Was Doc Holliday Exempt From Tombstone's Ordinance No. 9?

Before we get into the question put to me, "Was Doc Holliday Exempt From Tombstone's Ordinance No. 9," it's important for us to look at some of the backstory to find why he may have been exempt from following Tombstone's City Ordinance that stopped some people from carrying weapons within city limits. 

First, we have to look at when the Earp clan became in charge of things in Tombstone. Let's remember that Virgil Earp became Tombstone City Marshal after the accidental killing of Marshal Fred White by William "Curly Bill" Brocius in October of 1880. Yes, it was accidental even though Wyatt Earp rushed over and smashed his pistol over Curly Bill's head to buffalo him to the ground moments after it happened. 

In fact, as City Marshal Fred White laid on his death bed, he said the shooting that eventually kill him was accidental. And no, Marshal White had absolutely no reason to say it was an accident if he didn't think it was just that. 

Fred White, who was only 31 or 32 years old when he served as the first town marshal of Tombstone, became City Marshal starting in January of 1880. Virgil Earp who was still a U.S. Deputy Marshal became the town's City Marshal when Tombstone Mayor Alder Randall appointed Virgil Earp as City Marshal to replace Fred White on October 28, 1880. City Marshal White died two days later on October 30. 

Some say the accidental shooting of City Marshal Fred White is what inspired the town council to make Tombstone's city ordinance prohibiting the carrying of weapons within city limits. Whether Fred White's death was or wasn't what motivated the town council to enact such a city ordinance, enforceable by a $25 fine, I think that's up for debate. The fact is that, unlike what is depicted in Hollywood movies, the city ordinance against carrying weapons in their city limits wasn't enacted and put into effect until 6 months after Fred White's accidental killing.

This is important since Tombstone's Ordinance No. 9 was actually posted in April of 1881. It's official title was "To Provide Against Carrying of Deadly Weapons." And yes, it was effective as of April 19, 1881. The city ordinance prohibited the carrying of guns within the city limits of Tombstone. Supposedly without exception. 

As for the ordinance itself, contrary to what some folks think, city ordinances against carrying guns in city limits were becoming more and more common as more and more towns were adopting such regulations. As was the case in other towns in the Old West that enacted such local bans on guns within city limited, it was generally supported by merchants and businesses who publicly stated how disarmed streets were better for public safety and business. Most town merchants at the time would have told you that they saw it as a step toward having more peaceful communities which they saw as something that attracted more trade and investment. 

I find it interesting that town merchants and businesses felt that way considering they themselves usually had a firearm or two nearby in case of robberies, disturbances, or if they were called out for a posse, or if the local militia was called up. 

It's true, while newspapers and town leaders routinely argued that open access to firearms in crowded streets, saloons, and theaters invited deadly accidents and violence, they knew full well that shop owners, merchants, and all sorts of business owners kept firearms close by for self-defense, property protection, and community defense during emergencies like robberies or local conflicts. Many storekeepers stored loaded revolvers under the counter or kept a shotgun near the cash register. That's just the way it was.

What were some common business firearms? The Colt Single Action Army with a short barrel was seen as a reliable and popular six-shot revolver used for quick personal defense. Double-barrel shotgun were seen as a powerful weapon favored by shopkeepers for close-range store protection. Winchester rifles or other lever-action long guns were kept behind the counter for longer-distance threats or militia duty. Does that sound familiar? It should. It's what most Americans owned for defense in the Old West.  

Let's be frank here, they weren't stupid people back then. They knew reliable firearms. They knew they were responsible for their own security. They knew the city marshal's office couldn't be everywhere all the time to provide security for everyone in town. They knew that their city marshal, even with the best intentions with 20 deputies, which was never the case in the Old West, couldn't possible know when or where an outlaw would strike. 

Sounds like things today? It should. Some things don't change. We live in a world that demands that we provide our own security, be self-reliant as they were in the Old West, and know how to protect ourselves since we cannot depend on any police or sheriff's department to be there when outlaws strike. 

Besides, under United States laws, local police departments and individual officers do not have a Constitutional duty to protect individual citizens from harm. Instead, their duty is owed to the public at large. This means individuals should realize that the police cannot prevent a crime or stop an attack. 

Lawmen provide public services to the public as a whole, but not to specific individuals. Today, we understand that the police do not have a Constitutional duty to enforce a restraining order, or provide citizens with special security coverage other than what's provided to the general public. Of course, law enforcement has a duty to protect a person is in police custody, just as they have a duty to provide medical care and protection because the incarcerated individuals cannot seek help on their own. Other than that, we are on our own and have to be as self-reliant as the folks in the Old West were.

