Gunfight At The OK Corral - Preliminary Hearing - Virgil Earp

Testimony of Virgil Earp

in the Preliminary Hearing in the Earp-Holliday Case,

Heard before Judge Wells Spicer

November 19-22, 1881

On this nineteenth day of November, 1881, on the hearing of the above entitled cause on the examination of Wyatt Earp and J. H. Holliday; Virgil W. Earp, a witness of lawful age, being produced and sworn, deposes and says as follows:

My name is Virgil W. Earp; I reside in Tombstone, Cochise County, Arizona Territory. My occupation: Chief of Police of Tombstone and Deputy U. S. Marshal.

(Q) State what official position, if any, you occupied on the 25th and 26th of October last.

(A) Chief of Police of Tombstone and Deputy United States Marshal, and was acting as such on those days.

(Q) State what official or other position, if any, with respect to the police department of Tombstone, was occupied on the 25th and 26th of October last by Morgan Earp.

(A) He was sworn in as Special Policeman and wore a badge with "Special Police" engraved on it, and he had been sworn and acted as a "Special" for about a month.

(Q) State what official or other position, if any, with respect to the police department of Tombstone, was occupied on the 25th and 26th of October last by Wyatt Earp.

(A) Wyatt Earp had been sworn in to act in my place while I was in Tucson, and on my return his saloon [Oriental) was opened and I ap­pointed him a "Special," to keep the peace, with power to make arrest, and also called on him on the 26th, to assist me in disarming those parties: Ike Clanton and Billy Clanton, Frank McLaury, and Tom McLaury.

(Q) State what position or deputization, if any, with respect to assisting you as Chief of Police, was occupied on the 26th of October last, or anytime during that day by John H. Holliday.

(A) I called on him that day for assistance to help disarm the Clantons and McLaurys.

(Q) State fully all the circumstances of and attendant upon the difficulty which resulted in the death of Frank McLaury, Thomas McLaury, and Billy Clanton, commencing on the day of the difficulty and confining your answers for the present entirely to what occurred within your sight and hearing on the day of the difficulty, on the 26th of October.

(A) On the morning of the 26th, somewhere about six or seven o'clock, I started to go home, and Ike Clanton stopped me and wanted to know if I would carry a message from him to Doc Holliday.

I asked him what it was. He said, "The damned son of a bitch has got to fight."

I said, "Ike, I am an officer and I don't want to hear you talking that way at all. I am going down home now, to go to bed; I don't want you to raise any disturbance while I am in bed."

I started to go home, and when I got ten feet from him he said, "You won't carry the message?"

I said, "No, of course I won't." I made four or five steps more.

He said, "You may have to fight before you know it." [Here, counsel for the prosecution reserves the right to strike out at the close, any portion of the answer].

I made no reply to him and went home and went to bed. I don't know how long had been in bed. It must have been between 9 and 10 o'clock when one of the policemen came and told me to get up, as there was liable to be hell. I did not get up right away, but in about half art hour I got up. I cannot tell exactly what time it was.

Along about 11 or 12 o'clock I came up on the street and met a man by the name of Lynch. I found Ike Clanton on Fourth Street between Fremont and Allen with a Winchester rifle in his hand and a six-shooter stuck down in his breeches. I walked up and grabbed the rifle in my left hand. He let loose and started to draw his six-shooter. I hit him over the head with mine and knocked him to his knees and took his six-shooter from him.

I ask him if he was hunting for me. He said he was, and if he had seen me a second sooner he would have killed me. I arrested Ike for carrying firearms, I believe was the charge, inside the city limits. When I took him to the courtroom, Judge Wallace was not there. I left him in charge of Special Officer Morgan Earp while I went out to look for the Judge. After the examination I asked him where he wanted his arms left, and he said, "Anywhere I can get them, for you hit me over the head with your six-shooter."

I told him I would leave them at the Grand Hotel bar, and done so. I did not hear, at that time, any quarrel between Wyatt Earp and Ike Clanton. The next I saw them, they were, all four; Ike Clanton, Billy Clanton, Frank McLaury, and Tom McLaury in the gun shop on Fourth Street. I saw Wyatt Earp shooing a horse off the sidewalk and went down and saw them all in the gun shop, filling up their belts with cartridges and looking at the pistols and guns. There was a committee waiting on me then and called me away to one side. I turned to Wyatt Earp and told him to keep peace and order until I came back and to move the crowd off the sidewalk and not let them obstruct it. When I saw them again, all four of them were going in Dunbar's Corral. They did not remain long there. They came out and went into the O.K. Corral.

I called on Johnny Behan who refused to go with me, to go help disarm these parties. He said if he went along with me, there would be a fight sure; that they would not give up their arms to me.

He said, "They won't hurt me," and, "I will go down alone and see if I can disarm them."

I told him that was all I wanted them to do; to layoff their arms while they were in town. Shortly after he left, I was notified that they were on Fremont Street, and I called on Wyatt and Morgan Earp, and Doc Holliday to go and help me disarm the Clantons and McLaurys. We started down Fourth Street to Fremont, turned down Fremont west, towards Fly's lodging house. When we got about somewhere by Bauer's butcher shop, I saw the parties before we got there, in a vacant lot between the photograph gallery and the house west of it.

