The True Accounts of the Shootout at the OK Corral and the Events that Followed

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It all happened in Tombstone, Arizona ~

Tombstone, Arizona in 1881 photographed by C. S. Fly.

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Hello! I'm Mr. Ed

Blog Created: 2-9-2022

Updated: 2-20-2022 // 8-5-2023

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Text: Wikipedia.

The Main Players in the Events ~ The Lawmen

The Cowboys ~

The gunfight at the O.K. Corral was a thirty-second shootout between lawmen led by Virgil Earp and members of a loosely organized group of outlaws called the Cowboys that occurred at about 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, Arizona Territory, United States. It is generally regarded as the most famous shootout in the history of the American Old West.

The gunfight was the result of a long-simmering feud, with Cowboys Billy Claiborne, brothers Ike and Billy Clanton, and brothers Tom and Frank McLaury on one side; and Town Marshal Virgil Earp, Special Policemen and Earp's two younger brothers Morgan and Wyatt Earp, and temporary policeman Doc Holliday on the other side. Billy Clanton and both McLaury brothers were killed. Ike Clanton, Billy Claiborne, and Wes Fuller ran from the fight. Virgil, Morgan, and Holliday were wounded, but Wyatt was unharmed. Wyatt is often erroneously regarded as the central figure in the shootout, although his brother Virgil was Tombstone town marshal and Deputy U.S. Marshal that day and had far more experience as a sheriff, constable, marshal, and soldier in combat.

Billy Claiborne.

The shootout has come to represent a period of the Old West when the frontier was virtually an open range for outlaws, largely unopposed by law enforcement officers who were spread thin over vast territories. It was not well known to the American public until 1931, when Stuart Lake published the initially well-received biography Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal two years after Earp's death. The book was the basis for the 1946 film My Darling Clementine, directed by John Ford, and the 1957 film Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, after which the shootout became known by that name. Since then, the conflict has been portrayed with varying degrees of accuracy in numerous Western films and books, and has become an archetype for much of the popular imagery associated with the Old West.

Scene from the film, My Darling Clementine.

I have the book, I Married Wyatt Earp, by Glenn Boyer and have read it twice over the years.

Despite its name, the gunfight did not take place within or next to the O.K. Corral, which fronted Allen Street and had a rear entrance lined with horse stalls on Fremont Street. The shootout actually took place in a narrow lot on the side of C. S. Fly's photography studio on Fremont Street, six doors west of the O.K. Corral's rear entrance. Some members of the two opposing parties were initially only about 6 feet (1.8 m) apart. About thirty shots were fired in thirty seconds. Ike Clanton subsequently filed murder charges against the Earps and Holliday. After a thirty-day preliminary hearing and a brief stint in jail, the defendants were shown to have acted lawfully.

The gunfight was not the end of the conflict. On December 28, 1881, Virgil Earp was ambushed and maimed in a murder attempt by the Cowboys. On March 18, 1882, a Cowboy fired from a dark alley through the glass door of Campbell & Hatch's saloon and billiard parlor, killing Morgan Earp. The suspects in both incidents furnished alibis supplied by other Cowboys and were not indicted. Wyatt Earp, newly appointed as Deputy U.S. Marshal in Cochise County, then took matters into his own hands in a personal vendetta. He was pursued by county sheriff Johnny Behan, who had received a warrant from Tucson for Wyatt's killing of Frank Stilwell.

Johnny Behan.

Frank Stilwell.

Background ~

Tombstone, located in Arizona Territory about 30 miles (50 km) from the Mexican border, was founded in March 1879 after silver was discovered in the area. Like many mining boomtowns on the American frontier, Tombstone grew rapidly. At its founding, it had a population of just 100, and only two years later, in late 1881, the population was more than 7,000 (excluding Chinese, Mexicans, women, and children), making it the largest boomtown in the American Southwest. Silver mining and its attendant wealth attracted many professionals and merchants, who brought their wives and families. With them came churches and ministers. By 1881 the town boasted fancy restaurants, 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 saloons, fourteen gambling halls, and numerous brothels, all situated among a number of dirty, hardscrabble mines.

Tombstone, Arizona. The town too tough to die.

Tombstone Epitaph c1880. One of two Tombstone newspapers.

Horse rustlers and bandits from the countryside often came to town, and shootings were frequent. In the 1880s, theft of cattle and the smuggling of alcohol and tobacco across the border were common. The Mexican government assessed heavy export taxes on these items, and smugglers earned a handsome profit by stealing them in Mexico and selling them in Tombstone.

James, Virgil, and Wyatt Earp arrived in Tombstone on December 1, 1879, when the town was mostly composed of tents as living quarters, a few saloons and other buildings, and the mines. Virgil had been hired as Deputy U.S. Marshal for eastern Pima County, with his offices in Tombstone, only days before his arrival. In June 1881 he was also appointed as Tombstone's town marshal (or police chief).

Curly Bill Brocius. Friend to the Clantons. Enemy of the Earps.

Though not universally liked by the townspeople, the Earp brothers tended to protect the interests of the town's business owners and residents; even so, Wyatt helped protect outlaw "Curly Bill" Brocius from being lynched after he accidentally killed Tombstone town marshal Fred White. In contrast, Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan was generally sympathetic to the interests of the rural ranchers and members of the loosely organized outlaw group called the Cochise County Cowboys, or simply the Cowboys, to which Brocius belonged. (In that time and region, the term cowboy generally meant an outlaw; legitimate cowmen were instead referred to as cattle herders or ranchers.

Marshal Fred White. Accidently killed by Curly Bill.

An early photo of Marshal Fred White's Grave in Tombstone's Boothill Cemetery.

A more recent photograph of Fred White's grave.

Conflicting versions of events ~

Many of the sources describing the events leading up to the gunfight, and details of the gunfight itself, conflict with each other. Newspapers of the day were not above taking sides, and news reporting often editorialized on issues to reflect the publisher's interests. John Clum, publisher of The Tombstone Epitaph, had helped organize a "Committee of Safety" (a vigilance committee) in Tombstone in late September 1881. He was elected as Tombstone's first mayor under the new city charter that year. Clum and his newspaper tended to side with the interests of local business owners and supported Deputy U.S. Marshal Virgil Earp. Harry Woods, the publisher of the other major newspaper, The Daily Nugget, was an undersheriff to Behan. He and his newspaper tended to side with Behan, the Cowboys (some of whom were part-time ranchers and landowners) and the rural interests of the ranchers.

John Clum, owner of the Tombstone Epitaph.

Much of what is known of the event is based on month-long preliminary hearings held afterward, generally known as the Spicer hearings. Reporters from both newspapers covered the hearings and recorded the testimony there and at the coroner's inquest, but only the reporter from the Nugget knew shorthand. The testimony recorded by the court recorder and the two newspapers varied greatly.

According to the Earps' version of events, the fight was in self-defense because the Cowboys, armed in violation of local ordinance, defied a lawful order to hand over their weapons and drew their pistols instead. The Cowboys maintained that they raised their hands, offered no resistance, and were shot in cold blood by the Earps. Sorting out who was telling the truth was difficult then and remains so to this day.

Annotated 1886 fire map of Tombstone indicating the actual shootout location (in green) and the O.K. Corral (in yellow) on the other side of the block.

Though usually opposing each other in their depiction of events, reporting by both the Epitaph and the Nugget initially supported the lawmen's version of events. Woods, the publisher of the pro-Cowboy Nugget, was out of town during the hearings, and an experienced reporter, Richard Rule, wrote the story. The Nugget staff had a close relationship with Behan, but Rule's story, as printed in the Nugget the day after the shootout, backed up the Earps' account. This varied widely from Behan's and the Cowboys' later court testimony. Subsequent stories about the gunfight published in the Nugget after that day supported Behan's and the Cowboys' view of events. Other stories in the Epitaph countered the Nugget's later view entirely and supported the lawmen. In addition, Dr. George Goodfellow, who examined the Cowboys after their deaths, told the court that the angle of the wound in Billy Clanton's wrist indicated that his hands could not have been in the air, or holding his coats open by the lapels, as witnesses loyal to the Cowboys testified.

Justice of the Peace Wells Spicer. (Notice the cigar stuffed in the front of his vest?)

Part-time newspaper reporter Howell "Pat" Hayhurst transcribed the testimony from the hearings in the early 1930s as part of a Federal Writers' Project, which was part of the Works Progress Administration. According to one report, Hayhurst was a friend of the Behan family. After he completed his transcription, he kept the original document in his home, where it was destroyed in a house fire.

Origins of the conflict ~

Earps versus Cowboys ~

The interpersonal conflicts and feuds leading to the gunfight were complex. Each side had strong family ties. The brothers James, Virgil, Wyatt, Morgan, and Warren Earp were a tight-knit family, working together as lawmen, pimps, and saloon owners in several frontier towns, among other occupations, and had moved together from one town to another. Virgil served in the Union Army during the American Civil War and in 1877 became a police officer in Prescott, Arizona Territory. He followed that with a job as a night watchman before he became a constable. Wyatt had held two jobs as a police officer in the cattle-drive towns of Wichita and Dodge City, Kansas.

Wichita, Kansas.

Douglas Ave. Wichita, Kansas.

Dodge City, Kansas in 1874. Here you can see the infamous Long Branch Saloon.

Dodge City in 1878.

James, Virgil, and Wyatt Earp, together with their wives, arrived in Tombstone on December 1, 1879, during the early period of rapid growth associated with mining, when there were only a few hundred residents. Virgil was appointed Deputy U.S. Marshal shortly before he arrived in town. In the summer of 1880, Morgan and Warren Earp also moved to Tombstone. Wyatt arrived hoping he could leave "lawing" behind. He bought a stagecoach, only to find the business was already very competitive. The Earps invested together in several mining claims and water rights. The Earps were Republicans and Northerners who had never worked as cowmen or ranchers.

A Kinnear Express stagecoach operating from Tombstone to Bisbee in the 1880s. This thorough-brace stagecoach used thick leather straps to support the body of the carriage and serve as shock-absorbing springs.

The Earps quickly came into conflict with Frank and Tom McLaury, Billy and Ike Clanton, Johnny Ringo, and William "Curly Bill" Brocius, among others. They were part of a large, loose association of cattle smugglers and horse thieves known as the Cowboys, outlaws who had been implicated in various crimes. Ike Clanton was prone to drinking heavily and threatened the Earp brothers numerous times.

Tombstone resident George Parson wrote in his diary, "A Cowboy is a rustler at times, and a rustler is a synonym for desperado—bandit, outlaw, and horse thief." The San Francisco Examiner wrote in an editorial, "Cowboys [are] the most reckless class of outlaws in that wild country ... infinitely worse than the ordinary robber." During the 1880s in Cochise County, it was an insult to call a legitimate cattleman a "Cowboy." The Cowboys teamed up for various crimes and came to each other's aid. Virgil thought that some of the Cowboys had met at Charleston and taken "an oath over blood drawn from the arm of Johnny Ringo, the leader, that they would kill us."'

Johnny Ringo. He ended up committing suicide...or did he?

The Earps as lawmen ~

Among the lawmen involved in the O.K. Corral shooting, only Virgil had any real experience in combat. Virgil had been constable in Prescott and was the deputy United States Marshal in Tombstone. Wyatt had been a deputy city marshal in Kansas, as well as deputy sheriff in Tombstone. He was appointed Deputy U.S. Marshal for eastern Pima County by U.S. Marshal Crawley Dake, on November 27, 1879, before the Earps arrived in Tombstone on December 1. He was appointed as Tombstone's acting town marshal on September 30, 1880, after popular Tombstone town marshal Fred White was shot and killed by Curly Bill Brocius.

Only six weeks later, Virgil ran for the office on November 12, 1880, but lost to Ben Sippy. However, on June 6, 1881, Sippy asked for a two-week leave of absence. The city soon discovered $3,000 (equivalent to $80,000 in 2020) in financial improprieties in Sippy's records. A few days later Virgil was appointed as town marshal in his place. At the time of the gunfight, Virgil was both Deputy U.S. Marshal and town marshal. The city suspended him as town marshal after Ike Clanton filed murder charges.

After Wyatt first arrived in Tombstone, his business efforts yielded little profit, and he took a job as a stagecoach shotgun messenger for Wells Fargo, guarding shipments of silver bullion. On July 28, 1880, Wyatt was appointed Pima County Deputy Sheriff. He held this position for only three months, until after the election of November 9, 1880, when he resigned. When Virgil was maimed by an assassination attempt, Wyatt was appointed Deputy U.S. Marshal in his place. He held that position until he left Cochise County in April 1882.

Wyatt was an imposing, handsome man: blond, 6 feet (1.8 m) tall, weighing 165 to 170 pounds (75 to 77 kg), broad-shouldered, long-armed, and muscular. He had been a boxer and was reputed to be an expert with a pistol. According to author Leo Silva, Earp showed no fear of any man. Wyatt had been an assistant marshal when he and policeman James Masterson, along with a few other citizens, fired their pistols at several cowboys who were fleeing town after shooting up a theater. A member of the group, George Hoyt (sometimes spelled Hoy), was shot in the arm and died of his wound a month later. Wyatt always claimed to have been the one to shoot Hoyt, although it could have been anyone among the lawmen. Wyatt had developed a reputation as a no-nonsense, hard-nosed lawman, but prior to the gunfight he had been involved in only one other shooting, in Dodge City, Kansas, during the summer of 1878.

Wyatt Earp (sitting) and Bat Masterson (standing) in 1876 as lawmen in Dodge City, Kansas.

The 1931 book Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal was a best-selling biography by Stuart N. Lake. It established Wyatt Earp's role as a fearless lawman in the American Old West and the legend of the "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" in the public consciousness. But Lake and many others in the popular media wildly exaggerated Wyatt's role as the central figure in the gunfight. It was only discovered much later that Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal, based on eight interviews with Earp, was largely fictional. The book and later Hollywood portrayals embellished Wyatt's reputation and magnified his mystique as a western lawman.

Morgan Earp had been a police officer in Montana, but had no known experience with gunfighting prior to their arrival in Tombstone. While Wyatt was Pima County Deputy Sheriff on July 27, 1880, Morgan Earp took over his job as shotgun messenger for Wells Fargo. Morgan also occasionally assisted Virgil and at the time of the gunfight was wearing a deputy city marshal's badge and drawing pay.

Typical 12-gauge double barrel shotgun carried by the Earps while riding shotgun on stagecoaches.

The 1939 film, Stagecoach, shows the typical stagecoach shotgun rider.

Doc Holliday had a reputation as a gunman and had reportedly been in nine shootouts during his life, although it has only been verified that he killed three men. One well-documented episode occurred on July 19, 1879, when Holliday and his business partner, former deputy marshal John Joshua Webb, were seated in their saloon in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Former U.S. Army scout Mike Gordon got into a loud argument with one of the saloon girls whom he wanted to take with him. Gordon stormed from the saloon and began firing his revolver into the building. Before Gordon could get off his second shot, Holliday killed him. Holliday was tried for the murder but acquitted, mostly based on the testimony of Webb.

Holliday had saved Wyatt Earp's life at one time and had become a close friend. He had been living in Prescott, Arizona Territory and making a living as a gambler since late 1879. There, he first met future Tombstone sheriff Johnny Behan, a sometime gambler and saloon owner. In late September 1880, Holliday followed the Earps to Tombstone.

Prescott, Arizona. Mid 1800s.

Rural Cowboys vs. Tombstone interests ~

The ranch owned by Newman Haynes Clanton near Charleston, Arizona was believed to be the local center for the Cowboys' illegal activities. Tom and Frank McLaury worked with the rustlers buying and selling stolen cattle.

Many of the rural ranchers and Cowboys resented the growing influence of the city residents over county politics and law enforcement. The ranchers largely maintained control of the country outside Tombstone, due in large part to the sympathetic support of Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan, who favored the Cowboys and rural ranchers, and who also grew to intensely dislike the Earps. Behan tended to ignore the Earps' complaints about the McLaurys' and Clantons' horse thieving and cattle rustling. The Earps were known to bend the law in their favor when it affected their gambling and saloon interests, which earned them further enmity with the Cowboy faction.

"Old Man" Clanton. Head of the Clanton bunch. Was killed long before the Clanton's came to Tombstone.

Charleston, Arizona.

Western Hotel, Charleston, Arizona. 1880.

Relevant law in Tombstone ~

To reduce crime in Tombstone, on April 19, 1881, the city council passed ordinance 9, requiring anyone carrying a bowie knife, dirk, pistol or rifle to deposit their weapons at a livery or saloon soon after entering town.

The ordinance was the legal basis for City Marshal Virgil Earp's decision to confront the Cowboys on the day of the shootout.

Smuggling and stock thefts ~

In the borderlands south of Tombstone there was only one passable route between Arizona and Mexico, a passage known as Guadalupe Canyon. In August 1881, 15 Mexicans carrying gold, coins and bullion to make their purchases were ambushed and killed in Skeleton Canyon. The next month Mexican Commandant Felipe Neri dispatched troops to the border, where they killed five Cowboys, including Old Man Clanton, in Guadalupe Canyon. The Earps knew that the McLaurys and Clantons were reputed to be mixed up in the robbery and murder in Skeleton Canyon. Wyatt Earp said in his testimony after the shootout, "I naturally kept my eyes open and did not intend that any of the gang should get the drop on me if I could help it."

Earp loses sheriff's office to Behan ~

On July 27, 1880, Pima County Sheriff Charles A. Shibell, whose offices were in the county seat of Tucson, appointed Wyatt Earp as deputy sheriff. On October 28, 1880, Tombstone Marshal Fred White attempted to disarm some late-night revelers who were shooting their pistols in the air. When he attempted to disarm Curly Bill Brocius, the gun discharged, striking White in the abdomen. Wyatt saw the shooting and pistol-whipped Brocius, knocking him unconscious, and arrested him. Wyatt later told his biographer John Flood that he thought Brocius was still armed at the time, and didn't see Brocius' pistol on the ground.

Pima County Sheriff Charles A. Shibell appointed Wyatt Earp as deputy sheriff over eastern Pima County.

Brocius waived the preliminary hearing so he and his case could be immediately transferred to Tucson. Wyatt and a deputy took Brocius in a wagon the next day to Tucson to stand trial, possibly saving him from being lynched. Wyatt testified that he thought the shooting was accidental. It was also demonstrated that Brocius's pistol could be fired from half-cock. Fred White left a statement before he died two days later that the shooting was not intentional. Based on the evidence presented, Brocius was not charged with White's death.

The Tombstone council convened and appointed Virgil Earp as "temporary assistant city marshal" to replace White for a salary of $100 per month (equivalent to $2,700 in 2020) until an election could be held on November 12. For the next few weeks, Virgil represented federal and local law enforcement and Wyatt represented Pima County.

In the November 2, 1880, election for Pima County sheriff, Democrat Shibell ran against Republican Bob Paul, who was expected to win. Votes arrived as late as November 7, and Shibell was unexpectedly re-elected. He immediately appointed Johnny Behan as the new deputy sheriff for eastern Pima County, a job that Wyatt wanted. A controversy ensued when Paul uncovered ballot-stuffing by Cowboys and he sued to overturn the election. While San Simeon precinct, east of Tombstone, only had 10 registered voters, Shibell won that precinct with 103 votes to 1. In that precinct lived Ike Clanton. Johnny Ringo was the precinct officer for the election.

Pima County sheriff Bob Paul.

Paul finally became sheriff in April 1881, but it was too late to re-appoint Wyatt Earp as deputy sheriff because on February 1, 1881, the eastern portion of Pima County containing Tombstone had been split off into the new Cochise County, which would need its own sheriff, based in the county's largest city, Tombstone. This position was filled by a political appointment from the governor, and Wyatt and Behan both wanted the job. The Cochise County sheriff's position was worth more than $40,000 a year (equivalent to $1.1 million in 2020) because the office holder was also county assessor and tax collector, and the board of supervisors allowed him to keep ten percent of the amounts paid.

Behan used his existing position and his superior political connections to successfully lobby for the position. He also promised Wyatt a position as his undersheriff if he was appointed over Wyatt. Wyatt withdrew from the political contest and the governor and legislature appointed Behan to the job of Cochise County sheriff on February 10, 1881. Behan reneged on his deal with Earp and appointed Harry Woods as undersheriff instead. Behan said he broke his promise to appoint Earp because Wyatt Earp used Behan's name to threaten Ike Clanton when Wyatt recovered his stolen horse from Clanton.

Earp conflicts with Cowboys ~

Tensions between the Earp family and both the Clanton and McLaury clans increased through 1881. On July 25, 1880, Captain Joseph H. Hurst, of Company A, 12th. Infantry, and Commanding Officer of Fort Bennett, asked Deputy U.S. Marshal Virgil Earp to help him track Cowboys who had stolen six U.S. Army mules from Camp Rucker. This was a federal matter because the animals were U.S. property. Hurst brought four soldiers, and Virgil invited Wyatt and Morgan Earp, as well as Wells Fargo agent Marshall Williams. The posse found the mules on the McLaury's Ranch on Babacomari Creek, northwest of Tombstone, as well as the branding iron used to change the "US" brand to "D8."

To avoid bloodshed, Cowboy Frank Patterson promised Hurst they would return the mules and Hurst persuaded the posse to withdraw. Hurst went to nearby Charleston, but the Cowboys showed up two days later without the mules, laughing at Hurst and the Earps. In response, Hurst had printed and distributed a handbill in which he named Frank McLaury as specifically assisting with hiding the mules. He re-printed this in The Tombstone Epitaph on July 30, 1880. Virgil later said that McLaury had asked him if he had posted the handbills. When Virgil said he had not, McLaury said if Virgil had printed the handbills it was Frank's intention to kill Virgil. He warned Virgil, "If you ever again follow us as close as you did, then you will have to fight anyway." This incident was the first run-in between the Clantons and McLaurys and the Earps.

March stagecoach robbery and murder ~

On the evening of March 15, 1881, a Kinnear & Company stagecoach carrying $26,000 in silver bullion (equivalent to $700,000 in 2020) was en route from Tombstone to Benson, Arizona, the nearest freight terminal. Bob Paul, who had run for Pima County Sheriff and was contesting the election he lost due to ballot-stuffing, was temporarily working once again as the Wells Fargo shotgun messenger. He had taken the reins and driver's seat in Contention City because the usual driver, a well-known and popular man named Eli "Bud" Philpot, was ill. Philpot was riding shotgun.

Near Drew's Station, just outside Contention City, a man stepped into the road and commanded them to "Hold!" Three Cowboys attempted to rob the stage. Paul, in the driver's seat, fired his shotgun and emptied his revolver at the robbers, wounding a Cowboy later identified as Bill Leonard in the groin. Philpot, riding shotgun, and passenger Peter Roerig, riding in the rear dickey seat, were both shot and killed. The horses spooked and Paul wasn't able to bring the stage under control for almost one mile (1.6 km), leaving the robbers with nothing. Paul, who normally rode shotgun, later said he thought the first shot killing Philpot had been meant for him.

Budd Philpott was killed on this very stage while traveling from Tombstone, Arizona to Benson. The stage can be seen at the Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott, Arizona. Photo by C. Fahey.

Bud Philpot's grave.

Drews Station to Tombstone.

Ill-fated passenger Peter Roerig prepares to board the Kinnear & Co. stagecoach.

