Legends of the Old West - TOMBSTONE Ep. 3 | The O.K. Corral

Episode Date: August 26, 2018

A stagecoach robbery sets in motion events that will lead to the collision of the Earps and the Cowboys. The Cowboys transform into an outlaw army that almost starts a war with Mexico. Tensions between the Earps and the Cowboys finally erupt in the most legendary gunfight of the American West. Join Black Barrel+ for early access and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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We've got access to pre-sale tickets so you don't miss it. Meeting with friends before the show? We can book your reservation. And when you get to the main event skip to the good bit using the card member entrance let's go seize the night that's the powerful backing of american express visit amex.ca slash y amex benefits vary by card other conditions A railroad engineer named H.F. Sills lounged near the O.K. Corral on October 26, 1881. He was on a furlough from the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad.

He had been in town only a short time, and he knew nothing of the feud that had been brewing for months between the Earps and the Cowboys. But as he stood near the stable, he heard four or five men talking angrily about the town marshal. They threatened to kill Virgil Earp on sight. In fact, they threatened to kill the whole party of Earps when they met. One of the men making threats had a bandage around his head. Sills would find out later, at a funeral, that he was Ike Clanton. Sills rushed away to track down Virgil and tell him about the threats. He found the marshal with his brothers and Doc Holliday a couple blocks away in front of Halford Saloon. He warned them of the trouble that was coming their way.

But they already knew. Bad blood had been rising between the Earps and the Cowboys for 12 months. Over the last 12 hours, it had spiked to a dangerous all-time high. Now, there was no turning back. Virgil, Wyatt, Morgan, and Doc stepped away from Mr. Sills. They marched down 4th Street toward a vacant lot on Fremont and the most legendary gunfight in the American West. Fremont and the most legendary gunfight in the American West.

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this is Season 2 of the Legends of the Old West podcast. I'm your host, Chris Wimmer, and this is the third episode of a five-part series on Tombstone and the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. This week, the bloodshed around Tombstone escalates. An attempted stage robbery leaves two men dead and pits the Earps against the Cowboys for the first time. The Cowboys grow into an outlaw army that almost starts a war with Mexico. And it all leads to a shootout in a narrow lot on Fremont Street. This is Episode 3, The OK Corral.

Curly Bill Brocious celebrated the new year and his release from jail by going on a spree in January 1881. He'd spent two months locked up in Tucson after he'd killed the tombstone marshal, Fred White. But as the calendar flipped from 1880 to 1881, a judge ruled that the killing was an accidental homicide and Curly Bill was free to go. He tormented people in a dance hall in Charleston and shot up a church in Contention City in the middle of Sunday morning mass. He paid a quick visit to Tombstone before finally wrapping up his spree back in Contention. While Bill was celebrating his release,

Wyatt was buying a quarter interest in the gambling operation at the Oriental Saloon. He was biding his time, eagerly awaiting for rumors about a new county to become real. In February, it finally happened. The territorial legislature in Prescott carved out Cochise County from Pima County and made Tombstone the county seat. The previous fall, Wyatt had struck a deal with Johnny Behan about the sheriff's job in the new county. Johnny had political friends in Prescott, and he was confident that he would be appointed sheriff until elections could be held in 1882. The sheriff was also the tax collector and took a cut of the collections for his efforts. In a county that was pulling millions of dollars of silver out of the

ground, a sheriff could get rich off the tax collection business. Wyatt had agreed not to challenge Johnny for the appointment, and Johnny agreed to make Wyatt his undersheriff. They would split the profits from the taxes, and they would both get rich. Sure enough, when Cochise County was formed, Johnny Behan was appointed sheriff. But Wyatt was about to learn another hard lesson in politics. He had been abruptly fired as deputy sheriff of Wichita when he got caught up in the sheriff's race, and now he would get tossed aside again.

Johnny Behan appointed Harry Woods as his undersheriff instead of Wyatt. Woods and Behan had the same political friends in Prescott, and it seems likely that Behan was strongly encouraged to give the job to Woods as a political favor. In addition, Woods just happened to be the editor of the Tombstone Nugget newspaper, the partisan paper that supported the Cowboys. Almost immediately, Behan and Woods were in over their heads. They had been on the job only a couple weeks when the first stage robbery happened in their new jurisdiction of Cochise County. Members of the Cowboys were suspected, but the robbers were never caught or identified. By the end of February, newspapers in Tucson boldly