And yes, people in the Old West knew that they were their best defense against outlaws. Merchants in the Old West knew really well that outlaws and thieves targeted general stores and banks for cash and goods. They knew that they had to be armed to protect themselves and their investments, and because merchants and other business owners in the Old West were often called up to help the town marshal to keep the peace during brawls and shootings, as well as to help supplement the town marshal's needs with extra security for the jail -- especially during trials of notorious criminals where the threat of jail breaks were a real concern. As for posse duty, business owners routinely joined local posses when tracking outlaws outside town limits. And by the way, for the record, I've never seen a report in newspaper archives or court records that said itinerant drunk and bar-flies hanging out at the saloons in town were asked to be part of a posse. That just didn't happen. Maybe in Hollywood, but not in real life.

So as for Tombstone's Ordinance No. 9, though it's said that compliance with the city ordinance was met with very little resistance from most everyday town residents and visiting merchants, who supposedly checked their guns in at designated local saloons, hotels, or the city marshal's office upon entering town, who really knows how true that is? After all, the townspeople supposedly did so "willingly." But, we know that the townspeople remained armed at their homes and businesses. And yes, so did gamblers like Doc Holliday.

Then there's the fact that when such city ordinances were enacted, to avoid getting in trouble and be fined, townspeople carried their guns and knives concealed. The fact is that most folks who wanted to carry a weapon, either a gun or knife, simply carried their choice of weapon concealed under their coats and out of the sight of the city marshal who was in charge of enforcing that local ordinance. So, instead of open carrying their guns on their hips, as seen in the movies in holsters, most folks simply carried their weapons concealed and hidden. 

And yes, it is a fact that small short barreled pistols and what was known as "hideaway" guns were very popular at the time -- especially as cities banned the carry of guns in city limits. As frontier cowtowns like Dodge City and mining towns like Tombstone enforced strict ordinances requiring visitors and residents to check their large revolvers at city limits, demand surged for easily concealable "hideout" or pocket pistols that could slip past local bans. 

Popular "hideaway" guns of that era included the Remington Model 95 twin-barrel, .41 rimfire break-action pistol. It became the iconic standard for double-derringers. The Sharps Four-Barrel Derringer is a multi-shot pepperbox design small enough to fit in custom vest or suspender holsters. Colt's Third Model Derringer is a compact, single-shot heel-trigger pistol popular among gamblers for its flat profile. And yes, there were other pocket pistols, ultra-small, hammerless, or ones with folding-trigger revolvers that offered a person the ability to carry but not be noticed. 

As for those folks who didn't care if they were noticed carrying a gun under their coat in Tombstone, that has to do with those folks who were allies and friends of the Earps. They carried their guns in town because they were allies and friends of the Earps. They carried their guns concealed but didn't have to worry about the city marshal of a deputy seeing it. They didn't care if the Earps knew that they did, because they were in effect "exempt."  

For everyone else, hotels and saloons acted as official drop-off points where guests and travelers checked their pistols and rifles upon arriving in town, then retrieving them only when they were leaving town. Unless of course, you were special friends with the Earps as was the case of Doc Holliday. 

Though he is famous for carrying a short double-barreled shotgun, which Virgil handed him and told him to hide under his long coat on the way to the shootout near the O.K. Corral, he also carried a pistol. In fact, after shooting unarmed Tom McLaury with the shotgun, Doc Holliday dropped the shotgun and drew his pistol to keep shooting at the only two armed Cowboys at that gunfight -- Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury.

Eyewitness at the gunfight described Holliday's pistol as a nickel-plated revolver. It is believed that it was a double-action Colt Lightning. Doc Holliday typically carried his preferred nickel-plated Colt Lightning, or a Colt Thunderer, both double-action revolvers in his pocket or his waistband. Usually, he carried it concealed beneath his long coat or frock coat. Only in the movies do we see him carrying a pistol using a standard hip holster. 

And frankly speaking, most gamblers who sat in chairs at card tables for a living, didn't wear hip holsters as seen in movies. Instead, it was very common for gamblers like Holliday to slip a compact pocket pistol or a  double-action revolver directly into their coat pockets or waistbands for quick, discreet access. 