Rocks on the ground mark the outline of the original foundation that supported the walls of Drews Station. About 500 feet south of this spot is where Budd Philpott was killed. Photo by C. Fahey.

The old stage road is still visible 125 years later.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Virgil Earp, along with temporary federal deputies Wyatt and Morgan Earp, Wells Fargo agent Marshall Williams, former Kansas Sheriff Bat Masterson (who was dealing faro at the Oriental Saloon), and County Sheriff Behan set out to find the robbers. Wells Fargo issued a wanted poster offering a $3,600 reward (equivalent to $97,000 in 2020) for the three robbers ($1,200 each), dead or alive. Robbery of a mail-carrying stagecoach was both a federal crime and territorial crime, and the posse consisted of both county and federal authorities and deputies. The posse trailed the robbers to a nearby ranch where they found a drifter named Luther King. He wouldn't tell who his confederates were until the posse lied and told him that Doc Holliday's girlfriend had been shot. Fearful of Holliday's reputation, he confessed to holding the reins of the robbers' horses, and identified Bill Leonard, Harry "The Kid" Head and Jim Crane as the robbers. They were all known Cowboys and rustlers. Behan and Williams escorted King back to Tombstone.

Somehow King walked in the front door of the jail and a few minutes later out the back. King had arranged with Undersheriff Harry Woods (publisher of the Nugget) to sell the horse he had been riding to John Dunbar, Sheriff Behan's partner in the Dexter Livery Stable. On March 19, King conveniently escaped while Dunbar and Woods were making out the bill-of-sale. Woods claimed that someone had deliberately unlocked a secured back door to the jail. The Earps and the townspeople were furious at King's easy escape. Williams was later dismissed from Wells Fargo, leaving behind a number of debts, when it was determined he had been stealing from the company for years.

The Earps pursued the other two men for 17 days, riding for 60 hours without food and 36 hours without water, during which Bob Paul's horse died, and Wyatt and Morgan's horses became so weak that the two men walked 18 miles (29 km) back to Tombstone to obtain new horses. After pursuing the Cowboys for over 400 miles (640 km) they could not obtain more fresh horses and were forced to give up the chase. They returned to Tombstone on April 1. Behan submitted a bill for $796.84 (equivalent to $21,000 in 2020) to the county for posse expenses, but he refused to reimburse the Earps for any of their costs. Virgil was incensed. They were finally reimbursed by Wells, Fargo & Co. later on, but the incident caused further friction between county and federal law enforcement, and between Behan and the Earps.

After he was passed over by Johnny Behan for the position of undersheriff, Wyatt thought he might beat him in the next Cochise County election in late 1882. He thought catching the murderers of Bud Philpot and Peter Roerig would help him win the sheriff's office. Wyatt later said that on June 2, 1881, he offered the Wells, Fargo & Co. reward money and more to Ike Clanton if he would provide information leading to the capture or death of the stage robbers. According to Wyatt, Ike was initially interested, but the plan was foiled when the three suspects — Leonard, Head and Crane — were killed in unrelated incidents.

Ike began to fear that word of his possible cooperation had leaked, threatening to compromise his standing among the Cowboys. Undercover Wells Fargo Company agent M. Williams suspected a deal, and said something to Ike, who was fearful that other Cowboys might learn of his double-cross. Ike now began to threaten Wyatt and Doc Holliday (who had learned of the deal) for apparently revealing Ike's willingness to help arrest his friends.

The fallout over the Cowboys' attempt to implicate Holliday and the Earps in the robbery, along with Behan's involvement in King's escape, was the beginning of increasingly bad feelings between the Earp brothers and Cowboy factions.

Earp and Behan attracted to Josephine Marcus ~

Wyatt Earp and Cochise County sheriff Johnny Behan were interested in the same sheriff's position and also might have shared an interest in the same woman, Josephine Marcus, known as Sadie. Citizens of Tombstone believed that Behan and Sadie were married, but Behan was a known womanizer and had sex with prostitutes and other women. In early 1881, Sadie ended the relationship after she came home and found Behan in bed with the wife of a friend and kicked him out, although she used the Behan surname through the end of that summer. She rented her home sometime before April 1881 to Dr. George Goodfellow.

Wyatt Earp lived with Mattie Blaylock, who was listed as his wife in the 1880 census. She had a growing addiction to the opiate laudanum, which was readily available at the time. Earp remained with Blaylock until he left Tombstone in April 1882. There are no contemporary Tombstone records that indicate a relationship between Sadie and Earp, but Earp certainly knew her, because both Behan and Earp had offices above the Crystal Palace Saloon.

Mattie Blaylock.

Mattie & Wyatt.

Sadie, traveling as either Mrs. J. C. Earp or Mrs. Wyatt Earp, left for Los Angeles on March 25, 1882, and then returned to her 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 was seeking treatment for his arm. In February or March 1883, Sadie and Earp left San Francisco for Gunnison, where Earp ran a Faro bank until he received a request in April for assistance from Luke Short in Dodge City. Sadie was his common-law wife for the next 46 years.

Luke Short.

September stage holdup ~

Tensions between the Earps and the McLaurys further increased when another passenger stage on the 'Sandy Bob Line' in the Tombstone area, bound for Bisbee, was held up on September 8, 1881. The masked bandits robbed all of the passengers of their valuables since the stage was not carrying a strongbox. During the robbery, the driver heard one of the robbers describe the money as "sugar", a phrase known to be used by Frank Stilwell. Stilwell had, until the prior month, been a deputy for Sheriff Behan but had been fired for "accounting irregularities".

Wyatt and Virgil Earp rode with a sheriff's posse and tracked the Bisbee stage robbers. Virgil had been appointed Tombstone's town marshal (i.e., chief of police) on June 6, 1881, after Ben Sippy abandoned the job. However, Virgil at the same time continued to hold his position of deputy U.S. marshal, and it was in this federal capacity that he continued to chase robbers of stage coaches outside Tombstone city limits. At the scene of the holdup, Wyatt discovered an unusual boot print left by someone wearing a custom-repaired boot heel. The Earps checked a shoe repair shop in Bisbee known to provide widened boot heels and were able to link the boot print to Stilwell.

Stilwell and Spence arrests ~

Frank Stilwell had just arrived in Bisbee with his livery stable partner, Pete Spence, when the two were arrested by Deputy U.S. Marshal Virgil Earp for the holdup. Both were friends of Ike Clanton and the McLaurys. At the preliminary hearing, Stilwell and Spence were able to provide several witnesses who supported their alibis. Judge Spicer dropped the charges for insufficient evidence just as he had done for Doc Holliday earlier in the year.

Released on bail, Spence and Stilwell were re-arrested October 13 by Marshal Virgil Earp for the Bisbee robbery on a new federal charge of interfering with a mail carrier. The newspapers, however, reported that they had been arrested for a different stage robbery that occurred on October 8 near Contention City.

Ike and other Cowboys believed the new arrest was further evidence that the Earps were illegally persecuting the Cowboys. They told the Earps that they could expect retaliation. While Virgil and Wyatt were in Tucson for the federal hearing on the charges against Spence and Stilwell, Frank McLaury confronted Morgan Earp. He told him that the McLaurys would kill the Earps if they tried to arrest Spence, Stilwell, or the McLaurys again. The Tombstone Epitaph reported "that since the arrest of Spence and Stilwell, veiled threats [are] being made that the friends of the accused will 'get the Earps.'"

Cowboys accuse Holliday of robbery ~

Milt Joyce, a county supervisor and owner of the Oriental Saloon, had a contentious relationship with Doc Holliday. In October 1880, Holliday had trouble with a gambler named Johnny Tyler in Milt Joyce's Oriental Saloon. Tyler had been hired by a competing gambling establishment to drive customers from Joyce's saloon. Holliday challenged Tyler to a fight, but Tyler ran. Joyce did not like Holliday or the Earps and he continued to argue with Holliday. Joyce ordered Holliday removed from the saloon but would not return Holliday's revolver. But Holliday returned carrying a double-action revolver. Milt brandished a pistol and threatened Holliday, but Holliday shot Joyce in the palm, disarming him, and then shot Joyce's business partner William Parker in the big toe. Joyce then hit Holliday over the head with his revolver. Holliday was arrested and pleaded guilty to assault and battery.

Doc Holiday around the years he spent in Tombstone.

Holliday and his on-again, off-again mistress Big Nose Kate had many fights. After a particularly nasty, drunken argument, Holliday kicked her out. County Sheriff John Behan and Milt Joyce saw an opportunity and exploited the situation. They plied Big Nose Kate with more booze and suggested to her a way to get even with Holliday. She signed an affidavit implicating Holliday in the attempted stagecoach robbery and murders. Holliday was a good friend of Bill Leonard, a former watchmaker from New York, one of three men implicated in the robbery. Judge Wells Spicer issued an arrest warrant for Holliday. The Earps found witnesses who could attest to Holliday's location at the time of the murders and Kate sobered up, revealing that Behan and Joyce had influenced her to sign a document she didn't understand. With the Cowboy plot revealed, Spicer freed Holliday. The district attorney threw out the charges, labeling them "ridiculous." Doc gave Kate some money and put her on a stage out of town.

Doc Holiday's girlfriend, "Big Nose" Kate Elder.

Ike Clanton's conflict with Doc Holliday ~

Wyatt Earp testified after the gunfight that five or six weeks prior he had met Ike Clanton outside the Alhambra Hotel. Ike told Wyatt that Doc Holliday had told him he knew of Ike's meetings with Wyatt and about Ike providing information on Head, Leonard, and Crane, as well as their attempted robbery of the stage. Ike now accused Earp of telling Holliday about these conversations. Earp testified that he told Ike he had not told Holliday anything. Wyatt Earp offered to prove this when Holliday and the Clantons next returned to town.

Ike Clanton.

A month later, the weekend before the shootout, Morgan Earp was concerned about possible trouble with the Cowboys. He asked Doc Holliday to come back to Tombstone from a fiesta celebration in Tucson where Holliday had been gambling. Upon his return, Wyatt Earp asked Holliday about Ike's accusation.

On the morning of Tuesday, October 25, 1881, the day before the gunfight, Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury drove 10 miles (16 km) in a spring wagon from Chandler's Milk Ranch at the foot of the Dragoon Mountains to Tombstone. They were in town to sell a large number of beef stock, most of them owned by the McLaurys. Fred Dodge, an undercover detective for Wells Fargo, heard from J.B. Ayers, another undercover Wells Fargo man in Contention, that Frank MacLaury, Billy Clanton, and Billy Claiborne were in town and planning to join Ike and Tom in Tombstone Wednesday afternoon. Dodge, who had been sick, got up and went looking for city marshal Virgil Earp. He found Tombstone Deputy City Marshal Morgan Earp at the Alhambra Saloon instead and told him the news.

Near midnight, Holliday saw Clanton in the Alhambra Saloon and confronted Ike, accusing him of lying about their previous conversations. They got into a heated argument. Wyatt Earp (who was not wearing a badge) encouraged his brother Morgan to intervene. Morgan took 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 arrest both Holliday and Clanton if they did not stop arguing. Wyatt Earp walked over to the Oriental Saloon and Ike followed him. They talked again, and Ike threatened to confront Holliday in the morning. Ike told Earp that the fighting talk had been going on for a long time and that he intended to put an end to it. Ike told Earp, "I will be ready for you in the morning." Wyatt told Ike to go home "because there was no money in it." Ike sat down near Wyatt, his revolver in plain sight, and told Earp "You must not think I won't be after you all in the morning." Virgil Earp went to the Occidental Saloon across the street.

Epitaph article. 1882.

Morning of the gunfight ~

Events leading up to the Ike Clanton court hearing

After Holliday's confrontation with Ike Clanton, Wyatt Earp took Holliday back to his room at Camillus Sidney "Buck" Fly's Lodging House to sleep off his drinking, then went home and to bed. Tombstone Marshal Virgil Earp played poker with Ike Clanton, Tom McLaury, Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan and a fifth unnamed man in a back room of the Occidental Saloon until morning.

At about dawn on October 26, the card game broke up and Behan and Virgil Earp went home to bed. Ike Clanton testified later he saw Virgil take his six-shooter out of his lap and stick it in his pants when the game ended. Not having rented a room, Tom McLaury and Ike Clanton had no place to go. Shortly after 8:00 am barkeeper E. F. Boyle spoke to Ike Clanton in front of the telegraph office. Clanton had been drinking all night and Boyle encouraged him to get some sleep, but Ike insisted he would not go to bed. Boyle later testified he noticed Ike was 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 street, the ball would open — that they would have to fight' ... I went down to Wyatt Earp's house and told him that Ike Clanton had threatened that when Wyatt, his brothers, and Doc Holliday showed themselves on the street that the ball would open." Ike said in his testimony afterward that he remembered neither meeting Boyle nor making any such statements that day. Deputy Marshal Andy Bronk also heard the talk around town. He woke Virgil, who listened, and went back to sleep. Ike's continuous threats were not worth losing sleep over.

Later in the morning, Ike picked up his rifle and revolver from the West End Corral, where he had deposited his weapons and stabled his wagon and team after entering town. By noon that day, Ike was still drinking and once again armed, in violation of the city ordinance against carrying firearms in the city. He told anyone who would listen he was looking for Holliday or an Earp. At Fly's boarding house where Holliday and his common-law wife Mary Katharine Horony were sleeping, proprietor Mary Fly heard Clanton's threats and banged on Holliday's door. Fly told Horony, "Ike Clanton was here looking for [Holliday], and he had a rifle with him." Horony woke Holliday and relayed the threat, who replied, "If God will let me live to get my clothes on, he will see me."

The gunfight actually took place in front of Fly's Photography Studio.

At about 1:00 p.m., Marshal Virgil and his Deputy Morgan Earp found Ike on Fourth Street, still armed, and Virgil pistol whipped him from behind. Disarming him, the Earps took Ike to appear before Justice of the Peace A.O. Wallace for violating the ordinance. Wyatt waited with Clanton while Virgil went to find Justice Wallace so a court hearing could be held.

Ike Clanton court hearing ~

While Wyatt waited for Virgil to return with Justice Wallace, witnesses overheard Wyatt tell Clanton, "You cattle thieving son-of-a-bitch, and you know that I know you are a cattle thieving son-of-a-bitch, you've threatened my life enough, and you've got to fight!", Ike Clanton was heard to reply, "Fight is my racket, and all I want is four feet of ground!"

Ike reported in his testimony afterward that Wyatt Earp cursed him. He said Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan offered him his rifle and to fight him right there in the courthouse, which Ike declined. Ike also denied ever threatening the Earps. Justice Wallace fined Ike $25 (equivalent to $670 in 2020) plus court costs. Ike paid the fine and Virgil told Ike he could pick up his confiscated rifle and revolver at the Grand Hotel, which was favored by Cowboys when in town. Ike testified that he picked up the weapons from William Soule, the jailer, a couple of days later.

Tom McLaury's concealed weapon ~

Outside the court house where Ike was being fined, Tombstone Deputy Marshal Wyatt almost walked into 28 year-old Tom McLaury as the two men were brought up short nose-to-nose. Tom, who had arrived in town the day before, was required by the well-known city ordinance to deposit his pistol when he first arrived in town. When Wyatt demanded, "Are you heeled or not?", McLaury said he was not armed. Wyatt testified that he saw a revolver in plain sight on the right hip of Tom's pants. As an unpaid deputy marshal for Virgil, Wyatt habitually carried a pistol in his waistband, as was the custom of that time. Witnesses reported that Wyatt drew his revolver from his coat pocket and pistol whipped Tom McLaury with it twice, leaving him prostrate and bleeding on the street. Saloon-keeper Andrew Mehan testified at the Spicer hearing afterward that he saw McLaury deposit a revolver at the Capital Saloon sometime between 1:00–2:00 p.m., after the confrontation with Wyatt, which Mehan also witnessed.

Tom McLaury.

Wyatt said in his deposition afterward that he had been temporarily acting as city marshal for Virgil the week before while Virgil was in Tucson for the Pete Spence and Frank Stilwell trial. Wyatt said that he still considered himself a deputy city marshal, which Virgil later confirmed. Since Wyatt was an off-duty officer, he could not legally search or arrest Tom for carrying a revolver within the city limits — a misdemeanor offense. Only Virgil or one of his city police deputies, including Morgan Earp and possibly Warren Earp, could search him and take any required action. Wyatt, who was portrayed as a non-drinker, testified at the Spicer hearing that he went to Haffords and bought a cigar and went outside to watch the Cowboys. At the time of the gunfight about two hours later, Wyatt could not know if Tom was still armed.

It was early afternoon by the time Ike and Tom had seen doctors for their head wounds. The day was chilly, with snow still on the ground in some places. Both Tom and Ike had spent the night gambling, drinking heavily, and without sleep. Now they were both out-of-doors, both wounded from head beatings, and at least Ike was still drunk.

Dr. George E Goodfellow c1881.

Dr. George E. Goodfellow on a horse given him by the Mexican governor.

More Cowboys enter town ~

At around 1:30–2:00 p.m., after Tom had been pistol-whipped by Wyatt, Ike's 19-year-old younger brother Billy Clanton and Tom's older brother Frank McLaury arrived in town. They had heard from their neighbor, Ed "Old Man" Frink, that Ike had been stirring up trouble in town overnight, and they had ridden into town on horseback to back up their brothers. They arrived from Antelope Springs, 13 miles (21 km) east of Tombstone, where they had been rounding up stock and had breakfasted with Ike and Tom the day before. Both Frank and Billy were armed with a revolver and a rifle, as was the custom for riders in the country outside Tombstone. Apache warriors had engaged the U.S. Army near Tombstone just three weeks before the O.K. Corral gunfight, so the need for weapons outside of town was well established and accepted.

Billy Clanton.

Frank McLaury.

Billy and Frank stopped first at the Grand Hotel on Allen Street, and were greeted by Doc Holliday. They learned immediately after of their brothers' beatings by the Earps within the previous two hours. The incidents had generated a lot of talk in town. Angrily, Frank said he would not drink, and he and Billy left the saloon immediately to seek Tom. By law, both Frank and Billy should have left their firearms at the Grand Hotel. Instead, they remained fully armed.

Virgil and Wyatt Earp's reactions ~

Wyatt said that he saw Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury in Spangenberger's gun and hardware store on 4th. Street filling their gun belts with cartridges. Ike testified afterward that Tom was not there and that he had tried to buy a new revolver but the owner saw Ike's bandaged head and refused to sell him one. Ike apparently had not heard Virgil tell him that his confiscated weapons were at the Grand Hotel around the corner from Spangenberger's shop.

Wyatt Earp.

Virgil Earp.

When Virgil Earp learned that Wyatt was talking to the Cowboys at Spangenberg's gun shop, he went there himself. Virgil testified afterward that he thought he saw all four men, Ike Clanton, Billy Clanton, Frank McLaury, and Tom McLaury, buying cartridges. Virgil went around the corner on Allen Street to the Wells Fargo office, where he picked up a 10-gauge or 12-gauge, short, double-barreled shotgun. It was an unusually cold and windy day in Tombstone, and Virgil was wearing a long overcoat. To avoid alarming Tombstone's public, Virgil hid the shotgun under his overcoat when he returned to Hafford's Saloon.

From Spangenberg's, the Cowboys moved to the O.K. Corral where witnesses overheard them threatening to kill the Earps. For unknown reasons the Cowboys then walked out the back of the O.K. Corral and then west, stopping in a narrow, empty lot next to C. S. Fly's boarding house.

Virgil initially avoided a confrontation with the newly arrived Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton, who had not yet deposited their weapons at a hotel or stable as the law required. The statute was not specific about how far a recently arrived visitor might "with good faith, and within reasonable time" travel into town while carrying a firearm. This permitted a traveler to keep his firearms if he was proceeding directly to a livery, hotel or saloon. The three main Tombstone corrals were all west of 4th. street between Allen and Fremont, a block or two from where Wyatt saw the Cowboys buying cartridges. Miner Ruben F. Coleman later told The Tombstone Epitaph:

"I was in the O.K. Corral at 2:30 p.m. when I saw the two Clantons and the two McLaurys in an earnest conversation across the street at Dunbar's corral. I went up the street and notified Sheriff Behan and told them it was my opinion that they meant trouble, and it was his duty, as sheriff, to go and disarm them. I told him they had gone to the West End Corral. I then went and saw Marshal Virgil Earp and notified him to the same effect."

Behan attempts to disarm Cowboys ~

Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan, a friend of the Cowboys, later testified that he woke up about 1:30 p.m. after the late-night card game, and went to get a shave at a barbershop. That's where he first learned that the Cowboys were armed. Behan stated he quickly finished his shave and went to locate the Cowboys. At about 2:30 p.m. 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 C. S. Fly's photography studio, he walked there with Frank. He told the Cowboys that they must give up their arms. Ike Clanton said he was not armed, and Tom McLaury pulled his coat open to show he was not carrying a weapon.

The Cowboys were located in a narrow 15–20 feet (4.6–6.1 m) lot between the Harwood house and Fly's 12-room boarding house and photography studio at 312 Fremont Street, where Doc Holliday roomed.

Behan later said he attempted to persuade Frank McLaury to give up his weapons, but Frank insisted that he would give up his guns only after City Marshal Virgil Earp and his brothers were first disarmed.

The Cowboys were about a block and a half from the West End Corral at 2nd. Street and Fremont, where Ike and Tom's wagon and team were stabled. Virgil Earp later testified that he thought Ike and Tom were stabled at the O.K. Corral on Allen between 3rd. and 4th., from which he thought they would be departing if they were leaving town.

While Ike Clanton later said he was planning to leave town, Frank McLaury reported that he had decided to remain behind to take care of some business. Will McLaury, Tom and Frank's brother and a 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 were planning to conduct business before leaving town to visit him in Texas. He wrote that Billy Clanton, who had arrived on horseback with Frank, intended to go with the McLaurys to Fort Worth. Will McLaury came to Tombstone after the gun fight and joined the prosecution team in an attempt to convict the Earps and Holliday for his brothers' murder. Paul Johnson told a different story, that the McLaurys were about to leave for Iowa to attend the wedding of their sister, Sarah Caroline, in Iowa. Tom and Frank were especially close to Sarah, one of their 14 siblings and half-siblings. Caroline married James Reed in Richland, Iowa at the end of November that year.

Virgil decides to disarm Cowboys ~

Citizens reported to Virgil on the Cowboys' movements and their threats told him that Ike and Tom had left their livery stable and entered town while armed, in violation of the city ordinance. Virgil Earp was told by several citizens that the McLaurys and the Clantons had gathered on Fremont Street. Virgil decided he had to disarm the Cowboys. His decision to take action may have been influenced by the Cowboy's repeated threats to the Earps, their proximity to Holliday's room in Fly's boarding house, and their location on the route the Earps usually took to their homes two blocks further west on Fremont Street.

Several members of the citizen's vigilance committee offered to support him with arms, but Virgil refused. He had, during the prior month, appointed Morgan as a Special Policeman. He had also appointed Wyatt as a Special Policeman while Virgil had been in Prescott on business. He had also called on Doc Holliday that morning for help with disarming the Clantons and McLaurys. Wyatt spoke of his brothers Virgil and Morgan as the "marshals" while he acted as "deputy."

Virgil Earp picked up the shotgun he had retrieved from the Wells Fargo office earlier. He gave the shotgun to Doc Holliday who hid it under his overcoat. He took Holliday's walking-stick in return.

