Ghosts of the Wild West: Enlarged Edition Including Five Never-Before-Published Stories

Tombstone, Arizona, and Its Notorious Gunfighters

TOMBSTONE, ARIZONA, AND ITS NOTORIOUS GUNFIGHTERS ombstone. . . . Tombstone, Arizona. A place that stirs the imagination. In the shadow of the desolate Dragoon Mountains, stronghold of Cochise, and home for a time of one of the West's most famous lawmen, Wyatt Earp. Tombstone has all the magic of the past-the Crystal Palace where Wyatt Earp had his office on the second floor and ran a far0 game downstairs, the Bird Cage Theater, the Lucky Cuss Bar, and the O.K. Corral. Here in the 1880scame wealthy gamblers and some of the most notorious gunfighters of the West. Even today the town seems full of the shadowy figures of its TOMBSTONE, ARIZONA violent past. Bat Masterson, Luke Short, Doc Holliday, and the Clanton brothers all walked these wooden sidewalks and rode the muddy streets of this town "too tough to die." When a bearded prospector named Ed Schieffelin began to roam the lonely San Pedro Hills in search of silver, the soldiers at Fort Huachuca warned him of the dangerous Apaches, saying, "All you'll find here is your tombstone." Schieffelin struck a rich silver vein in September of 1877 and boldly named it "The Tombstone." News of the rich strike brought the best and the worst of men hurrying to the town named after the strike that spawned it. Two men arrived who were to make Tombstone even more famous. They were Wyatt Earp, who was to serve as deputy U.S. marshal, and John Clum, a courageous crusader of a man who began the newspaperThe Tombstone Epitaph. Both men were dedicated to wiping out crime, and they became good friends. In the pages of his paper, Clum strongly attacked the drunken cowboys who were terrorizing the town-calling them murderers and outlaws. Among them were Johnny Ringo, Buckskin Frank Leslie, Curly Bill Brocius-men who robbed and plundered helpless citizens throughout the Territory ofArizona. Clum became mayor and, despite threats on his life, used both the authority of his office and the influence of his paper to try to rid the town of lawlessness and terror. War between the cowboys and the lawmen was soon to come. The McLaurys and the Clantons, who GHOSTS OF THE WILD WEST were among the worst of the outlaws, had been taunting Wyatt Earp and his lawmen brothers, Virgil and Morgan, for weeks. Trouble began on the night of October 25, 1881, when a drunk and threatening Ike Clanton was arrested by Virgil Earp on a charge of disorderly conduct. After jailing Clanton, Wyatt Earp went to the newspaper office to talk with his friend John Clum. "They're all in town tonight, going from place to place, shooting off their gun, and making trouble," Earp told Clum. "I've sent word to Doc Holliday to come into town. We may need him." When Holliday arrived, Wyatt Earp deputized him. There was no doubt that the lawmen were angry as the cowboys made their usual rounds of the gambling halls and saloons-rowdy and insulting wherever they went. The next morning the Earps released Ike Clanton, hoping he and his friends would leave peacefully. As the cowboys mounted their horses at the O.K. Corral, the Earps and Doc Holliday watched and waited. The cowboys were boasthl and appeared to be just spoiling for a fight. All were armed, and somebody fired a shot when the lawmen ordered the Clanton and McLaury brothers to drop their guns. Advancing two or three steps from the crowd, Ike Clanton met Wyatt Earp's six-shooter. "Throw up your hands," ordered Earp. At the same time Tom McLaury made a move to draw his gun, and Bill Clanton reached for his. But Doc Holliday and Morgan Earp were quicker, and Bill Clanton dropped dead. Ike Clanton ran, managing to TOMBSTONE. ARIZONA hide in the photo gallery, where he stayed while the guns barked outside. When it mias over, three men lay dead. Frank and Tom McLaurp and Billy Clanton had been killed. The three Earp brothers and Doc Holliday were all wounded. It was Tombstone's bloodiest day. John Clum worked far into the night gathering the details of the gun battle as he talked to the survivors and then began the tedious task of setting the letters of type by hand. Reaching into the case of large wood type, he...