The parties were Ike and Billy Clanton, Tom and Frank McLaury, Johnny Behan, and the Kid. Johnny Behan seen myself and party coming down towards them. He left the Clanton and McLaury party and came on a fast walk towards us, and once in a while he would look behind at the party he left, as though expecting danger of some kind. He met us somewhere close to the butcher shop.

He threw up both hands, like this [illustrating] and said, "For God's sake, don't go there or they will murder you!"

I said, "Johnny, I am going down to disarm them."

By this time I had passed him a step and heard him say, "I have disarmed them all."

When he said that, I had a walking stick in my left hand, and my right hand was on my six-shooter in my waist pants [verbatim], and when he said he had disarmed them, I shoved it clean around to my left hip and changed my walking stick to my right hand. As soon as Behan left them, they moved in between the two buildings, out of sight of me. We could not see them. All we could [see] was about half a horse.

They were all standing in a row. Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury had their hands on their six-shooters. I don't hardly know how Ike Clanton was standing, but I think he had his hands in an attitude where I supposed he had a gun. Tom McLaury had his hand on a Winchester rifle on a horse.

As soon as I saw them, I said, "Boys, throw up your hands, I want your guns," or "arms."

With that, Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton drew their six-shooters and commenced to cock them, and I heard them go "click-click."

Ike Clanton threw his hand in his breast, this way [illustrates]. At that, I said, throwing both hands up, with the cane in my right hand, "Hold on, I don't want that!"

As I said that, Billy Clanton threw his six-shooter down, full cocked. I was standing to the left of my party, and he was standing on the right of Frank and Tom McLaury. He was not aiming at me, but his pistol was kind of past me. Two shots went off right together. Billy Clanton's was one of them. At that time I changed my cane to my left hand, and went to shooting; it was general then, and everybody went to fighting.

At the crack of the first two pistols, the horse jumped to one side, and Tom McLaury failed to get the Winchester. He threw his hand back this way [shows the motion]. He followed the movement of the horse around, making him a kind of breastwork, and fired once, if not twice, over the horse's back.

[TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1881, EXAMINATION RESUMED]

(Q) When you met Lynch on the morning, or noon, of October 26th, what did he tell you?

(A) He told me to look out for Ike Clanton that he was hunting me, and allowed to kill me on sight.

(Q) State what threats, if any, were made by Isaac Clanton, William Clanton, Thomas McLaury, or Frank McLaury, to you, or in your presence, and what threats if any, by either of the aforementioned persons were communicated to you as having been made in the presence of others, giving the name of the persons making the communications to you, in detail.

(A) The first man who spoke to me about any threats was Officer Bronk. I was down home in bed when he called. He came down after [a] commitment I had for a party that was in jail. It was about 9 o'clock I should think, on the 26th of October. While he was getting the commitment, he said, "You had better get up. There is liable to be hell!"

He said, "Ike Clanton has threatened to kill Holliday as soon as he gets up." And he said, "He's counting you fellows in too," meaning me and my brothers. I told him I would get up after a while, and he went off.

The next man was Lynch; I've stated what he said. The next I met, was Morgan and James Earp. One of them asked me if I had seen Ike Clanton. I told them I had not. One of them said, "He has got a Winchester rifle and six-shooter on, and threatens to kill us on sight."

I asked Morgan if he had any idea where we could find him. He said he did not. I told him then to come and go with me, and we could go and arrest him, and disarm him. Several men came on Allen Street between Fourth and Fifth; miners whose names I do not know. This was after Ike Clanton's arrest and before the fight.

There was one man in particular who came and said, "Ain't you liable to have trouble?"

I told him I didn't know, it looks kind of that way, but couldn't tell.

He said, "I seen two more of them just rode in," and he said, "Ike walked up to them and was telling them about you hitting him over the head with a six-shooter."

He said that one of them rode in on a horse [and] said, "Now is our time to make a fight." This was after the arms of Ike Clanton were returned to the Grand Hotel.

Just about the time the man was telling me this, Bob Hatch came and beckoned to me, as though he wanted to speak to me, and said, "For God's sake, hurry down there to the gun shop, for they are all down there, and Wyatt is all alone!"

He said, "They are liable to kill him before you get there!" The other man told me to be careful, and not turn my back on them or I would be killed, that they meant mischief. Lynch remarked­ [paragraph not completed.

There was a man named W. B. Murray and a man named J. L. Fonck came at separate times and said, "I know you are going to have trouble, and we have got plenty of men and arms to assist you."

Murray was the first man to approach me, on the afternoon of the 26th. I was talking to Behan at the time in Hafford's Saloon, trying to get him to go down and help me disarm them. Murray took me to one side and said, "I have been looking into this matter and know you are going to have trouble. I can get 25 armed men at a minutes notice."

He said, "If you want them, say so."

I told him, as long as they stayed in the corral, the O.K. Corral, I would not go down to disarm them; if they came out on the street, I would take their arms off and arrest them. He said, "You can count on me if there is any danger."

