Hysterical Journey To Historic Places

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O K CORRAL

On the morning of October 25, 1881 Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury had breakfast at Chandler’s Milk Ranch and then drove a wagon in to Tombstone to pick up supplies and run a few errands. Their brothers, Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton had ranch business to attend to that day, but planned to join up in Tombstone the following day. Soon as they got to town Ike and Tom checked their guns in and Ike started right in drinking tangle-foot whiskey and running off at the mouth. By ten o’clock in the evening Ike had been braying like an ass for several hours; generally berating Doc Holliday for an alleged involvement in the Kinnear Stage Robbery. Ike figured that turnabout was fair play because Doc, he thought, had been spreading rumors about Ike too. Both of them were ill-tempered damned drunks, and they both should have kept their old mean whiskey-soaked tongues from wagging. The two of them happened to meet at the Occidental Lunch Counter and Doc challenged Ike to a gunfight right then and there. Doc was backed up by Morgan, Wyatt and Virgil, all of whom were openly carrying guns. Doc, Morgan and Wyatt were in violation of city ordinances, but because Virgil was city marshal he allowed it. Virgil did not trust his own deputies; they were all Ben Sippy’s men. Sippy was corrupt and so were his deputies. Sippy had defeated Virgil in the election for city marshal, but had absconded with city funds and Virgil was appointed to replace him. Virgil had also been appointed to replace Fred White as city marshal after White had been accidentally shot by Curly Bill Brocious. Wyatt was helping to subdue Curly Bill and had grabbed him from behind in a bear hug when White tried to jerk Curly Bill’s gun from his hand. The gun was cocked and went off when White pulled it against Curly Bill’s trigger finger. If Wyatt had not been restraining Curly Bill’s arms the accidental shooting would not have happened. Virgil was never popular enough to be elected as city marshal of Tombstone on his own merits as a lawman. When Doc challenged Ike at the lunch counter Ike was not carrying a gun and skulked off like a yellow dog. He kept right on drinking tangle-foot during an all-night poker game and brooding about the challenge. Virgil, Sheriff John Behan, and Tom McLaury all had seats in that game. Virgil was there to keep an eye on Ike, and Behan was there to keep an eye on Virgil. Tom was there to back up Ike. As daylight broke Tom, Behan and Virgil all went off to catch some shut eye, but Ike kept right on going with the tangle-foot. He picked up his guns and went around town making drunken death threats against Doc and the Earps. It was quite a spectacle he was making of himself. Twice Virgil’s real deputies, the ones he did not trust, came to Virgil’s house and woke him up to inform him about Ike’s behavior, and ask him what he wanted done about it. Virgil blew them off both times thinking that Ike would finally wear himself out and go to bed. Enough was enough by the third visit and Virgil finally got up to attend to Ike. It was nearly noon by then, and the whole town was on the verge of mob hysteria. Virgil found Morgan and the both of them went looking for Ike. They found him swaggering up the street, came up behind him and pistol whipped him like a mutt. Ike thought that taking him from behind like that was a cowardly way to do business and promised to kill both Virgil and Morgan. Wyatt joined them and they charged Ike with possession of firearms in town and hustled him off to court where he paid a fine and was released to seek medical care. By then Tom McLaury had got up, heard what was going on and went to find Ike. Instead he found Wyatt and told him that if he and his brothers were looking for a fight they could have one. Tom was not carrying a weapon, but Wyatt was. He pulled out his gun and brutally assaulted Tom with it. Tom went off to get medical attention too. Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton had just arrived in town, heard what had happened with their brothers, and went to find them and take them home. Frank stopped off long enough to buy some ammo and Wyatt accosted him while doing so because Frank’s horse was on the sidewalk out front. Wyatt was by himself and didn’t like even odds so he retreated to look for his brothers. Frank, Tom, Ike, and Billy had gathered in an alley off Fremont Street near the O K Corral to wait for the wagon to be brought up. Ike and Tom had not yet retrieved their guns. They would pick them up as they left town. Sheriff Behan was up by then, it was almost 2pm, had learned of the ruckus and went to try and disarm the situation. He was trying to calm the Clantons and McLaurys as the Earps and Doc approached on Fremont Street. He then went to stop them, but it