ON THE ANNIVERSARY, OCTOBER 26, 1881, OF THAT INFAMOUS 30 SECOND GUNFIGHT, I DECIDED TO DO SOME DIGGING... JUST WHO WERE THE BAD GUYS AND THE GOOD GUYS ON THAT DAY AT THAT TIME?
JOHN HENRY HOLLIDAY
IT IS A VERY REAL POSSIBILITY THAT IF "DOC" HOLLIDAY HAD NOT BEEN IN TOMBSTONE ON THE EVENING OF OCTOBER 25, 1881, THERE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN A
GUN BATTLE THE NEXT DAY. MORE THAN TWENTY
MEN MAY NOT HAVE BEEN SHOT TO DEATH
DURING THE NEXT FEW YEARS!
JOHN HENRY HOLLIDAY WAS A DENTIST FROM GEORGIA WHO LEFT TO GO WEST DUE TO BEING TERMINALLY ILL. HOLLIDAY HAD TUBURCULOSIS. HIS DENTIST PRACTICE FAILED, SO HE MOVED ON ACROSS NEW MEXICO AND
INTO ARIZONA TERRITORY. HIS BEST FRIEND WAS
WYATT EARP WHO WAS IN TOMBSTONE WHERE HIS BROTHER, VIRGIL, WAS THE CHIEF OF POLICE.
"DOC" AS HE WAS CALLED, HAD NOTHING TO LOSE. HE WAS A DYING MAN WHICH MADE HIM A DANGEROUS MAN. HE WAS CLASSED BY LAWMEN AS "THE MOST DEADLIEST MAN WITH A SIX-GUN." HE LIVED TO DRINK WHISKEY.
HE LOVED TO INTIMIDATE PEOPLE, AND
HE WAS AN OBSESSIVE GAMBLER.
ON TUESDAY NIGHT IN A TOMBSTONE SALOON, DOC WAS PLAYING CARDS. HE WAS DRINKING AND BEING MOUTHY AS USUAL. IN THE SAME SALOON AND ALMOST IN
THE SAME CONDITION, WAS IKE CLANTON. DOC HAD A VERBAL CONFRONTATION WITH IKE, THREATENING HIS LIFE WITH AN OPEN CHALLENGE OF A GUNFIGHT.
IKE WAS UNARMED AND DRUNK BUT HAD ENOUGH SENSE TO LEAVE.
THE NEXT MORNING, IKE CLANTON ARMED HIMSELF AND WENT TO FIND DOC HOLLIDAY TO MEET THE CHALLENGE. CHIEF OF POLICE VIRGIL EARP AND
HIS BROTHER MORGAN EARP HAD TALKED TO DOC ABOUT THE SITUATION.
THE CHIEF HAD WITNESSESED THE CONFRONTATION. THEY SAW IKE
THAT MORNING, SNEAKED UP BEHIND HIM, THEN PISTOL-WHIPPED HIM
TO THE GROUND. IKE WAS HAULED INTO COURT AND FINED $27.50 FOR
PACKING A FIREARM IN TOMBSTONE. HIS PLEA OF SELF-DEFENSE
WAS SCOFFED AT AND DENIED AS AN EXCUSE.
THE CLOCK CONTINUED TO TICK LOUDER.
IKE CLANTON'S BROTHER, BILLY, AND FRANK MCLAURY RODE INTO TOWN.
THEY WERE TOLD WHAT HAPPENED TO IKE. AND AT THAT VERY MOMENT,
BROTHER TOM MCLAURY WAS BEING PISTOL WHIPPED BY WYATT EARP. REASON? TOM HAD TRIED TO SUPPORT IKE IN COURT.
NOW DON'T GET THE IDEA THAT THE CLANTONS, MCLAURYS AND BILLY CLAIBORNE WERE JUST GOOD OLD DRINKING COWBOYS! THEY WERE NOTORIUS CATTLE RUSTLERS. OLD MAN "DADDY" CLANTON WAS THE
BIGGEST CATTLE BARON OF RUSTLED BEEF IN THE ARIZONA TERRITORY,
THANKS TO HIS SONS, THE MCLAURY BOYS AND BILLY CLAIBRONE.
AND TIME WAS MOVING ON...
CHIEF OF POLICE VIRGIL EARP ASKED DOC HOLLIDAY TO HELP HIM AND HIS TWO BROTHERS, MORGAN AND WYATT.
VIRGIL DISARMED THE COWBOYS.
WHERE WAS THIS COP'S BRAINS THAT DAY? THE CHIEF KNEW THAT DOC WAS A TROUBLE-MAKER PLUS BEING A DRUNK. AND HE HAD BEEN IN THE SALOON MOST OF THE NIGHT BEFORE. THE CHIEF DEPUTIZED HIS BROTHERS AND DOC. DOC DOWNED ANOTHER SHOT OF WHISKEY.