I walked from the comer of Fourth and Allen Streets, west, just across the street. J. L. Fonck met me there, and he said, "The cowboys are making threats against you."

And he said, "If you want any help, I can furnish ten men to assist."

I told him I would not bother them as long as they were in the corral; if they showed up on the street, I would disarm them. "Why," he said, "they are all down on Fremont Street there now."

Then I called on Wyatt and Morgan Earp, and Doc Holliday to go with me and help disarm them. Frank McLaury made a threat to me one day on the street. It must have been about a month before the shooting and it might have been a week after the notice in the paper of the formation of a vigilance committee. Frank McLaury stepped up to me in the street between the Express Office and the Grand Hotel. He said, "I understand you are raising a vigilance committee to hang us boys."

I said, "You boys?"

He said, "Yes, us and [the] Clantons, Hicks, Ringo, and all us cowboys."

I said to him, "Frank, do [you] remember the time Curly Bill killed White?"

He said, "Yes."

I said, "Who guarded him that night and run him to Tucson next morning to keep the vigilance committee from hanging him?"

He said, "You boys."

I said, "Now do you believe we belong to it?"

He said, "I can't help but believe the man who told me you do."

I said, "Who told you?"

He said, "Johnny Behan,” "Now," he says, "I'll tell you, it makes no difference what I do, I never will surrender my arms to you."

He said, "I'd rather die fighting than be strangled."

I made some remark to him, "Alright," or something-and then left him.

[Counsel for the Prosecution moves to strike out all the proceeding conversation with Frank McLaury on the ground that it is irrelevant and contains no threats against this defendent. Objection taken under advisement.]

(Q) State any conversation had by you, if any, with Isaac Clanton or Frank McLaury in this town with respect to obtaining information from them, or either of them, that should lead to the capture or killing of the parties suspected to have been engaged in the killing of Bud Philpot and the attempt to rob the Benson Stage.

[Objected to by Prosecution on the ground that the question is too broad and enquires into conversations with Frank McLaury which are more hearsay and irrelevant and for which no foundation had been laid. Objection sustained as to Frank McLaury, but overruled as to Ike Clanton and admitted to contradict his statement.]

(A) About last June, in Tombstone, Ike Clanton asked me where we could go to have a long talk, where nobody could hear us excepting those who were along at the time. We turned around the corner of Allen and Fifth Streets, alongside of Danner and Owen's Saloon.

He said, "I've had a long talk with Wyatt in regard to Leonard, Head, and Crane," and he said, "I believe I can trust you."

He said, "I am going to put up a job for you boys to catch them."

I said, "How can I know you are in earnest and can trust you?"

"Well," he said, "now I'll tell you all about it."

He said that Leonard had a fine ranch over in the Cloverdale County [New Mexico]. He said, "As soon as I heard of him robbing the stage, I rounded up my cattle on the San Pedro here, and run them over and jumped his ranch." And he said, "Shortly after you boys gave up the chase who should come riding up but Leonard, Head, and Crane." And he said, "By God, they have been stopping around there ever since, and it looks as though they are going to stay."

He said, "They have already told me that I would either have to buy the ranch or get off of it. I told them that I supposed after what they had done, they would not dare to stay in the country and I supposed you would rather your friends would get your ranch than anybody else."

He said, "But if they were going to stay in the country he would either get off or buy the ranch. Now you can see why I want these men either captured or killed, and I would rather have them killed."

I said, "There are three of you and there is only three of them. Why don't you capture or kill them, and I would see that you get the reward?"

He says, "Jesus Christ! I would not last longer than a snowball in hell if I should do that!" He says, "The rest of the gang would think we killed them for the reward and they would kill us." "But," he says, "We have agreed with Wyatt to bring them to a certain spot, where you boys can capture them." And he said, "As soon as Wyatt gets a telegram he is going to send for, in regard to the reward dead or alive, and they will give it, dead or alive, we'll start right after them, to bring them over."

I said, "Where will you bring them to?"

He said, "Either to McLaury's ranch or Willow Springs.”

"Now," he said, "I want you never to give us away or say a word about it, except [to] the party you take along."

There were some few more remarks made-I don't remember what they were-and we broke up for that time. This is about 3 o'clock in the morning after [the] conversa­tion Ike Clanton had with Wyatt Earp. I had another conversation with him when he said Wyatt showed him the dispatch saying that the Wells, Fargo would pay the reward dead or alive.

(Q) In reference to the statement made by Isaac Clanton in his testimony, I ask you: Did you ever, at any time, tell Isaac Clanton to tell Billy Leonard not to think that you were trying to catch him when you were running him, or to tell Billy Leonard that you had thrown Paul and the posse off Leonard's track when he left Helm's ranch at the foot of the Dragoon Mountains, or to tell Billy Leonard that you [had] taken the posse in pursuit of him on to a trail in New Mexico, or to tell Billy Leonard you had done all you could for him, or to tell Billy Leonard that you wanted him to get Crane and Head and get them out of the country, because you were afraid one of them might get captured and get all his friends into trouble?

(A) I never did.

