WEBVTT - Trial at the O.K. Corral 0:00:01.000 --> 0:00:04.760 You are listening to History on Trial, a production of 0:00:04.840 --> 0:00:12.559 iHeart Podcasts. Listener discretion advised. In the summer of eighteen 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:18.720 eighty one, Wyatt Irp lawmen approached Ike Clanton outlaw with 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:24.560 a proposition. This was highly unusual. Ike Clanton was affiliated 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:28.320 with the Cowboys, a group of cattle wrestlers and stagecoach 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:32.360 robbers who operated in the dusty reaches of southeastern Arizona. 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:35.800 Wyatt Ierp, on the other hand, was a former Pima 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:40.720 County deputy sheriff. His brother, Virgil, was city marshall for Tombstone, 0:00:41.200 --> 0:00:44.839 the mining boomtown situated in the heart of Cowboy country. 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:50.000 The ERPs were sworn enemies of the Cowboys. So what 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:54.840 did Wyatt want with Ike? As Wyatt would later explain it, 0:00:55.080 --> 0:00:59.960 he thought Ike could help make him sheriff. Earlier that year, too, 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:02.800 Ummestone had split off from Pima County to become the 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:06.320 seat of the newly formed Coachees County. Wyatt had hoped 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:09.479 to be appointed sheriff of Cochees County, but that honor 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:13.479 had gone to Johnny Beehn instead. Bee Hann was thought 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:17.200 to be sympathetic to the Cowboys. Many in Tombstone were 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:21.120 for various reasons, but having a sheriff with connections to 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:26.240 outlaws seemed wrong to many other Tombstoners, including Wyatt Earp. 0:01:27.120 --> 0:01:29.240 Since there would be a real election held for the 0:01:29.240 --> 0:01:33.920 sheriff position soon enough, Wyatt decided to run. He had 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:38.080 an unorthodox campaign strategy. A few months earlier, in March 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:41.880 of eighteen eighty one, a stagecoach carrying a Wells Bargo 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:44.720 money box was attacked by a group of bandits outside 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:47.920 of Tombstone. In the course of the attempted robbery, the 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:52.600 stagecoach driver and a passenger were killed. Wyatt and Virgil 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:55.200 Earp had tracked down one of the robbers, a man 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:59.800 named Luther King. King, in turn had identified his accomplices 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:06.800 William Leonard, Harry Head and James Crane, all known cowboy affiliates. 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:10.239 The RT Posse turned the King over to Sheriff be 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:13.000 Hand so they could pursue the missing men, but they 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:18.040 never found Leonard, Head or Crane. Soon after, King managed 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:23.200 to escape custody. The circumstances of his escape were very suspect. 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:27.440 One of Behan's deputies left the prisoner unattended with the 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:31.040 door unlocked, allowing King to slip out and mount the 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:34.680 fresh horse that had very conveniently been left behind the jail. 0:02:35.360 --> 0:02:38.480 Many Tombstoners suspected that Behan had looked the other way, 0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:43.680 or maybe had even helped. King George Parsons, a Tombstone resident, 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:47.799 wrote in his diary quote, some of our officials should 0:02:47.840 --> 0:02:52.640 be hanged. They're a bad lot. Wyatt wanted to play 0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:55.400 off these bad feelings in his own campaign for sheriff. 0:02:55.919 --> 0:02:58.320 And wouldn't it be even better if he managed to 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:02.760 capture the missing robbers life head and crane too. That 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:06.799 would show just how useless Beehn was. But to do that, 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:10.840 Whyatt needed intel on the cowboys, and where better to 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:15.240 get that intel than from another cowboy. Ike Clanton came 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:18.320 from a cowboy family. His little brother Billy and his 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:22.160 father Newman, who everyone called Old Man, took part in 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:25.280 cowboy raids. Two. Ike might know where to find the 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:28.840 missing robbers, So Whyatt came to him with an idea. 