I'd always wanted to go to Tombstone...'The Town Too Tough To Die'. Founded in 1879 the name was taken from a mining claim of very rich silver discovered in 1877 by Ed Schieffelin. Prior to striking out to find his fortune he was warned to stay away from the mountains in south-east Arizona by soldiers at Fort Huachuca (wah-CHU-cah) because all he would find would be warring Apaches and his tombstone. Tombstone quickly became a boom town drawing all of the usual suspects...good guys, bad guys, dance halls, fallen angels, gamblers and gunfighters. In 1881 Tombstone was named as the county seat of the newly formed Cochise County. The population during the boom was somewhere between 5-15 thousand. In 2006 the population was less than 2000.
In October of 1881 one of the old west's most famous, if incorrectly termed, gunfights occurred in Tombstone between Wyatt Earp, his brothers Virgil and Morgan and 'Doc' Holiday on one side and Ike and Billy Clanton and Frank and Tom McLaury on the other. There are all sorts of versions of the gunfight but popular history says that the Clantons and McLaurys along with 'Johnny Ringo' and 'Curly Bill' Brochius were members of a gang called 'The Cowboys'. They were reputed to have been involved in cattle and horse rustling, train robberies and other crimes. The Earp's were supported by northern industrialists and immigrant miners. Virgil, the eldest Earp brother, was appointed town marshall and deputized his brothers Morgan and Wyatt.
The lines between good and bad in the old west were often blurred. For example, Wyatt Earp was a gambler, pimp and gunfighter as well as a lawman. 'Doc' Holliday's reputation, according to some, was more hype than substance and there is some evidence that suggests Holliday himself was involved in stage coach robberies. Wyatt had worked off and on as a lawman but so did Frank Stillwell and 'Curly Bill' Brocius both members of the cowboy gang. There's no way for us to know the real truth.
The 'Gunfight at the O.K. Corral' was as much about personal bad blood between the Clanton-McLaurys and the Earps as anything else. The cowboys were reputed to be rustling cattle and horses and committing armed robberies outside the jurisdiction of the Tombstone town Marshall and with at least the indifference of Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan. 'Curly Bill' Brocius had killed, some say murdered, some say the death was accidental, popular Tombstone City Marshall Fred White when White tried to disarm Brocius. Replacing White, Virgil Earp became Tombstone Marshall and implemented a ban on carrying weapons in the town limits. When the cowboys would come to town, armed, they were routinely pistol-whipped, or 'buffaloed'. This caused tensions between the cowboys and the Earps to escalate. Tensions between Sheriff Behan and the Earps also began to rise when Wyatt took up with Behan's girlfriend.
At around 2pm on October 26, 1881 it all came to a head. Popular history has it this way: Virgil Earp heard that the Clantons, McLaury's and Billy 'The Kid' Claiborne were in town and wearing side arms which was against town law. Virgil, aided by Deputy Morgan Earp, Wyatt and Wyatt's friend, Dr. John 'Doc' Holliday ('Doc' had briefly worked as a dentist before coming west for his health) the lawmen (Wyatt and 'Doc' had been sworn in as deputies) proceeded to confront the cowboys on Fremont street in a vacant lot near the photography studio and boarding house owned by C.S. Fly and near the back of the O.K. corral. Thirty-seconds and thirty-bullets later the McLaury brothers and Billy Clanton lay dead in the street and Ike Clanton and Billy 'The Kid' Claiborne had fled the fight. Morgan Earp suffered a severe shoulder wound while his brother, Virgil, received a leg wound, a wound that left him with a lifelong limp. 'Doc' Holliday's hip was grazed by bullet but Wyatt escaped injury. Sheriff Behan, a supporter of the cowboys, threatened to arrest the Earps and Holliday for murder but Wyatt would have none of it.
Initially hailed as heroes, opinion began to turn against the Earps and Holliday. Rumors spread by Ike Clanton and others that he and his brother Billy had been unarmed and that the McLaury's had their hands in the air when they were shot started to have an effect. Wyatt and 'Doc' Holliday were charged with murder but during a hearing they were effectively found not guilty when the judge ruled that there was insufficient evidence to indict the pair.
That might have been the end of the story and the world might never have heard about the gunfight on Fremont Street near C.S. Fly's photo studio (Gunfight at the O.K. Corral does sound better, doesn't it?) or even of Wyatt Earp. But that isn't the end of the story. A few weeks after the gunfight City Marshall Virgil Earp was ambushed by an unknown gunman and received a severe wound to his left arm leaving it useless for the rest of his life. Several months later, Morgan Earp was fatally shot in the back while playing billiards. These shootings led to the 'Vendetta Ride' by Wyatt Earp, 'Doc' Holliday, 'Texas Jack' Vermillion, 'Turkey Creek' Jack Johnson and a few others. Earp, now a deputy U.S. Marshall, Holliday and the others hunted down and killed those they believed were responsible for the murder of Morgan Earp and wounding of Virgil Earp. The Vendetta Ride began when Frank Stillwell, another member of the cowboy band, was killed in Tucson by Wyatt while Wyatt was putting his family on a California bound train. Wyatt considered Stillwell to be the man who murdered his brother Morgan. That act caused Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan to form his own posse to hunt down the Earp posse, even thought the Stillwell killing had occurred in Pima County. The Vendetta Ride ended after several weeks when Wyatt and 'Doc' rode out of Arizona Territory. Wyatt eventually headed for California and 'Doc' Holliday went to Colorado where he later died from tuberculosis.
Virgil continued to work as a lawman and died in California in 1905 from pneumonia. Ike Clanton was caught rustling cattle in 1887 and was shot dead by detectives. Wyatt died at his home in Los Angeles in 1929 at the age of 80.
While in Tombstone we took a narrated trolley tour of the town and saw many buildings dating back to the 1880's including the old Cochise County courthouse (the county seat was long ago moved to Bisbee), the city hall building and Schieffelin Music Hall. Tombstone was nearly leveled twice by fire, once in 1881 and again in 1882 with the second fire being the most destructive. Some of the 'cribs' or rooms used by Tombstone's 'working girls', commonly called fallen angels, are also still standing.
The Birdcage Theatre, (so named for the 14 birdcages suspended from the ceiling in the main hall where working girls would entertain their clients) a bar, dancehall, brothel and gambling emporium, operated 24/7 for a period of 8-years. During that time it was reputed by the New York Times to be the most wicked place between New Orleans and San Francisco. Many popular entertainers of the day including Eddy Foy and Lilly Langtree performed at the Birdcage. It is said that the Birdcage was the site of the world's longest poker game, a game that ran for 8-years. In 1889 water began to seep into the Tombstone mines thus ending the boom. The Birdcage closed and was boarded up. It stood that way until it was bought in 1934, some 45-years later. The new owner intended to open it as a museum to attract tourists to the town. Imagine his utter amazement when the building was opened and he found all of the furniture and furnishings as they had been left when the building closed in 1889. The building was, in fact, a time capsule. The Birdcage is now a museum.
Finally, two troupes of actors re-create the infamous gunfight, once from the lawmen perspective and the second from the cowboys point of view. Both are entertaining if a bit on the hammy side. If you ever get the chance to visit Tombstone and if you love the west or western lore you'll have a great time.
