooting, opinions were so polarised in the town that it was difficult to get at the truth. Judge Spicer, presiding, concluded that, “If Tomas McLaury was one of a party who were thus armed and were making felonious resistance to an arrest, and in the melee that followed was shot, the fact of his being unarmed, if it be a fact, could not of itself criminate the defenders, (the Earps) if they were not otherwise criminated”.
Various books and films have been produced of the story of the gunfight; most paint the Earps as “the good guys” and the cowboys as the villains. There is sufficient evidence however to question the motives of the lawmen and it is quite possible that the Earps merely wanted their opponents out of the way.
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