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:33.080 Wells Fargo was offering a five thousand dollars reward for 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:36.560 the robbers capture. If Ike helped him find the men, 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:41.200 Wyatt said he'd give Ike the reward money, Ike demonstrating 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:44.600 that there's no honor amongst cowboys. Had just one question. 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:47.840 Was the reward only good if the men were captured? 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:51.480 What if they were killed? Wyatt telegraphed the Wells Fargo 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:55.520 office to ask dead or alive. Wells Faro confirmed, so 0:03:55.720 --> 0:04:00.360 Ike and Wyatt struck a deal. Unfortunately for Wyatt's campaign 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:04.760 ambitions and Ike's financial dreams, Leonard, Head and Crane all 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:08.160 soon died in unrelated gun battles, but the deal the 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:11.960 two men had struck that summer would only months later 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:15.680 lead them both to a dusty lot behind the Ok Corral, 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:20.039 where an escalating IRP cowboy conflict erupted into one of 0:04:20.080 --> 0:04:25.400 the wild West's most infamous gunfights. The twenty sixth of 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:29.960 October eighteen eighty one, wrote reporter Richard Rule in the 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:34.080 Tombstone Daily Nugget. The next day will always be marked 0:04:34.160 --> 0:04:37.840 as one of the crimson days in the annals of Tombstone, 0:04:38.240 --> 0:04:42.360 A day when blood flowed as water and human life 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:45.880 was held as a shuttlecock. A day always to be 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:50.040 remembered as witnessing the bloodiest and deadliest street fight that 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:54.760 has ever occurred in this place, or probably in the territories. 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:59.880 Rule was right, we remember the gunfight at the Oka, CA. 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:05.840 We can picture it, the long black coats, the drooping mustaches, 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:10.680 the fingers resting on triggers. The gunfight at the OK 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:14.240 Corral has become a symbol of the wild West, an 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:18.839 illustration of how hard men administered justice on the lawless frontier. 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:22.440 But here's the funny thing about the gunfight at the 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:26.760 OK Corral. It might have started in the streets, but 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:32.200 it ended up in a courtroom. Welcome to history on trial. 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:36.960 I'm your host, Mira Hayward. This week the Irp Holiday Case. 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:43.080 The legend of the Earths began in July eighteen forty 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:47.960 when Nicholas Irp married Virginia Cooksey in Hartford, Kentucky. The 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:50.839 couple would have eight children, including the three that we 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:56.040 know best today, Virgil, Wyatt, and Morgan. Nicholas was a 0:05:56.080 --> 0:05:59.960 short tempered, ill mannered, but energetic man. He moved to 0:06:00.160 --> 0:06:04.320 family frequently. Virgil was born in Kentucky in eighteen forty three, 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:08.599 Wyatt in Illinois in eighteen forty eight, and Morgan in 0:06:08.720 --> 0:06:13.440 Iowa in eighteen fifty one. This unsteady childhood bonded the 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:17.160 Ert brothers as adults, they often traveled and lived together. 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:21.640 Throughout the eighteen sixties and seventies. The brothers bounced across 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:25.040 the West and Midwest, taking whatever jobs they could get, 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:29.520 like driving stage coaches, dealing in casinos, and building train tracks. 