(Q) State now, Mr. Earp, any threats communicated to you that you have omitted to state heretofore.

(A) There was a man met me on the corner of Fourth and Allen Streets about 2 o'clock in the afternoon of the day of the shooting. He said, "I just passed the O.K. Corral," and he said, he saw four of five men all armed and heard one of them say, "Be sure to get Earp, the Marshal" Another replied and said, "We will kill them all!" When he met me on the corner he said, "Is your name Earp?" and I told him it was. He said, "Are you the Marshal?" and I told him I was. I did not know the man. I have ascertained who he was since. His name is Sills, I believe.

CROSS-EXAMINATION

(Q) Where does Sills live, and what is his business?

(A) I never met him until that day. I do not know what his business is I don't know where he resides.

(Q) At what house in Tombstone does he live?

(A) I don't know, only by say-so.

(Q) Can you give us any information as to where he lives?

(A) I understand he is stopping at the hospital.

(Q) When did you last see him?

(A) Yesterday. I saw him here.

(Q) Who, if anybody, was present when he made that communication to you, on the corner of Fourth and Allen Streets?

(A) I don't think anybody was close enough to hear the conversation.

(Q) How long did that conversation take place, before you started for Fremont Street?

(A) Somewhere in the neighborhood of a quarter or half an hour not over half an hour; it might not have been that long.

(Q) Was it before or after Behan left Hafford's Saloon?

(A) To the best of my recollection, it was just after.

(Q) At the time you took Isaac Clanton's rifle and pistol from him, did you approach in front or behind him?

(A) Behind him.

(Q) Did you speak to him before you seized his rifle?

(A) I think not.

(Q) With which hand did you take his rifle?

(A) With my left hand.

(Q) Where was your pistol when you seized his rifle?

(A) In my right hand.

(Q) Was he facing you, or was his back towards you when you struck him?

(A) He was turned about halfway around. I don't know whether his body was turned; his head was.

(Q) Which of the Clantons or McLaurys did you see putting cartridges in their belts at the gun shop on the occasion you have spoken of in your direct examination?

(A) William Clanton, Frank McLaury was standing right beside him. I don't think I saw any of the others putting cartridges in their belt. It looked like Frank McLaury was helping Billy Clanton.

(Q) Where was Tom McLaury at the time and what was he doing?

(A) I can't say. They were all in a bunch, and I could not see what each was doing.

(Q) Were Isaac Clanton and Frank McLaury in the gun shop at that time?

(A) I am positive that Billy Clanton, Ike Clanton and Frank McLaury were in there, and am under the impression that Tom was there.

(Q) Where was Wyatt Earp at the time?

(A) He was standing on the edge of the sidewalk when I first discovered him in front of the gun shop.

(Q) Was that during the time that Billy Clanton and the other persons you have named were in the guns hop?

(A) It was. I first saw Wyatt Earp as I turned the comer of Allen and Fourth Streets, in front of the gun shop, on the edge of the sidewalk. I noticed him step into the crowd and take hold of a horse and "shoo" him off the sidewalk.

(Q) What crowd do you allude [to]?

(A) There was a dozen or more on the sidewalk, gathered in a knot. I can't call to mind who they were.

(Q) Where were Morgan Earp and Holliday at this time?

(A) I don't remember seeing him at that time. I saw them on the comer of Allen and Fourth Streets about five or ten minutes before that. I can't say whether Holliday was armed at that time. Morgan Earp was.

(Q) At the time spoken of, when you were in Hafford's Saloon, did you have a shotgun or rifle?

(A) I had a shotgun and six-shooter.

(Q) When and where did you get that shotgun?

(A) [Verbatim as in original document] Got it in the Express Office of Wells Fargo, on Allen Street, at the time they were down at the gun shop. It had been at my service for six months. No one handed it to me at the time. I got it myself.

(Q) What did you do with it?

(A) When I called Morgan Earp, Wyatt Earp, and Doc Holliday to go and help me disarm the McLaurys and Clantons, Holliday had a large overcoat on, and I told him to let me have his cane, and he take the shotgun, that I did not want to create any excitement going down the street with a shotgun in .my hand. When we made the exchange, I said, "Come along," and we all went along.

(Q) You speak of a committee that called on you when you were in front of the gun shop. Who composed that committee?

(A) I don't know their names. They were miners, I should judge.

(Q) At the time when Behan met you on Fremont Street and said, "For God's sake, don't go down there or they will murder you!" where were Wyatt and Morgan Earp?

(A) They were right behind me.

(Q) Where was Holliday?

(A) We were all in a bunch. I think he was also right behind me.

(Q) You say at the commencement of the affray, two shots went off close together, and that Billy Clanton's was one of them. Who fired the other shot?

(A) Well, I'm inclined to think it was Wyatt Earp that fired it.

(Q) How many shots did you fire, and at whom?

(A) I fired four shots. One at Frank McLaury, and I believe the other three were at Billy Clanton. I am pretty positive one was at Frank McLaury and three at Billy Clanton.

(Q) What is Lynch's first name, and place of residence?

(A) I don't know his first name. After the fight he was put on the police force.

-- end of testimony. 