described the Cowboys for what they were becoming. The Cowboy is a name which has ceased in this territory to be a term applied to cattle herders, the Tucson citizen wrote. The term is applied to thieves, robbers, cutthroats, and the lawless class of the community generally. Anyone who attempts to defend Arizona cowboys by restricting the term to its literal meaning of herder simply makes an ass of himself. The Arizona Star went further. It called for open bloodletting. These bands of thieves go armed to the teeth and show up in all directions, take in small towns, and cause terror wherever they make their appearance. No time should be lost in adopting measures which will ensure either their total extermination or their departure from the territory. Newspapers were calling for the destruction of the Cowboys by late February 1881,

and the worst of the violence had not yet begun. Two men from California operated the stagecoach on its evening run from Tombstone to Benson on March 15, 1881. Eli Philpott was the driver, but everyone called him Bud. Bob Paul was riding shotgun. He was still stuck in limbo as he waited for the courts to sort out the election for Pima County Sheriff, so he was making do with this job. election for Pima County Sheriff, so he was making do with this job. He'd been waiting five months for a decision on the race between himself and the current sheriff, Charlie Chabell, but tonight that was the least of his worries. As the stage rolled out of contention, a man stepped in the

road and yelled, hold. Bob said, by God, I hold for nobody, and he leveled his double barrel shotgun at the man. But then more men stepped into the road. Gunshots roared in the fading light. A slug slammed into Bud Philpott's chest. He pitched forward between the horses as they continued to race down the road. He crashed to the ground as the stage rushed on without him. Bob Paul fired a second barrel and wounded one of the outlaws.

Finally, he was able to grab the reins and slow the horses a mile past the ambush. Bob jumped down and checked the passengers. He found that one man had been badly wounded. Now he had a tough choice to make. Bud Philpott was injured somewhere back there on the road, but the passenger right here was in bad shape too. Bob climbed back up on the rig, but the passenger right here was in bad shape too. Bob climbed back up on the rig and raced for Benson. Unfortunately, his efforts did not pan out. The passenger died. And when Bob went back for Bud Philpott, he found him dead in the road, right where he'd fallen.

Sheriff Johnny Behan assembled a posse to chase the killers. Virgil, Wyatt, Morgan, Bob Paul, and Bat Masterson joined up. Over the next three weeks, two different posses scoured the countryside looking for the murderers, but came up empty. Their only real lead came when they caught the man who had held the horses during the attempted robbery. Johnny Behan took the man to Tombstone and turned him over to undersheriff Harry Woods. Later that night, the man walked out of the back of the jail, jumped on a horse that was conveniently waiting nearby, and rode out of town. Three weeks of work had ultimately produced nothing. The newspapers in Arizona screamed about the incompetence of Harry Woods. The newspapers in San Francisco screamed about the cold-blooded killings.

And the community of Tombstone screamed about the cowboys. In light of that, Wyatt Earp made an interesting move to try to find the killers. He enlisted cowboys to catch the cowboys. He met with Ike Clanton, Frank McClowry, and Joe Hill in the Oriental Saloon. He told them Wells Fargo was offering $1,200 bounties, dead or alive, for the men who killed Bud Philpott. If Clanton, McClowry, and Hill would give up the fugitives, Wyatt would give them the reward money. And Wyatt promised to keep the whole thing secret so the rest of the cowboys would never find out who betrayed the killers. Making a deal with Ike Clanton sounds crazy in hindsight,

and it turned out to be just as crazy in real time. But Wyatt had his reasons. He'd been burned by Johnny Behan in their deal on the sheriff's race, and if he had any hope of beating Johnny in the election next year, he'd have to prove himself to voters. If he could bring in the men who killed Bud Philpott, that would be a huge first step. Joe Hill thought he knew where to find the wanted men, but it didn't matter. They were already too late. Two of the killers,

Billy Leonard and Harry Head, had gotten into a feud with a pair of brothers in New Mexico. The brothers killed the fugitives, and now they had claim to the reward money. But before the brothers could collect, they were shot to pieces in a saloon by a gang of 15 to 20 men, and it's suspected that the third fugitive, Jim Crane, was the leader of the slaughter crew. White Earp's plan was toast. And to make matters worse, Ike grew more paranoid by the minute that his deal with Wyatt would be discovered. The violence in Cochise County grew every day, and the Cowboys were no longer

a loose network of rustlers and thieves. They were now a full-fledged criminal army big enough to wreck an entire town or wipe out a group of lawmen. Ike Clanton was still one of their leaders, but that wouldn't stop them from killing him if they found out he was a traitor. By the spring of 1881, as Wyatt worked a secret deal to help him beat Johnny Behan in the next election, an aspect of Johnny's

personal life was unraveling. He had begged an attractive young actress named Josephine Marcus to marry him, and she had finally relented. Josephine, whom everyone called Sadie, had passed through Tombstone with an acting troupe in 1879 before any of the major players had arrived. When the troupe finished its tour in Prescott, she met Mr. Charming, Johnny Behan, who had a handsome face and political connections that could make him wealthy. Johnny was smitten, and he corresponded with her even after she returned to her family's home in San Francisco.