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:33.599 Contrary to our idea of them today, law enforcement was 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:37.560 not always the rp's passion. When they did take police jobs, 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:40.760 like when Wyatt and Morgan served as deputy town marshals 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:43.919 in Wichita, it was usually only because of the steady 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:47.640 paycheck provided. In fact, Wyatt, for most of his young 0:06:47.680 --> 0:06:50.599 adult life, had more of a penchant for breaking the 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:54.240 law than for enforcing it. After the tragic death of 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:58.200 his pregnant wife Urilla in eighteen seventy, Wyatt went through 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:01.719 a bit of a dark period. He was at various 0:07:01.760 --> 0:07:05.760 times arrested for horse theft, charged with running a floating brothel, 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:09.159 and sued for keeping taxes he had collected for local 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:13.360 schools for himself. But by the late eighteen seventies Wyatt 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:17.080 had settled down, as had his brothers. Virgil and his 0:07:17.200 --> 0:07:20.640 common law wife Ali were living in Prescott, Arizona, where 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:23.360 he was serving as town constable, a job that mainly 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:27.880 required him to serve subpoenas. Virgil encouraged Morgan, who was 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:31.160 then mining in Montana, and Wyatt, a deputy marshal in 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:35.240 Dodge City, Kansas, to join him in Arizona. Wyatt and 0:07:35.280 --> 0:07:39.760 Morgan were in Wyatt's good friend John Holliday decided to 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:43.760 come to Doc. Holiday, as he's better known, was a 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:46.760 hard drinking dentist with a quick temper and a bad 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:51.360 case of tuberculosis. Most people didn't like him, but Doc 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:54.280 had once saved Wyatt's life during a standoff, and the 0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:58.520 two had been fast friends ever since. On November first, 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:01.600 eighteen seventy nine, I met up with Virgil and Ali 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:04.920 in Prescott. The party then made their way to Tombstone, 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:09.280 arriving on December first. Morgan came eight months later in 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:13.840 July eighteen eighty, and Doc several months after that. The 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:17.960 RPS had chosen Tombstone because of its legendary mines. In 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:21.560 August eighteen seventy seven, a man named Ed Schifflin had 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:24.600 found a vein of silver in the area. In a 0:08:24.680 --> 0:08:27.480 cheeky nod to a doubter who'd once told him he'd 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:32.439 only find his death out there, Schifflin dubbed his claim Tombstone. 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:36.040 In November eighteen seventy nine, a month before Virgil and 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:41.240 Wyatt arrived, Tombstone elected its first mayor and city council. 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:45.080 Like many Western mining towns, Tombstone was a rough place. 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:49.800 Saloons and gambling halls lined the streets. After too many drinks, 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:53.840 fights broke out over card games. The town's location, only 0:08:53.880 --> 0:08:56.640 thirty miles from the Mexican border made it a popular 0:08:56.679 --> 0:08:59.440 spot for bandits and cattle wrestlers who stole goods in 0:08:59.480 --> 0:09:03.360 one country and sold them in another. People called such 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:07.840 criminals cowboys. The men who we'd call cowboys today were 0:09:07.880 --> 0:09:12.439 then called stockmen or cow hans. By the late eighteen seventies, 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:15.520 people had started calling the wrestlers and robbers who lived 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:21.040 in southeastern Arizona the capital c cowboys. The cowboys weren't 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:24.080 an official gang. They were a loose group of outlaws 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:27.360 who collaborated to part cattle from ranchers and money from 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:30.680 stage coaches. Many of them came to Arizona from the 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:34.200 former Confederacy, drawn to the territory by the promise of 0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:38.880 