I hope you've found this as interesting as I did, especially since it is Virgil Earp's first hand account of what he saw take place. The thing that sticks out is how he was in the lead the whole time. 

It appears there was a great deal going on and it was not as simple as some like to portray what took place. To me, it appears that he was keeping his cool and trying to defuse a bad situation while upholding a city ordinance. All in all, while dealing with a lot of hearsay and gossip, pot stirring and some angry individuals including in his own posse, he had a full plate to say the least.  

  Tom Correa

Gunfight At The OK Corral - Preliminary Hearing - H. F. Sills

Testimony of H. F. Sills

in the Preliminary Hearing in the Earp-Holliday Case,

Heard before Judge Wells Spicer

November 22-23, 1881

On this 22nd day of November, 1881, on the hearing of the above entitled cause, on the examination of Wyatt Earp and J. H. Ho­liday; H. F. Sills, a witness of lawful age, being produced and sworn deposes and says as follows:

H. F. Sills, of Las Vegas, Nevada, a locomotive engineer for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. On furlough and visiting in Tombstone.

(Q) Was asked about any threats he may have heard on October 26, 1881.

[Objection by Prosecution. Question withdrawn.]

(Q) [Question rephrased.]

(A) I saw four or five men standing in front of the O.K. Corral, talking of some trouble they had had with Virgil Earp, and they made threats at the time, that on meeting him they would kill him on sight.

Someone of the party spoke up at the time and said that they would kill the whole party of the Earps when they met them.

I then walked up the street and made enquiries to know who Virgil Earp and the Earps were. A man on the street pointed out Virgil Earp to me and told me that he was the city marshal.

I went over and called him to one side and told him the threats I had overheard this party make. One of the men has a bandage around his head at the time, and the day of the funeral he was pointed out to me as Isaac Clanton. I recognized him as one of the party.

(Q) Questioned on the shooting.

(A) A few minutes after I had spoken to the marshal, I saw a party start down Fourth Street. I followed them down as far as the Post Office.

Then I got sight of the party I had heard making those threats. I thought there would be trouble and I crossed the street.

I saw the marshal and party go up and speak to the other party. I wasn't close enough to hear their conversation, but saw them pull out their revolvers immediately.

The marshal had a cane in his right hand at the time. He threw up his hand and spoke. I didn't hear the words, though. By that time, Billy Clanton and Wyatt Earp had fired their guns off and the marshal changed the cane from one hand to the other and pulled his revolver out.

He seemed to be hit at that time and fell down. He got up immediately and went to shooting. The shooting became general at that time and [I] stepped back into the hallway along the side of the court house.

(Q) How did you know it was Billy Clanton?

(A) I saw him after he was dead, and recognized him as the one who fired at Wyatt Earp.

CROSS EXAMINATION

(Q) When did you come to Tombstone?

(A) I came here on the 25th of the month.

(Q) How did you come?

(A) I came in a bullion wagon of Wells Fargo, in company with another passenger and the driver. I knew one man was a driver, and one was a passenger. I could not recognize them on the street.

(Q) Where have you been since?

(A) In Tombstone. The first few days I was in town I stopped at a lodging house below Wells Fargo and Company's stage barn. I cannot [give the name of the lodging house.] I stayed there 10 nights and then went to the hospital. I remained there until today. I am stopped there now. I walked there now. I walked here from the hospital.

[Doesn't remember or know who the man was he asked regarding Virgil Earp, after hearing the threats at the O.K. Corral. Says, "I don't know, just a man I met on the street. I don't think I would [recognize him], as there were a great many men on the street at that time."]

(Q) About the threats he said he heard.

(A) I merely told him [Virgil Earp] it was a party of armed men I met on the street. I didn't know the men at the time. There were four men in the party.

I can't say they were all armed because I could not see the arms of all the party. Of two, the pistols were in plain sight. I was within four or five steps of them.

(Q) Was there anybody else around there?

(A) There were men standing back in the corral, and some were walking by and some were 15 or 20 steps back in the corral.

(Q) Describe the men you saw with arms on them.

(A) One of the men I saw with arms was a youngish looking man about nineteen or twenty years old. I don't just remember what kind of clothes he had on. I did not pay much attention to him. I don't know what kind of hair he had.

He seemed to [be] red in the face, not very light or very dark. He had no beard or moustache. I don't know whether he was clean shaved or not. I don't know what kind of a hat he had on; did not notice his clothes.

The other man looked to be about 30 years old. He had a moustache. His hair was dark. I cannot be certain, but I think his face was shaved, except his moustache. I did not notice his clothes particularly; don't know what kind they were.

(Q) Which was the taller of the two men, the first one described, or the last one?

(A) The first one, to the best of my knowledge.

(Q) You say one of them had a bandage around his head. Were there not two of them with bandages around their heads?

(A) No sir, not that I saw. I only saw one. I did not notice the color of it. I only saw it hanging down under his hat. I could hardly say [as to his complexion] because he had his back to me.

(Q) You did not see his face then?

(A) No sir, not at that time.

(Q) When did you first see his face?

(A) On the day of the funeral.