As his stature in Tombstone grew in 1880, he pleaded with her to join him in southern Arizona. Sadie finally agreed, and she made her way to Tombstone in the fall of 1880, he pleaded with her to join him in southern Arizona. Sadie finally agreed and she made her way to Tombstone in the fall of 1880. She moved in with him as she waited for the marriage ceremony that he had promised. But as fall turned to winter and winter turned to spring, there was no marriage. The ladies liked Johnny and he was never one to turn down their affections. By the summer of 1881, Sadie was fed up. She called it quits with Johnny and moved out of his house.

She was basically stranded in Tombstone that summer and fall, and all she could do was watch as things went from bad to worse when the Cowboys almost started a war with Mexico. In mid-May, four Americans slipped into Mexico and rounded up more than 400 head of cattle from a ranch in Sonora. As they camped for the night, just short of the U.S. border, the Mexican rancher and his men caught up with them. The Vaqueros ambushed the Americans and killed all four of them, but not before an American shot and killed the Mexican rancher. Tensions escalated as word spread of the killing of Americans on Mexican soil. The Tombstone Nuggets spread rumors that the Cowboys were going to swoop down on Mexico and get vengeance.

The governor of Sonora sent 200 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border as a show of force. The Cowboys responded by destroying Mexican transports in Arizona. That summer, a rancher found the remnants of a pack train spread over 30 miles. The goods had been ransacked, and the rancher thought the cowboys had attacked the wagon train and killed the owners. A few days later, a band of outlaws murdered four Mexican tradesmen and stole thousands of dollars in money and merchandise. A week after that, a small group of cowboys attacked three Mexican soldiers who were returning from a supply trip to Tombstone. One of the soldiers was killed.

Then, back-to-back raids that ended in bloodbaths rocked Tombstone and brought the U.S. and Mexico to the brink of war for the third time in 40 years. A group of cowboys went on a raid into northern Mexico. They rounded up all the loose cattle they could find and drove them north to the U.S. border. The Mexicans who had been robbed quickly assembled a posse and chased the rustlers. When they caught up, a gunfight broke out that left eight Mexicans dead. In the aftermath, the local Mexican military commander stationed a troop of soldiers in Guadalupe Canyon, a favorite spot for rustlers to drive cattle north across the border to the U.S. Shortly thereafter, Old Man Clanton led a group of six men on a cattle raid into Mexico.

They gathered some stock and drove them right through Guadalupe Canyon. They camped for the night on a piece of flatland just over the border on the American side. Shortly after midnight, a seventh man joined the group. He was none other than Jim Crane, the only surviving member of the trio who tried to rob the Benson stage and had killed Bud Philpott. He wasn't in camp long before the shooting started. Five of the seven Americans were killed in the midnight ambush, including old man Clanton and Jim Crane. Two men were able to escape and they brought news of the massacre to Tombstone. A small army assembled in Cochise County to strike back at Mexico. Ike Clanton and his brothers were said to have gathered a group that numbered as many as 200 to avenge the death of their father, but thankfully, cooler heads prevailed.

The Mexican military was able to calm the tempers of the men in Tombstone, and a full-fledged battle was avoided. The Mexican government never acknowledged that its soldiers carried out the attack, but after the murder of eight of its citizens just days before, it seems the most likely scenario. The summer of killing had stopped, but the Mexican military did not relax. It took control of the border along Arizona. There would be no more raids on its ranchers and no more free cattle for the cowboys. This closed out a tough year for the Clanton family. Billy had been caught with stolen mules on the McClowry Ranch. Ike had been shafted on a sale of beef to the Apaches, and he'd spent the last few months terrified that the cowboys would find out he'd been offered a deal to give up three of their own. Now, his father was dead, and the Mexican army had locked down the border and cut off a prime source of cattle.