less government oversight. Though the cowboys could be violent, sometimes 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:42.800 killing victims during their robberies, not everyone in Tombstone minded 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:46.959 their presence. Legal historian Stephen Lubet, in his book Murder 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:50.320 in Tombstone calls the relationship between the cowboys in the 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:56.160 town quote symbiotic, not flatly antagonistic. The cowboys had many 0:09:56.200 --> 0:10:00.480 friends and supporters both in and around Tombstone, and other 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:04.760 local merchants depended on cowboys for cheap provisions, and saloon 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:09.640 keepers enjoyed their freewheeling spending habits. Ranchers living outside of town, 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:13.199 many of whom were ex Confederate Democrats, also got on 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:17.040 well with the cowboys, who shared their political beliefs and backgrounds. 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:20.800 Some of these ranchers even acted as middlemen for cattle 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:24.679 the cowboys stole in Mexico. But not everyone was so 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:28.360 tolerant of the cowboys. Many involved in the mining business. 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:32.280 Mine owners and engineers, as well as other businessmen, were 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:35.760 concerned about the economic impact the cowboys crime could have. 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:40.640 These people mainly came from Northern States and were Republicans. 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:45.319 They had less in common politically and socioeconomically with the cowboys. 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:50.000 This latter group included the Ert Brothers, who were now 0:10:50.080 --> 0:10:54.319 firmly invested in helping maintain law and order They did 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:57.960 so in both private employment, guarding wells, fargo stage coaches 0:10:58.000 --> 0:11:02.040 and acting as bouncers and saloons, and also in public roles. 0:11:02.640 --> 0:11:06.200 Before arriving in Tombstone, Virgil had been appointed a Deputy 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:09.840 U s Marshal, making him the only federal authority in 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:13.080 the region. In the summer of eighteen eighty, an Army 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:17.080 lieutenant reached out to Virgil with a request. Six mules 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:19.480 had been stolen from the army's base at Camp Rucker. 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:23.400 Could Virgil track them down. Virgil agreed to look into 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:26.800 the matter, taking Wyatt and Morgan along with him. The 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:29.480 IRPs got a tip to search the mcclowry ranch outside 0:11:29.480 --> 0:11:33.200 of Tombstone. Two of the mcloary brothers, Frank and Tom, 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:37.160 were known to collaborate with the cowboys hiding russelled livestock 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:43.240 on their ranch. Sure enough, there were the mules. The mcloarys, unsurprisingly, 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:47.280 were never big IRP fans After that. Besides a little 0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:50.760 mule wrustling, relative peace reigned in Tombstone for much of 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:54.920 eighteen eighty. Wyatt was appointed a deputy sheriff in Pima County, 0:11:55.200 --> 0:11:59.079 and he and Virgil collaborated with Tombstone's Town Marshal Fred 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:04.240 White direct present federal, county and local law enforcement. Then, 0:12:04.720 --> 0:12:08.240 on October twenty eighth, a group of drunken cowboys took 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:11.480 to the streets of Tombstone and began firing their guns 0:12:11.760 --> 0:12:16.120 for fun. Town Marshal Fred White intervened and got shot 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:20.280 in the groin. White died four days later, and Virgil 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:24.400 was appointed acting town Marshal. In response to this violence, 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:28.680 the Tombstone Town Council passed a new ordinance forbidding people 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:32.400 from carrying weapons with in city limits. They hoped this 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:37.640 would restore peace, but the violence was only beginning. Eighteen 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:41.240 eighty one saw a number of upheavals for the town. First, 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:44.520 Tombstone and its surroundings split off from Pima County to 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:47.920 form Cochees County. If this is sounding familiar, I talked 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:50.920 about this in the prologue, but that was ages ago, 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:55.760 so as a quick refresher. In February, Democrat and alleged 0:12:55.760 --> 0:13:00.400 cowboy sympathizer Johnny Behn becomes Coachee's County Sheriff, much to 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:05.000 Wyatt Irp's chagrin. In March, the fatal stagecoach robbery takes place. 