As usual, the Earps carried their revolvers in their coat pockets or in their waistbands. Wyatt Earp was carrying a .44 caliber American 1869 Smith & Wesson revolver. Virgil was known to favor the Smith & Wesson New Model No. 3, in .44 Russian, but it is not known if that was what he was armed with that day. Holliday was carrying a nickel-plated pistol in a holster, but this was concealed by his long coat, as was the shotgun. The Earps and Holliday walked west, down the south side of Fremont Street past the rear entrance to the O.K. Corral, but out of visual range of the Cowboys' last reported location. Near the corner of Fourth St. and Fremont St., the Earps ran into Sheriff Behan. He had left the Cowboys and came toward the Earps, though he looked nervously backward several times. Virgil testified afterward that Behan told them, "For God's sake, don't go down there or they will murder you!" Wyatt said Behan told him and Morgan, "I have disarmed them." Behan testified afterward that he'd only said he'd gone down to the Cowboys "for the purpose of disarming them," not that he'd actually disarmed them. One eyewitness, laundryman Peter H. Fallehy, testified afterward that Virgil Earp told Behan, "those men have made their threats and I will not arrest them but I will kill them on sight."

The Earps and Holiday round the corner on their way to disarm the cowboys. (From the movie, "Tombstone").

When Behan said he had disarmed them, Virgil attempted to avoid a fight. "I had a walking stick in my left hand and my hand was on my six-shooter in my waist pants, and when he said he had disarmed them, I shoved it clean around to my left hip and changed my walking stick to my right hand." Wyatt said, "I took my pistol, which I had in my hand, under my coat, and put it in my overcoat pocket." The Earps walked further down Fremont street and came into full view of the Cowboys in the lot.

Wyatt testified he saw "Frank McLaury, Tom McLaury, and Billy Clanton standing in a row against the east side of the building on the opposite side of the vacant space west of Fly's photograph gallery. Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne and a man I don't know [Wes Fuller] were standing in the vacant space about halfway between the photograph gallery and the next building west." Addie Bourland corroborated Wyatt's testimony, stating that she saw "five men opposite my house, leaning against a small house west of Fly's Gallery and one man was holding a horse, standing a little out from the house."

The Gunfight ~

A Desperate Street Fight (Daily Nugget)

Martha J. King was in Bauer's butcher shop located on Fremont Street. She testified that when the Earp party passed by her location, one of the Earps on the outside of the group looked across and said to Doc Holliday nearest the store, "... let them have it!" to which Holliday replied, "All right."

The shootout begins.

Physical proximity ~

When the Earps approached the lot, the four law men initially faced six Cowboys: Frank McLaury, Tom McLaury, Billy Clanton, Billy Claiborne, Wes Fuller, and Ike Clanton. When the Cowboys saw the officers, they stepped away from the Harwood house.

In testimony given by witnesses afterward, they disagreed about the precise location of the men before, during and after the gunfight. The coroner's inquest and the Spicer hearing produced a sketch showing the Cowboys standing, from left to right facing Fremont Street, with Billy Clanton and then Frank McLaury near the Harwood house and Tom McLaury and Ike Clanton roughly in the middle of the lot. Opposite them and initially only about 6 to 10 feet (1.8 to 3.0 m) away, Virgil Earp was on the left end of the Earp party, standing a few feet inside the vacant lot and nearest Ike Clanton. Behind him a few feet near the corner of C. S. Fly's boarding house was Wyatt. Morgan Earp was standing on Fremont Street to Wyatt's right, and Doc Holliday anchored the end of their line in Fremont Street, a few feet to Morgan's right.

Wyatt Earp drew a sketch in 1924 and another with John Flood on September 15, 1926, that depicted Billy Clanton near the middle of the lot, close to the Harwood house. Tom and Frank McLaury stood deeper in the lot. Frank was in the center between the two buildings, holding the reins of his horse. Tom was closer to C. S. Fly's boarding house. According to Wyatt's sketches, Morgan was on the right of the lawmen, close to the Harwood house, opposite Billy Clanton near the Harwood house and close to Fremont St. Virgil was deeper in the lot, opposite Frank and Ike Clanton. Wyatt was to Virgil's left, opposite Tom. Doc Holliday hung back a step or two on Fremont Street. Neither of Wyatt's sketches included Ike Clanton or Billy Claiborne, who ran from the fight.

This is the layout that Wyatt Earp drew out in 1919.

Gun battle begins ~

Virgil Earp was not expecting a fight. Once Behan said that he'd disarmed the Cowboys, Virgil moved Doc's cane to his right hand and shifted the pistol in his waistband from the right side to his left. Holliday still concealed the short shotgun under his long jacket. Wyatt too was not expecting a fight and put his pistol in his overcoat pocket.

Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury wore revolvers in holsters on their belts and stood alongside their saddled horses with rifles in their scabbards, possibly in violation of the city ordinance prohibiting carrying weapons in town.

When Virgil saw the Cowboys, he testified, he immediately commanded the Cowboys to "Throw up your hands, I want your guns!" Wyatt said Virgil told the Cowboys, "Throw up your hands; I have come to disarm you!" Virgil and Wyatt both testified they saw Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton draw and cock their single action six shot revolvers. Virgil yelled: "Hold! I don't mean that!" or "Hold on, I don't want that!"

Jeff Morey, who served as the historical consultant on the film Tombstone, compared testimony by partisan and neutral witnesses and came to the conclusion that the Earps described the situation accurately.

Who started shooting first is not certain; accounts by both participants and eyewitnesses are contradictory. The smoke from the black powder used in the weapons added to the confusion of the gunfight in the narrow space. Those loyal to one side or the other told conflicting stories, and independent eyewitnesses who did not know the participants by sight were unable to say for certain who shot first. The six or seven men with guns fired about 30 shots in around 30 seconds.

First two shots ~

Virgil Earp reported afterward, "Two shots went off right together. Billy Clanton's was one of them." Wyatt testified, "Billy Clanton leveled his pistol at me, but I did not aim at him. I knew that Frank McLaury had the reputation of being a good shot and a dangerous man, and I aimed at Frank McLaury." He said he shot Frank McLaury after both he and Billy Clanton went for their revolvers: "The first two shots were fired by Billy Clanton and myself, he shooting at me, and I shooting at Frank McLaury." Morey agreed that Billy Clanton and Wyatt Earp fired first. Clanton missed, but Earp shot Frank McLaury in the stomach.

All witnesses generally agreed that the first two shots were almost indistinguishable from each other. General firing immediately broke out. Virgil and Wyatt thought Tom was armed. When the shooting started, the horse that Tom McLaury held jumped to one side. Wyatt said he also saw Tom throw his hand to his right hip. Virgil said Tom followed the horse's movement, hiding behind it, and fired once or twice over the horse's back.

Holliday shoots Tom ~

According to one witness, Holliday drew a "large bronze pistol" (interpreted by some as Virgil's coach gun) from under his long coat, stepped around Tom McLaury's horse, and shot him with the double-barreled shotgun in the chest at close range.

Witness C. H. "Ham" Light saw Tom running or stumbling westward on Fremont Street towards Third Street, away from the gunfight, while Frank and Billy were still standing and shooting. Light testified that Tom fell at the foot of a telegraph pole on the corner of Fremont and 3rd. Street and lay there, without moving, through the duration of the fight. Fallehy also saw Tom stagger across the street until he fell on his back. After shooting Tom, Holliday tossed the empty shotgun aside, pulled out his nickel-plated revolver, and continued to fire at Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton.

Cowboys run ~

Ike Clanton had been publicly threatening to kill the Earps for several months, including very loud threats on the day before. Wyatt told the court afterward that Clanton had bragged that he would kill the Earps or Doc Holliday at his first opportunity. However, when the gunfight broke out, Clanton ran forward and grabbed Wyatt, exclaiming that he was unarmed and did not want a fight. To this protest Wyatt said he responded, "Go to fighting or get away!" Clanton ran through the front door of Fly's boarding house and escaped, unwounded. Other accounts say that Ike drew a hidden pistol and fired at the Earps before disappearing. Like Ike, Billy Claiborne was unarmed. He and Cowboy Wes Fuller, who had been at the rear of the lot, also ran from the fight as soon as the shooting began.

Billy Clanton shot ~

According to The Tombstone Epitaph, "Wyatt Earp stood up and fired in rapid succession, as cool as a cucumber, and was not hit." Morgan Earp fired almost immediately, as Billy Clanton drew his gun right-handed. Morgan's shot hit Billy in the right wrist, disabling his hand. Forced to shift the revolver to his left hand, Clanton continued shooting until he emptied the gun. Virgil and Wyatt were now firing. Morgan Earp tripped and fell over a newly buried waterline and fired from the ground. Wyatt shot Frank McLaury in the abdomen, and Frank took his horse by its reins and struggled across Fremont Street. He tried and failed to grab his rifle from the scabbard but lost control of the horse. Frank crossed Fremont Street firing his revolver instead. Frank and Holliday exchanged shots as Frank moved across Fremont Street, and Frank hit Holliday in his pistol pocket, grazing him. Holliday followed him, exclaiming, "That son of a bitch has shot me and I am going to kill him." Morgan Earp picked himself up and also fired at Frank. Frank fell to the sidewalk on the east side of Fremont Street.

A number of witnesses observed a man leading a horse into the street and firing near it and Wyatt in his testimony thought this was Tom McLaury. Claiborne said only one man had a horse in the fight, and that this man was Frank, holding his own horse by the reins, then losing it and its cover, in the middle of the street. Wes Fuller also identified Frank as the man in the street leading the horse.

Morgan Earp wounded ~

Though wounded, Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury kept shooting. One of them, perhaps Billy, shot Morgan Earp across the back in a wound that struck both shoulder blades and a vertebra. Morgan went down for a minute before picking himself up. Either Frank or Billy shot Virgil Earp in the calf (Virgil thought it was Billy). Virgil, though hit, fired his next shot at Billy Clanton.

Frank, now entirely across Fremont street and still walking at a good pace according to Claiborne's testimony, fired twice more before he was shot in the head under his right ear. Both Morgan and Holliday apparently thought they had fired the shot that killed Frank, but since neither of them testified at the hearing, this information is only from second-hand accounts. A passerby testified to having stopped to help Frank, and saw Frank try to speak, but he died where he fell, before he could be moved.

Billy Clanton was shot in the wrist, chest and abdomen, and after a minute or two slumped to a sitting position near his original position at the corner of the Harwood house in the lot between the house and Fly's Lodging House. Claiborne said Clanton was supported by a window initially after he was shot, and fired some shots after sitting, with the pistol supported on his leg. After he ran out of ammunition, he called for more cartridges, but C. S. Fly took his pistol at about the time the general shooting ended.

A few moments later, Tom McLaury was carried from the corner of Fremont and Third into the Harwood house on that corner, where he died without speaking. Passersby carried Billy Clanton to the Harwood house, where Tom had been taken. Billy was in considerable pain and asked for a doctor and some morphine. He told those near him, "They have murdered me. I have been murdered. Chase the crowd away and from the door and give me air." Billy gasped for air, and someone else heard him say, "Go away and let me die." Ike Clanton, who had repeatedly threatened the Earps with death, was still running. William Cuddy testified that Ike passed him on Allen Street and Johnny Behan saw him a few minutes later on Toughnut Street.

Outcome of the battle ~

Both Wyatt and Virgil believed Tom McLaury was armed and testified that he had fired at least one shot over the back of a horse. Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury exchanged gunfire with the lawmen. During the gunfight, Doc Holliday was bruised by a bullet fired by Frank that struck his holster and grazed his hip. Virgil Earp was shot through the calf, he thought by Billy Clanton. Morgan Earp was struck across both shoulder blades by a bullet that Morgan thought Frank McLaury had fired. Wyatt Earp was unhurt. Tom McLaury, his brother Frank, and Billy Clanton were killed.

Behan attempts arrest ~

As the wounded lawmen were carried to their homes, they passed in front of the Sheriff's Office, and Johnny Behan told Wyatt Earp, "I will have to arrest you." Wyatt paused two or three seconds and replied very forcibly: "I won't be arrested today. I am right here and am not going away. You have deceived me. You told me these men were disarmed; I went to disarm them." Dr. George Goodfellow treated the Earps' wounds.

Cowboy wounds ~

Dr. Henry M. Mathews examined the dead Cowboys late that night. He found Frank McLaury had two wounds: a gunshot beneath the right ear that horizontally penetrated his head, and a second entering his abdomen one inch (2.5 cm) to the left of his navel. Mathews stated that the wound beneath the ear was at the base of the brain and caused instant death. Sheriff Behan testified that he had heard Morgan Earp yell "I got him" after Frank was shot. However, during the gunfight, Frank moved across Fremont street, putting Holliday on Frank's right and Morgan on his left. This makes it much more likely that Holliday shot the fatal round that killed Frank.

When he examined Tom McLaury's body, Mathews found twelve buckshot wounds from a single shotgun blast on the right side under his arm, between the third and fifth ribs. The wound was about four inches (10 cm) across. The nature and location of the wound indicated that it could not have been received if Tom's hands were on his coat lapels as the Cowboys later testified. Both Virgil and Wyatt stated that Holliday had shot Tom, which the coroner's exam supported.

Dr. George Goodfellow testified about Billy Clanton's wounds at the Spicer hearing. He stated that the angle of the wrist wound indicated that Billy's hand could not have been raised over his head as claimed by Cowboy witnesses. In his coroner's report, Mathews did not mention Billy's arm wound, but witness Keefe, who examined the arm closely, testified later that Clanton was shot through the right arm, close to the wrist joint and "the bullet passed through the arm from "inside to outside," entering the arm close to the base of the thumb, and exiting "on the back of the wrist diagonally" with the latter wound larger. This indicated to the judge that Billy could not have been holding his coat's lapels open, his arms raised, as the Cowboys testified. Dr. Mathews found two other wounds on Billy's body. The first was two inches (5 cm) from Clanton's left nipple, penetrated his lung. The other was in the abdomen beneath the twelfth rib, six inches (20 cm) to the right of the navel. Both were fired from the front. Neither passed completely through his body. The wound to Billy Clanton's right wrist may have been inflicted by Morgan Earp or Doc Holliday immediately at the outset of the fight as Billy was drawing his gun.

Weapons carried by the Cowboys ~

Billy Clanton

Billy Clanton was armed with a Colt Frontier 1873 revolver in .44-40 caliber, which were identified by their serial numbers at the Spicer hearing. C.S. Fly found Billy Clanton's empty revolver in his hand where he lay and took it from him.

The type of revolver used by Billy Clanton.

Frank McLaury

Frank McLaury was also armed with a Colt Frontier 1873 revolver in .44-40 caliber, which was recovered by laundryman Fallehy on the street about 5 feet (1.5 m) from his body with two rounds remaining in it. Fallehy placed it next to Frank's body before he was moved to the Harwood house. Dr. Mathews laid Frank's revolver on the floor while he examined Billy and Tom. Cowboy witness Wes Fuller said he saw Frank in the middle of the street shooting a revolver and trying to remove a Winchester rifle from the scabbard on his horse. The two Model 1873 rifles were still in the scabbards on Frank and Tom McLaury's horses when they were found after the gunfight. If, as was customary, Frank carried only five rounds, then he had fired only three shots.

Tom McLaury

Witnesses differed about whether Tom McLaury was carrying a weapon during the shootout or not. No revolver or rifle was found near his body and he was not wearing a cartridge belt. Wyatt testified that he had arrested Tom earlier that day when he found him carrying a weapon earlier in violation of a city ordinance. He pistol-whipped him and took him to the courthouse where he was fined. Saloon-keeper Mehan testified that Tom had deposited his revolver at the Capital Saloon on 4th Street and Fremont after his arrest and before the fight, between 1 and 2 p.m. Several Cowboy witnesses testified that Tom was unarmed and claimed that the Earps had murdered a defenseless man.

Behan testified that when he searched Tom McLaury for a weapon prior to the gunfight, he was not thorough, and that Tom might have had a pistol hidden in his waistband. Behan's testimony was significant, since he was a prime witness for the prosecution but had equivocated on this point. Behan's sympathy to the Cowboys was well known, and during the trial he firmly denied he had contributed money to help Ike with his defense costs. However, documents were located in 1997 that showed Behan served as guarantor for a loan to Ike Clanton during the Spicer hearing. Since Wyatt planned to run against Behan for County Sheriff, Behan had an incentive to help convict Wyatt.

A story by Richard Rule in the Cowboy-friendly newspaper, the Nugget, told the story in the manner of the day, without attribution. Rule wrote, "The Sheriff stepped out and said [to the Earps]: 'Hold up boys, don't go down there or there will be trouble; I have been down there to disarm them.'" In his testimony, Behan repeatedly insisted he told the Earps that he only intended to disarm the Cowboys, not that he had actually done so. The article said that Behan "was standing near by commanding the contestants to cease firing but was powerless to prevent it." The Nugget had a close relationship to Behan; it was owned by Harry Woods, who was also undersheriff to Behan, but Woods was collecting prisoners in El Paso, Texas, that day. So it is extremely likely that Rule interviewed Behan. Both Virgil and Williams' testified that Behan visited Virgil Earp that evening and said, “I am your friend, and you did perfectly right.” This corroborated the initial Nugget report, which upon Wood's return was altered to a version that favored the Cowboys and which Behan later supported in his testimony at the hearing.

Though saloon-keeper Andrew Mehan had seen Tom deposit his pistol after his beating by Earp and before the gunfight, none of the Earps had any way of knowing that Tom had left his revolver at the saloon. Hotel keeper Albert "Chris" Billickie, whose father Charles owned the Cosmopolitan Hotel, saw Tom McLaury enter Bauer's butcher shop about 2:00 p.m. He testified that Tom's right-hand pants pocket was flat when he went in but protruded, as if it contained a pistol (so he thought), when he emerged. Retired army surgeon Dr. J. W. Gardiner also testified that he saw the bulge in Tom's pants. However, the bulge in Tom's pants pocket may have been the nearly $3,300 (equivalent to $88,000 in 2020) in cash and receipts found on his body, perhaps in payment for stolen Mexican beef purchased by the butcher.

Wyatt and Virgil Earp and Doc Holliday believed that Tom had a revolver at the time of the gunfight. Wyatt thought Tom fired a revolver under the horse's neck and believed until he died that Tom's revolver had been removed from the scene by Wesley Fuller. Witness Fallehy wrote that he saw Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday shooting at a man who was using a horse to barricade himself, and once shot the man fell. In his statement, Fallehy wrote that the man still held his pistol in his hand. Although he did not see him shoot, he thought Tom McLaury was armed.

Ruben F. Coleman also said afterward that he thought Tom was armed, though he later equivocated on this point. He was quoted in the October 27 issue of The Tombstone Epitaph in which he said, "Tom McLaury fell first, but raised and fired again before he died." Coleman also testified at the coroner's inquest one day later. Part-time newspaper reporter Howell 'Pat' Hayhurst transcribed all of the testimony from the hearing in the early 1930s as part of the Federal Writers' Project, in the Works Progress Administration. When he transcribed Coleman's second testimony, he quoted Coleman as saying, "Tom McLaury, after the first two shots were fired, ran down Fremont Street and fell ... I think that the report I gave to the Epitaph was pretty near correct as published." However, it's known that Hayhurst arbitrarily removed text that he decided was not relevant. Author Stuart N. Lake later said Hayhurst 'mutilated' the transcription. The documents were subsequently lost and are still unaccounted for.

Even if Tom wasn't armed with a revolver, Virgil Earp testified Tom attempted to grab a rifle from the scabbard on the horse in front of him before he was killed. Judge Spicer ruled afterward that "if Thomas 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 defendants [Earps], if they were not otherwise criminated."

Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne

Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne both said they were unarmed when they fled the gunfight.

Doc Holiday was armed with a 12-gauge double barreled stagecoach shotgun.

Doc also carried and used his pearl handled nickel plated revolver.

Virgil Earp's personal Scofield revolver.

This Colt .45 revolver is reported to have belonged to Wyatt Earp.

Public reaction ~

The bodies of the three dead Cowboys were displayed in a window at Ritter and Reams undertakers with a sign: "Murdered in the Streets of Tombstone."

Tom McLaury, Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton (left to right) in the window of the undertaker's.

Funeral on the streets of Tombstone.

Sympathy for Cowboys ~

The funerals for Billy Clanton (age 19), Tom McLaury (age 28) and his older brother Frank (age 33) were well attended. About 300 people joined in the procession to Boot Hill and as many as two thousand watched from the sidewalks. Both McLaurys were buried in the same grave, and Billy Clanton was buried nearby. The story was widely printed in newspapers across the United States. Most versions favored the lawmen. The headline in the San Francisco Exchange was, "A Good Riddance".

Three days after the shootout, the ruling of the Coroner's Jury convened by Dr. Henry Matthews neither condemned nor exonerated the lawmen for shooting the Cowboys. "William Clanton, Frank and Thomas McLaury, came to their deaths in the town of Tombstone on October 26, 1881, from the effects of pistol and gunshot wounds inflicted by Virgil Earp, Morgan Earp, Wyatt Earp, and one—Holliday, commonly called 'Doc Holliday'."

Spicer hearings ~

Four days after the shootout, Ike Clanton filed murder charges against Doc Holliday and the Earps. Wyatt and Holliday were arrested and brought before Justice of the Peace Wells Spicer. Morgan and Virgil were still recovering at home. Only Wyatt and Holliday were required to post $10,000 bail (equivalent to $270,000 in 2020), which was paid by their attorney Thomas Fitch, local mine owner E.B. Gage, Wells Fargo undercover agent Fred Dodge, and other business owners appreciative of the Earps' efforts to maintain order. Virgil Earp was suspended as town marshal pending the outcome of the trial. Justice Spicer convened a preliminary hearing on October 31 to determine if there was enough evidence to go to trial.

The prosecution was led by Republican District Attorney Lyttleton Price, assisted by John M. Murphy, James Robinson, and Ben Goodrich. They were joined by William McLaury, Frank and Tom's older brother, he also being an able attorney, who played a key role on the prosecutor's team. The Earps' attorney Thomas Fitch was an experienced trial lawyer and had earned a reputation as the "silver-tongued orator of the Pacific."

The alleyway where the shootout took place.

Another view of the alleyway.

Spicer took written and oral testimony from a number of witnesses over more than a month. Accounts by both participants and eye-witnesses were contradictory. Those loyal to one side or the other told conflicting stories and independent eyewitnesses who did not know the participants by sight were unable to say for certain who shot first.

Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan testified on the third day of the hearing. During two days on the stand, he gave strong testimony that the Cowboys had not resisted but either threw up their hands and turned out their coats to show they were not armed. Behan's views turned public opinion against the Earps, who were free on bail. He and other prosecution witnesses testified that Tom McLaury was unarmed, that Billy Clanton had his hands in the air, and that neither of the McLaurys were troublemakers. They portrayed Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury as being unjustly bullied and beaten by the vengeful Earps on the day of the gunfight. On the strength of the prosecution case, Spicer revoked the bail for Doc and Wyatt Earp and had them jailed on November 7. They spent the next 16 days in jail.