(Q) Can you positively swear that the man you saw at the funeral was the same man that you saw with the bandage around his head in front of the O.K. Corral?

(A) Yes sir I can, by his appearance and by hearing him talk.

(Q) You recognized him by his appearance and by his voice as being the same man?

(A) I recognized him by his appearance and by hearing him talk with this party in front of the O.K. Corral and with other parties at the funeral.

(Q) You state that his back was toward you and you didn't see his face; it was by the appearance of his back and his voice then, that you re­cognized him

(A) I took it to be the same man because he had a bandage on his head the day of the funeral and by his voice.

[COURT ADJOURNED TO MEET AT 9:00 O'CLOCK A.M. NOVEMBER 23, 1881]

[WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1881, COURT CONVENED AT 9:00 A.M.]

[CROSS-EXAMINATION OF H.F. SILLS RESUMED]

In answer to obvious questions:

(A) I am 36 years old. I was born in Kingston, Canada. I lived there until I was 20 years old. I went from there to Calinlle, Canada. I lived there about 3 years. I then went to Omaha, Nebraska. I lived [illegible] served my time in the Union Pacific shops.

I was in Omaha and on the line of the road between eight and nine years. I was [in that time] an apprentice in the machine shop, a locomotive fireman, and on the road as locomotive engineer.

Some of the persons who had charge of the machine shop were: Mr. Congdon, General Master Mechanic, and Mr. McConnel was foreman. I was in the shops three years.

For about a year and a half I boarded at the Pacific Hotel and about a year and a half my mother kept house for me. A man, I think by the name of Jordan, kept the house where I boarded.

I ran, as fireman and as engineer, about six trains. I run the train to Grand Island and Omaha. I run between Cheyenne and Laramie and between Laramie and Rolling Springs.

(Q) Who were the conductors of those trains? [Prosecution objects as being too remote. Overruled.]

(A) It would be hard for me to tell. I remember one man named Frank Fuller, another man by the name of Kelly, I think. I run on engine 75 about two and a half years.

Q) Did you ever know on that road, A. A. Bean?

(A) The name is familiar. I think there was a Division Superintendent under or over Mr. Clark; it was out of my department.

(Q) Did you know General Kimbell, the General Superintendent of the U. P. Railroad?

(A) I knew of the man, but was not personally acquainted with him.

(Q) [Question not given.]

(A) When I left that road I went to Las Vegas, New Mexico. I have lived in Las Vegas since last March. I left the Union Pacific road last January.

(Q) [Question not given.]

(A) I am still in the employ of that road. I left the line of that road on the nineteenth of last month. I went from there to Tucson. I had no business there. Am going back to take up my employment on the tenth [of] next month. I got four cents a mile on the A. T. & S. F. road; the division is 100 miles long.

(Q) [Question not given.]

(A) I came here on the 26th of last month. I came on the Wells, Fargo express wagon with the driver and a passenger.

(Q) [Question not given.]

(A) I did not ask the driver his name and don't know who he was. He was a middle aged man with whiskers on his face. I did not pay any particular attention to him.

(Q) [Question not given.]

(A) I think there was a white horse and one bob-tailed horse in the team between Benson and Charleston.

(Q) [Question not given.]

(A) I would not know the man I came with. I sat right behind him.

(Q) [Question not given.]

(A) I am so positive that I came here on the 25th of October last on the bullion wagon, as I am of anything else I have testified to here. I stayed in Benson about half an hour, I do not think I would know the driver again, who drove the wagon I came in on, although I have seen him here on the street and spoke to him.

(Q) [Question not given.]

(A) I had no conversation with the lodging house where I stayed nine or ten days, about the difficulty testified to here. On the night of October 25th I stayed at this lodging house I speak of.

(Q) [Question not given.]

(A) No I did not see anything in the hands of Virgil Earp when I went up and spoke to him on the street.

(Q) [Question not given.]

(A) I saw him on the comer of Fourth and Allen Streets, on the further comer of Fourth Street. I should judge it was about half an hour before the difficulty.

(Q) [Question not given.]

(A) There were four or five men standing [near the O.K. Corral] together. I think there were four. I saw no horses with those men. I was four or five steps from them. I stayed there probably three or four minutes.

(Q) Did you see any other parties as near the party as you were yourself?

(A) There was men walked right by them on the street. [Correct, same as original] I did not know the parties at that time.

(Q) Where did you next see the same parties?

(A) I saw them on Fremont Street between third and fourth, near the comer of Third, standing in the vacant lot. There were five men in the party when I first saw them on Fremont Street and one of them left and walked off.

I saw the Earps and Doc Holliday when they went down Fremont Street. I was right behind them. I went down behind them as far as the Post Office. I then crossed the street in front of what I believe is the courthouse. That is [as] near as I was to the scene of the difficulty during its occurrence.

(Q) Where are you working now, and for whom?

(A) At the present time I am on a lay-off from the A. T. & S. F. road. I am not working at all.

(Q) [Question not given.]

(A) I am at present in the hospital. I went there on the sixth or seventh of this month.

(Q) [Question not given.]