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:09.240 After the IRPs apprehend one of the robbers, he miraculously 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:12.760 manages to slip out of bee Han's custody. Wyatt IRP, 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:15.959 fed up with bee Hand's incompetence, decides to run for sheriff. 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:19.320 He makes a deal with Eike Clanton Cowboy to get 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:23.079 intel on the other stagecoach robbers. Ike says yes because 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:26.280 a five thousand dollars reward is hard to refuse. The 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:29.880 other robbers end up dying in unrelated gunfights, as outlaws 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:34.319 tend to do. So nothing happens except that the animosity 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:38.760 between the IRPs and Sheriff bee Han grows and grows 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:42.800 and grows. I should mention here that at some point 0:13:43.160 --> 0:13:47.960 be hands fiance Josephine Marcus leaves him and eventually ends 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:52.160 up with Wyatt Irp, So that also doesn't help relationships 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:57.160 between the men. That takes us to September eighteen eighty one. 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:02.160 That month, Acting Arizona Territory Guns John Gosper hears about 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:06.040 the dysfunctional law enforcement situation in Tombstone and decides to 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:10.160 see for himself. His report to Secretary of State James Blaine, 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:15.760 written on September twentieth, is concerning in conversations with Johnny 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:19.200 b Han and Virgil Irp, Gosper wrote both men had 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:23.680 accused the other of enabling the cowboys. Without cooperation between 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:26.760 the sheriff and the Marshall, Gosper said there was little 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:30.480 chance of cracking down on crime in the region. Gosper 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:35.080 ended his report on an ominous note, quote something must 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:40.440 be done and that right early or very grave results 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:47.120 will follow. Only a month later, his worst fears came true. 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:51.960 Late on the evening of October twenty fifth, eighteen eighty one, 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:56.320 Ike Clinton and Tom mccloughy arrived in Tombstone with a 0:14:56.360 --> 0:15:00.560 wagonload of beef to sell. Around midnight, Ike stopped by 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:04.560 the Alhambra Saloon, where he ran into Doc Holliday. This 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:09.040 meeting was no coincidence. Wyatt Irp had engineered it. In 0:15:09.080 --> 0:15:11.600 the months since Wyatt and Ike had made their deal, 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:15.560 Ike had gotten increasingly nervous about word of his betrayal 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:18.720 getting out. For some reason, Ike believed that Wyatt had 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:22.480 told Doc Holliday about their discussions. Wyatt thought a conversation 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:26.000 with Doc might reassure Ike. Why he thought this is 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:30.400 a mystery. Doc Holliday was many things, but a soothing presence, 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:34.000 not one of them. He and Ike were both known 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:37.320 for their quick tempers. Plus, there's nothing that says I 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:40.400 don't know about your secret business like telling someone I 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:44.760 don't know about your secret business. The meeting quickly devolved, 0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:48.560 and Ike and Doc began threatening each other. Morgan irp 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:51.800 intervened and broke up the fight out on the street. 