Return to Wyatt Earp Caricature

We'll get right to the heart of the matter. Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp is best known for participating in the street fight involving firearms that occured on the vacant half of Lot 2 of Tombstone, Arizona, Block 17 between Camillus Fly's boarding bouse and photography shop and the boarding house owned by William Harwood. Fortunately for the many book covers, title pages, and movie marquees, the fight was close enough to a local livery stable so it can accurately be called the "Gunfight Near the OK Corral".

The events that led to the fight are complex and are discussed in any number of books and articles. Suffice it to say that on October 26,1881, H. F. Sills, a railroad engineer, stepped up to the city marshal of Tombstone, Arizona, Virgil Earp, and said that he overheard a group of cowboys standing by the OK Corral. The cowboys were saying they were going to "get" the marhsal, Virgil, Virgil's brothers Morgan and Wyatt, and their friend John Henry "Doc" Holliday. Although they cowboys had a right to free speech, they did not have a right to carry guns within the city limits. So Virgil summoned his brothers as deputies and when Doc stepped up, Virgil deputized him, too. They then walked down Fremont Street where in a vacant lot near the corner of Freemont and 3rd, they found the cowboys, Ike and Billy Clanton, and Tom and Frank McLaury. Standing with them was the county sheriff Johnny Behan. A few minutes earlier, Johnny had told Virgil he would disarm the cowboys. But when the Earps and Doc stepped up, everyone still had their guns.

First we'll give the facts that everyone agrees on.

1, Virgil told the cowboys to throw up their hands.

2, He said he wanted their guns and/or was there to disarm them.

3, The first two shots were almost simultaneous. There was a pause and the firing became "general".

4, Within 30 seconds, Billy, Tom, and Frank were dead or mortally wounded, Ike had run off, and Virgil and Morgan had serious but not life-threatening wounds. Doc had a light flesh wound, and Wyatt was unscathed.

5. Following a month long hearing, Judge Wells Spicer ruled that the marshal and his deputies were justified in their actions and acted in self-defense.

So much for the facts. Now for the speculation.

All right. Who shot who (or is it whom?). This has been a question that has occupied historians of the Old West for over a century, although at first glance, though there seems little room for discussion At the inquest Wyatt testified the first two near simultaneous shots were Billy Clanton firing at him, and he at Frank McLaury (Frank was a better shot, Wyatt added). H. F. Sills, who saw the fight, agreed with Wyatt. So we have an independent witness from out of town who fully supported Wyatt. There doesn't seem to be much room to argue. Case closed.

So why have people gotten into spittle flinging diatribes for over a hundred years about what "really" happened at (or near or close to) the OK Corral? Well, part of the problem is that the most immediate accounts - published the day after the fight - do not agree with Wyatt or Sills. The Tombstone Epitaph stated Billy and either Frank or Tom fired first. But Tombstone's other paper, the Nugget, said it was Wyatt and Doc who fired first. Which of the three stories, if any?

Here partisanship raises it's head. The Epitaph was pro-Earp, we learn, and so naturally said the cowboys fired first. The Nugget was pro-cowboy and you expect it to say the Earps and Doc fired first. So shouldn't we discount either of these versions.

Now it is certainly true that the Epitaph editorialized that the "better citizens" of Tombstone said the marshal (Virgil) was justified. But the story in the Nugget was by no-mean anti-Earp, either Quite the contrary. The Nuggest states flat out that Doc and Wyatt did not fire until after Frank McLaury made a move to draw his gun. In effect, both papers support the Earps and Doc firing in self-defense.

But what about Sills? He was from out of town, knew none of the participants, and he agreed entirely with the testimony of a participant in the fight. So to explain how Sills might be wrong and why Wyatt was stretching the facts requires us to move ahead a bit.

After the news spread of the gunfight in Tombstone (it made headlines across the nation), Frank and Tom's brother, Will, came into town. He was a lawyer and determined to see the Earps and Doc hanged. Soon Will had a list of witnessees who were going to testify that the cowboys had thrown up their hands on Virgil's command, Billy said he didn't want to fight, and then the Earps shot everyone down. So a case that was to be a certain exoneration, was now a very serious situation for the Earps and Doc, particularly if Doc and Wyatt were the first ones to shoot.

But not suppose. What if Wyatt learned there was an independent witness who at the least thought he had seen Billy and Wyatt fire the same time? Then that meant Billy did not raise his hands. Now if Wyatt also said he and Billy shot first, this was was largely irrefutable evidence Billy ignored the order from Virgil. The Earps and Doc wold then have an extremely strong case for self-defense.

But why would Sills perjure himself? That could get him a prison sentence (or worse). But almost certainly he didn't. He saw the fight from a distance and seeing who was who and who shot whom left considerable room for error. Why should Sills, standing down the street, be able to follow action that others who knew the Earps better could not? From that standpoint, Sill may very well have simply been in error.

But that still leaves the question of how Wyatt could have learned what Sills would say if called to testify. When he got to the stand Sills was asked if he had spoken to anyone about the fight. He said, no, no one.

No one, that is, except James Earp. James was the other Earp, the non-gunfighting one. If Sills spoke to Jim, what did he talk about. The weather? How nice he found Tombstone. Maybe, just maybe, he told Jim what he saw. So Wyatt likely knew there was a potential witness who Sills would way before the day was done.

When Virgil said, "Throw up your hands!" and "I want your guns" there is a problem for the cowboys. What were they to do. If Virgil actually said "Give me your guns", the cowboys may very well have reached for their weapons to do just that. But Doc and Wyatt - both ticked off already - may have mistaken the gesture. If so, the famous "Gunfight At (or Near or Close-by or Adjacent to) the OK Corral" could very well have been due to a misunderstanding.