(A) I haven't told anybody direct what I know of this difficulty. The first word I spoke of it to anybody was to Jim Earp I believe. I have not told any person at the hospital what I know of this transaction.

(Q) [Question not given.]

(A) I first knew I would be wanted here as a witness sometime last week, about Thursday or Friday.

(Q) [Question not given.]

(A) I did not see any person on the side of the street I was on when the shooting was going on. I was standing close to the building and then stepped back into the hall when the shooting became general.

(Q) [Question not given.]

(A) The Earps and Holliday started from the corner of Fourth and Allen Streets. I did not see the other party at that time. I saw the marshal pick up a shotgun when they started from alongside of the building and hand it to Doc Holliday. Doc put it under his coat and the marshal took his cane.

(Q) During the time you were working in the machine shops and running on the U. P. or A. T. & S. F. roads, had you a nickname?

(A) Yes sir, it was Curley.

(Q) Where do you layoff at, and at whose place do you stop in New Mexico?

(A) I layoff at Las Vegas, and stop at my own house.

RANDOM SHOTS - Atheist Attacks, ObamaCare Goes To Court Again, and More!

Supreme Court Orders Review Of Liberty University's ObamaCare Challenge

This week the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a Federal Appeals Court to reconsider Liberty University’s legal argument that the ObamaCare law violates the school’s religious freedom.

The case will be returned to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va.

"Today’s ruling breathes new life into our challenge to ObamaCare," said Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, which filed the suit on behalf of the school. "Our fight against ObamaCare is far from over."

A federal judge in 2010 rejected Liberty’s claim, and the Appeals Court later ruled the lawsuit was premature and failed to address the substance of the school's arguments.

The Supreme Court upheld Obama's health care law in June 2012.

In the high court’s 5-4 decision, the justices used lawsuits filed by 26 states and the National Federation of Independent Business to uphold the health care law, then rejected all other pending appeals, including Liberty's.

The school is challenging the constitutionality of the part of the law that mandates employers provide insurance and whether forcing insurers to pay for birth control is unconstitutional under the First Amendment’s free exercise of religion clause.

The appeals court ruled last year the Anti-Injunction Act barred it from addressing the merits in the case.

The act blocks any challenge to a "tax" before a taxpayer pays it - in this case referring to the penalties associated with failing to obtain health insurance.

However, the Supreme Court’s ruling stated the act did not serve as a barrier to lawsuits challenging the health care law. On that basis, Liberty University immediately petitioned the court to allow it to renew its original case.

Monday's Supreme Court order for the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to study the constitutionality of Obamacare’s employer requirements for health care as well its mandatory coverage of contraceptives is a chance that the program will be ruled unconstitutional.

Atheist Practice Religious Persecution Of Christians

Near to this small place we call Glencoe, I know that Christmas and Christians are doing well.

I know that the American Legion Calaveras Post 376 will be having a Christmas Celebration for kids and families in this rural area on December 21st at 6pm. There will be snacks and even Santa will show up for the kids.

Columbia State Historic Park is decorated for the Christmas season with traditional boughs and wreaths, and docents will be decked out in their old-time finery. If you're there, I hope you have a camera for a picture with Father Christmas at the Tibbits House.

Children and others will be singing Christmas carols. Free carriage rides will be offered on Main Street and gingerbread houses will be on display at the Columbia House Restaurant.

The Merry Merchants event is hosted by the Columbia Chamber of Commerce and is fun for all ages.

Friends of Rail Road Flat will host a holiday benefit concert from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 15, at the Mokelumne Hill Town Hall on Main Street.

All proceeds will go to Mokelumne Hill, Rail Road Flat and West Point Elementary schools.

Valley Springs Craft Faire and Parade begins at 10 a.m. at California and Chestnut streets. Santa Claus will be present.

Angels Camp Holiday Festival and Christmas Parade – the Festival goes from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and the Christmas Parade begins at 2 p.m. at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church.

There will be live music, hay rides, children’s art and food will be available. Tree lighting will occur at 5 p.m. A variety of events will be held downtown throughout the day.

Hospice of Calaveras and Amador Tree of Lights – Tree lighting at 5 p.m. at the Hospice Calaveras Thrift Store, 570 N. Main St. Santa, music, candle lighting and refreshments will be available.

So while other places are being invaded by leftist and Atheist who are on a mission to destroy Christmas and have it repealed as a Federal Holiday, we here in this part of Calaveras County and the Gold Country can Thank God that we don't live in places where cities are bending to the demands a few inherently cold hearted individuals.

And yes, Atheist are extremely evil people. Evil because they practice something that goes to the heart of America's founding. Atheist fervently practice religious persecution.

Atheist in America today endorse and participate in the systematic mistreatment of Christians as a response to their lack of religious beliefs. Its as if they don't want others to have beliefs and morality if they don't.


Yes, Americans understand that there is a separation between church and state. The reason that this was established was so that the state doesn't establish a national religion. Americans understand this because they are smart enough to know that that would have lead to the persecution of others who wanted to worship in their own ways.

But, Americans also know that there is nothing in the United States Constitution that says the government, or agents of the government can attack or impede Americans from practicing their religions. Freedom of religion does not mean freedom from religion.