Defense accounts contradicted the testimony of Behan, Claiborne and Allen, who all said that a man had fired a nickel-plated pistol first. Claiborne and Allen both said it was Holliday. Virgil, Wyatt and other witnesses testified that Holliday was carrying a shotgun. (Morgan remained bedridden throughout the trial and did not testify.) The prosecution's scenario would have required Holliday to fire with his pistol first, switch to the shotgun to shoot Tom McLaury, then switch back again to his pistol to continue firing.

Three witnesses gave key evidence that swayed Justice Spicer to hold that Virgil had acted within his capacity as town marshal and that there was insufficient evidence to indict the Earps and Doc Holliday for murder.

H.F Sills was an AT&SF Railroad engineer who had just arrived in town and knew none of the parties involved. He testified that he saw "the marshal go up and speak to this other party. I ... saw them pull out their revolvers immediately. The marshal had a cane in his right hand at the time. He throwed up his hand and spoke. I did not hear the words though. By that time Billy Clanton and Wyatt Earp had fired their guns off." Grilled by the prosecution, he corroborated virtually all of the defense's testimony.

Addie Bourland was a dressmaker whose residence was across Fremont Street from Fly's Boarding House. She testified that she saw both sides facing each other, that none of the Cowboys had held their hands up, that the firing was general, and that she had not seen Billy Clanton fall immediately as the Cowboys had testified.

Judge J.H. Lucas of the Cochise County Probate Court had offices in the Mining Exchange Building about 200 feet (60 m) from the shootout. Lucas corroborated Addie Bourland's testimony that Billy Clanton was standing throughout the fight, which contradicted prosecution witnesses who maintained he went down immediately after being shot at close range in the belly. Spicer noted that no powder burns were found on his clothing.

These witnesses' testimony, especially that of H.F. Sills, a disinterested party, discredited much of the testimony given by Sheriff Johnny Behan, Ike Clanton and the other Cowboy witnesses.

After hearing all the evidence, Justice Spicer ruled on November 30 that Virgil, as the lawman in charge that day, had acted within his office and that there was not enough evidence to indict the men. He described Frank McLaury's insistence that he would not give up his weapons unless the marshal and his deputies also gave up their arms as a "proposition both monstrous and startling!" He noted that the prosecution claimed that the Cowboys' purpose was to leave town, yet Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne did not have their weapons with them. Spicer noted that the doctor who examined the dead Cowboys established that the wounds they received could not have occurred if their hands and arms had been in the positions that prosecution witnesses described. Spicer did not condone all of the Earps' actions and criticized Virgil Earp's use of Wyatt and Holliday as deputies, but he concluded that no laws were broken. He said the evidence indicated that the Earps and Holliday acted within the law and that Holliday and Wyatt had been properly deputized by Virgil Earp.

Doc and Wyatt during the gunfight.

In popular culture ~

The public perception of the Earp brothers' actions at the time were widely divergent. Even today, the event and its participants are viewed differently by opinionated admirers and detractors. The controversy still stimulates ongoing interest in the gunfight and related events.

Gunfight sketch ~

A hand-drawn sketch of the gunfight was made by John Flood with Wyatt Earp's assistance on September 15, 1921; it was sold at auction in October 2010 for $380,000. The map describes the position of a number of witnesses and all of the participants with the exception of Ike Clanton, who fled from the gunfight.

Paintings ~

In 1952, Victor Clyde Forsythe, a popular painter of desert scenes and cowboy artist, painted Gunfight at O.K. Corral, a 43 by 60 inches (110 by 150 cm) oil painting. Forsythe's father William Bowen Forsyth and uncle Ira Chandler owned the store Chandler & Forsyth C.O.D. at 328 Fremont Street, west of the back entrance to the O.K. Corral and half a block from the site of the gunfight. They claimed that they had been present and witnessed the shootout. Newspaper accounts of the painting reported that Forsythe had interviewed Tombstone residents and examined many of the existing buildings before beginning to plan his painting. In May 1988, his studio printed and sold a limited edition of 390 copies of the painting.

John Gilchriese became friends with John Flood, who had been Wyatt Earp's secretary, confidante, and best friend for many years. When Earp died, Flood inherited many of his personal belongings. Flood in turn willed them to Gilchriese, who amassed over a number of years one of the largest collections of personal items belonging to Wyatt and Virgil Earp, along with many unpublished photos of them and their family. Gilchriese opened the Wyatt Earp Museum in Tombstone in 1966 and commissioned Western artist Don Perceval to paint the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. The oil on masonite painting titled The Street Fight is 6 feet 4 inches by 4 feet 0 inches (1.93 by 1.22 m). It was the largest work ever executed by Perceval. He referred to original documents in Gilchriese's collection, including Wyatt Earp's own diagram of the shootout, and unpublished notes made by John Flood, to create what is regarded as the most accurate depiction of the shootout. Gilchreise had 500 lithographic prints reproduced from the original, which Perceval signed. The prints were sold by the museum for $10 (equivalent to $80 in 2020).

After Gilchriese closed his museum, the painting and other contents of the museum were sold at auction by John's Western Gallery of San Francisco. The estimated auction price for the painting had been $200,000 to $300,000; the final sale price on June 25, 2004, was $40,250. It was put up for auction again on June 14, 2014, with an estimated selling price of $40,000–$60,000 but failed to sell.

Origin of the gunfight's name ~

Less than a month after the shootout it was described by a local newspaper as the "Gunfight at The O.K. Corral". William Breakenridge in his 1928 book Helldorado: Bringing Law to the Mesquite described it as "The Incident Near the O.K. Corral". Stuart Lake titled his chapter about the conflict "At the O.K. Corral" in his popular book Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal. But it was the popular movie Gunfight at the O.K. Corral that cemented the incident and its erroneous location in popular consciousness. The movie and accompanying mythologizing also altered the way that the public thought of the Earps and the outlaws. Prior to the movie, the media often criticized the Earps' actions in Tombstone. In the movies, they became the good guys, always ready to stand for what is right.

The incident has become a fixture in American history due to the personal nature of the feud between the Earps and the McLaury and Clanton brothers and the symbolism of the fight between lawmen and the Cowboys. The Cowboys maimed Virgil and murdered Morgan but escaped prosecution, and Wyatt's extra-legal campaign for revenge captured people's attention. The gunfight and its aftermath stand for the change overcoming America as the Western frontier ceased to exist, as a nation that was rapidly industrializing pushed out what had been a largely agrarian economy.

The town of Tombstone has capitalized on interest in the gunfight. A portion of the town is a historical district that has been designated a National Historic Landmark and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. National Park Service. A local company produces daily theatrical re-enactments of the gunfight.

Film and television ~

Film and television With the widespread sales of televisions after World War II, producers spun out a large number of western-oriented shows. At the height of their popularity in 1959, there were more than two dozen "cowboy" programs on each week. At least six of them were directly or indirectly connected with Wyatt Earp: The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Tombstone Territory, Broken Arrow, Johnny Ringo, and Gunsmoke. Hugh O'Brian portrayed Earp on the namesake show Wyatt Earp which ran for six seasons, and he was forever associated with that role.

TV westerns that were inspired by the Earps and Tombstone ~

A 2003 episode of Discovery Channel's Unsolved History used modern technology to attempt to re-enact the gunfight. They utilized a movie set to recreate a space similar to the lot where the original gun fight took place. They confirmed that the front-to-back wrist wound suffered by Billy Clanton could only have occurred if his arm was raised in the manner of one holding a pistol, and that the black powder may have obscured the shooters' view of each other. The episode concluded that the three eyewitnesses for the prosecution (Sheriff Behan, Ike Clanton, and Billy Claiborne) likely offered perjured testimony. They found that Tom McLaury may have been hit by the shotgun round under his armpit as he reached over his horse for a rifle in his scabbard, as the horse turned away from him at the same time.

The stories about the gunfight written in the 20th century affected American culture. Numerous dramatic, fictional, and documentary works have been produced about or in reference to the event, with widely varying degrees of accuracy. These works include:

- Law and Order (1932) with Walter Huston, the first film to depict the gunfight - Tombstone, the Town Too Tough to Die (1942) with Richard Dix - My Darling Clementine (1946) with Henry Fonda - The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955–1961), TV series with Hugh O'Brian, season 6 episode 36 - Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas - The Gunfighters (1966), a Doctor Who serial - Hour of the Gun (1967) with James Garner - "Spectre of the Gun" (1968), an original Star Trek episode - Doc (1971) written by Pete Hamill - "Showdown at O.K. Corral" (1972), an Appointment with Destiny episode that was nominated for an Emmy Award - "Ghost Fight at the OK Corral" (1987), The Real Ghostbusters season 2 episode 47 - Tombstone (1993) with Kurt Russell - Wyatt Earp (1994) with Kevin Costner - "Shootout at Fly's Photographic Studio", a History Bites episode - "Rule of the Gun" (2004), an episode of Days That Shook the World - Tombstone Rashomon (2017), a film by Alex Cox.

Probably the most famous of the Earp TV shows.

In print ~

= Saint Johnson (1930), ISBN 978-2330051051 – A novel by W.R. Burnett. A thinly fictionalized depiction of the conflict between the outlaws and the law officers. = Who Rides with Wyatt (1955), ISBN 978-0843942927 – A novel by Will Henry. = Warlock (1958), ISBN 978-1590171615 – A novel by Oakley Hall. = Bloody Season (1987), ISBN 978-0515125313 – A novel by Loren D. Estleman, a carefully researched depiction of events leading up the shootout and gunfight itself. = Frontier Earth (1999), ISBN 978-0441005895 – a sci-fi/western novel by actor Bruce Boxleitner, about the events leading up to the gunfight. = The Return of Little Big Man (1999), ISBN 978-0316091176 – in which novelist Thomas Berger's wandering protagonist Jack Crabb becomes a witness to the event. = Gunman's Rhapsody (2001), ISBN 978-0425182895 – by Robert B. Parker = Telegraph Days (2006), ISBN 978-0739470169 – a novel by Larry McMurtry, includes a representation of the gunfight, told by a fictional journalist and eyewitness. = Territory (2007), ISBN 978-0312857356 – a novel by Emma Bull offers a fantasy retelling of the events leading up to the fight. = The Buntline Special (2010), ISBN 978-1616142490 – by Mike Resnick, a Steampunk re-imagining of the gunfight. = The Last Kind Words Saloon (2014), ISBN 978-0393351194 – by Larry McMurtry, culminates with a version of the gunfight. = Epitaph: A Novel of the O.K. Corral (2015), ISBN 978-0062198778 – by Mary Doria Russell tells Wyatt Earp's story. = Tombstone: The Earp Brothers, Doc Holliday, and the Vendetta Ride from Hell (2020), ISBN 978-1250214591 by Tom Clavin.

In mathematics ~

David Williams and Paul McIlroy introduced a mathematical model for the O.K. Corral gunfight, which they published in Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society (1998). Later this model was analyzed by Sir John Kingman (1999, 2002), and Kingman and Volkov (2003). They analyzed the probability of "survival of exactly S gunmen given an initially fair configuration."

In music ~

Swedish power metal band Civil War sing about the gunfight in the song Tombstone on their 2016 album The Last Full Measure.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The O.K. Corral hearing and aftermath was the direct result of the 30-second Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona Territory, on October 26, 1881. During that confrontation, Deputy U.S. Marshal and Tombstone Town Marshal Virgil Earp, Assistant Town Marshal Morgan Earp, and temporary deputy marshals Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday shot and killed Billy Clanton, and Tom and Frank McLaury. Billy's brother Ike, who had repeatedly threatened to kill the Earps for some time, had been present at the gunfight but was unarmed and fled. As permitted by territory law, he filed murder charges against the Earps and Doc Holliday on October 30.

In an unusual preliminary hearing, Justice of the Peace Wells Spicer heard testimony from a large number of witnesses during the next 30 days. Friends of the Cowboys, most notably Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan, testified that the Cowboys had thrown up their hands or opened their coats and been shot in cold blood. Initially persuasive, his testimony motivated Spicer to jail Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday who had been free on bond. (Virgil and Morgan were recuperating from their wounds.) Friends of the lawman and several key neutral witnesses then testified that the Cowboys had drawn their guns and that Virgil Earp had called out, "Hold, I don't want that!" or words to that effect. In a lengthy ruling, Spicer concluded there was no basis for a trial. Although he criticized Virgil Earp's use of Wyatt and Holliday as deputies, he concluded that no laws were broken by the lawmen. He said the evidence indicated that the Earps and Holliday acted within the law and that Holliday and Wyatt had been properly deputized by Virgil. He described Frank McLaury's insistence that he would not give up his weapons unless the marshal and his deputies also gave up their arms as a "proposition both monstrous and startling!"

The Gird Block in Tombstone, Arizona, housing L to R the Old Hotel Nobles, the Tombstone Epitaph, and the Mining Exchange Building. This is where the hearing was held.

The Earps were freed from jail, but the blood feud between the lawmen and their friends and the Cowboys and their allies escalated. On December 14, Justice Spicer received a threatening letter from "a miner" who threatened to kill him and told him to leave Tombstone. On the same day, someone tried to kill Tombstone Mayor John Clum, who was a member of the Citizens Safety Committee and publisher of The Tombstone Epitaph that had consistently supported the Earps. On December 28, 1881, Virgil Earp was ambushed and hit by a shotgun round that crippled his left arm for life. The Earps thought they knew who the perpetrators were, but witnesses provided alibis for them. On March 18, Morgan was killed while playing billiards. An assassin shot him through the window of a door that opened up into an alley. A bullet intended for Wyatt struck close above his head. Once again, the Earps believed they knew the men responsible, but the testimony of a key witness was inadmissible and the Cowboys were not charged.

Wyatt assumed Virgil's duties as Deputy U.S. Marshal for eastern Pima County. He concluded that he could not rely on the courts for justice and decided to take matters into his own hands. He believed that the only way to deal with the Earp's enemies was to kill them. He assembled a federal posse that intercepted Frank Stilwell laying in wait near the train station in Tucson and killed him. They then scoured the countryside looking for the others they believed responsible. During early April 1882, Wyatt and his posse tracked down and killed Florentino "Indian Charlie" Cruz, Curly Bill Brocius, and Johnny Barnes, three of the men they believed were responsible for their brothers' ambush and murder. The ride for vengeance came to be called the Earp Vendetta Ride. Five of the Earp party were wanted on a warrant for killing Frank Stilwell, and they left Arizona Territory and never returned.

A Desperate Street Fight ~

The two newspapers in Tombstone usually opposed each other in their reporting, but both newspapers' stories after the gunfight initially supported the lawmen's version of events. The Daily Nugget was a Democratic newspaper loyal to Sheriff Behan and the rural Cowboys, but their pro-Cowboy publisher Harry Woods was out of town. Richard Rule, an experienced reporter, knew Behan personally and very likely interviewed him after the gun fight. He wrote the story for Nugget published on the day after the shootout, and it backed up the Earps' version of events. Rule wrote in the style of the day by telling a story without attributing sources or naming witnesses.

The 26th of October, 1881, will always be marked as one of the crimson days in the annals of Tombstone, a day when blood flowed as water, and human life was held as a shuttle cock, a day to be remembered as witnessing the bloodiest and deadliest street fight that has ever occurred in this place, or probably in the Territory. ... During the shooting Sheriff Behan was standing nearby commanding the contestants to cease firing but was powerless to prevent it.

Rule reported that the battle began when Frank made a motion for his pistol, and that Wyatt responded by drawing and firing his pistol. He wrote that Doc Holliday fired a short-barreled shotgun. Rule's account backed up the actions taken by the Earp brothers and Holliday. Rule's article varied widely from Behan's and the Cowboys' later court testimony. Subsequent stories about the gunfight published in the Nugget after that day supported Behan and the Cowboys' view of events.

The October 28, 1881, issue of The Tombstone Epitaph, which was loyal to the Republican business establishment, was more restrained in its language:

"The feeling among the best class of our citizens is that the Marshal was entirely justified in his efforts to disarm these men, and that being fired upon they had to defend themselves which they did most bravely ... The funeral of the McLaury brothers and Clanton yesterday was numerically one of the largest ever witnessed in Tombstone. It took place at 3:30 from the undertaking parlor of Messers. Ritter and Ream. The procession, headed by the Tombstone brass band, moved down Alien Street and thence to the cemetery. The sidewalks were densely packed for three to four blocks. The body of Clanton was in the first hearse, and those of the two McLaury brothers in the second, side by side, and were interred in the same grave. It was a most impressive and saddening sight and such a one as it is to be hoped may never occur again in this community."

The Tombstone Epitaph newspaper.

Other stories in the Epitaph countered the Nugget's later view entirely and supported the lawmen. Since The Tombstone Epitaph was the local Associated Press client, its story was the version of events that most readers across the United States read first.

Public reaction ~

The initial public reaction was largely favorable to the Earps, but began to change when rumors began to circulate that Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury were unarmed, and that Billy Clanton and Tom McLaury even threw up their hands before the shooting. Within a few days, Phineas "Phin" Clanton arrived in town, and some began to claim that the Earps and Holliday had committed murder, instead of enforcing the law. Clara Spalding Brown, the wife of mining engineer Theodore Brown, was a correspondent for the San Diego Union and other California newspapers. She wrote that Tombstone residents were divided about the justification for the killings. Referring to the initial testimony offered by Ike Clanton, she wrote, "Opinion is pretty divided as to the justification of the killing. You may meet one man who will support the Earps, and declare that no other course was possible to save their own lives, and the next man is just as likely to assert that there was no occasion whatever for bloodshed, and that this will be 'a warm place' for the Earps hereafter. At the inquest yesterday, the damaging fact was ascertained that only two of the cowboys were armed, it thus being a most unequal fight."

Even the Governor of the Arizona Territory, John C. Frémont, reported after the gunfight, "Many of the very best law-abiding and peace-loving citizens [of Tombstone] have no confidence in the willingness of the civil officers to pursue and bring to justice that element of out-lawry so largely disturbing the sense of security ... [The opinion] is quite prevalent that the civil officers are quite largely in league with the leaders of this disturbing and dangerous element."

Arizona Governor John Charles Fremont, (1813-1890).

Conflicting record of events ~

It is not known who started shooting first. Accounts by both participants and eye-witnesses were contradictory. Those loyal to one side or the other told conflicting stories and independent eyewitnesses who did not know the participants by sight were unable to say for certain who shot first. All witnesses agreed that general firing almost immediately commenced. Most witnesses reported the first two shots were so close together that they could barely be distinguished. Some witnesses testified that Morgan and Doc fired across one another at Billy and Frank, respectively. Wyatt said that he and Billy Clanton had fired first, and Virgil confirmed that one of the first shots was fired by Billy Clanton. Witnesses could not agree on whether Tom McLaury was armed.

The existing record of the events surrounding the gunfight and the testimony given at the preliminary hearing are provided by three primary sources. The first two are the newspapers, The Tombstone Epitaph and The Nugget. Reporters from both newspapers covered the hearings and recorded the testimony at the coroner's inquest and the Spicer hearings, but only the reporter from the Nugget knew shorthand. The third source was the court recorder, who took down the testimony in longhand. Testimony recorded by the court recorder and the two reporters varied greatly. Generally the Nugget coverage was more complete, but occasionally the Epitaph offered information not found elsewhere.

Author Stuart N. Lake, who wrote the extremely popular biography Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal, relied on the surviving portion of the court record, which he described as a "sheaf of original handwritten documents rescued from oblivion."

Stuart Nathaniel Lake.

Part-time newspaper reporter Howell 'Pat' Hayhurst, sponsored by the Federal Writers' Project, part of the Works Progress Administration, transcribed all of the testimony from the hearing in the early 1930s. However, it's known that Hayhurst arbitrarily edited and removed text that he decided was not relevant. The documents were subsequently lost and are still unaccounted for. Hayhurst seemed to have an antipathy toward Wyatt Earp. Author Alan Barra believes Hayhurst was a friend of Albert Behan, Johnny Behan's son. After he completed his transcription, he kept the original document in his home, where it was destroyed in a house fire. Lake later said Hayhurst 'mutilated' the transcription.

Alford E. Turner published The OK Corral Inquest based on the Hayhurst transcription, minus his edits, in 1981, and added his own footnotes. He hired a typist to copy the Hayhurst transcription, which introduced additional errors and omissions. A copy of the Hayhurst transcription is in the Goldwater collection at Arizona State University.

Coroner's report ~

Coroner Henry M. Matthews convened the Coroner's Inquest. For unknown reasons, he chose individuals mostly sympathetic to the Cowboys: Ike Clanton, William Claiborne, C.H. Light, John Behan, R.F. Coleman, William Cuddy, Peter Fallehy, and Mrs. Martha King. Matthews examined the dead Cowboys and reported his findings to the inquest members. The Tombstone Epitaph reported and commented on the coroner's jury's findings:

"The coroner's jury, after deliberating for two hours in regard to the late killing of William Clanton, Frank and Thomas McLaury, brought in a verdict that the men named came to their deaths in the town of Tombstone on October 26, 1881, from the effect of pistol and gunshot wounds inflicted by Virgil Earp, Morgan Earp, Wyatt Earp and one Holliday commonly called "Doc" Holliday. The verdict does not seem to meet with general approval, as it does not state whether the cowboys were killed by the marshal and his party in the discharge of their duty, or whether the killing was justifiable."

Matthews testified at the inquest that Tom McLaury had been killed by a single shotgun blast, contradicting Behan's testimony that he had been shot with a pistol, which according to the defense, "... to make any sense, the court would have to believe that Holliday marched down Fremont Street carrying a shotgun; put it aside in order to pull out his pistol; fired the first shot, presumably at Billy Clanton; and then picked up the shotgun in order to kill Tom McLaury—all in the space of a few seconds." Under questioning, Matthews said he did not see Ike Clanton appeal to Wyatt to not shoot him.

The old Tombstone Courthouse building.

Earps and Holliday arrested ~

Four days after the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, as permitted by territorial law, Ike Clanton applied by affidavit for an arrest warrant against Doc Holliday and the Earps. Because Morgan and Virgil were incapacitated by their wounds, they were recovering at home, and were not required to post bail. Wyatt and Holliday were arrested and brought before Justice of the Peace Wells Spicer. Spicer initially denied bail because it was a capital case, but "upon a showing of facts by affidavit," decided to exercise judicial discretion, and granted Wyatt and Holliday $10,000 bail, about $268,172 today. Their bail was paid by contributions from James Earp, Tom Fitch (their attorney), Robert J. Winders (a mining partner), E. B. Gage (part-owner and superintendent of the Grand Central Mining Company), Fred J. Dodge (Wells Fargo undercover agent), and other business owners appreciative of the Earps' efforts. Wyatt contributed $7,000 to Holliday's bail amount. Gage was also a prominent Republican and a member of the Citizens Safety Committee.

Fitch was one of the most experienced criminal defense lawyers in the region. Justice Spicer was a Republican and had mutual friends in common with the Earps. He had been a lawyer, prospector, land speculator, and journalist. The defense appeared to bet its case on winning a preliminary hearing in front of Spicer, rather than in front of a jury that might be composed of Cowboy loyalists. The city council suspended Virgil Earp as town marshal pending the outcome of the hearing. James Flynn was named to replace him.

Preliminary hearing convened ~

After Ike Clanton filed murder charges, Justice Spicer convened the preliminary hearing in the Mining Exchange Building on October 31 to determine if there was enough evidence to go to trial. In an unusual proceeding, Spicer took written and oral testimony from a number of witnesses over more than a month.