No, things were not going well for the Clantons, and the Earps were at least partly to blame. Adding more fuel to the fire was the fact that Virgil Earp was now the town marshal of Tombstone, and he could deputize his brothers anytime he wanted. The trouble began with Ike Clanton and Doc Holliday. It was late October 1881, and Ike had reached his breaking point. He had lived in horror that his deal with Wyatt would be discovered, and now he focused his fear on Doc.

Doc had been a one-time acquaintance of Billy Leonard, one of the men who had tried to rob the Benson stage. Ike had stewed over his situation for five months, and now he was paranoid that Wyatt or Morgan had told their friend Doc about the deal. Ike and Tom McClowry rode into Tombstone to confront Doc Holliday, but Doc was in Tucson. Doc came back several days later and turned the tables on Ike when he found him in the Alhambra Saloon.

Doc lit into Ike with a tirade of angry words. Wyatt and Morgan were eating nearby, and Wyatt told his younger brother that he should probably separate the two men, since he was now a special deputy to Town Marshal Virgil Earp. Morgan grabbed Doc by the arm and led him out into the street. Ike followed right behind, and Wyatt trailed after them. As the argument moved into the street, Virgil rushed up to put a stop to it. He threatened to arrest Ike and Doc, and that put a stop to the altercation. The five men split up and left in different directions,

but Ike circled back and stopped Wyatt before he could go into the Golden Eagle Brewery. Sometime around 1 a.m le 26 octobre 1881, Ike Clanton a fait ses premiers défis contre les herbes et Doc Holliday. Le matin, il a dit qu'ils avaient un combat en arrière. Si vous faites vos achats tout en travaillant, en mangeant ou même en écoutant ce balado, alors vous connaissez et aimez l'excitation du magasinage. Mais avez-vous ce frisson d'obtenir le meilleur deal? Les membres de Rakuten, eux, oui. Ils magasinent les marques qu'ils aiment et font d'importantes économies, en plus des remises en argent.

Et vous pouvez aussi commencer à gagner des remises en argent dans vos magasins préférés, comme Old Navy, Best Buy et Expedia, et même cumuler les ventes et les remises en argent. Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada Téléchargez l'application gratuite Rakuten et ne manquez jamais un bon deal. Ou allez sur rakuten.ca pour en avoir plus pour votre argent. C'est R-A-K-U-T-E-N. saloon, and seated at his table were Johnny Behan and Tom McClowry. Then Ike Clanton wandered in and took the fourth chair. A web of tension had been building between these four men for months, and now they were about to spend the next five hours drinking and gambling. At 7 a.m., Virgil called it quits. As he headed home to bed, Ike sent him away with a message for Doc Holliday. The damned son of a bitch has got to fight, he said. Then he added a postscript.

You may have to fight before you know it. Ike kept drinking. At 8 a.m., he ran into Ned Boyle, who was a friend of Wyatt's and a bartender at the Oriental. Ike had a pistol that was on display for all to see. Despite Ordinance No. 9 that had been passed by the town council in April, it prohibited the carrying of guns inside town limits. Ned quickly tossed his coat over Ike's gun and told him to go sleep it off. Ike repeated his threats against the Earps and Doc Holliday. He said the second they showed themselves on the street, they would have to fight.

Then he walked away in search of more liquor. Ned rushed to Wyatt's home to warn him, but Wyatt wasn't concerned. Ike was a drunken loudmouth. He'd cool off as soon as he sobered up. But Ike had no intention of sobering up or cooling off. That morning, Wednesday, October 26th, he stumbled from saloon to saloon but Ike had no intention of sobering up or cooling off. That morning, Wednesday, October 26th, he stumbled from saloon to saloon, drinking and repeating his curses of the Earps and Doc Holliday.

Doc awoke that morning to news that his life was being threatened by Ike Clanton. Kate shook him awake in his room in Fly's boarding house. When he emerged from the house, he thought he might find Ike lurking nearby, but Ike had continued wandering the streets. Doc headed to the Alhambra Saloon for breakfast. A little afternoon, Wyatt stepped out of his house and into a cold, windy day. Rain and snow were in the future, and he wrapped himself tightly in a wool coat. He went to the Oriental Saloon, where an attorney told him that Ike had a Winchester and a pistol,

and was still threatening his life. Virgil left his home around the same time and quickly found Ike armed with two weapons. He walked up behind Ike and grabbed the rifle away from him. Ike spun around and reached for his pistol. Virgil crashed his gun into Ike's head and knocked the drunken man to his knees. Ike said that if he'd seen Virgil a second sooner, he would have killed him.

