Our American member, Prof Gerry Meininger, has a keen interest in American history, and one particular incident which has found its place in folklore through books and films since it took place in the Wild West in 1881.
Violence was happening all over America. It started to develop in the 1870s with the discovery of silver in the Tombstone boomtown area where the attraction was ‘get rich quick’ either by mining the silver or stealing it.
The main characters were the lawmen (Virgil, Wyatt and Morgan Earp) and the cowboys (the Clantons, Ike and Billy, and the McLaurys, Frank and Tom). The Earp brothers were town marshals, and the Clantons and McLaurys were cattlemen suspected of rustling and selling cattle.
The local law in the area was the County Sheriff, Johnny Behan, who was in charge of the area, and the town marshals, who controlled within the city limits. The lawmen and the cowboys were in conflict because Virgil Earp had ruled that no firearms were to be carried by people in town. A stolen Army mule was found at Tom Mclaury’s ranch by the Earps and they published the story in their paper. The McLaurys then published a story in their own paper saying that the Earps were cowards and if they kept bothering them they would end up dead.
Then Johnny Behan was elected as County Sheriff although Virgil had been a candidate. There was some suspicion that the election had been rigged by the Clantons because Behan was connected to them. Wyatt had a horse stolen which was then found at the Clantons, He told them that Behan would arrest them but he didn’t.
A stagecoach was robbed and the driver and passenger were killed. Two Clantons were arrested by the Earps and taken to Behan’s jail, but he let them out of his back door. Later, a story was circulated that it wasn’t Ike Clanton but Wyatt and Doc Holliday who robbed the stage.Things came to a head when Ike got drunk and went round town saying he was going to kill Wyatt and Doc Holliday. Some hours later he was still drunk and still threatening Wyatt and Doc. Virgil grabbed Ike’s rifle from him and took him to the judge, but the judge only gave Ike a 25 dollar fine and let him go. Some time later Frank and Tom McLaury and Billy Clanton rode into town.
The Earp brothers and Doc Holliday decided to confront Ike and the rest of the Clanton and McLaury gang. Billy Clanton shot at Wyatt and missed. Tom McLaury gabbed a rifle from the scabbard. Frank shot Morgan Earp in the shoulder and the fight exploded.
In 30 seconds it was all over, with three dead (Tom, Frank and Billy) and three wounded. Although the Earps and Doc were heroes for a day, three days later they were arrested for murder by Sherrif Behan. But weeks later were released.