Prosecution team and witnesses ~

The preliminary hearing was prosecuted by Republican District Attorney Lyttleton Price, assisted by John M. Murphy, James Robinson, and Ben Goodrich. During initial motions, they tried to invalidate Justice Spicer's ability to render a decision. They argued that as justice of the peace he was merely an administrative officer and had no power to pass judgement on the evidence submitted. They submitted that his only duty was to note the evidence submitted along with the objections taken. Spicer denied the motion, stating that he was acting as the court and had the power to pass on the admissibility of all evidence put before the court.

Price and his team were joined on November 4 by William McLaury, Frank and Tom's older brother, and an able attorney from Ft. Worth, Texas. The outlaw Cowboys were anxious for a ruling finding the lawmen guilty of murder. A travel writer from New York reported that the Earps had sufficient influence in town that they would go free, but that Cowboys were "flocking into town, and on one quiet Sunday afternoon in particular things wore an ominous look. It was said that should justice fail to be done, the vengeful, resolute men conferring darkly at the edges of the sidewalk would attempt to take the matter into their own hands."

Will McLaury threats ~

Will McLaury appeared to be genuinely convinced that Ike Clanton was telling the truth, that the Earps and Holliday and taken part in a scheme to rob stages, and that the Earps and Holliday had killed his brothers hiding behind their badges in the execution of the Cowboys. He arrived with every intention of seeing the Earp's and Holliday pay for killing his brothers by "one means or another." After Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday were jailed during the fifth day of the hearing, Will McLaury wrote about the hearing and the events in a letter to his sister. He implied in his letters that if he wasn't successful obtaining justice through the courts that he might call on armed friends to kill the lawmen.

Will McLaury.

"I think their only hope is escape and should they escape from jail their bones will bleach on the mountains ... I find a large number of Texas friends here who are ready willing to stand by me and with Winchesters if necessary[.] The only thing now is to keep my friends quiet. there Came near being a general killing here last night which had it not been prevented would have closed my business here. I am trying to punish these men through the courts if the country first it that fails—then we may submit. " In another letter, Will McLaury stated it was his duty to see that the lawmen were punished.

"I think I can put an end to this thing in a couple hours and I cannot afford to do it nor even conspire at it. But this thing has a tendency to arouse all the devil there is in me. It will not bring my brothers back to prosecute these men. But I regard it as my duty to myself and family to see that these brutes do not go unwhipped of justice. Exercising our own judgment must as to our business and as to my affairs do the same."

Later in November he wrote his sister again, who had criticized him as a single father for leaving his family in Texas for such a long period:

"My children will be provided for and I dont think a father would be any great advantage to them who would leave it to God to punish men who murdered their uncles."

Martha J. King ~

Martha J. King was in Bauer's butcher shop, next door to the O.K. Corral's rear entrance, when she saw the Earp party walk by four abreast, headed towards Fly's Boarding House and Photography Studio. She saw Holliday, nearest to the building, carrying "a gun, not a pistol" under his overcoat on the left side.

C.H. Light ~

C. H. "Ham" Light, a business partner of Pete Spence and a friend to the Cowboys, heard the first two shots from his room at the Aztec House across the corner from the fight, and went to the window in time to see all but the first two shots fired. According to Light, at that time Tom McLaury was already moving onto Fremont Street, away from the empty lot, although other eyewitness accounts placed Tom's movement later.

Sheriff Johnny Behan ~

As Cochise County Sheriff, Johnny Behan was the most significant witness for the prosecution. The first story published in the Nuggett the day after the shooting, which was usually very friendly to the Cowboys, stated that Behan "was standing near by commanding the contestants to cease firing but was powerless to prevent it." But Behan's testimony contradicted what was reported in the Nuggett. On the third day of the hearing, Behan began two days on the stand. Behan said he tried to persuade the Cowboys to give up their weapons and attempted to stop the Earps from confronting them.

Cochise County Marshal Johnny Behan.

Behan testified that from the time the Earps passed him by to confront the Cowboys, he had watched them closely. Behan gave strong testimony that the Cowboys had not resisted but either threw up their hands or turned out their coats to show they were not armed. He said that the Earp group started shooting first. "I suppose that there was as many as 8 or 10 shots before I saw arms in the hands of any of the McLaury or Clanton party."

But Behan offered confusing testimony about which member of the lawmen first pulled the trigger. He testified he "saw a shotgun before the fight commenced. Doc Holliday had it. He had it under his coat." He said he did not see the shotgun used. He also said that, "My impression at the time was that Holliday had the nickel-plated pistol", that "The nickel-plated pistol was the first to fire," and that "The nickel-plated pistol was fired by the second man from the right."

He told the court that he heard Billy Clanton say, "Don't shoot me. I don't want to fight." He also testified that Tom McLaury threw open his coat to show that he was not armed and that the first two shots were fired by the Earp party. Behan denied hearing either the Clantons or McLaurys make any threats against the Earps or Holliday beforehand. He also denied telling the Earps, "I have got them disarmed." But Behan had motive to lie. Ever since he reneged on his promise to put Wyatt in as his deputy once he won the election, the two had been at odds. And there was also the possibility that Behan knew of the attraction if not a relationship between Josie and Wyatt.

Under cross-examination by Earp's attorney, he admitted seeing Holliday carrying the messenger shotgun towards the confrontation. All the witnesses testified that they saw Holliday carrying a shotgun. Behan's testimony for the prosecution initially turned public opinion against the Earps. He portrayed a far different gunfight than had been first reported in both of the Tombstone papers. But he was also challenged by the defense attorney about a conversation he reportedly had with Virgil Earp the evening of the gunfight during which he supported their version of events. Fitch asked Behan if while visiting the Earps that night if he had said, "I heard you say, `Boys, throw up your hands; I have come to disarm you,' when one of the McLowry boys said, `We will, and drew his gun, and shooting then commenced. I am your friend, and you did perfectly right,' or language of the same substance or import?" Behan equivocated and did directly answer the question.

Thomas Allen ~

Thomas Allen said he thought Holliday fired first and that it was a pistol shot.

Ike Clanton ~

Ike Clanton took the stand on November 9. He repeated in his testimony the story of abuse that he had suffered at the hands of the Earps and Holliday the night before the gunfight. He denied threatening the Earps. He testified that the Clantons and Frank McLaury raised their hands after Virgil's command, and Tom thrust open his vest to show he was unarmed. Clanton said Wyatt shoved his revolver in his belly, telling him, "You son-of-a-bitch, you can have a fight!"

Ike Clanton.

Clanton backed up Behan's testimony that Holliday and Morgan Earp had fired the first two shots and that the next several shots also came from the Earp party. Under cross-examination, Clanton said that Doc Holliday, Virgil Earp, Wyatt Earp, and Morgan Earp had all confided in him that they had actually been involved in the stage robbery. He further claimed that Holliday had told him that Holliday had "piped off" money from the stage before it left (although no money was missing, and the stage had not been successfully robbed). Clanton also said Holliday had confessed to him about killing the stage driver. Clanton testified that Wyatt Earp had threatened to kill him and his confederates because Earp feared they would reveal his part in the robbery.

Murder was a capital offense, and given their acrimonious relationship, it was unlikely Holliday would confide in Clanton. These and other inconsistencies in Clanton's testimony lacked credibility. By the time he finished his testimony, the entire prosecution case had become suspect.

Will McLaury believed Clanton's testimony. He wrote his sister the next day, telling her, "I send you papers containing the evidence. I shall try to have these men hanged." He also wrote his partner in his legal practice, Captain Greene, and told him, "As to the perpetration of the crime, I can only say it was as cold-blooded and foul a murder as has been recorded."

Clanton stated that Wyatt's motive for murdering the Cowboys was based on a stagecoach robbery on March 15, 1881. He claimed that the Earps and Holliday had robbed the stage, and killed the Cowboys to cover up the crime. He told the court that Earp wanted to conceal his family's involvement in the Benson stage robbery and had sworn him to secrecy, and that Morgan Earp had confided in him that he and Wyatt had "piped off $1,400 to Doc Holliday and Bill Leonard", who were supposed to be on the stage the night when Bud Philpot was killed. Clanton told the court, "I was not going to have anything to do with helping to capture—" and then he corrected himself "—kill Bill Leonard, Crane, and Harry Head". Clanton denied having any knowledge of the Wells Fargo telegram confirming the reward money.

Billy Claiborne ~

Billy Claiborne, who had run from the fight, supported Ike Clanton's testimony as well. Claiborne also backed up the version of events testified to by Behan that placed a nickel-plated pistol in Holliday's hands, and that Holliday opened the fight with a shot from his nickel-plated pistol. Claiborne said, "They came within ten feet of where we were standing. When they got to the corner of Fly's building, they had their six-shooters in their hands, and Marshal Earp said, 'You sons-of-bitches, you've been looking for a fight, and you can have it!' And then said, 'Throw up your hands.'"

Billy Claiborne.

Wes Fuller ~

Cowboy Wesley Fuller, who had initially been at the back of the empty lot near the rear of Fly's studio, corroborated Clanton's version of events. He testified that he heard the Earps say, "Throw up your hands!" He said Billy Clanton threw up his hands, saying, "Don't shoot me! I don't want to fight!" and the shooting began immediately. The prosecution asked Fuller if on November 5 he had told Wyatt that he intended to "cinch Holliday." He responded, "I don't say positively I might have used words, 'I mean to cinch Holliday.'"

Over several days, the prosecution's witnesses testified that Tom McLaury was unarmed, that Billy Clanton had his hands in the air, and that neither of the McLaurys were troublemakers. They portrayed Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury as being unjustly bullied and beaten by the vengeful Earps on the day of the gunfight. On the strength of the prosecution case, Spicer revoked bail for Doc and Wyatt Earp and had them arrested on November 7, and they spent the next 16 days in jail.

Defense team and witnesses ~

Tom Fitch, the Earp's defense counsel, was an experienced trial lawyer. The Earps' lawyer Tom Fitch had gained a reputation as the "silver-tongued orator of the Pacific." He was one of the best-known legal and political figures on the American frontier in the 1880s. Fitch carried impressive credentials: he was a former state legislator from California, had been Nevada's Representative to the United States House of Representatives, was former general counsel for Brigham Young and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Utah Territory, and a close friend of Arizona's governor John C. Frémont.

The Earps hired famed defense lawyer Tom Fitch to argue their case.

Fitch was assisted by his law partner and future mayor of San Diego, Will Hunsaker. The Earps raised defense funds from E.B. Gage and others.

Defense testimony ~

The defense won a key motion when they persuaded Justice Spicer to allow testimony about the history of threats made against the Earps. While Morgan, who had been shot in the back, remained bedridden throughout the trial and did not testify, Spicer moved the proceedings to the Cosmopolitan Hotel so Virgil Earp, who had been hit in the calf, could testify from his bed.

Holliday's role ~

The defense wanted to cast doubt on Behan, Claiborne and Allen's testimony that Doc Holliday or a "man" had fired his nickel-plated pistol first. The defense pointed out that the prosecution's scenario would have required Holliday to fire with his pistol first, switch to the shotgun to shoot Tom McLaury, then switch back again to his pistol to continue firing. Author Allen Barra pointed out that this sequence is unbelievable. Holliday was fighting for his life and switching weapons twice in the first few seconds doesn't make sense. Doc Holliday was defended by United States Court Commissioner Thomas J. Drum. Given Doc Holliday's reputation as a hothead, the defense decided to not call him to the stand. Virgil, Wyatt and other witnesses testified that Holliday was carrying a shotgun before the gunfight.

Modern writers including Paula Mitchell Marks and Alford Turner have advanced the theory that Holliday somehow managed to hold and accurately fire two weapons ambidextrously, but none of the witnesses including Behan reported observing this. Firing even a short messenger shotgun is a two-handed effort.

Three witnesses—H.F Sills, Addie Bourland, and Judge J. H. Lucas—eventually gave key evidence that swayed Justice Spicer to hold that there was not enough evidence to indict the Earps and Doc Holliday for murder.

Testimony of Wyatt Earp ~

Fitch had Wyatt Earp prepare a written statement, as permitted by Section 133 of Arizona law, which would not allow the prosecution to cross-examine him. On November 16, when Wyatt was called to the stand and began to read his statement, the prosecution vociferously objected. Although the statute wasn't specific about whether it was legal for a defendant to read his statement, Spicer allowed his testimony to proceed.

Wyatt Earp.

Wyatt testified about the stagecoach robbery described by Ike Clanton as his motive for murdering the Cowboys. He stated that he offered Ike Clanton and Frank McLaury the $3,600 Wells Fargo reward money in return for information about the identities of the three robbers. He testified that he hoped that arresting the murderers would boost his chances for election as Cochise County sheriff. According to testimony given by Wyatt and Virgil, both McLaury and Clanton agreed to provide information to assist in capturing Leonard, Head, and Crain, but they never had a chance to fulfill the agreement. All three suspects were killed when attempting other robberies.

Wyatt detailed the Earps' previous troubles with the Clantons and McLaurys and explained that they intended to disarm the cowboys. Reading from his written statement, he said that "The first two shots were fired by Billy Clanton and myself, he shooting at me, and I shooting at Frank McLaury." He said that he knew Frank was a better shot, so he aimed for Frank first. He said he drew his gun only after Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury went for their pistols and that he and the other lawmen fired in self-defense.

After the defense had established doubts about the prosecution's case, Justice Spicer released Holliday and Wyatt from jail to rejoin their families in time for Thanksgiving. Mining executives E.B. Gage and James Vizina paid the lawmen's $20,000 bail.

Winfield Williams ~

When questioned by Fitch during his earlier testimony, Behan denied that he had told Virgil he'd seen a McLaury brother draw first, or said to Virgil, "I am your friend," and that Virgil had done the right thing." Fitch called Deputy District Attorney Winfield Scott Williams, who had been appointed by District Attorney Price. Williams was present when Behan visited Virgil the evening after the gunfight. He affirmed Virgil's memory of the visit and contradicted Behan's testimony about the conversation. In that conversation, according to Williams, Behan told Virgil that one of the McLaury brothers drew his gun first, and "I am your friend, and you did perfectly right."

H.F. Sills ~

One of the most notable witnesses was H. F. Sills, an AT&SF Railroad engineer. He had been temporarily furloughed from his job and found a room in a lodging house in Tombstone only the day before he witnessed the shootout. He stayed there for nine or ten days, recovering from an undefined illness. He was then admitted to a hospital where he remained for more than two weeks before he appeared at the hearing on November 22. Sills didn't know any of the parties involved and had no knowledge of any of the events prior to the day of the gunfight. He could only report what he saw and heard since his arrival.

I saw four or five men standing in front of the O. K. Corral on October 26th, about two o'clock in the afternoon, talking of some trouble they had had with Virgil Earp, and they made threats at the time that on meeting him they would kill him on sight. Some one of the party spoke up at the time and said: "That they would kill the whole party of Earps when they met them." I then walked up the street and made inquiry as to who Virgil Earp and the Earps were. A man on the street pointed out Virgil Earp to me and told me he was the city marshal. I went over and called him one side, and told him of the threats that I had overheard this party make. One of the men that made the threats had a bandage around his head at the time, and the day of the funeral he was pointed out to me as Isaac Clanton.

Testifying about the gunfight itself, he said he saw "the marshal go up and speak to this other party. I ... saw them pull out their revolvers immediately. The marshal had a cane in his right hand at the time. He throwed up his hand and spoke. I did not hear the words though. By that time Billy Clanton and Wyatt Earp had fired their guns off."

Grilled by the prosecution, he corroborated virtually all of the defense's testimony. Because his view of events was so neutral, some Cowboys thought he was a plant or part of a conspiracy intended to discredit the Cowboys. Little information can be found today on Sills before he came to Tombstone and he vanished afterward, except for a brief mention in one newspaper three months later: "Engineer Sill, who formerly drove a locomotive on the Las Vegas division, is in California."

Some modern researchers have tried to discredit Sills' testimony, questioning the perfect timing of his arrival in Tombstone and his exact corroboration of the Earps' view of events. They believe Sills may have had an earlier connection to the Earps and was tutored in his testimony. But Sills included in his testimony two key details about his employment history that have been confirmed. He said that he "went to Omaha, Nebraska ... I was an apprentice in the machine shop, locomotive fireman on the road, and locomotive engineer. During the time I served my apprenticeship Mr. Congden was general mechanic, and Mr. McConnell was foreman." Both of these names have been found in Omaha city directories of that time period, apparently confirming the truthfulness of his identify and some portions of his testimony.

Addie Bourland ~

The second key witness was Addie Bourland, a dressmaker whose residence was across Fremont Street from Fly's Boarding House. She testified that she saw both sides facing each other, that none of the Cowboys had held their hands up, that the firing was general, and that she had not seen Billy Clanton fall immediately as the Cowboys had testified. After her initial testimony, Spicer decided to personally interview Addie Bourland. She had presented confusing testimony and he recalled her to the stand to answer his questions, much to the dismay and objections of the prosecution. In her second visit to Spicer's courtroom, she said a man stepped forward and poked a large, bronze pistol into an unnamed Cowboy's belly, then took a couple of steps backward. She didn't see anyone raise their hands.

Judge J. H. Lucas ~

The third witness was Judge J.H. Lucas of the Cochise County Probate Court, whose office was in the Mining Exchange Building about 200 feet (61 m) from the shootout. Lucas' corroborated Addie Bourland's testimony that Billy Clanton was standing throughout the fight, which contradicted prosecution witnesses who maintained he went down immediately after being shot at close range in the belly. Spicer noted that no powder burns were found on Clanton's clothing, which contradicted the plaintiff's claims that he had been shot at close range. Only when Clanton went down at the end did the general firing cease.

Ruling ~

Decision of Judge Wells Spicer after the Preliminary Hearing in the Earp-Holliday Case

These witnesses' testimony, especially that of H.F. Sills, discredited much of the testimony given by Sheriff Johnny Behan, Ike Clanton and the other Cowboy witnesses. In his ruling, Spicer specifically mentioned Sills' testimony:

"At this time Virgil Earp was informed by one H.F. Sills, engineer from the A.T.& S.F.R.R., then absent from duty on a layoff furlough, and who had arrived in town only the day before and totally unacquainted with any person in town or the state of affairs existing here, that he [Sills] had overheard armed parties, just then passing through the O.K. Corral, say, in effect, that they would make sure to kill Earp the marshal, and would kill all the Earps."

Sills' lack of knowledge of the parties enhanced his credibility with Justice Spicer and may have been the deciding factor in his ruling. After extensive testimony, Justice Spicer ruled on November 30 that there was not enough evidence to indict the lawmen. He noted that the doctor who examined the dead Cowboys established that the wounds they received could not have occurred if their hands and arms had been in the positions that prosecution witnesses described. He said the evidence indicated that the Earps and Holliday acted within the law and that Holliday and Wyatt had been deputized temporarily by Virgil.

In his ruling, he noted that Ike Clanton had the night before, while unarmed, publicly declared that the Earp brothers and Holliday had insulted him, and that when he was armed he intended to shoot them or fight them on sight. On the morning of the shooting he was armed with revolver and Winchester rifle. Spicer noted that:

"Witnesses for the prosecution state unequivocally that William Clanton fell or was shot at the first fire and Claiborne says he was shot when the pistol was only about a foot from his belly. Yet it is clear that there were no powder burns or marks on his clothes. And Judge Lucas says he saw him fire or in the act of firing several times before he was shot, and he thinks two shots afterwards."

He also wrote in his decision that Ike Clanton had claimed the Earps were out to murder him, yet even though he was unarmed, the Earps had allowed him to escape unharmed during the fight. He wrote, "the great fact, most prominent in the matter, to wit, that Isaac Clanton was not injured at all, and could have been killed first and easiest." He described Frank McLaury's insistence that he would not give up his weapons unless the marshal and his deputies also gave up their arms as a "proposition both monstrous and startling!" He noted that the prosecution claimed that the Cowboys' purpose was to leave town, yet Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne did not have their weapons with them.

Spicer did not condone all of the Earps' actions and criticized Virgil Earp's use of Wyatt and Holliday as deputies, but he concluded that no laws were broken.

"In view of these controversies between Wyatt Earp and Isaac Clanton and Thomas McLaury, and in further view of this quarrel the night before between Isaac Clanton and J. H. Holliday, I am of the opinion that the defendant, Virgil Earp, as chief of police, subsequently calling upon Wyatt Earp, and J. H. Holliday to assist him in arresting and disarming the Clantons and McLaurys—committed an injudicious and censurable act, and although in this he acted incautiously and without due circumspection, yet when we consider the condition of affairs incidental to a frontier country, the lawlessness and disregard for human life; the existence of a law-defying element in our midst; the fear and feeling of insecurity that has existed; the supposed prevalence of bad, desperate and reckless men who have been a terror to the country, and kept away capital and enterprise, and considering the many threats that have been made against the Earps. I can attach no criminality to his unwise act. In fact, as the result plainly proves, he needed the assistance and support of staunch and true friends, upon whose courage, coolness and fidelity he could depend, in case of an emergency."

Spicer invited the grand jury to confirm his findings. Two weeks later, they agreed with Spicer's ruling and also refused to indict the lawmen. Even though the Earps and Holliday were free, their reputations had been tarnished. Supporters of the Cowboys in Tombstone looked upon the Earps as murderers.

Aftermath ~

The newspapers followed the hearings closely. When Spicer announced his decision, the Arizona Weekly Citizen on March 26, 1882, wrote: "These facts are sorely entitled to sufficient consideration to prevent the homicide thus legally declared to be justifiable from being classed with deeds of secret murder."

On about December 14, Justice Spicer received a threatening letter from "A Miner," which said in part, "But it is only a matter of time you will get it sooner or later" and told him that he should leave Tombstone. He responded with a defiant letter published by The Tombstone Epitaph, stating he would not bow to threats from the rabble of the city. He wrote that some of the citizenry "would like to be thugs if they had courage; would be proud to be called cowboys, if people gave them that distinction; but as they can be neither, they do the best they can to show how vile they are ...", concluding that "I will be here just where they can find me if they want me". Wells Fargo Agent Marshall Williams, Mayor John Clum, attorney Tom Fitch, Oriental Saloon owner Lou Rickabaugh, and the Earps were also threatened.

Ike refiles charges ~

In December, Ike Clanton went before Justice of the Peace J.B. Smith in Contention City and again filed murder charges against the Earps and Holliday. A large posse escorted the Earps to Contention, fearing that the cowboys would try to ambush the Earps on the unprotected road. The charges were dismissed by Judge J. H. Lucas because of Smith's judicial ineptness. The prosecution immediately filed a new warrant for murder charges, issued by Justice Smith, but Judge Lucas equally quickly dismissed it, writing that new evidence would have to be submitted before a second hearing could be called. Because the November hearing before Spicer was not a trial, Clanton had the right to continue pushing for prosecution, but the prosecution would have to come up with new evidence of murder before the case could be considered.

Mayor Clum attacked ~

On December 14, two weeks after Justice of the Peace Spicer handed down his decision, someone tried to kill John Clum. He was publisher of The Tombstone Epitaph whose newspaper had consistently supported the Earps, a member of the Citizens Safety Committee, and Mayor of Tombstone. While on a stage en route to Benson, it was fired upon by unknown assailants. The stage didn't carry any mail, cash, or silver, so robbery was an unlikely motive for the attack. Stagecoach driver Jimmie Harrington was able to outrun the attackers, but had to stop to remove a lead horse that had been shot through and was bleeding to death. Clum, certain the attackers were trying to kill him, didn't reboard the stage but walked several miles until he found a horse he could borrow. He got to Benson the next day.