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:55.520 Ike briefly got into it with Wyatt. Tempers eventually cooled 0:15:55.640 --> 0:15:58.680 enough for someone to suggest a poker game, so Ike, 0:15:58.920 --> 0:16:02.480 Tom Virgil, Sheriff b Han and maybe Morgan, Wyatt and 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:05.960 Doc two all sat down for a casual five hour 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:11.800 game at the Occidental Saloon. Unfortunately, if unsurprisingly, hours of 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:16.520 drinking and gambling did nothing to cool Ike off. Throughout 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:20.200 the next morning, October twenty sixth Ike was seen drunkenly 0:16:20.280 --> 0:16:24.000 wandering through the streets of Tombstone, waving a rifle and 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:27.640 threatening the RBS and Doc holiday. The gossip network in 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:31.760 Tombstone worked fast, soon enough, word of Ike's behavior reached 0:16:31.840 --> 0:16:35.960 Virgil and Morgan. When they found Ike, Virgil seized Ike's 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:39.680 rifle and then employed a Western lawman's favorite technique for 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:42.800 subduing a troublemaker. He clubbed Ike in the head with 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:46.840 the butt of his revolver. This was called buffaloing, and 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:51.080 though we'd probably call it police brutality today, buffaloing was 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:54.520 looked upon as a sign of an officer's restraint, better 0:16:54.520 --> 0:16:58.600 than just shooting someone. Then, Virgil charged Ike with carrying 0:16:58.640 --> 0:17:01.920 a firearm within city limit, the ordinance that had been 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:04.480 passed a year before in response to the shooting death 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:07.680 of town Marshal Fred White. After paying a twenty five 0:17:07.680 --> 0:17:12.320 dollars fine and surrendering his weapons, Ike was released. Virgil 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:15.679 deposited Ike's rifle and revolver at the Grand Hotel for 0:17:15.720 --> 0:17:18.879 Ike to pick up. When he left town. In the street, 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:21.880 Wyatt ran into Tom mclowry, who was looking for Ike. 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:25.000 Wyatt would later claim that Tom had a gun, but 0:17:25.040 --> 0:17:29.160 by most other accounts, Tom was unarmed. Exactly what happened 0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:32.360 then between Wyatt and Tom is unknown, but Wyatt ended 0:17:32.440 --> 0:17:37.000 up buffaloing Tom. Just then, Ike's younger brother Billy and 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:43.040 Tom's older brother Frank arrived in town, both armed. Billy 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:46.560 and Frank were furious about what had happened to their brothers, 0:17:47.040 --> 0:17:51.480 whose heads were both bleeding from their buffaloings. Not long after, 0:17:51.560 --> 0:17:55.080 the Clinton's and mcclowrys were seen in Spangenberg's gun shop, 0:17:55.280 --> 0:17:59.280 where they bought ammunition. Ike also tried to buy another gun, 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:03.280 but mister Spangenberg refused. The group then headed to the 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:07.359 Ok Corral for unknown reasons. The ERPs heard about the 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:11.000 gunshot visit and grew concerned. Virgil went to the Wells 0:18:11.080 --> 0:18:14.280 Fargo office and borrowed a shotgun, but he left the 0:18:14.320 --> 0:18:17.199 cowboys alone for now, hoping they would leave town of 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:21.560 their own accord. Meanwhile, Sheriff be Hann, having just woken 0:18:21.640 --> 0:18:24.920 up from his post poker nap, was apprized of the situation. 0:18:25.760 --> 0:18:28.919 Bee Hann decided to approach the cowboys and, per his 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:32.800 later testimony, get them to disarm. He found the group 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:34.840 in an alley that connected the back of the Ok 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:39.680 Corral to Fremont Street. Unfortunately, Frank mclowerry refused to give 0:18:39.760 --> 0:18:43.240 up his gun unless the ERPs and Holiday also agreed 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:47.280 to disarm. Billy Clinton also refused, saying he was planning 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:50.760 to leave town. Ike Clinton and Tom mcclowry both appeared 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:54.280 to be unarmed. Bee Hand padded Ike down and found nothing, 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:58.680 but did