June 2017 32 Clanton reportedly almost went for the deal until word somehow leaked out and he became furious at Wyatt for embarrassing him and threw his support behind Behan. Virgil also had a reputation as a lawman, having served for a brief period as Town Marshall in Prescott before going to Tombstone. Behan openly sided with Clanton and his gang of rustlers and outlaws once he beat Wyatt for the Sheriff’s badge. The sheriff reportedly was well paid for looking the other way when the “cowboys” committed their crimes across the county. The Woman Involved To make matter worse between Behan and Wyatt, a 19-year-old beauty named Josie Marcus had come to Tombstone with an acting troop and had taken up with Sheriff Behan as his mistress. That is, until she met Wyatt Earp. Josie soon decided to put her high button shoes under Wyatt’s bed and dump the corrupt Sheriff Behan, who was a bit of a nervous weasel and dandy and not quite the cool, level headed lawman Hollywood would later cast as frontier sheriffs. Wyatt, on the other hand, was raking in a lot of money from his very legal gambling business and was, to Josie’s fluttering eyes, a far better catch than Behan. If the Earp’s are to be believed, Behan got his revenge against Wyatt for Josie’s change of heart. Just before the fatal shootout that day, he reportedly told the Earps that he had disarmed the Clantons, leading the Earps to charge that Behan had lied to them and led them into a trap. Subsequent events that day do not support the Earp’s claim. “Clantons Are In Town!” That word echoed around downtown Tombstone early that unusually cold Oct. 26, 1881. Few were surprised! The previous day, Ike Clanton and Tome McLaury had been in town and late that night, a drunken Ike had waltzed into the Occidental Lunchroom east of 4th St. and Allen. There he was confronted by Doc Holliday, longtime friend of the Earps, who reportedly told him to go for his gun. The drunken Ike replied “I ain’t heeled.” Holliday Continued to taunt Ike and Clanton finally left. In the early morning hours of the 26th, Doc’s mistress, Big Nose Kate, found Holliday at Fly’s Boarding House and told him Ike was seen outside on Fremont with a Winchester. Storm Clouds Build Later, Virgil and Morgan Earp found Ike Staggering out of the Capitol Saloon on the southwest corner on 4th and Fremont. Town Marshal Virgil clubbed Ike over the head with his pistol and disarmed him. The scene was repeated down the street in front of the recorders office on Fremont when Wyatt Earp ran into Tom McLaury on the Street, knocked him out with his pistol butt, and disarmed the “cowboy.” Sometime between those early morning incidents and about 2 p.m. Billy Clanton, Ike’s young brother, and his friend Billy Claiborne and Tom McLaury’s brother Frank rode into town. The Clanton “cowboys” got together, caught up on the events of the past night and morning, and walked O.K. Corral Myths continued from page 31 down Allen St. and into the alley that led through the O.K. Corral to Fremont. On Fremont, they walked west to the vacant lot between Fry’s Boarding House and the Harwood Home. The Earps and Doc Holliday had gathered at Hafford’s Saloon, a block east, on the corner of 4th and Allen. A crowd, filled with excitement, had followed the Clantons up Fremont to the Vacant lot next to Fry’s. Erstwhile citizens ran to Hafford’s and informed the Earps that the Clanton Boys and the “cowboys” with them had armed themselves and were planning to confront the Earps and Holliday. It is believed that Virgil Earp then made Wyatt a deputy U.S. Marshal, but no records exist. Morgan was a deputy Town Marshal. Holliday, someday, also was deputized by Virgil, but no records exist of that act either. This doesn’t mean Virgil did not use his authority as both deputy federal marshal and town marshal to deputize Wyatt and Doc before the confrontation with the Clantons. Records did not have a top priority in the heat of the moment. The Earp brothers and Holliday left Hafford’s Saloon and walked north on 4th one block to Fremont, then west up Fremont to the vacant lot between Fry’s and the Harwood home where the Clanton gang had gathered 30 Shots in 30 Seconds Somewhere along this two block walk, Behan reportedly hailed the Earps and told them he had disarmed the Clantons and their friends. Behan most likely was waiting on Fremont just in front of Fry’s. The Earps and Holliday walked past Behan and into the narrow vacant lot. They stopped with four feet of the Clantons and their friends. Virgil shouted “throw up your hands” and at the same instance the gunfire erupted from both sides. Witnesses later said the Earp shot first, simultane- ously with Virgil’s command