John Clum in his younger days.

Additional witness found ~

The Kansas City Star ran a story that was reprinted by The Tombstone Epitaph on December 30, 1881, about a witness who had never been called during the preliminary hearing. According to the Star, a Mrs. J. C. Colyer had been visiting the home of her sister and brother-in-law at Boston Mill on the San Pedro River 8 miles (13 km) southwest of Tombstone. On the day of the shoot out, she drove into Tombstone with her sister and stopped at the post office. While she waited in the buggy, she was an eyewitness to the confrontation. According to Colyer, the Cowboys opened fire the moment the marshal called upon them to throw up their hands. She also said that one of the Cowboys was firing from under the neck of his horse which some interpreted to be Tom McLaury, who according to the Cowboys was unarmed. She said, "... the Cowboys opened fire on them, and you never saw such shooting. One of the Cowboys, after he had been shot three times, raised himself on his elbow and shot one of the officers and fell back dead. Another used his horse as a barricade and shot under his neck."

Anonymous threats ~

On December 30, 1881, the Weekly Arizona Miner newspaper published the following article:

"For some time past, the Earps, Doc. Holliday, Tom Fitch and others who upheld and defended the Earps in their late trial, have received, almost daily, anonymous letters, warning them to leave town or suffer death, supposed to have been written by friend of the Clanton and McLowry boys, three of whom the Earps and Holliday killed, and little attention was paid to them, as they were believed to be idle boasts, but the shooting of Virgil Earp last night shows that the men are in earnest. Virgil Earp formerly lived in Prescott, and at one time was night-watchman. He left Prescott during the Tombstone excitement, and has since been a resident of that town."

Virgil Earp.

Virgil Earp ambushed ~

At about 11:30 pm on December 28, 1881, just over two months after the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Virgil Earp was ambushed as he was returning from Schieffelin Hall back to the Cosmopolitan Hotel, where the Earps had moved for mutual support and protection. Three assailants on the second story of an unfinished building across Allen street from the hotel fired three loads of double-barreled buckshot from about 60 feet (18 m). Virgil was struck in the back and left arm by about 20 buckshot pellets, shattering his humerus. Dr. George E. Goodfellow removed 4 inches (10 cm) of shattered bone and was able to save Virgil's arm, but he carried it in a sling the rest of his life.

The next day Wyatt, believing that Virgil was dying, telegraphed Crawley Dake, U.S. Marshal for the Arizona Territory. He requested appointment as Deputy U.S. Marshal for eastern Pima County and asked for authority to form a posse:

"VIRGIL EARP WAS SHOT BY CONCEALED ASSASSINS LAST NIGHT HIS WOUNDS ARE FATAL TELEGRAPH ME APPOINTMENT WITH POWER TO APPOINT DEPUTIES LOCAL AUTHORITIES ARE DOING NOTHING THE LIVES OF OTHER CITIZENS ARE THREATENED WYATT EARP."

Crawley Dake, U.S. Marshal for the Arizona Territory.

In late January, unable to obtain funds from his superiors, Dake went to San Francisco where he persuaded the Wells, Fargo & Co. to loan him $3000, assuring them that the Department of Justice would honor the loan. He apparently neglected to inform his superiors of his arrangement and was later investigated for financial improprieties. Some reports say he borrowed only $500.

On January 20, 1882, Dake deposited $2,985 into an account in Wyatt's name at Hudson & Company in Tombstone, and authorized Wyatt to employ a posse to track down the Cowboys. On January 25, Wyatt obtained warrants from Judge Stilwell for the arrest of Ike and Phin Clanton, and another Cowboy named Pony Diehl, for the attempted murder of Virgil. Wyatt and Morgan Earp, along with Doc Holliday, assembled a posse which turned Charleston inside out looking for the Cowboys without success. Wyatt returned to Tombstone to find the men had already surrendered, though they thought it was for lesser charges. Clanton was later accused, along with his brother Phin Clanton and friend Pony Diehl, of attempting to kill Virgil Earp. Wyatt apparently used only a portion of the Wells Fargo funds, with a single withdrawal of $536.65 on record.

A week later, Wyatt tried to defuse the situation by offering Ike Clanton a truce, but Clanton would have no part in it. On February 2, Virgil and Wyatt resigned from their positions as Deputy U.S. Marshals in a letter published in The Daily Epitaph, though Dake refused Wyatt's resignation. Though Ike's hat was found at the scene where the ambushers waited, a number of associates stood up for him, saying that he had been in Contention that night, and the case against Ike, Phin and Pony Diehl was dismissed for lack of evidence.

On February 9, Ike Clanton filed murder charges yet again against the Earps, once again in Contention City. Behan escorted Wyatt and Morgan there, guarded by a phalanx of 12 heavily armed friends en route. Judge Smith refused to indict the Earps unless the Clantons could supply new evidence.

The Earps were pressed for cash. Virgil had been suspended from his job as town Marshal which paid him $150 a month. For increased security, the brothers and their wives had been living in town at the Cosmopolitan Hotel since the October 26 gunfight. The Wells Fargo funds only covered the costs of his posse. On February 13, Wyatt and Mattie took out a three-month note on their home, lots three and four of Block M near Fremont and First Streets, and James G. Howard loaned them $365.00 in gold coin (or about $9,788 in today's dollars). Wyatt was unable to pay the mortgage and Howard later foreclosed, claiming the property.

Morgan Earp assassinated ~

The Deadly Bullet ~

On Saturday evening, March 18, 1882, Morgan, Doc Holliday, and Dan Tipton attended Stolen Kisses, a musical by William Horace Lingard and Company, at Schieffelin Hall. Wyatt, having received threats that same day, warned against going. Benjamin Goodrich cautioned them, "You fellows will catch it tonight if you don't look out," but the men went anyway. Afterwards, Doc went to his room and Morgan and Tipton headed for Hatch's Saloon and Billiard Parlor, which had become their unofficial headquarters after the Oriental Hotel was sold.

Campbell & Hatches Saloon still looks pretty much as it did when the shooting of Morgan Earp happened in it's back room.

Interior of the Campbell & Hatch Saloon & Billiard Parlor.

Morgan came upon Virgil's wife Allie while she was out shopping for her convalescing husband, and he escorted her back to the Cosmopolitan Hotel. He returned to the Campbell & Hatch Billiard Parlor and played a late round of billiards with owner Bob Hatch. Wyatt, Tipton, and Sherman McMaster watched them play at a pool table near the back door.

Morgan played pool by the windowed back door.

At 10:50 pm, Morgan Earp was waiting for Hatch to line up a shot when two bullets were fired through a glass-windowed, locked door which opened onto a dark alley between Allen and Fremont Streets. The first bullet struck Morgan in the right side. It shattered his spine, passed through his left side, and lodged in the thigh of mining foreman George A. B. Berry. A second bullet lodged near the ceiling over Wyatt's head. Morgan fell to the floor and Wyatt, McMaster, and Tipton moved him away from the outside door to the floor near the door of the card room. Hatch dashed outside looking for the shooters.

Morgan lays on the blood soaked pool table while Wyatt tries in vein to comfort his dying brother.

Dr. William Miller arrived first, followed by Drs. Matthews and George Goodfellow. They all examined Morgan. Even Goodfellow, recognized in the United States as the nation's leading expert at treating abdominal gunshot wounds, concluded that Morgan's wounds were fatal. They then moved Morgan to a lounge in an adjoining room where he died less than an hour after he was shot.

Dr. George Goodfellow.

The next day, Sunday, March 19 (Wyatt's 34th birthday), he and brother James Earp and a group of friends took Morgan's body to the railroad station in Contention. After loading his remains onto the train, James and five close friends accompanied it to Colton, California. Morgan's wife was already in Colton, where she had traveled for safety before Morgan was killed. James and his guards arrived in Colton with Morgan's body on March 21.

During the coroner's inquest into Morgan's murder, Pete Spence's wife Marietta Duarte testified that her husband, Frank Stilwell, Frederick Bode, Florentino "Indian Charlie" Cruz, and an unnamed half-breed Indian had turned up at her home an hour after Morgan was killed and talked about shooting him. She said that Spence threatened violence if she told what she knew. The five men were named as suspects in Morgan Earp's murder and the coroner's jury issued warrants for their arrest. Spence turned himself in so that he would be protected in Behan's jail, but his attorney successfully blocked his wife's testimony. Lacking evidence, the prosecution withdrew its charges. Holliday said in 1882 that he thought Behan was behind the murder of Morgan Earp.

Frank Stilwell killed ~

On Monday, March 20, Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp, James Earp, Warren Earp, Doc Holliday, "Turkey Creek" Jack Johnson, and Sherman McMaster guarded Virgil and Allie on the way to Tucson. James was to accompany Virgil, Allie, and Morgan's body to the family home in Colton, California. Morgan's wife and parents waited to bury him. Wyatt received information that Frank Stilwell, Ike Clanton, Hank Swilling, and another cowboy were waiting for them in Tucson. Upon their arrival in Tucson, the Earp party spotted Stilwell and other Cowboys. James, Virgil, and Allie boarded the train to Tucson armed with pistols, rifles and shotguns. Virgil said later that he had Allie wear his pistol belt where he could easily have access to the weapon if he should need it.

This is the location of the 1880s Tucson Depot. It was in this location where Frank Stilwell, suspected in the murder of Morgan Earp on March 18, 1882, was killed by Wyatt Earp in the company of Doc Holliday.

As the train pulled away from the Tucson station at about 7:15 p.m., six or seven shots were heard. Witnesses said they saw men running with weapons but could not identify anyone. Wyatt later told his biographers that he saw Frank Stilwell, and another man he believed to be Ike Clanton, armed with shotguns lying on a flatcar. When Wyatt and his men approached, the two men ran. Stilwell stumbled, allowing Wyatt to catch him. Wyatt later said he shot Stilwell as he attempted to push the barrel of Earp's shotgun away.

Stilwell's body was found the next day alongside the tracks riddled with buckshot and four other bullet wounds. His own pistol had not been fired. Tucson Justice of the Peace Charles Meyer issued arrest warrants for Wyatt and Warren Earp, Holliday, McMaster, and Johnson for the murder of Frank Stilwell.

Earps seek vengeance ~

Wyatt Earp felt he could not rely on the courts for justice and decided to take matters into his own hands. He concluded the only way to deal with Virgil's attackers and Morgan's murderers was to heed Spicer's advice and kill them.

During the next week Wyatt and his posse tracked down and killed Florentino "Indian Charlie" Cruz, Curly Bill Brocius, and Johnny Barnes, three of the men they believed were responsible for their brothers' ambush and murder. The ride for vengeance came to be called the Earp vendetta ride. Wyatt and Doc left the Arizona Territory for Colorado in April 1882 and parted company after a minor disagreement. Although they may have remained in contact, they never saw each other again.

Two years later, Will McLaury wrote a letter to his father in Iowa, cryptically stating: "And none of the results have been satisfactory. The only result is the death of Morgan and crippling of Virgil Earp and death of McMaster."

Participants' deaths ~

Morgan Earp was killed by a shot in the back while playing billiards less than five months after the O.K. Corral fight. He was 30 years old. His brother James took Morgan's body to Colton, California, where Morgan's wife and parents buried him in the old city cemetery of Colton, near Mount Slover. When that cemetery was moved in 1892, Morgan's body was reburied in the Hermosa Cemetery in Colton.

Billy Claiborne was killed in an altercation outside the Oriental Saloon in Tombstone on November 14, 1882, by Franklyn Leslie. Leslie shot Claiborne in self-defense after Leslie refused Claiborne's drunken demands that he call him the new "Billy the Kid." Claiborne was 22 years old when he died. He was buried in Tombstone's Boothill Cemetery.

Billy Clayborne's grave.

Ike Clanton was caught stealing cattle June 1, 1887, and shot dead by lawman Jonas V. Brighton while resisting arrest. He was about 40 years old. His body was reportedly left where it fell for several days until nearby Mormon ranchers buried him in an unmarked grave in a Mormon cemetery southeast of Eagar, Arizona on what is today called "The 26 Bar Ranch".

Ike Clanton's grave in Greenlee County, Arizona.

Doc Holliday died of tuberculosis in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, November 8, 1887, at age 36, but Wyatt Earp did not learn of Holliday's death until several months later. Holliday was buried in the Linwood Cemetery overlooking Glenwood Springs.

Doc Holliday's grave.

Virgil Earp was ambushed on the streets of Tombstone on the evening of December 28, 1881, by hidden assailants shooting from the second story of an unfinished building. The wound left him without use of his left arm. Virgil left Tombstone for California after Morgan was killed. He served as the "Town Marshal," hired by the Southern Pacific Railroad, in Colton, California. He died of pneumonia in Goldfield, Nevada at the age of 62 in 1905, still on the job as a peace officer. At the request of his long-lost daughter, Nellie Jane Bohn, Virgil's remains were buried in the River View Cemetery in Portland, Oregon.

The unfinished building where the shot was fired from the second floor that killed Morgan Earp.

Morgan Earp's grave.

Virgil Earp's grave.

Johnny Behan was not re-nominated by his own party for the sheriff race in 1882 and never again worked as a lawman. He spent the rest of his life at various government jobs and died in Tucson of natural causes at age 67, in 1912. Behan was buried in Tucson's Holy Hope Cemetery.

Wyatt Earp traveled across the western frontier from one boom town to another in the company of Josephine Marcus, working mostly as a gambler and miner, until they settled in Southern California. He was the last living participant of the gunfight when he died on January 13, 1929, at the age of 80 in Los Angeles of chronic cystitis. Josephine Earp, Wyatt's common-law wife, was of Jewish heritage. She had Earp's body cremated and secretly buried in the Marcus family plot at the Hills of Eternity, a Jewish cemetery in Colma, California. The location of his remains remained unknown to even Earp's closest living relative, George Earp, until about 1957 when the Tombstone Restoration Commission sought to have Wyatt's remains moved to Tombstone. Arthur King, a deputy to Earp from 1910 to 1912, finally revealed that Josephine had buried Wyatt's cremated remains in Colma, California, and the Tombstone Commission cancelled its plans to relocate his ashes.

Wyatt Earp in old age.

Wyatt plays with his dog along with Josie at the camp sight on one of their many travels.

Wyatt and Josie's graves.

Hearing transcripts ~

In April 2010, original transcripts of witness statements made during the preliminary hearing were rediscovered in an abandoned closet in county offices in Bisbee, Arizona, and the county said they would be preserved and digitized. Photocopies of these documents have been available to researchers since 1960, and new digitized records of the originals have been made available for online access. While the transcripts do not offer any significant deviations from generally accepted historical accounts of the gunfight itself, they were taken directly from eyewitnesses shortly afterwards and as such, they provide an interesting and unique perspective of the event.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Earp Vendetta Ride was a deadly search by a federal posse led by Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp for a loose confederation of outlaw "Cowboys" they believed had ambushed his brothers Virgil and Morgan Earp, maiming the former and killing the latter. The two Earp brothers had been attacked in retaliation for the deaths of three Cowboys in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral on October 26, 1881. From March 20 to April 15, 1882, the federal posse searched southeast Cochise County, Arizona Territory for the men they believed were responsible for the attacks on Virgil and Morgan. Several suspects had been identified and were charged, but were soon released by the court, owing in some cases to legal technicalities and in others to the strength of alibis provided by Cowboy confederates. Wyatt hoped that the legal system would bring the Cowboys to justice, but after suspects in both ambushes were freed, Wyatt resolved to take matters into his own hands.

On March 20, two days after Morgan's murder, Wyatt, his brothers Warren and James, Doc Holliday, and two other deputies were escorting Virgil and his wife Allie to a California-bound train in Tucson. They learned that suspects Ike Clanton and Frank Stilwell were already waiting there. After Virgil, Allie, and James boarded the train, Wyatt spotted two men near the train that he thought were Clanton and Stilwell. He and several men chased down and killed Stilwell, but lost the other. After Stilwell's body was found the next morning, the Tucson Justice of the Peace issued arrest warrants for the five lawmen suspected of the extra-judicial murder. When the men returned to Tombstone, Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan had received a telegram notifying him of the Tucson warrants, and attempted to detain the five members of Earp's federal posse named in the warrants, but they ignored him. Still carrying arrest warrants for Curly Bill Brocius and others, they left Tombstone to pursue further Cowboys implicated in the attacks.

Curly Bill Brocius.

Johnny Behan formed a Cochise County sheriff's posse consisting of deputies Phineas Clanton, Johnny Ringo, and about twenty other Cowboys and Arizona ranchers. Based on the local warrants, they followed the Earp posse and set out to arrest them. The large sheriff's posse came close to, but never engaged, the much smaller Earp posse, which received help from local businessmen and ranchers (and at one point, published a letter in a Tombstone newspaper taunting Behan and his men). The federal posse ultimately killed four men, starting with Stilwell and ending with Brocius. About April 15 the Earps and some of their associates rode out of Arizona Territory, headed for New Mexico Territory.

Phineas "Fin" Clanton.

Johnny Ringo.

Background ~

After a long-simmering feud and increasing animosity and threats, Tombstone town Marshal Virgil Earp, Assistant Town Marshal Morgan Earp, and temporary deputy marshals Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday confronted outlaw Cowboys Billy Claiborne, Ike and Billy Clanton, and Tom and Frank McLaury in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral on October 26, 1881. The 30-second gunfight is generally regarded as the most famous gunfight in the history of the American Wild West. The lawmen killed three of the Cowboys during the gunfight. Ike Clanton filed murder charges, and after a month-long preliminary hearing, Justice of the Peace Wells Spicer found that the lawmen had acted within their duty. But Spicer's finding did not end the matter for Clanton and other Cowboys.

Attempted murder of Virgil Earp ~

At about 11:30 pm on December 28, 1881, just over two months after the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, three men ambushed Virgil Earp as he walked from Schieffelin Hall back to the Cosmopolitan Hotel, where the Earps had moved for mutual support and protection. He was hit in the back and upper left arm by about 20 buckshot pellets, shattering his humerus. Dr. George Goodfellow, who treated him, had to remove 5.5 inches (140 mm) of bone. Wyatt telegraphed U.S. Marshal Crawley Dake. He requested appointment as Deputy U.S. Marshal for eastern Pima County and authority to form a posse.

Commenting on Earp's request to Dake, the Weekly Arizona Miner wrote on December 30, 1881 about the repeated threats received by the Earps and others:

"For some time, the Earps, Doc Holliday, Tom Fitch and others who upheld and defended the Earps in their late trial have received, almost daily, anonymous letters, warning them to leave town or suffer death, supposed to have been written by friends of the Clanton and McLowry boys, three of whom the Earps and Holliday killed and little attention was paid to them as they were believed to be idle boasts but the shooting of Virgil Earp last night shows that the men were in earnest."

Wyatt deputizes posse ~

Dake replied affirmatively by telegraph, and Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp deputized Warren Earp, Doc Holliday, Sherman McMaster, Jack "Turkey Creek" Johnson, Charlie "Hairlip Charlie" Smith, Daniel "Tip" Tipton, and John "Texas Jack" Vermillion to protect the family and pursue the suspects, paying them $5 a day.

McMaster and Johnson were known as tough men who knew how to use their guns. McMaster had seen service with the Texas Rangers in 1878–1879 when his unit captured and held Curly Bill Brocius prisoner for five months. In Tombstone, McMaster had also been accused of stealing U.S. Army mules and robbing a stage with outlaw Charles "Pony" Diehl. Fluent in Spanish, McMaster used his inside knowledge of the Cowboys to assist the Earps in their search. He also liked fine horses.

Sherman McMasters.

Jack "Turkey Creek" Johnson, whose real name according to Wyatt Earp was John William Blount, was a native of Missouri who was raised in the lead mining area near Neosho. Blount was forced to flee Missouri in 1877 after he and his brother were involved in a violent street battle. During May 1881, his brother Bud killed a man in a quarrel in Tip Top, Arizona Territory, and was sent to Yuma Territorial Prison. John Blount adopted the alias Jack Johnson and went to Tombstone seeking Wyatt Earp's help to get his brother pardoned. Wyatt helped by writing a petition to Governor Fremont, whom Wyatt knew, and Bud Blount was eventually freed. As a way to repay his debt, Johnson joined the posse.

"Turkey Creek" Jack Johnson.

Charlie Smith had a long-time connection to the Earp family, and was fluent in Spanish after spending several years in Texas working in saloons. While in Fort Worth he had been associated with barman James Earp, and participated in at least two gunfights there, and was seriously wounded in 1878. Arriving in Tombstone in 1879 with Robert J. Winders, Smith immediately became associated with the Earps. Winders and the Earps partnered on the Mountain Maid mine.

Daniel "Tip" Tipton arrived in Tombstone in March 1881. He had a shady reputation earned during the early days of the mining boom in Virginia City, Nevada Territory. Tipton, a former Union seaman in the Civil War, was tattooed on his hands and forearms, and took up mining and gambling after the war. In 1879 he was in the Gunnison district of Colorado before traveling to Tombstone at the request of his friend Lou Rickabaugh, also a friend of the Earps. Smith and Tipton were gamblers who supplemented their income with mining ventures.

Daniel "Tip" Tipton.

John "Texas Jack" Vermillion, a Virginian, joined the vendetta ride after Frank Stilwell was killed, and was never indicted for Stilwell's murder, but he was with the Earps when Florentino "Indian Charlie" Cruz was killed. Although closer to friend and fellow Southerner Doc Holliday than the Earps, Vermillion remained by Wyatt Earp's side during the shootout at Iron Springs with Curly Bill Brocius. A veteran of the Civil War on the Confederate side who rode with J.E.B. Stuart's Virginia cavalry, Vermillion was an accomplished horseman and pistoleer.

John "Texas Jack" Vermillion.

U.S. Marshal Dake visited Tombstone in late January 1881 with acting Governor John J. Gosper. Dake had previously and unsuccessfully requested financial assistance from the United States Attorney General, Wayne MacVeagh, to help track down and arrest the Cowboys. Dake's superior told him he must reduce his official debt below the penalty bond of $20,000 before an additional appropriation could be made. In September 1881, Governor Gosper told Secretary of Interior Kirkwood that Arizona contained "a small army of outlaws well armed and fully able to cope with the ordinary civil powers of our counties." Not believing that the federal bureaucracy would provide funds, Dake borrowed $3,000 from Wells Fargo & Co., promising that the Department of Justice would repay it. He deposited money, variously reported as either $300 or $3000, to an account in the Hudson & Company Bank, minus $15, for use "to arrest all parties committing crimes against the United States." The following day John Thacker from Wells Fargo went with Wyatt to the bank to authorize his use of the funds. Dake was later accused, although not convicted, of spending $300 on gambling and prostitutes while in Tombstone and misappropriating most of the rest of the money.

Outlaw Cowboy warrants ~

In January 1882, Wyatt Earp sought and received warrants from Judge William H. Stilwell for the arrest of the men thought responsible for ambushing Virgil. Judge Stilwell was among a number of Cochise County citizens unhappy with Sheriff Behan's failure to stop the Cowboys' ongoing criminal activity.

