Doc Holliday was known to be bad-tempered and a bad drunk. During the court testimony Doc Holliday is accused by Ike Clanton and Johnny Behan as starting the fight, but no one knows for sure. – Doc Holliday during the fight in response to Frank McLaury from The Tombstone Nugget Coleman, an eyewitness to the shooting Who started the fight? I then went and saw Marshal Virgil Earp and notified him to the same effect.” I told him they had gone to the West End Corral. I went up the street and notified Sheriff Behan and told them it was my opinion that they meant trouble, and it was his duty, as sheriff, to go and disarm them. when I saw the two Clantons (Ike and Billy) and the two McLaurys (Frank and Tom) in an earnest conversation across the street at Dunbar’s corral. Corral to pick up the rest of the horses, but they didn’t leave town. Unimpressed by Wyatt’s correction, the cowboys left the store and headed to the O.K. Wyatt moved the horse back down onto the street and told McLaury that horses didn’t belong on the sidewalk. Frank McLaury’s horse had got loose and had hopped up on to the sidewalk. Ike even tried to buy a gun to replace the one that had been confiscated, but the storekeeper refused to give him one. They were spotted with Billy Clanton buying ammunition at Spagenberg’s gun shop. He was buffaloed by Virgil, disarmed, fined $25 in court costs and released.īy this time, the McLaurys had arrived in town. On the morning of the gunfight, Ike was seen wandering the streets of Tombstone with a Winchester rifle, claiming he would shoot the Earps on sight. Virgil Earp stayed on duty all night before going to bed at sunrise. The men were separated and the evening passed peacefully. Virgil threatened to arrest both Ike and Holliday if there was any trouble. Ike was ready to fight with any of the Earps and made it clear that once the McLaurys arrived that their lives would be in danger. The night before the gunfight, Ike and Doc argued. He needed someone as a scapegoat and Doc Holliday looked like a likely candidate. He now found himself in charge of an extremely volatile situation. To make matters worse, his father Newman Haynes Clanton aka Old Man Clanton was ambushed and killed by Mexicans in retribution for him killing Mexican smugglers in Guadalupe Canyon a month prior. Ike was understandably a bit edgy about the way things were transpiring. If the other cowboys had known Ike was in on the deal, surely Ike would be the next man to be found dead in the brush. Ike presumed that Wyatt had told Doc Holliday and had compromised his safety.
Word got out about Ike and Wyatt’s secret. The cowboys in turn went out and killed the two men in retribution. Before Wyatt had a chance to ride out to make the arrest, two men went out and killed Leonard and Head. Wyatt knew that the men were associates of the Clantons and McLaurys so he asked Ike Clanton for information and offered him $6,000 reward money for assisting in the arrest of the robbers. The robbers were identified as Billy Leonard, Harry Head and Jim Crane. The worst was in March, 1881 when Bud Philpot was killed in a botched robbery. If rustling was bad enough, the stagecoaches were also being robbed. Mexican cattle were being rustled and were finding their way to the Clanton and McLaury ranches to be re-branded. The more complicated reason goes back through a year’s worth of tension between the cowboy gang and the Earps. They could collect the guns when they were ready to leave. There was an ordinance in Tombstone at the time that required visitors to Tombstone to check their guns when they rode into town. The basic reason is that the cowboys were carrying guns in town. There had been snow flurries earlier in the day. Part of the fight sprawled out onto Fremont Street and the corner of Third Street. Considering there were two horses and eight men involved in the fight, it was a bit of a tight squeeze. It happened in an alley between Fly’s Boarding House and the entrance to the corral. People presume the fight broke out at the O.K. Reputed to be Wyatt Earp’s sketch of the gunfight location.
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