not search Tom Apparently satisfied with his own work, 0:18:58.760 --> 0:19:02.560 bee Hann went to update the ERPs, but bee Han's 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:06.320 efforts were too little, too late. While he'd been talking 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:08.880 to the cowboys, the ERPs had learned that the Clintons 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:12.000 and mclarry's had left the Ok Corral and had been 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:16.520 spotted on Fremont Street. In stepping on to a public street, 0:19:16.560 --> 0:19:20.120 Billy and Frank had broken the ordinance against carrying weapons 0:19:20.160 --> 0:19:24.159 in town. In Virgil ERP's mind, this crossed the line. 0:19:24.800 --> 0:19:28.240 He decided that he needed to disarm the cowboys. Doc 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:31.280 Holliday then showed up and offered to come along. Wyatt 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:34.280 brushed him off, saying this is our fight, to which 0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:36.679 Doc replied, that's the hell of a thing for you 0:19:36.760 --> 0:19:39.960 to say to me. So Virgil decided to deputize Doc 0:19:40.080 --> 0:19:42.720 along with his brothers, and gave Doc the shotgun he'd 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:46.440 borrowed before they set off. Part Way down Fremont Street, 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:49.600 the ERPs and Holiday ran into Sheriff bee Hann. He 0:19:49.800 --> 0:19:53.040 tried to stop them, saying, I am the sheriff of 0:19:53.040 --> 0:19:55.359 this county and I am not going to allow any 0:19:55.400 --> 0:19:58.320 trouble if I can help it. When this was ignored, 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:01.920 bee Hand pleaded, for God's sake, don't go down there, 0:20:02.000 --> 0:20:05.720 or you will get murdered, and then, for some reason 0:20:06.119 --> 0:20:10.320 be hand inaccurately said I have disarmed them all. A 0:20:10.359 --> 0:20:13.680 minute later, the ERPs and Holiday arrived at the vacant 0:20:13.720 --> 0:20:17.919 lot bordering Fremont Street where the cowboys were. Besides the 0:20:17.960 --> 0:20:22.280 Clintons and mclowry's, another cowboy named Billy Claiborne was hanging around, 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:26.160 but he quickly faded away as the lawman approached. Even 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:29.040 from ten feet away, Virgil could see that Billy Clinton 0:20:29.080 --> 0:20:33.000 and Frank mcclowry were armed. Virgil raised the walking stick 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:35.760 he had in his right hand and called out, boys, 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:39.120 throw up your hands. I want your guns, and then, 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:43.120 realizing he might be misinterpreted, he added, hold I don't 0:20:43.160 --> 0:20:48.320 want that, but it was too late. What happened next 0:20:48.600 --> 0:20:52.359 is still debated. Some said that the cowboys tried to surrender, 0:20:52.960 --> 0:20:57.440 Others said that the cowboys shot first. Either way, in seconds, 0:20:57.680 --> 0:21:01.919 shots were flying. Frank mclowry took a bullet in the side, 0:21:02.440 --> 0:21:05.879 Morgan Irp was hit in the shoulder. Tom mclowry turned 0:21:05.920 --> 0:21:08.960 towards his horse either to grab the rifle hanging off 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:12.480 of its saddle or to run, and Doc Holliday hit 0:21:12.600 --> 0:21:15.920 him with a load of buckshot. Frank mclowry took aim 0:21:16.000 --> 0:21:19.639 at Doc and missed Morgan, and Doc shot back, killing 0:21:19.680 --> 0:21:23.040 thirty two year old Frank on the spot. Billy Clanton 0:21:23.080 --> 0:21:25.919 took shots to his chest and wrist, but still managed 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:29.320 to shoot Virgil's leg before taking another bullet to the stomach. 0:21:30.240 --> 0:21:35.840 All of this happened in less than thirty seconds, despite 0:21:35.880 --> 0:21:40.000 all the shots fired more than thirty. Wyat and Ike 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:45.040 emerged unhurt. Wyat by some stroke of luck, Ike because 0:21:45.080 --> 0:21:49.560 he ran away. Virgil had a nasty leg wound. Morgan 0:21:49.640 --> 0:21:52.280 had a chipped vertebra from the bullet that had passed 0:21:52.280 --> 0:21:56.120 through one shoulder and out the other. Nineteen year old 0:21:56.160 --> 0:22:00.280 Billy Clanton and twenty eight year old Tom mclowry both 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:05.480 died within the hour. Johnny Behann, trying to assert some control, 0:22:05.880 --> 0:22:09.000 approached Wyatt and told him he was under arrest for murder. 0:22:09.640 --> 0:22:13.800 Wyatt was speechless. I won't be arrested, he said, you 0:22:13.920 --> 0:22:16.840 deceived be Johnny. You told me they were not armed. 