On January 17, 1882, Johnny Ringo and Doc Holliday had traded threats, resulting in their arrest by Tombstone's chief of police, James Flynn. Both were fined and Judge Stilwell noted that charges were still outstanding against Ringo for a robbery in Galeyville. Ringo was rearrested and jailed on January 20.

On January 23, Wyatt rode with his deputized posse, consisting of his brothers Morgan and Warren, Doc Holliday, "Texas Jack" Vermillion and four others, to Charleston, Arizona where Ike Clanton, his brother Phin, and Pony Diehl were known to stay. Ringo, still in jail, learned that the Earps had warrants and were headed for Charleston. He arranged for bail and Sheriff Behan released him before the bail payment arrived. James Earp immediately filed an affidavit saying Ringo was "an escaped prisoner" and charged that Ringo intended to interfere with Wyatt's execution of the warrants. Ringo immediately rode to Charleston to warn his Cowboy friends.

Bar Room at Charleston, Arizona.

On the way to Charleston, Earp's posse was joined by 30 more riders from Tombstone. They found Ben Maynard, a known Cowboy associate, outside Charleston and arrested him. With Maynard in front, the posse took over the small town and went door-to-door looking for the Clantons and Diehl. Ringo was rearrested in Charleston, but not before he warned the Clantons and Diehl, who left town. The next day the posse scouted the countryside, eventually stopping at a camp near Tombstone known as "Pick-em-up". Complicating matters, a Tombstone deputy sheriff rode out to Pick-em-up and served a warrant on McMaster, who was accused of stealing two horses from the Contention mine. The Earp posse rode back into Tombstone where Sherman McMaster made bail. He and Charlie Smith took a room at the Cosmopolitan Hotel near the Earps.

On January 30, Ike and Phin Clanton surrendered to Wells Fargo agent Charley Bartholomew and were jailed in Tombstone. They learned that the warrant was not for armed robbery as they thought, but for "assault with intent to commit murder, the specific offense being the waylaying and shooting of Virgil Earp some weeks ago."

On February 2, the Clantons were tried before Judge Stilwell. Ike's hat had been found at the scene and McMaster testified that he had heard Ike talk about the shooting in Charleston later that evening. He said that when Ike learned that Virgil had survived the shooting, Ike said he "would have to go back and do the job over." However, Charleston constable George McKelvey, saloon owner J. B. Ayers, and five others testified that Ike Clanton had been in Charleston and could not have taken part in the shooting. The charges were dismissed for lack of evidence. Wyatt said later that Judge Stilwell told him, "Wyatt, you'll never clean up this crowd this way; next time you'd better leave your prisoners in the brush where alibis don't count."

Ike Clanton refiled murder charges against the Earps and Doc Holliday in Contention, Arizona for their killing of his brother and the McLaury brothers. When he could not provide new evidence, the charges were dismissed. On February 13, Wyatt mortgaged his home to lawyer James G. Howard for $365.00 (about $9,788 today), but was never able to repay the loan and in 1884 Howard foreclosed on the house. On February 17, the Earp posse left Tombstone heavily armed and with a warrant for the arrest of "Pony" Diehl, who was suspected in a January 1882 stage robbery. Unsuccessful, they returned to town a few days later, hearing rumors that the Cowboys were plotting further revenge.

Contention City, Arizona.

Stage Lines Office and Post Office in Contention City.

The Contention Mill, circa 1880.

Morgan Earp assassinated ~

On Saturday evening, March 18, 1882, Tombstone's Scheifflin Hall was host to Stolen Kisses, a play by William Horace Lingard and Company. Despite having received death threats earlier that day, Morgan, Doc Holliday, and Dan Tipton attended. Wyatt and Benjamin Goodrich cautioned against attending. Afterward, Doc went to his room and Morgan and Tipton headed for Hatch's Saloon and Billiard Parlor, which had become their unofficial headquarters after the Oriental Hotel was sold. Morgan and Bob Hatch began a game of pool and Wyatt, Tipton, and McMaster watched. The table was near the back door.

At 10:50 pm, someone fired two shots through the window of the back door. One bullet passed through Morgan, shattered his spine, and then lodged in the thigh of George A. B. Berry. Another bullet struck the wall over Wyatt's head. Wyatt, McMaster and Tipton pulled Morgan out of the line of fire while Hatch dashed outside looking for the shooters. Morgan died within the hour.

Cowboy suspects identified ~

While Wyatt and James were traveling to Contention with Morgan's body, Coroner Dr. D.M. Mathew held an inquest into Morgan's death. During the Coroner's Inquest, Pete Spence's wife, Marietta Duarte, implicated her husband and four other men in Morgan's murder. She testified that along with her husband, Frank Stilwell, a man named "Fries" (later identified as Frederick Bode), and two Indians (later identified as Hank Swilling and Florentino Cruz) took part in the killing. She testified that four days before the shooting she and her mother were standing at Spence's house when Morgan walked by. "The Indian then started down the street, & got ahead of him to get a good look at him." She also stated that on the night of the shooting she and her mother heard the shots, and a few minutes later Stilwell and "Indian Charley" came into her home, followed shortly by Spence, Bode and the other Indian.

Indian Charlie. Artist's conseption.

Marietta Duarte recalled that the men were excited, and the next morning her husband threatened her with violence if she told what she knew. "Spence didn't tell me so, but I know he killed Morgan Earp", she said. Additional witnesses said they saw Frank Stilwell running from the scene.

Like the gunfight three months earlier, Morgan's murder was national news. The Angeles Herald reported:

"Tombstone, A. T., March 23.

"The coroner's jury find that Morgan Earp came to his death at the hands of Frank Stillwell, (who was killed next day in Tucson), Pete Spence, one Freis, and two half-breed Indians. Pete Spence's wife exposes the plot.

A Sheriffs posse, consisting of 20 men, mostly cow-boys, left this morning for the Dragoon mountains, where the Earps are supposed to be at present. The Sheriff made a weak attempt to arrest them at the Cosmopolitan Hotel before they left, but Wyatt Earp told him he didn't want to see him; that he had seen him once too often, and thereupon the Earp party mounted their horses and rode away. There is a very uneasy feeling among the cow-boy element, as the Earps are rendered desperate by the attempted assassination of Virgil Earp and the cold-blooded murder of Morgan Earp.

The coroner's jury concluded that Spence, Stilwell, Fries, and "two half-breed Indians" were responsible for Morgan's murder. "

Suspects in jail ~

Unknown to Wyatt, three of the Cowboys he sought were in Behan's jail. After the Coroner's Jury ended, Spence immediately turned himself in, protected in Behan's jail. On the day of the inquest, two of Behan's deputy sheriffs arrested two more suspects for other reasons. Cochise County Deputy Sheriff William Bell brought Indian Charlie from Charleston and placed him under arrest in the Tombstone jail for shooting a man in Charleston. Separately, Cochise County Deputy Sheriff Frank Hereford arrested "John Doe" Freeze [sic]. They were all later released.

Wyatt seeks revenge ~

When Wyatt Earp learned of the judge's ruling, he felt he could not rely on the court system for justice. Stilwell had previously been acquitted of two homicides and a stage robbery, and in Wyatt Earp's opinion, he and other Cowboys had gotten away with murder again. Wyatt decided to take matters into his own hands—concluding that the only way to deal with Virgil's and Morgan's attackers, and the continued threat against the entire Earp family, was to kill the responsible Cowboys.

Stilwell shooting in Tucson ~

Grand Jury Indictment for the Killing of Frank Stilwell ~

On Sunday, March 19, the day after Morgan's murder, Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp, his brother James, and a group of friends prepared to accompany Virgil and his wife, along with Morgan's body, to the rail head in Benson. From there James would accompany them to the family home in Colton, California. Morgan's wife and parents waited to bury him. Wyatt borrowed a 10 gauge double barreled Spencer shotgun from Fred Dodge.

Earp assembles deputies ~

On Monday, Wyatt received information that Frank Stilwell, Ike Clanton, Hank Swilling, and another cowboy were watching the passenger trains in Tucson intending to kill Virgil Earp. He thought getting the still invalid Virgil through to Tucson safely would require extra help. Wyatt, accompanied by Warren Earp, Doc Holliday, "Turkey Creek" Jack Johnson, and Sherman McMaster, guarded Virgil and Allie. In Contention City they stabled their horses and picked up an extra wagon. They rode in the wagon to the rail head in Benson, where they caught the next train to Tucson.

They were all heavily armed with shotguns or rifles, except Virgil who had a pistol. Nathan W. Waite of Ash Canyon in the Huachuca Mountains was on the train with the Earp party. He said the Earp men were all armed and McMaster was wearing two cartridge belts.

Cowboys in Tucson ~

In Tucson, the party was greeted at the train station by Deputy U.S. Marshal Joseph W. Evans. Virgil and other witnesses later reported that they saw Stilwell, Ike Clanton, and other Cowboys at the train station. "Almost the first men we met on the platform there were Stilwell and his friends, armed to the teeth", Virgil later told the San Francisco Examiner. "They fell back into the crowd as soon as they saw I had an escort, and the boys took me to the hotel to supper." Watched over by the well-armed Wyatt and his posse, Virgil and Allie had dinner in Tucson at Porter's Hotel. Marshal Evans saw Holliday deposit two shotguns at the railroad station office.

Tucson in 1880.

Stilwell killed ~

After the Earp group finished dinner at Porter's Hotel they returned to the train. Holliday asked someone to get his shotguns. Wyatt escorted Virgil and Allie aboard the train. A passenger told Virgil he saw men lying on a flatcar near the engine. Wyatt saw them too and slipped between the tracks, looking for the men. As the train pulled away from the Tucson station at about 7:15 p.m., six or seven shots were heard. Witnesses gave differing accounts, but Frank Stilwell's body was found on the morning of March 21 about 100 yards (91 m) from the Porter Hotel alongside the tracks riddled with two buckshot and three gunshot wounds. George Hand, who saw the body, said Stilwell was "the worst shot up man I ever saw."

Stilwell's wounds ~

Coroner Dr. Dexter Lyford found a single bullet wound through Stilwell's body under his armpits; a wound from a rifle through the upper left arm; a buckshot wound that passed through the liver, abdomen, and stomach; another buckshot wound that fractured his left leg; and a rifle wound through the right leg. The coroner concluded that Stilwell had been shot by five different weapons. Either the gun shot under his arm or through the abdomen could have been the cause of death.

The Tombstone Epitaph reported the next day that Stilwell had been shot six times. They reported that the round of buckshot in the torso had struck him at such close range that six buckshot left holes within a radius of 3 inches (76 mm), leaving powder burns on his coat. Many years later, Wyatt told his biographer Flood that he and his party had seen Clanton and Stilwell on the tracks with weapons, and he had shot Stilwell.

The federal deputies looked hard for another man, whom Wyatt identified as Ike Clanton, but he got away. Ike claimed in a newspaper interview afterward that he and Stilwell had been in Tucson to respond to a federal subpoena for interfering with a U.S. mail carrier when he allegedly robbed the Sandy Bob line of the Bisbee stage on September 8, 1881. The federal charges had been filed by Virgil Earp after Stilwell was acquitted for lack of evidence on the state charges of robbery.

Clanton said he had heard that the Earps were coming in on a train to kill Stilwell. According to Clanton, Stilwell left the hotel and was last seen walking down the railroad tracks away from the Porter Hotel, towards where his body was later found on the tracks. Virgil later told the Examiner, "One thing is certain, if I had been without an escort they would have killed me."

The next day, the newspapers were full of news about Frank Stilwell's death. The Arizona Star reported,

".. without any provocation a band of four or five slayers pursued a lonely man in the dark and without a word of warning murdered him in cold blood and then hied to their stamping grounds as unconcerned as though they had when out on a hunting expedition, or like so many blood-thirsty Apaches rejoice over their crime."

The Coroner's Jury in Tucson found that Stilwell had died at the hands of Wyatt and Warren Earp, Holliday, McMaster, and Johnson. Tucson Justice of the Peace Charles Meyer issued arrest warrants for the five men.

Earp posse pursues Outlaw Cowboys ~

On the night of March 20, after killing Stilwell in Tucson, and verifying that the train was on its way to California with the rest of their family, the Earp party was afoot. They walked 15 miles (24 km) southeast back along the Southern Pacific tracks out of Tucson to the Papago freight stop. (The station was later renamed Esmond and was the site of a head-on train crash in 1903 at the current location of the Desert Sky Middle School in Tucson.) At the Papago stop they flagged down the night-freight train back to the terminal in Benson.

Main Street in Benson, Arizona in 1910.

Once in Benson they hired a wagon back to Contention where they picked up their stabled horses. They rode into Tombstone around 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, March 21. Once in Tombstone they learned of Marietta Duarte's testimony during the coroner's inquest into Morgan's death. She told the jury that her husband Pete Spence and several others who she identified had talked about the murder in her home. The Earps returned to their rooms upstairs at the Cosmopolitan Hotel, where they had lived in close company and used as their temporary headquarters since the first attack on Virgil in December.

Wyatt and Warren Earp, J.H. Holliday, Texas Jack, "Turkey Creek" Johnson, and Sherman McMaster were now wanted men due to the outstanding warrants. Tucson, where the Earps had killed Stilwell, was in the jurisdiction of Pima County Sheriff Bob Paul, a friend of the Earps. He and District Attorney Alex Campbell sent a telegram to Behan in Tombstone asking him to arrest the Earps. The telegraph office manager was a friend to the Earps and showed the message to Wyatt before it was delivered to Behan. The operator agreed to delay delivering the message to Behan long enough to allow the Earps and their associates to make ready to leave town Tuesday evening. The Earps sent instructions to Montgomery's stable to get their horses saddled.

Early in the evening Behan received the delayed telegram. He gathered his deputies and Tombstone City Marshal Dave Neagle. They met in front of the Cosmopolitan Hotel, preparing to arrest the five men. Behan encountered the heavily armed Earp lawmen as they passed through the lobby of the Cosmopolitan Hotel, getting ready to pick up their horses from the stable and leave town. Cochise County Sheriff Behan told the Deputy U.S. Marshal, "Wyatt I want to see you." Wyatt replied without stopping, "Johnny, if you're not careful, you'll see me once too often."

The Tombstone Epitaph reported, "The Sheriff made a weak attempt to arrest them at the Cosmopolitan Hotel before they left, but Wyatt Earp told him he didn't want to see him; that he had seen him once too often, and thereupon the Earp party mounted their horses and rode away.". One of Behan's deputies, Billy Breakenridge, claimed Wyatt and his men resisted arrest and even pulled their guns on Behan and Dave Neagle, one of Wyatt's friends, to prevent their arrest. In a story published on May 14, 1893, Wyatt told a reporter for the Denver Republican:

"The sheriff called on me to surrender, and I told him I would not do it. He assembled a posse about the door of my room to take me in, but I walked through the men, and none of them offered to lay a hand upon me."

Wyatt and Warren Earp, Doc Holliday, Johnson and McMaster were joined by "Texas Jack" Vermillion, Dan Tipton, Charlie Smith, Fred Dodge, Johnny Green, and Louis Cooley to form a federal posse under Wyatt's authority as the Deputy US Marshal. Continuing to ignore Behan, the Earp posse rode out of town the same evening of Tuesday, March 21.

The next morning Behan formed a posse consisting of a number of deputized Cowboys, friends of Frank Stilwell and Ike Clanton, including Johnny Ringo, Phineas Clanton, Johnny Barnes and about 18 more men. They rode after the federal posse and the five men wanted for Stilwell's murder. Paul was on his way to Tombstone the next day when he ran into Behan and his posse on the road 5 miles (8.0 km) outside of town. He joined the posse and rode with them to Contention that night and on to Tombstone the next day. Without sleep for two days, Paul told Behan to wake him if he got news of the Earp's location, but Behan left without him. In 1898, Paul wrote the Tucson Republican that the Earps had spied Stillwell "standing on a gravel car peeking into the window of the car that Virgil Earp was in."

Killing of Florentino Cruz ~

On the morning of March 22, a portion of the Earp posse including Wyatt, Warren, Doc Holliday, Sherman McMaster and "Turkey Creek" Johnson rode about 10 miles (16 km) east to Pete Spence's ranch and woodcutting camp off the Chiricahua Road, below the South Pass of the Dragoon Mountains.

According to Theodore Judah, who witnessed events at the wood camp, the Earp posse arrived around 11:00 am and asked him about the location of Pete Spence and Florentino "Indian Charlie" Cruz. He told them Spence was in jail in Tombstone and that Cruz was cutting wood nearby. They followed the direction Judah indicated and Judah soon heard ten or twelve shots fired. Judah looked for Cruz that night without success. The next morning he went looking for him again and found his body full of bullet holes.

Grave of Florentino Cruz.

One apocryphal account says that after the party recognized Cruz, they chased him down and a gunfight ensued. The party managed to capture a fatally wounded Cruz and he confessed to have taken part in Morgan's murder, and that he identified Stilwell, Hank Swilling, Curly Bill and Johnny Ringo as the others who killed Morgan. During that time, in Wyatt's own account, he allowed Cruz to keep his revolver in his holster to "give him a chance to fight like a man". After Cruz's confession, Wyatt gave him the permission to draw his revolver, which Cruz did, but Wyatt managed to draw his gun first and killed him with one shot. Wyatt's account of him killing Cruz in a duel is contradicted by Cruz' fatal wounds, one to the temple and the second through his right side.

Behan arrests two ~

On Thursday, March 23, Smith and Tipton left the main body of the posse to obtain information and money in Tombstone. The rest of the posse rode west about 12 miles (19 km) and on the night of March 23 stayed in a campsite northwest of Tombstone, between Contention and Drew’s Station. Behan saw Smith and Tipton in town and arrested them for "resisting arrest and conspiracy." The men immediately paid their bond. Smith left Tombstone to rejoin the federal posse but Tipton remained behind. When Smith rejoined the group, Earp asked him to return to town and raise $1,000 to cover the posse's expense. Earp later said he told Smith, “Meet us at Iron Springs, and don’t lose any time. We’ll be waiting there.”

On March 27 Smith and Tipton were brought before Judge A.J. Felter in Tombstone. The defense asked the judge to dismiss the charges because Behan lacked a warrant and the judge agreed, freeing the men.

Cruz autopsy ~

The Arizona Weekly Star had previously identified "Florentino Saiz" as "the 1878 murderer of Deputy U.S. Marshals Cornelius Finley and John Hicks Adams on September 2, 1878, and Cruz and Saiz may have been the same person.

On Friday, March 24 in Tombstone, Dr. George Goodfellow, acting as coroner, examined Cruz's body. At the coroner's inquest, Goodfellow testified that he found four wounds in Cruz: one shot through his right temple entering the brain; a "slight flesh wound to the right shoulder"; a third entering his right side and exiting to the right of his spine; and the fourth hitting him in the left thigh and exiting "seven or eight inches above the point of entry." He stated that either the first or third wound were sufficient to cause death. The coroner's jury ruled that Cruz had been killed by Wyatt and Warren Earp, Sherman McMaster, Jack Johnson, Doc Holliday, Texas Jack and two other unnamed gunmen (Dan Tipton and Charlie Smith).

On the day of the inquest, Arizona Territory Governor Tritle arrived in Tombstone to look into the "sad state of affairs here." On the same day, the two remaining members of the Earp family departed Tombstone. The Tombstone Epitaph reported that both James Earp's wife Bessie and Wyatt's common-law wife Mattie were departing for Colton, California, where the rest of the Earp family had moved.

Gunfight with Curly Bill ~

The Whetstone Mountains

On Friday, March 24, the Earp posse, including Wyatt, Warren, Doc Holliday, Sherman McMaster, and Texas Jack, rode west about 12 miles (19 km) from their overnight campsite about halfway between Contention and Drew's Station. The federal posse rode westerly up a wash towards a prearranged meeting place at a springs, where they expected to meet Smith, who was to bring $1000 from Tombstone, about 20 miles (32 km) to the east.

The springs were identified by Wyatt Earp as "Iron Springs," but the location was reported the next day by The Tombstone Epitaph as "Burleigh Springs", about 8 miles (13 km) south of Tombstone and 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Charleston. The spring was located in the Whetstone Mountains west of Tombstone and was later renamed Mescal Springs. Some modern researchers believe it is actually Cottonwood Springs. The actual location is uncertain.

Curley Bill Brocius.

With Wyatt and Doc Holliday in the lead, the six lawmen surmounted a small rise overlooking the springs and were surprised to find nine Cowboys already there: Curly Bill, Pony Diehl, Johnny Barnes, Frank Patterson, Milt Hicks, Bill Hicks, Bill Johnson, Ed Lyle, and Johnny Lyle. They were camped about the springs, cooking a meal, less than 30 feet (9.1 m) down a slight embankment. Once again, the odds were not in the lawmen's favor.

Curly Bill's death ~

Recognizing Earp, Curly Bill fired his shotgun without warning at Wyatt but missed. Eighteen months earlier, Wyatt had protected Curly Bill against a mob ready to lynch him for killing Tombstone Town Marshal Fred White, and then provided testimony that helped spare Curly Bill from a murder trial. Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday wrote about the fight, and Fred Dodge interviewed three participants afterward. Earp dismounted, carrying a 22-inch, 10-gauge stagecoach shotgun he had borrowed from Fred Dodge. The other Cowboys fired at the lawmen. "Texas Jack" Vermillion’s horse was killed and fell on him, pinning his leg. Vermillion was unable to retrieve his rifle wedged in the scabbard under his fallen horse. Doc Holliday pulled Vermillion from under his horse, and they, Johnson and McMaster shot at the Cowboys as they sought cover.

Wyatt returned fire across his horse with his own shotgun and hit Curly Bill in the chest, almost cutting him in half. Curly Bill fell into the water by the edge of the spring and lay dead. The lawmen's fire was so intense that, according to Johnny Barnes, the Cowboys who could, "got away."

After killing Brocius, Earp fired his pistol and shot Johnny Barnes in the chest and Milt Hicks in the arm. Attempting to remount his horse, Wyatt had trouble getting up into the saddle because his cartridge belt had slipped down around his thighs. He was finally able to get on his horse and retreat.

Wyatt unhurt ~

The Cowboys fired a number of shots at the Earp party without effect. McMaster was grazed by a bullet that cut through the straps of his field glasses or possibly his coat. Later accounts of the gun fight varied. Wyatt reported that his long coat was punctured by bullets or buck shot on both sides. Another bullet struck his boot heel and his saddle-horn was hit as well, burning the saddle hide and narrowly missing Wyatt. In his unpublished 1926 biography of Earp, John H. Flood wrote,

"The saddle-horn had been splintered, his coat hung in shreds, there were three holes through the legs of his trousers, five holes through the crown of his sombrero, and three through the brim."

Ed Colburn wrote in a letter published in the Ford County Globe on May 23, 1882 that he had visited with Wyatt and Warren Earp in Gunnison, Colorado. In the letter he relayed Earp's story about how his overcoat was hit on both sides of his body by a charge of buckshot and that his saddle horn was shot off.

The Tombstone Epitaph reported on March 27 that Wyatt "received seven shots through his clothes," and that McMaster's clothing was shot through once, that Texas Jack's horse had been killed, and the pommel of Wyatt's saddle had been shot off.