was no use. Their blood was up and they were reacting to the mob hysteria that had gripped the whole town. The whole deadly situation originated when Doc challenged Ike to a gunfight the night before, and it was fueled by Ike’s drunken threats that morning. The hysteria was Virgil’s fault for blowing off two warnings by his deputies. The confrontation in the alley began when Virgil ordered the Clantons and McLaurys to throw up their hands, he wanted to disarm them. Billy and Ike raised their hands as ordered and Tom opened his coat to show he was not armed. The situation got out of control when Wyatt hollered out that, “You sonsabitches have been looking for a fight and now you can have it”. Morgan pulled his gun, and Doc leveled his shotgun and Virgil hollered, “Hold! I don’t mean that”. While Billy’s hands were still up Morgan shot him and Doc blasted Tom with the shotgun. Frank then shot Morgan, and Wyatt shot Frank as Ike in a blind panic ran headlong into Wyatt trying to escape. Ike dodged into Fly’s Studio and Wyatt and Doc both fired at him and missed. Ike did not stop running until he was clear across town hiding in back of a saloon on Toughnut Street. Frank had stumbled into the street where he grazed Doc across the thigh before Doc and Wyatt finished him off. Billy shot Virgil through the calf as Virgil and Morgan were finishing him off. Billy Claiborne had been standing in the alley visiting his pals Tom McLaury and Billy Clanton when Behan arrived. Behan ordered them all to stay where they were when he went to stop the Earps. Claiborne did as ordered and witnessed the start of the fight when Morgan murdered Billy and Doc murdered Tom before escaping to safety inside Fly’s. Virgil had bungled the whole tragic incident and was removed from his duties as city marshal. The Earps and Doc were brought up on charges of murder. The preliminary hearing lasted a month in Judge Spicer’s court. In the end Spicer ruled predictably on the side of law and order in that Virgil had acted within the scope of his duty as a lawman. It was a travesty of justice on many levels. Virgil had already fulfilled his duty as a lawman when he arrested Ike the first time. What happened after that was in response to mob hysteria and had nothing to do with enforcing the law. Ike eventually made good on his promise to kill Virgil and Morgan but he did so in typical cowardly fashion. Virgil was ambushed by shotgun while crossing the street in front of the Oriental Saloon on the night of December 28, 1881. He would survive the attack but was crippled to the end of his days. Ike’s hat was found nearby where he had dropped it as he ran for Charleston after the ambush. Morgan was shot in the back and killed while playing pool in back of the Campbell and Hatch Saloon on March 18, 1882. Wyatt then went on a rampage of his own. He and Doc brutally murdered Frank Stillwell at the train station in Tucson on December 20. George Hands was among those who viewed Franks corpse the following morning and recorded in his diary that Stillwell was the worst shot up man he had ever seen. George was veteran of the Civil War and had seen many other dead men. Frank Stillwell had issues with the Earps. It was well known that he did not like them, but he had nothing to do with either of the attacks on Virgil and Morgan. He would not have engaged them in such a cowardly manner. Wyatt and Doc returned to Tombstone two jumps ahead of a murder warrant on Stillwell, gathered up the Vengeance Posse and rode out to Pete Spence’s wood lot on March 22 where they killed another innocent man named Florentino Cruz. On March 24 the Vengeance Posse rode into an ambush at Cottonwood Springs near the south end of the Whetstone Mountains. Wyatt claimed that he killed Curly Bill out there, but that was another of his many damn lies. Curly Bill had already left the Arizona by then. The rancher Henry Clay Hooker had offered a reward for Curly Bill in the amount of a thousand dollars. It was the money Wyatt needed to flee up to Colorado where Bat Masterson helped him avoid extradition. Taking that reward money under false pretense was an act of thievery. It was the least of Wyatt’s many faults. The photo shows the gravesites of the McLaury Brothers and Billy Clanton in Boot Hill Cemetery.

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Photos

O K CORRAL
When the gunfight began Virgil was to the left of the gate, Wyatt was on his right. Doc was between Wyatt and Morgan. Opposing them were Billy Clanton facing Morgan and beside a rooming house that is no longer there. Tom McLaury was across from Doc to Billy's left, and Frank McLaury was across from Wyatt. Frank was holding his horse and could not raise his hands as Virgil ordered. The horse bolted when the gunplay broke out and Ike was right behind him. Wyatt had to dodge aside to avoid the horse and Ike ran headlong into him just as Wyatt was shooting Frank.