Gun Fight at the O K Corral

Cowboys and Earp’s

Dead, after the gun fight

As you were reminded in yesterday’s Post titled “The Cowboys”, Cochise County, Arizona was founded in 1881; the county seat or center for local government was a very successful silver mining town with good promise of things to come called Tombstone.   

That good promise ran dry, you might say, when in the mid 1880s, the silver mines inadvertently taped into the water table and despite considerable investments in pumps, the mining operations were unable to continue. So the you could say that the silver didn’t “dry up” as is usually the case when such operations fail, but was “washed out”. In short, when the mines played out, so did Tombstone.

The Earp brothers—Virgil, Wyatt, Morgan and Warren Earp arrived in Tombstone during December or 1879 and the summer of 1880.  Doc Holiday, a friend of Wyatt’s arrived shortly there after.  All of the Earp’s assumed roles as lawmen at one time or another which led to ongoing conflicts with Ike and Billy Clanton, Frank and Tom McLaury, and other “Cowboys”. After repeated threats against the Earp’s and Doc Holiday by Ike Clanton over many months, the conflict escalated into an altercation that turned into a shoot out; the now-famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

The Gunfight lasted roughly 30 second and took place at about 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday October 26, 1881 in the Tombstone, Arizona Territory of Cochise County, in the United States. Frank McLaury, Tom McLaury, and Billy Clanton were killed; Morgan Earp, Virgil Earp, and Doc Holliday were wounded but survived. Wyatt Earp was the only individual who came through the fight untouched, unless you count Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne who were unarmed and wisely ran just after the shooting began.

Doc Holiday’s wound was no more than a graze on his hip and it is of significance to note that one of the dead men, Tom McLaury, appeared  in death at least to be unarmed, although Wyatt, Virgil, and Doc each later testified that they at least believed him to be armed.

Despite its legendary name, the gunfight really occurred in a narrow lot six doors west of the rear entrance to the O.K. Corral on Fremont Street. The two rival parties were initially only about 6 feet (1.8 m) apart before the shooting started which involved thirty shots being fired in as many seconds.

Yet another little known fact: The gunfight was relatively unknown to the American public until 1931 (40 years later) after author / writer Stuart Lake published what has since been determined to be a largely fictionalized biography, Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal; two years after Wyatt Earp’s death.

Both Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday were deputized as temporary assistant marshals on the day of the gun fight by City Marshal (who was also a Deputy U S Marshal) Virgil Earp (Wyatt’s brother).  Morgan Earp was already a Deputy City Marshal.  Wyatt Earp later became a Deputy U S Marshal himself but nearly 3 months later.

The Earp’s and Holliday were charged twice, within the next 30 days, by Billy Clanton's brother, Ike Clanton, with murder but were exonerated by a local judge following a preliminary hearing as well as by a local grand jury the second time.

From that point to date, debate regarding what really occurred that October afternoon or who was at fault has been debated by historians and laymen alike. 

Sources …                                                                      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tombstone,_Arizona                          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cowboys_(Cochise_County)      http://cp1237.com/frankandtom/cowboys.htm