Morgan soon joined Virgil, and they dragged Ike to court to answer for carrying firearms in town. In the courtroom, Virgil, Morgan, Wyatt, and Ike hurled insults and accusations at each other until the judge finally put a stop to it. Ike was fined for carrying guns inside town limits, and Virgil confiscated his weapons. As they all left the courtroom, Tom McClowry walked in to check on Ike. Reportedly, Tom said that if Wyatt wanted to fight, he'd fight him anywhere.

Wyatt cracked Tom on the head with his pistol and sent him reeling. At about the same time, Frank McClowry and Billy Clanton rode into town. They bellied up to the bar at the Grand Hotel and quickly learned that Wyatt had just pistol-whipped Tom. According to a couple witnesses, Frank and Billy's first instincts were to find their brothers and get them out of town. But if that was true, they must have changed their minds. Frank and Billy found Tom, and the three men went to Spangenberg's gun

shop. They loaded up on ammunition. Soon, Ike found them and tried to buy a new gun, but he was in such bad shape from his night of drinking and the battering he took from Virgil that the owner denied him. Billy Claiborne, a friend of both sets of brothers, had joined up with Ike and now they were five strong. The cowboys left the gun shop and drifted toward the O.K. Corral. Around the corner, Virgil grabbed a shotgun from the Wells Fargo office. He met Wyatt and Morgan in front of Halford's Saloon on the corner of 4th and Allen, and that's where Doc Holliday found them moments later. Men began coming up to them and telling them that the Clantons and McClourys were down by the O.K. Corral and they were armed to the teeth. The town buzzed

with energy as a confrontation loomed between the two groups, but the sheriff of Cochise County, Johnny Behan, didn't know anything about it. He'd slept late and then gone for a leisurely shave at Barron's Barbershop. While he received his trim, he learned that there was some kind of trouble brewing between the Earps and some of the Cowboys. When his shave was finished, he walked down the boardwalk toward the group that had congregated in front of Hafford's. He pulled Virgil aside. According to Johnny, he told Virgil that it was his duty as town marshal to go down there and disarm those men. Virgil said he wouldn't. The cowboys wanted to make a fight and he would give it to them. Johnny then valiantly replied that he

would go down and disarm the Clantons and McClourys. Virgil's version, of course, is much different. He said he asked Johnny for help in disarming the cowboys. Johnny refused, saying they'd never give up their guns to the Earps and that they would be shooting for sure. According to Virgil, Johnny offered to disarm the men himself so as to avoid violence. Virgil agreed to let him try. That was all he wanted, for the men to give up their guns.

Johnny headed for their last known location, the O.K. Corral. The Clantons, the McClourys, and Billy Clayboard lingered by the O.K. Corral talking tough about the Earps and Doc Holiday. A railroad engineer named H.F. Sills, whose brief time in town has always added a bit of mystery to the events, overheard them and ran off to warn the marshal. The Earps and Doc Holiday waited on the corner of 4th and Allen. Johnny Behan was supposed to be disarming the brothers, but it was taking forever. Men in town kept running up to the Earps and telling them of more threats and offering support. The Earps turned down the offers, but they couldn't wait much longer. At the O.K. Corral, the brothers and Billy Claiborne briefly split up before they reunited at a vacant lot on Fremont Street.

Sheriff Behan found them there and apparently made a cursory check of a couple of them to see if they had weapons. Two blocks away, the Earps had waited long enough. There was a chance the Cowboys intended to leave town, but the Earps had waited for Behan for 20 minutes, and now there were reports that the Cowboys were down on Fremont Street, not at the stables. Virgil tossed the shotgun to Doc. Doc was wearing a long overcoat, and he could hide it better than the herbs in their short coats. Doc handed his walking stick to Virgil, and they began their march through the streets of Tombstone. The wind howled, and the first flakes of snow swirled through the air.

The four men turned right on 4th Street and headed toward Fremont. Their guns were tucked into their pants or hidden inside their coats. They moved with purpose, but they didn't look like gunslingers. When they hit Fremont Street, they turned left. They passed the county courthouse and the two newspapers and the two newspapers and the meat market whose back door led to the OK Corral. As they approached Fly's boarding house, they spotted Johnny Behan still talking to the cowboys. Johnny rushed over and announced that

he was the county sheriff and he was not going to allow any trouble if he could help it. They walked right past him. Johnny followed them, imploring them to stop or they'd get murdered. Virgil replied that he was only there to disarm the cowboys. As they approached the vacant lot, the Earps thought they heard Johnny say that he already had disarmed the cowboys. Virgil and Wyatt stepped up to the edge of the lot. Morgan trailed slightly behind them, and Doc was still out in Fremont Street when the confrontation began. Eight men stood frozen, staring at each other. The vacant lot was no