0:22:17.400 --> 0:22:19.720 He told Bihan he would answer for what he had 0:22:19.760 --> 0:22:22.359 done and that he wouldn't leave town. But that he 0:22:22.480 --> 0:22:26.960 refused to be arrested. Behind him, the gathering crowd voiced 0:22:27.000 --> 0:22:30.240 their support, there is no hurry in arresting this man. 0:22:30.400 --> 0:22:34.200 Hotel owner Sylvester Comstock declared he done just right in 0:22:34.320 --> 0:22:38.000 killing them, and the people will uphold them. Be Hann 0:22:38.160 --> 0:22:42.040 backed off that day. It seemed that Comstock was right, 0:22:42.600 --> 0:22:47.160 the people would uphold the IRPs and Holidays actions. Newspaper 0:22:47.160 --> 0:22:50.600 accounts of the shooting, based on eyewitness accounts, all favored 0:22:50.600 --> 0:22:54.400 the lawmen. Ike Clanton and his younger brother Finn were 0:22:54.440 --> 0:22:57.919 taken into protective custody because it was rumored that people 0:22:58.000 --> 0:23:04.439 wanted to lynch them, but this support would not last long. Frank, 0:23:04.720 --> 0:23:08.359 Tom and Billie's bodies were displayed in open caskets on 0:23:08.400 --> 0:23:11.760 the street. Someone placed a sign above them that read 0:23:12.359 --> 0:23:17.359 murdered in the streets of Tombstone. Two thousand people showed 0:23:17.440 --> 0:23:21.040 up for the men's funeral. Whispers grew louder, were the 0:23:21.119 --> 0:23:26.159 killings really justified? And then on October twenty eighth, the 0:23:26.240 --> 0:23:31.680 coroner's inquest began. Arizona law only required a coroner's inquest 0:23:31.840 --> 0:23:34.760 in cases where a death was suspected to be caused 0:23:34.760 --> 0:23:39.000 by crime. A troubling sign for the RBS. Still, they 0:23:39.160 --> 0:23:42.240 likely believed that the testimony would support them, but the 0:23:42.280 --> 0:23:47.600 first witness, Sheriff be Han, dashed their hopes. Behan claimed 0:23:47.640 --> 0:23:51.160 that after Virgil asked for the cowboys guns, Billy Clanton 0:23:51.200 --> 0:23:53.560 had cried out, don't shoot me. I don't want to fight, 0:23:54.280 --> 0:23:57.159 and Tom mccloughry had said, I have got nothing, pulling 0:23:57.200 --> 0:24:00.360 his coat back to show he was unarmed. Even as 0:24:00.359 --> 0:24:04.000 the men were surrendering, be Hand said the IRP party 0:24:04.240 --> 0:24:08.520 had started shooting. Bihan also claimed that Virgil had not 0:24:08.760 --> 0:24:12.920 been quote acting in an official capacity, painting the shootout 0:24:12.920 --> 0:24:16.159 as the result of a private feud. Ike Clanton and 0:24:16.320 --> 0:24:22.080 Billy Claiborne corroborated b Hand's story. More damningly, several neutral 0:24:22.160 --> 0:24:26.320 witnesses also testified about the ERPs and holiday shooting quickly 0:24:26.680 --> 0:24:30.199 after asking the Clintons and mcclowry's to surrender. By the 0:24:30.359 --> 0:24:33.520 end of the two day inquest, many Tombstoners had become 0:24:33.600 --> 0:24:38.240 openly critical of the irp's actions, though coroner Henry Matthews 0:24:38.280 --> 0:24:42.119 released an ambiguous verdict, finding only that Billy Clinton and 0:24:42.160 --> 0:24:44.679 the mclowry's had died as a result of being shot. 0:24:45.320 --> 0:24:49.520 Everyone knew the story would not end there, and indeed, 0:24:49.720 --> 0:24:53.600 the day after the coroner's verdict, Ike Clanton filed first 0:24:53.600 --> 0:24:58.240 degree murder charges against John Doc Holliday and Virgil Wyatt 0:24:58.280 --> 0:25:01.440 and Morgan Irp. The case would now be sent before 0:25:01.640 --> 0:25:04.879 Justice of the Peace Wells Spitzer for a preliminary hearing. 0:25:05.560 --> 0:25:08.560 If Spicer found that a crime had indeed been committed 0:25:08.920 --> 0:25:11.280 and that there was sufficient cause to find the IRPs 0:25:11.320 --> 0:25:15.600 and Holiday guilty of said crime, they could find themselves 0:25:15.720 --> 0:25:23.280 on trial for their lives. Tombstone's first courthouse had burned 0:25:23.280 --> 0:25:26.400 in a fire earlier in the year, so the preliminary 0:25:26.440 --> 0:25:29.320 hearing took place in the court's temporary home in the 0:25:29.359 --> 0:25:33.280 Mining Exchange building, just down the block from the shootout site. 0:25:33.760 --> 0:25:37.680 Wells Spicer, the Justice of the Peace, presided a true 0:25:37.880 --> 0:25:42.560 multi hyphenet Westerner. The fifty year old Spizer was a lawyer, prospector, 0:25:42.720 --> 0:25:48.200 and a journalist. Preliminary hearings were usually brief affairs, consisting 0:25:48.200 --> 0:25:51.280 of a straightforward presentation of evidence to a judge who 0:25:51.320 --> 0:25:53.800 would then rule if a grand jury should hear the case, 0:25:54.480 --> 0:25:57.280 but this hearing would last for nearly a month and 0:25:57.480 --> 0:26:02.400 closely resemble a real trial. Why, while given the nomadic 0:26:02.440 --> 0:26:06.159 existence of many frontier settlers, there was no guarantee that 0:26:06.200 --> 0:26:09.840 a witness would stick around for a trial. Arizona law 0:26:09.880 --> 0:26:13.199 allowed for sworn testimony given in preliminary hearings to be 0:26:13.240 --> 0:26:16.280 read aloud at trial should the witness have moved on, 0:26:17.119 --> 0:26:21.560 so lawyers on both sides were incentivized to get testimony recorded. Now, 0:26:22.400 --> 0:26:25.639 the prosecution and defense also had their own reasons to 0:26:25.680 --> 0:26:29.760 believe a prolonged preliminary hearing could benefit their case. In 0:26:29.800 --> 0:26:33.439 the past, Tombstone prosecutors had held back evidence that they 0:26:33.520 --> 0:26:36.960