of “throw up your hands!” Holliday brought his sawed off shotgun up from under his over coat and blasted Frank McLaury in the stomach at close range. Morgan leveled his six gun and shot young Billy Clanton in the chest. The teenager slumped back against the wooden wall of the Harwood House as Doc levelled his shotgun at young Tom McLaury and fired point blank into his stomach. Tom used his horse as a shield and made his way out of the vacant lot and to the corner of Fremont and 3rd before he collapsed. Billy Clanton, still alive, leveled his six-shooter at Virgil Earp from his slumped position against the Harwood house wall. Virgil, at the same time, leveled his gun at the mortally wounded Clanton boy. Billy got off a shot, hitting Virgil in the knee and another that hit Morgan Earp in the shoulder. Frank McLaury, gut shot by Doc’s shotgun, managed to draw a bead on Doc with his six-shooter and fire. Doc collapsed screaming “I’ve been shot right through.” He hadn’t Frank’s bullet only nicked Holliday. Both Tom and Frank McLaury died within minutes of their wounds, So did Billy Clanton. Virgil, Morgan and Doc Holliday all were wounded but none of the wounds were life threatening. Only Wyatt Earp escaped the shootout without being hit. Both Billy Claiborne and Ike Clanton fled the lot as soon as the shooting began and avoided injury. The Clantons and their “cowboys” had a lot of friends in Tombstone, mostly those who stood to gain from the spoils of their outlaw raids on both sides of the border which they often spent in the saloons and gambling dens of the mining camp. Many of these wanted to see the Earps pay for the deaths of Billy Clanton and Tom and Frank McLaury. The Funeral for the three dead “cowboys” was said to be the biggest in Tombstone history. The Earps and Doc were put on trial for the killings, but were finally acquitted. The Earps paid dearly, however, two months later. On December 28, an assassin ambushed him in front of the oriental Saloon on Allan St., blasting him in the right arm and rendering it worthless for the rest of his life. The Earps paid again, even more dearly, five months later when in March of 1882, an unknown assassin shot Morgan in the back and killed him as younger Earp was shooting pool in Hatch’s Saloon. He was playing pool with Wyatt as the shot came through the saloon window from the dark. Wyatt was not injured in the attack. Wyatt’s Vendetta After Morgan was murdered, Wyatt pinned on a deputy U.S. Marshal Badge and, with a pose, began tracking down and killing “cowboys” all along the border at the southern end of the territory. This Vendetta of questionable legality broke the back of the Clanton gang. Most of the “Cowboys” were either killed or fled, whether or not they had any to do with the murder of Morgan and ambush that crippled Virgil. Wyatt and Virgil had taken the body of Morgan to Tucson where Virgil boarded a train for Colton, California, where their father lived, with his brother’s remains. Even at the train depot, the bloodshed continued. Wyatt spotted “cowboy” Frank Stilwell as they were waiting for the train. The Earps suspected Stilwell of being one of the assassins and Wyatt and Virgil cut him down on the spot. Stilwell was a deputy of Sheriff Behan who had been charged with stage coach robbery. This caused the wrath of Sheriff Bob Paul of Pima County to come down on the Earps and he secured warrants for their arrest. Virgil and the late Morgan had already left for Colton and Wyatt had returned to Tombstone with his deputized posse before the Pima County lawman could serve the warrants. Back in Tombstone, Wyatt learned that Cochise Co. Sheriff Hehan had also secured warrants for the arrest of him and his deputies, but he had no fear of Behan. The Cochise Co. lawman did not want to tangle with the violent deputy U.S. Marshal and his posse, despite the urging of the “cowboys” for him to intervene. Summary Executions Go On It was on March 22, when Wyatt and his posse caught up with Indian Charley Florentio, a woodcutters suspected by Earp as being involved in Morgan’s murder. He was shot down where he was caught by Wyatt and His posse. The Earps claimed that later, the posse caught up with “Curley Bill” Brocius, another suspected “cowboy” assassin, and shot him to death. There is no official report of “Curley Bill’s” demise at the hands of the Earps. Josie Earp, Wyatt’s wife, revealed many years later that Wyatt went back to Arizona to continue his vendetta after the couple moved to California. Josie said Wyatt returned to the Territory and killed “cowboy” Johnny Ringo. Wyatt decided to disband his posse and slip out of Arizona after he learned that Pima County Sheriff Paul