more than 18 feet wide, roughly the size of a modern-day two-car garage, and it was sandwiched between Fly's boarding house and William Harwood's house. Ike and Billy Clanton and Frank and Tom McClowry were caught between walls on two sides and the Earps on a third. Two horses were packed into the lot as well, and they had Winchester strapped to their saddles. Virgil and Wyatt, who were the closest to the cowboys, could clearly see that they had not been disarmed. Billy and Frank had their hands on their pistols. They drifted farther back into the lot, away from the Earps. Tom was trapped near the entrance with one of the horses. He reached for the rifle tied to the saddle.

Virgil raised the walking stick and shouted for the cowboys to throw up their hands and give up their guns. Frank and Billy pulled their pistols. Doc shrugged his coat aside and lifted the shotgun. He racked back the hammers on the sawed-off 10-gauge. Virgil heard a distinctive click, click. Hold, I don't want that, he yelled. The first two shots exploded almost on top of each other. Wyatt shot Frank in the stomach. Frank was the best gunman of the bunch, and Wyatt naturally went after him first. Frank was the best gunman of the bunch, and Wyatt naturally went after him first. Billy fired at Wyatt, but missed.

Then there was a pause. One last breath before the battle erupted. Both sides opened fire. Tom's horse bucked and jumped. He couldn't get to his rifle. Frank staggered backward but kept firing. Doc pulled the shotgun from under his coat and trained it on Tom, waiting for a clean shot. Then he fired.

The blast ripped through Tom's right side. Ike threw up his hands and ran toward Wyatt. They collided, and Wyatt shoved him away, saying, The fight has commenced. Go to fighting or get away. Ike ran for his life. A bullet tore through Virgil's calf, probably fired by Frank. Virgil dropped to the ground. A shot slammed into Billy Clanton's chest. Another hit him in the wrist. A third hit him in the stomach. He crashed into the side of William Harwood's house. He switched the gun from one hand to the other as he slumped to the ground. When he hit the dirt,

he balanced the gun on his knee to keep firing. Morgan yelled that he'd been hit. A bullet sliced through his right shoulder, traveled along his back, and burst out his left shoulder. He stumbled backward and fell to the ground. Tom McClowry lurched out of the lot and down Fremont Street

until he collapsed at the base of a telegraph pole. Doc threw the shotgun down and pulled his nickel-plated pistol. Frank tried to use his horse as a shield to escape the vacant lot. He made it to the street but the animal bolted. Frank was gut-shot and bleeding badly and now he was in the middle of Fremont Street for all of Tombstone to see and he squared off with Doc Holliday. Frank lifted his pistol and said, I've got you now. Doc responded, blaze away. You're a daisy if you have. Three shots boomed at once. Doc's bullet hit Frank in the chest. Frank's bullet cut through Doc's coat and grazed

his hip. Morgan shot Frank in the head. Then it was quiet. As the gun smoke cleared, Frank McClowry lay dead on Fremont Street. Morgan and Virgil were hobbled. Billy Clanton was still alive, barely, despite being shot three times. Tom McClowry was also alive though he and Billy only lingered a few more minutes before dying. Doc had a minor scratch. And Wyatt? Wyatt was the only man who was not harmed at all in spite of being dead center in the thick of the fight. The gunfight lasted less than 30 seconds,

and it's estimated that around 30 shots were fired. Three men died, and three were wounded. Gunfights in the Old West rarely featured more than two men. They were usually one-on-one, and most times, the combatants were so drunk, they never hit each other. But the fight on Fremont Street, as it was called for 50 years, featured seven men, eight if you include Ike. It took place in broad daylight, in the middle of town, a town that Americans were already reading about from coast to coast because of the silver strikes. Nothing like this had ever happened, and the event would live forever. But in the immediate aftermath, a coroner's inquest was held

and a lengthy hearing convened to see if the Earps and Doc Holliday should be charged with murder. The blowback from the hearing led to a midnight attack on Virgil and the ambush of Morgan and set up Wyatt's war on the Cowboys. The blowback from the hearing led to a midnight attack on Virgil and the ambush of Morgan, and set up Wyatt's war on the Cowboys. All that is next time on Legends of the Old West. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the show, the best way to help is to give it a rating and a review on iTunes. Sound design for this series was by Rob Valliere in Phoenix, Arizona.

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