Flood described Vermillion several times as being a relative stranger to the Earps, although he had been one of Virgil's city deputies. Wyatt was reportedly impressed by Vermillion's steadfastness in helping to avenge his brothers.

Curly Bill death refuted ~

The Epitaph reported that Curly Bill had been killed, though they noted the repeated denials by the Cowboys. Dick Wright and Tony Kraker insisted they had seen the Cowboys near Drew's Ranch below Contention, who had reported that they had shot the pommel off Wyatt's horse, and he had shot at them without effect.

Wyatt told Flood that Brocius's friends buried Curly Bill on the Patterson ranch near the Babocomari River. Frank Patterson was a member of the Cowboy party, and his ranch was close to the original McLaury ranch site. The McLaurys moved their operation to Sulphur Springs Valley in late 1880. The Patterson ranch is believed to have originally belonged to Frank Stilwell and was located on the Babocomari River about 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Fairbank. An unknown individual who claimed to be on his way to meet the Earp posse, possibly Kraker or Wright, wrote the Tombstone Nugget on March 26 that they had seen a wagon arrive and carry Curly Bill's body away. Rancher Henry Hooker wrote that Wells Fargo agent John Thacker, himself, went to the place where Curly Bill had been buried and had the body dug up. Thacker identified Curly Bill's body, and saw that it was reinterred."

Johnny Barnes recovered somewhat after the shooting but later died of his wound. Wells, Fargo & Co. undercover agent Fred Dodge, riding with the Cowboys, wrote that Barnes had told him that he had shot Virgil Earp. Dodge also wrote in the 1920s that Barnes had told him that Wyatt Earp had killed Brocius.

"You will recollect that J.B. Ayers kept the saloon in Charleston that was the headquarters for all the outlaw and rustler element. This man, Ayers, for personal reasons that would take too long to tell supplied me with reliable information. Through him I got in touch with several others. Johnny Barnes, whom you will recollect was in the fight at Iron Springs, gave me much information, not only of that, but of many other things before he was killed. Afterwards, all that they said with reference to Curly Bill was corroborated by Ike Clanton himself!"

Prominent businessman murdered ~

Representing the danger of the Cowboys to business owners and citizens, on Saturday evening, March 25, Martin R. Peel of the Tombstone Milling and Mining Company near Charleston was murdered by two masked men. They simply walked in on the mill superintendent, Peel, and two other men, who were socializing. They entered with their rifles raised and without saying a word, the first man fired a shot into Peel's chest, killing him instantly. The second man fired a shot at W. L. Austin, who ducked behind a counter and was not hit. Peel was shot through the heart at such close range that his clothing was set on fire. No attempt at robbery was made. The others in the room with him when he was attacked ducked. No motive could be established and the assailants, wearing scarves over the faces, could not be identified. They were assisted by a third man who held their horses only a few hundred feet away.

The crime sent reverberations through Tombstone and Cochise County. Peel's father, respected Judge Bryant L. Peel, sent an open letter to The Tombstone Epitaph stating that the citizens needed to take the law into their own hands.

"Perhaps I am not in a condition to express a clear, deliberate opinion, but I would say to the good citizens of Cochise County there is three things you have to do. There is a class of cut-throats among you and you can never convict them in court. You must combine and protect yourselves and wipe them out, or you must give up the country to them, or you will be murdered one at a time, as my son has been. B. L. Peel."

Cowboy suspects freed ~

On Saturday, March 25, the Tucson Grand Jury indicted Pete Spence, Frank Stilwell, Florentino Cruz, Frederick Bode, and "John Doe" (Fries) for Morgan Earp's murder. Pete Spence's trial began on April 2, but ended on April 5 when the prosecution called Marietta Spence to repeat the testimony she had given at the Coroner's Inquest. The defense objected that her testimony was hearsay and that as a spouse she could not testify against her husband. Without her testimony, the prosecution had insufficient evidence. They dropped its case against Spence and Bode and the court dismissed the charges.

Earp posse pursued by Behan posse ~

On the same day, the Earp party arrived from Iron Springs to an area outside Tombstone and met with supporters, including Charlie Smith and Dan Tipton. They were hoping to receive $1,000 contributed by mining owner and Earp supporter E.B. Gage from Smith, but after Smith was arrested by Behan, Tony Kraker and "Whistling Dick" Wright were chosen to carry it, and they had not returned. Gage had meanwhile learned of his mother's death and had left town for the east coast. Later that day the Earp party rode north towards Henderson Ranch near where they ate and fed their horses. Cochise County Deputy Sheriff Frank Hereford was at the ranch but didn't show himself in fear of his safety, although the Earp party had only "the greatest respect" for him.

On March 25, Sheriff Behan formed a posse that included known criminals including Johnny Ringo, Phin Clanton and Johnny Barnes. The 25-man posse left Tombstone and searched east of town for the Earp posse for a while before turning back for the night. At around 6:30 a.m. the next day, Behan led a 15-man posse from Tombstone, headed for the Dragoon Mountains, and they returned that night. The Earp posse camped Sunday night, March 26 a mile north of Henderson Ranch and left at 7:00 a.m. the next day for the Sierra Bonita Ranch of Henry C. Hooker, a wealthy and prominent rancher.

Henry C. Hooker mounts a horse near several of his greyhound dogs.

Ranch house at Sierra Bonita Ranch — present day main entrance. Located in Graham County, Arizona. Photo 3-16-1975.

The historic wood and adobe barn at the Sierra Bonita Ranch. The sign was painted in 1972 upon the 100th anniversary of the ranch's founding.

Stereoscopic view of a portion of the 30,000 head of cattle on the Sierra Bonita Ranch.

On April 5 The Tombstone Epitaph printed a letter from an unknown member of the Earp party that recited some of the group's actions after leaving Tombstone and revealed that they were still in the area. The writer said the Wyatt posse left Tombstone on the evening of March 25 and camped 6 miles (9.7 km) north of town. The next day they headed for Dragoon Summit Station where they awaited the train and a messenger. They stopped the eastbound train at 1 p.m. and searched the carriages but found nothing. It is not known what they were hoping to find.

Arrival at Hooker Ranch ~

When they arrived at Hooker's ranch, he congratulated Earp on killing Curly Bill Brocius. He fed the men and their mounts. When Behan's posse was spotted in the distance, Hooker suggested Wyatt make his stand there, but Wyatt moved into the hills about three miles distant near Reilly Hill. When Sheriff Behan and his posse arrived at the Sierra Bonita Ranch on Tuesday morning, March 28, at 7:00 a.m., Hooker refused to provide Behan any information and "damned the officers and the law they represented." Upon payment, he provided Behan's posse and horses with food and water, but would not supply them with fresh horses. Behan and undersheriff Woods sought the assistance of Indian Scouts under the command of Colonel Biddle at Ft. Grant, but was unsuccessful, even upon offering a $500 reward for assistance. They rejoined the remainder of the posse who had lost the Earp's posse trail and went to Eureka Springs.

Former Pima County Sheriff Bob Paul, who had been in Tombstone at the time and volunteered to ride with the Behan posse, wrote a letter to the Tucson Citizen on March 3, 1898 in response to an earlier story he said was full of errors. He said the Earp posse had told Hooker to tell Behan and his posse where they were camped. Hooker told Behan where the Earps were camped but the posse left in the opposite direction. The Nugget reported that the Behan posse did not return until Friday.

Bob Paul.

Early that same morning, Dan Tipton arrived in Willcox on the morning train, rented a horse, and started north, presumably towards the Earp's location and carrying the $1,000 from E.B. Gage for the posse. The Nugget reported that Tipton left on the 5 o'clock stage to catch up with the party near Hooker's ranch.

The Earp posse also received some money from Louis Cooley, a stage driver and an employee of Wells Fargo, who gave funds from the express company. On April 15, Cooley traveled to Contention and Benson on business for Wells Fargo, where he met General Superintendent J.J. Valentine. When he arrived in Willcox to complete his business, Behan was there to arrest him. Behan's warrant accused Cooley of "aiding and abetting the Earps." The Tombstone Epitaph labeled the charges as "frivolous" and said a lawsuit would be filed against Behan. Judge Wells Spicer dismissed the charges.

While the location of the federal posse led by Wyatt Earp was well-known to most members of the public, Behan's posse never caught up with them. For their vain effort to find and arrest Wyatt Earp and the other four charged in Stillwell's murder, Behan's 25 man posse was paid $5 per day plus $3 per day for horse care for the 10 days they were on the trail. The total bill to the county taxpayers was $2,070.70.

Earp posse leaves Arizona Territory ~

On April 3, The Tombstone Epitaph reported that the Earp posse had eaten breakfast in town on March 27, and had been spotted six days later on April 2, 20 miles (32 km) north of Hooker's ranch, and that the Albuquerque Journal and San Francisco Daily Report both reported on March 28 that the Earp party had already passed through Albuquerque. It also noted that Virgil Earp and his wife were in Los Angeles that week. The newspaper commented, "This is the wisest course they could pursue. Their lives were not safe for a moment in Tombstone, even if they gave themselves up to the authorities, for the sheriff is inimical to them, and they felt that in his hands they would be entirely at the mercy of the cowboys."

But on April 5, a member of the Earp party told The Tombstone Epitaph that they were still in the Arizona Territory. This anonymous member of the party reported that from Hooker's ranch they rode 5 miles (8.0 km) north to Eureka Springs where they camped for the night. They spotted the Behan posse from that location but avoided drawing their attention. They stayed near Cottonwood the next night, possibly a mill site near the southwest end of the Whetstone Mountains, from which they picked up the trail of fugitive Frank Jackson. The Tombstone Epitaph reported that he was wanted on a $2,500 reward. The Earp posse arrested Jackson on April 4 and turned him over to Detective Jack Duncan.

On April 12, 1882, the Weekly Nugget reported that Wyatt and his fellow "fugitives" were camped in a canyon near the Sierra Bonita Ranch. Wyatt was quoted as publicly challenging Cochise County Sheriff Behan to come find him there.

Sometime from April 10 to April 14, the group headed east out of Arizona. They stopped at Camp Grant before they left the Arizona Territory and Wyatt signed some property over to his sister. Colonel James Biddle told the Earps that warrants had been issued for their arrest and he would have to hold them. He invited them in for a meal. When they finished the meal, they found fresh horses ready for them to continue their ride east.

Camp Grant, photographed by John Karl Hillers in 1870.

They rode east again the next day and on April 15, 1882, stopped in Silver City, New Mexico Territory. They spent one night in the home of a friend, and the next day sold their horses and saddles before taking a stage to Deming. From there they took the train to Albuquerque, where they remained for two weeks. To avoid drawing undue attention from their enemies, the Earps visited the offices of the two newspapers and persuaded them to not write any stories about their presence.

Wyatt and Doc Holliday part ways ~

Wyatt and Holliday, who had been fast friends since Holliday saved Earp's life in Dodge City during 1878, had a serious disagreement and parted ways in Albuquerque. According to a letter written by former New Mexico Territory Governor Miguel Otero, Wyatt and Holliday were eating at The Retreat Restaurant in Albuquerque owned by "Fat Charlie" "when Holliday said something about Earp becoming 'a damn Jew-boy.' Earp became angry and left…. [Henry] Jaffa told me later that Earp’s woman was a Jewess. Earp did mezuzah when entering the house." Wyatt was staying with a prominent businessman Henry N. Jaffa, who was also president of New Albuquerque’s Board of Trade. Jaffa was also Jewish, and based on the letter, Earp had while staying in Jaffa’s home honored Jewish tradition by performing the mezuzah upon entering his home. According to Otero's letter, Jaffa told him that "Earp’s woman was a Jewess." Earp's anger at Holliday's religious slur may indicate that the relationship between Josephine Marcus and Wyatt Earp was more serious at the time than is commonly known. The Albuquerque Evening Review reported that Doc Holliday "became intoxicated and indiscreet in his remarks, which offended Wyatt and cause the party to break up. Holliday going with Tipton." Holliday told a reporter from the Pueblo Colorado Chieftain two days later that, "We had a little misunderstanding, but it didn't amount to much."

The group split up. They were leaving the uncertain justice of the American Frontier for the more defined justice of the federal and state court system. On about April 29, 1882, Wyatt Earp and his brother Warren, McMaster, Johnson, and Vermillion took the train from Albuquerque to Trinidad and then Gunnison, Colorado, where they set up camp on the outskirts of town. They rarely went into town at first, except for supplies. Eventually, Wyatt took over a faro game at a local saloon. Holliday and Dan Tipton headed to Pueblo and then Denver. The split didn't last long. Less than two weeks later, Holliday was arrested on the Arizona warrant for killing Frank Stilwell. Wyatt intervened on Holliday's behalf and persuaded Trinidad city Marshal Bat Masterson to fabricate bunco charges against Holliday. Masterson then persuaded Colorado Governor Pitkin to refuse to honor Arizona's extradition request. Afterwards, Holliday and Wyatt met again in June 1882 in Gunnison and then again lastly Holliday was able to see his old friend Wyatt in the late winter of 1886, where they met in the lobby of the Windsor Hotel. Sadie Marcus described the skeletal Holliday as having a continuous cough and standing on "unsteady legs.”

Last photograph taken of Doc Holliday just before he died at Glenwood Springs.

Premature rumors of Wyatt's death ~

In Tombstone, rumors flew about the activities of the Earp party. The Tombstone Nugget also printed a story on May 13, 1892, reporting that a rumor that Wyatt had been killed was probably true. They cited that a citizen had seen Wyatt at Henry Hooker's Sierra Bonita Ranch in Arizona during the previous week, and that Wyatt had been killed there "presumably by parties who have been following him since he left this place." On the same day, the Los Angeles Herald and Albuquerque Evening Review ran the Tombstone Nugget's story.

Story variations ~

Wyatt Earp first wrote down the story about the shootout at Iron Springs more than 11 years after the incident. Wyatt told varied accounts of the shootout at the springs a number of times during his life. Details varied between the different accounts, like getting his saddle pommel shot off, pulling up his loose cartridge belt, exactly when he helped "Texas Jack" Vermillion out from under his horse, the distance at which they initially encountered the Cowboys, and how far Earp dismounted from "Curly Bill". Before his death in 1887, Doc Holliday left his account of the gunfight in which he credited Wyatt as the individual responsible for shooting Curly Bill and another Cowboy.

Earp extradition sought ~

On May 16, 1882, the sheriff of Arapahoe County, Colorado notified Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan that he had Wyatt and Warren Earp in his custody, along with Doc Holliday. Behan applied to the governor for money to go to Colorado to bring the Earps back, but Governor Fremont instead gave the funds to Pima County Sheriff Bob Paul. Paul had received word on the same day from Denver that the sheriff there had five of the Earp party in custody. When Paul arrived in Denver, he served a warrant for Doc Holliday's arrest on charges that he killed Frank Stilwell in Tucson. Wyatt Earp, also in Denver, feared for Holliday's life if he was returned to Tombstone. He asked his friend and Trinidad, Colorado Sheriff Bat Masterson to help get Holliday released. Sheriff Masterson appealed to Governor Frederick W. Pitkin and succeeded in getting Holliday released from jail. Paul also knew of warrants for the Earps' arrest, but he was a friend of the men and never served the warrants.

Behan loses popularity ~

While Behan sought to arrest the Earps, his reputation among some citizens was very negative. On May 27, 1882, a "strong Democrat" was quoted in a letter in the Yuma, Arizona newspaper, The Arizona Sentinel, describing the events following the "murder of the noted desperado Frank Stilwell." Readers may want to know "how these so-called Republican outlaws are regarded by decent, law-abiding people in Tombstone, regardless of politics." The writer was of the opinion that Sheriff Behan wanted the requisition from Governor Fremont such that the "object was to have them assassinated... Neither the Sheriff nor any of his deputies have ever turned a hand to find the murderers" of Morgan Earp. "There is no hope for any honest man to get justice here against these scoundrels as long as Behan is in office." On May 29, 1882, Colorado Governor Pitkin finally refused to honor Arizona's extradition request, allowing Earp and the others to leave the state.

Other suspects ~

Wyatt and his posse were unable to apprehend or kill the remaining suspects.

Hank Swilling was last known when he was questioned in August 1878 about robbing the U.S. Mail.

Frederick Bode was last listed in the 1880 US Census in Charleston, Pima County.

Johnny Ringo was found dead on July 14, 1882 in West Turkey Creek Valley, near Chiricahua Peak, with a bullet hole in his right temple. The coroner's jury ruled his death a suicide.

Ike Clanton was wanted for cattle-rustling when he resisted arrest on June 1, 1887. He attempted to draw his rifle on Detective Jonas V. Brighton who shot Clanton through the heart and killed him.

Phineas Clanton was convicted of grand larceny for cattle rustling in 1887 and served 17 months of a ten year jail sentence in the Yuma Territorial Prison. He died in 1906.

Pete Spence was convicted of manslaughter in 1883 and served 18 months of a five year sentence in the Yuma Territorial Prison. He married his friend Phineas Clanton's widow in 1910 and died in 1914.

Legacy ~

The 1967 film, Hour of the Gun, which stars James Garner as Wyatt Earp, is centered on the vendetta ride. On March 20, 2005, the 122nd anniversary of the killing of Frank Stilwell, a life-sized statue of Holliday and Earp by the sculptor Dan Bates was dedicated by the Southern Arizona Transportation Museum at the restored Historic Railroad Depot in Tucson, Arizona, at the approximate site of the shooting on the train platform. Wyatt Earp later claimed that "Doc and I were the only ones in Tucson at the time Frank Stilwell was killed".

Long after the gunfight, Johnny Behan continued to spread rumors about the Earps. On December 7, 1897, he was quoted in a story in the Washington Post, reprinted by the San Francisco Call, describing the Earp's lawbreaking behavior in Tombstone. After referring to the highly controversial Fitzsimmons-Sharkey fight for which Wyatt Earp was referee, the article quoted Behan:

"The Clanton brothers and the McLowrys were a tough lot of rustlers who were the main perpetrators of the rascailly rife in that region. Between them and Earps rose a bitter feud over the division of the proceeds of the looting. The Earp boys believed they had failed to get a fair divide of the booty and swore vengeance. They caught their former allies in Tombstone unarmed and shot three of them dead while their hands were uplifted." Behan went on to say, "They were hauled up before a Justice of the Peace... Warrants were issued for their arrest, and, summoning a posse, I went out to bring the Earps in. They were chased entirely out of the country and Tombstone knew them no more."

A caricature of Earp from The New York Herald mocking him after the Sharkey-Fitzimmons fight. The image dogged him the rest of his life.

The place where the fight was held.

Fitzsimmons and Sharkey sparring.

Once again, the papers were not kind to Wyatt.

Through the years since the fight, it has been talked about in articles, magazines, etc.

Wyatt's action in taking justice into his own hands became one of the most well known examples of American frontier justice in American history. Wyatt Earp became the archetypal image of a real-life anti-hero.

In 1927, Earp defended his decisions before the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and afterward to Stuart Lake, author of the 1931 largely fictionalized biography, Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal:

"For my handling of the situation at Tombstone, I have no regrets. Were it to be done over again, I would do exactly as I did at that time. If the outlaws and their friends and allies imagined that they could intimidate or exterminate the Earps by a process of murder, and then hide behind alibis and the technicalities of the law, they simply missed their guess. I want to call your particular attention again to one fact, which writers of Tombstone incidents and history apparently have overlooked: with the deaths of the McLowerys, the Clantons, Stillwell, Florentino Cruz, Curly Bill, and the rest, organized, politically protected crime, and depredations in Cochise County ceased."

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The following is a collection of photographs and articles, etc. that are associated with the Gunfight at the OK Corral.

The OK Corral in the Earp period.

OK Corral before fire.

O.K. Corral after a fire in 1882.

The Dragoon Mountains, from the south.

The Whetstone Mountains.

Mattie Blaylock's grave. Wyatt's common-law wife.

Warren Earp's grave.

Morgan Earp's grave.

James Earp's grave.

The graves of the Clantons and McLowery's.

Johnny Ringo's grave is on private property but can be accessed to visit.

Get in touch with the property owners.

Wyatt Earp did have a Colt .45 "Buntline Special" given to him by western author and adventurer, Ned Buntline. However,, history dictates that Wyatt never carried the gun and it was not used at the gunfight at the OK Corral.

When Doc Holliday passed away at Glenwood Springs, one of the items in his affects was this old cap and ball revolver.

Hand drawn map of the gunfight area.

Fire insurance map of Tombstone in 1886.

In 1919, with the help of John Flood, Wyatt Earp drew a map showing the location of Iron Springs.

Southeastern Arizona near Tombstone in 1887.

Tombstone map layout.

Plaque on Tombstone street marking the spot where Marshal Fred White was killed.

Dake letter.

Faro game at the Orient Saloon in Bisbee, Arizona Territory c. 1900. It has been said that the man, second from right in the photo with the round hat was Wyatt Earp. It looks like Wyatt for sure but this has never been verified.

Arizona Daily Star. Thursday March 23_1882.

News article from the same day of the shootout.

Record Union Monday September 12_1881.

Newspaper coverage of the fight.

Tombstone Weekly Epitaph. Monday March 27, 1882.

The newspapers were hard on Wyatt for years to come.

Disputed portrait of Sadie Marcus Behan (Josephine Earp) in Tombstone circa 1881.

Wyatt around the age of 22.

Wyatt c1870s.

Curt Russell as Wyatt Earp in the feature film, Tombstone.

Doc Holliday in Prescott, 1879.

Doc around the time of the shootout.

Ed Schieffelin founded the town of Tombstone in 1877.

An older Ed Schieffelin.

Billy Breakenridge.

John Clum political banner.

Mary (Mollie) (née McKie) Goodrich Fly was a photographer before she married C.S. Fly in San Francisco. They arrived in Tombstone, Arizona Territory in December 1879.

Sherman McMasters and Daniel Tipton tintype.

Ned Buntline. Creator of the Colt long barreled revolver.

Author Stuart Lake. July 7, 1956.

Hugh O'Brian as Wyatt Earp talking to Stuart Lake on the set of the popular 1950s TV show.

Tombstone resident Clara Spaulding Brown.

Attorney William Jefferson Hunsaker.

A Kinnear Express stagecoach operating from Tombstone to Bisbee in the 1880s. This thorough-brace stagecoach used thick leather straps to support the body of the carriage and serve as shock-absorbing springs.

Fly's boarding house on right.

An image of the photography studio of C S. and Mollie Fly burning in 1912, taken by Mollie Fly.

A modern reconstruction of Fly's photography studio in Tombstone, Arizona.

The Bird Cage Theater. Hey! Is that the ghost of Wyatt visiting his old stomping grounds?

Bird Cage Theater interior.

Crystal Palace Saloon in the 1930s.

Crystal Palace Saloon around the time of the shootout.

The Alhambra Saloon of Tombstone, Arizona Territory, in an engraving of a picture taken by C.S. Fly. The image first appeared in The Arizona Quarterly Illustrated in July 1880.

The streets of Tombstone.

Tombstone 1932.

Tombstone Barbershop.

Tombstone during the early 1930s.

Tombstone in 1881.

Portrait of Wyatt in a Tombstone card game.

Historical Marker for Campbell & Hatches' Saloon.

The Longhorn Restaurant is located in what used to be the Bucket of Blood Saloon, the Holiday Water Company, and the Owl Cafe and Hotel. Virgil Earp was shot from the second floor while the building was under construction.