OUT THE DOOR THEY WENT.
SHERIFF JOHNNY BEHAN WALKED OUT ON
FREEMONT STREET TO TALK TO THE COWBOYS.
SHERIFF BEHAN SAW THAT IKE CLANTON AND TOM MCLAURY WERE UNARMED. BILLY CLANTON HAD A GUN, BUT HE WAS READY TO LEAVE TO GO HOME.
FRANK MCLAURY WAS ARMED, AND HE WAS VERY ANGRY. HE TOLD THE SHERIFF THAT WHEN THE SHERIFF DISARMED THE EARPS THEN HE
WOULD DISARM OR LEAVE TOWN.
HIS FINAL STATE MENT WAS,
"THE EARPS PLAN TO KILL US."
THE EARPS AND DOC STARTED DOWN FREEMONT STREET HEADING TOWARD THE SHERIFF. SHERIFF BEHAN TRIED TO STOP THEM, BUT THEY SAID
THEY WERE GOING TO THE VACANT LOT
TO SEE THE COWBOYS.
WHEN IKE CLANTON SAW THEM, HE BEGGED THEM NOT TO SHOOT HIM. HE WAS UNARMED. HE RAN INTO A PHOTO STUDIO STORE. BILLY CLAIBORNE, UNARMED, RAN AROUND A CORNER OF
A BUILDING TO HIDE.
THIS LEFT TOM MCLAURY WHO WAS UNARMED; BILLY CLANTON AND FRANK MCLAURY FACING
THE FOUR SWORN OFFICERS WHO WERE
READY TO DRAW.
TIME HAD STOPPED.
POINT BLANK, MORGAN EARP SHOT FRANK MCLAURY. DOC HOLLIDAY KILLED UNARMED TOM MCLAURY WITH A SHOTGUN BLAST. BILLY CLANTON DIED OF MULTIPLE CHEST WOUNDS.
BILLY CLAIBORNE AND IKE CLANTON WERE NOT SHOT. THEY LATER GAVE SWORN TESTIMONY AGAINST THE "LAWMEN."
VIRGIL EARP SUSTAINED A LEG WOUND. MORGAN EARP HAD A SHOULDER WOUND. WYATT EARP
WALKED AWAY UNSCATHED.
DOC HAD A GRAZED HIP.
WYATT AND DOC WERE ARRESTED AND CHARGED WITH MURDER A WEEK LATER. VIRGIL WAS SUSPENDED AS CHIEF OF POLICE. VIRGIL AND MORGAN WERE ALLOWED TO BE CONFINED AT HOME DUE TO WOUNDS. THEY WERE ALSO CHARGED WITH MURDER.
JUDGE WELLS SPICER, A CLOSE FRIEND OF WYATT EARP'S, WAS THE PRESIDING JUDGE. WYATT WAS ALLOWED TO READ A STATEMENT FROM THE WITNESS STAND. WYATT EARP WAS NOT
QUESTIONED NOR CROSS-EXAMINED.
ON DECEMBER 1ST, ABOUT SIX WEEKS AFTER THE SO-CALLED GUNFIGHT, JUDGE SPICER FOUND THE EARPS AND HOLLIDAY
NOT GUILTY. HE DECLARED THAT THEY ALL HAD ACTED
WITHIN THEIR AUTHORITY UNDER THE LAW BECAUSE THEY
HAD BEEN SWORN IN AS LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS.
"THE SPICER" RULING IS USED IN COURTS OF LAW ACROSS
THIS NATION TO THIS DAY.
WITHIN THE NEXT TWO YEARS, MORE THAN TWENTY MEN WOULD DIE AS A RESULT OF THE GUNFIGHT AT OK CORRAL. MORGAN EARP WAS ASSASINATED. VIRGIL EARP WAS DISABLED. WYATT EARP AN DOC HOLLIDAY BECAME HIGH ON THE LIST OF MOST WANTED MEN
WHEN THEY HUNTED DOWN THE SO-CALLED SUSPECTS IN
THE SHOOTINGS OF MORGAN AND VIRGIL EARP.
WYATT EARP LIVED TO BE 81 YEARS-OLD, AND WAS EXONERATED BY A GOVERNOR OF ALL OUTSTANDING WARRANTS.
DOC HOLLIDAY FINALLY MET HIS MAKER IN GLENWOOD SPRINGS, COLORADO IN LATE FALL, 1887. IN HIS HOTEL ROOM, HE WOKE UP, DRANK A GLASS OF WHISKEY, THEN SAID, "THIS IS FUNNY!"
