In this Book
- The McLaurys in Tombstone, Arizona: An O.K. Corral Obituary
- Book
- 2012
- Published by: University of North Texas Press
- Series: A. C. Greene Series
summary
On a chilly October afternoon in 1881, two brothers named Tom and Frank McLaury were gunned down on the streets of Tombstone, Arizona, by the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday. The deadly event became known as the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and in a quirk of fate, the brothers’ names became well-known, but only as bad men and outlaws. Did they deserve that reputation? The McLaurys in Tombstone, Arizona: An O.K. Corral Obituary explores this question, revealing details of their family background and the context of their lives on the frontier. Paul Lee Johnson begins their story with the McLaury brothers’ decision to go into the cattle business with an ambition to have their own ranch. When they moved to Arizona, they finally achieved that goal, but along the way they became enmeshed with the cross-border black market that was thriving there. As “honest ranchers” they were in business with both the criminal element as well as the legitimate businesses in Tombstone. Another principal in this story was an older brother, William, who set aside his law practice in Fort Worth to settle his brothers’ affairs, and associated himself with the prosecution of the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday. Despite his efforts, the Earps and Holliday were exonerated, and the “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” became the opening salvo of a feud that took several more lives. Johnson has interviewed family descendants and mined their sources, government correspondence, and letters that have never before been published to reveal the human lives behind the storied events. For the first time the events of the O.K. Corral gunfight are presented from the viewpoint of the McLaurys, two brothers who lost their lives and reputations, and a family who tried in vain to find restitution.
Table of Contents
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- List of Illustrations
- pp. vii-viii
- Acknowledgments
- pp. ix-xi
- Prologue: Fame from the Barrel of a Gun
- pp. xii-xv
- Chapter 2: McLaurys in Iowa
- pp. 10-13
- Chapter 4: William R. McLaury
- pp. 22-26
- Chapter 5: Buchanan County, Iowa
- pp. 27-34
- Chapter 8: The Arizona Frontier
- pp. 50-57
- Chapter 10: Border Crime
- pp. 64-70
- Chapter 13: The Vexed Question
- pp. 93-100
- Chapter 15: Vengeful Schemes
- pp. 108-117
- Chapter 16: Summer Storms
- pp. 118-127
- Chapter 17: Loss in Fort Worth
- pp. 128-132
- Chapter 18: Deadly Ambush
- pp. 133-142
- Chapter 19: “Glad You Are on the Alert”
- pp. 143-153
- Chapter 20: Open Hostilities
- pp. 154-161
- Chapter 21: Indian Summer
- pp. 162-175
- Chapter 22: “Throw Up Your Hands”
- pp. 176-186
- Chapter 23: “Hurled Into Eternity”
- pp. 187-200
- Chapter 24: A Charge of Murder
- pp. 201-206
- Chapter 27: “I Do Not Like Your Letter”
- pp. 233-246
- Chapter 28: “And Tales of Broken Faith
- pp. 247-257
- Chapter 30: Habeas Corpus
- pp. 271-278
- Epilogue: Three McLaury Brothers
- pp. 301-305
- Bibliography
- pp. 361-373
Additional Information
ISBN
9781574414585
Related ISBN(s)
9781574414509
MARC Record
OCLC
806040205
Pages
416
Launched on MUSE
2012-09-04
Language
English
Open Access
No