Dressing as the refined "Southern Gentleman" that he saw himself to be, Holliday was known to dress sharply and frequently wore long coats that allowed him to completely conceal larger revolvers without alarming citizens or violating strict local ordinances against open carry. He was believed to have also carried small backup hideout guns, such as a pearl-handled .41 caliber Remington derringer. He supposedly tucked it into a vest or trouser pocket.

So, as for the question, was Doc Holliday somehow exempt from following Tombstone's city ordinance against carrying weapons in the city limits? 

While I believe friends and allies of the Earps were "unofficially exempt" from that law -- especially when we consider that that law was enacted to disarm the Cowboy faction -- I believe he was only "officially exempt" when City Marshal Virgil Earp deputized him just before the shootout near the O.K. Corral.  

Other than that, after Tombstone City Marshal Virgil Earp was ambushed and replaced by acting City Marshal James Flynn, I think Doc Holliday became not exempt from Tombstone's gun laws just the same as any other private citizen. 

Private citizens, visitors, and gamblers like Doc Holliday had to follow this rule. There is proof of him being forced to follow the law after Virgil Earp was no longer City Marshal. That happened with Holliday was got arrested for breaking it. 

In January 1882, a few months after the shootout near the O.K. Corral, Doc Holliday got into a standoff on the street with outlaw John Ringo. That happened on January 17, 1882, when Doc Holliday and Johnny Ringo got into a verbal confrontation on Allen Street. No actual gunfight or duel took place because Tombstone's Acting City Marshal James Flynn intervened and arrested both of them before a single shot was fired. 

So yes, Holliday and Ringo did in fact trade heated words in front of the Occidental Saloon. Some say both reached for their weapons, at the time that Acting City Marshal James Flynn stepped in, disarmed them, and hauled them before a judge.

Actually, Flynn snuck up behind Johnny Ringo and grabbed him. Then disarmed both men before shots could be fired. Flynn arrested both Holliday and Ringo, as well as arresting Wyatt Earp, who had stepped into the fray, for carrying concealed weapons inside city limits. 

He arrested all three without assistance from anyone. Both Holliday and Ringo were fined $30 for carrying concealed weapons inside city limits. Wyatt Earp, who was wearing a gun, was charged with violating the city ordinance but his charges were dropped because he was a Deputy U.S. Marshal at the time. So yes, without Virgil Earp in the position of City Marshal, Doc Holliday was fined $30 for carrying a concealed weapon just like any other citizen. Imagine that.

Did Doc Holliday have to check in his pistol like any other citizen? No, at least not while the Earps were the law in Tombstone. Doc Holliday walked around armed while in Tombstone because he was a close friend and ally of City Marshal Virgil Earp. Local enforcement of the law was selectively enforced and ignored by friends of the Earps. 

Myth says there were 5 Cowboys at the vacant lot near the O.K. Corral. But only 2 Cowboys were armed. So when the Earps and Holliday arrived to disarm the Cowboys, we know that only 2 had guns on. Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury had guns on. Tom McLaury did as the law reqired and checked in his gun at a saloon. Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne were both unarmed and ran away before the fight started.

While I have no idea why Billy Clanton was there and wearing a gun, I can only speculate that he was with the McLaury brothers on business. We know for a fact that the McLaury brothers were in town on business. We know for a fact that they were there to get provisions and cash because they were headed to visit their brother William in Texas before heading to Iowa for their sister's wedding. 

We know that both brothers had loaded Winchester rifles in their saddle scabbards. So yes, we know they were armed for their trip through Apache country -- during a time when the Apache leaders and 200 followers were on the warpath. But none of that mattered since they were not friends of the Earps, and the Earps wanted to "disarm" them. 

It was a fact of life in Tombstone at the time that Tombstone's City Marshals office routinely applied Tombstone's Ordinance No. 9 against political rivals and rowdy cowboys like the Clantons while turning a blind eye to allies. That's what the gunfight near the O.K Corral was all about. 

That was just the reality of Tombstone with the Earps in charge. Section 1 of Tombstone's city ordinance allowed carrying a deadly weapon if a written permit was secured from the City Marshal. Those friends of the Earps were were provided such permits. They were the Earps' designated supporters. And yes, they broke the law, or skirt the law, as a benefit for being friends of the Earps. 

The rules for others did not apply to the friends and allies of the Earp clan. They carried concealed weapons despite the ban. They operated outside strict public oversight because they were a part of the Earp inner circle. 

So was Doc Holliday exempt from Tombstone's Ordinance No. 9? In my opinion, only while the Earps were in charge.

Tom Correa