A report by two U.S.-based religious freedom groups says anti-Christian persecution is on the rise in America.

The joint report by Texas-based Liberty Institute and Washington-based Family Research Council says groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and other Atheist groups aren’t the only culprits. The report says government agencies around the U.S. are trying to push Christian expression out the door.

Liberty Institute Founder Kelly Shackleford, of the recent hike in reported incidents of persecution. “I have been doing these types of cases for almost 25 years now. I have never seen the levels of attacks like these and how quickly they are now proliferating.”

Shackleford says government, from schools to social programs, is the ringleader.

"There are children being prohibited from writing Merry Christmas to the soldiers, senior citizens being banned from praying over their meals in the Senior Center, the VA banning the mention of God in military funerals, numerous attempts to have veterans memorials torn down if they have any religious symbols such as a cross, and I could go on and on," Shackleford said.

In August 2011, the Houston, Texas, veterans’ cemetery director issued an order banning the word "God" from being said at military or veteran funerals at the facility.

A pastor and family members of deceased veterans had to eventually file a Federal lawsuit alleging that the Houston National VA Cemetery is discriminating against their religious freedoms.

The suit alleged that cemetery administrator Arleen Ocasio required pastor Scott Rainey to edit a Memorial Day prayer so that the prayer was "general, and its fundamental purpose [was] nondenominational in nature."

Christian civil rights organization ACLJ senior counsel David French says the exact rate of increase is hard to determine, but many of the new cases come from colleges.

"Our knowledge of incidents is only as good as the reporting," French says. "However, it’s clear that – particularly on college and university campuses – we have seen a significant rise in attempts to silence Christian organizations by the misapplication of nondiscrimination laws."

Mr French adds that many public facilities are also covering over Christianity.

"One of the most strident examples: the misuse of the Establishment Clause to attempt to ban any mention of God from historical markers, monuments or even museum exhibits. This represents an effort to whitewash God from American history and change our national identity."

It was reported in February of this year that the City of New York was attempting to cancel the leases of all church and religious groups renting city facilities.

"Our view is that public school buildings, which are funded by taxpayers’ dollars, should not be used as houses of worship," said Marge Feinberg, spokeswoman for New York City’s Department of Education. "Public school space cannot and should not be used for worship services, especially because school space is not equally available to all faiths."

When I first read this, I was amazed that they were trying to do this considering that a church renting a city building is no different than any other private citizen or organization renting the building.

What are they going to do, ask everyone who wants to rent a hall from the City of New York their religious preference - and only allow those who have no religion to rent from the city? It's stupidity like that that makes me wonder where is the sanity!

Shackleford says the attacks are becoming violent, too.

“The recent attacks on the faith-based Family Research Council and the attack on the Sikhs are recent examples alone,” Shackleford says.

He also cites an example of a city trying to push out its Jewish residents.

"In one case I was involved in, a city literally tried to zone out Orthodox Jews from the city. An official city meeting perpetrated this. Some said, ‘Hitler should have finished the job.’”

Among the violations listed in the joint report:
•A federal judge threatened “incarceration” to a high school valedictorian unless she removed references to Jesus from her graduation speech.

•City officials prohibited senior citizens from praying over their meals, listening to religious messages or singing gospel songs at a senior activities center.

•A public school official physically lifted an elementary school student from his seat and reprimanded him in front of his classmates for praying over his lunch.

•Following U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ policies, a federal government official sought to censor a pastor’s prayer, eliminating references to Jesus, during a Memorial Day ceremony honoring veterans at a national cemetery.

•Public school officials prohibited students from handing out gifts because they contained religious messages.

•A public school official prevented a student from handing out fliers inviting her classmates to an event at her church.

•A public university’s law school banned a Christian organization because it required its officers to adhere to a statement of faith that the university disagreed with.

•The U.S. Department of Justice argued before the Supreme Court that the federal government can tell churches and synagogues which pastors and rabbis it can hire and fire.

•The State of Texas sought to approve and regulate what religious seminaries can teach.

•Through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare, the federal government is forcing religious organizations to provide insurance for birth control and abortion-inducing drugs in direct violation of their religious beliefs.

•The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs banned the mention of God from veterans’ funerals, overriding the wishes of the deceased’s families.

•A federal judge held that prayers before a state House of Representatives could be to Allah but not to Jesus.

 Where a person's religion often determines to a significant extent his or her morality and personal identity, Atheist believe in nothing and subsequently have no basis for standards of morality.   Yes, that is the reason that Atheist persecute Christians at every turn. They attack without guilt or reason just like those who persecuted the Jews in Germany during the 1930s and 40s. 
Like Hitler's Nazi persecution of Jews and Catholics, Atheists are the new Nazis with a zeal to kill off any trace of Christianity in America.

Religious persecution is religious bigotry. It is the denigration of the Christian practitioner because he or she does not believe as the hate filled Atheist activist does.

Atheist view Christians as a threat to their interests in the very same way that Nazis under Hitler viewed Jews as a threat to Germany. Their constant attacks on anything representative of the Christian belief in America is religious persecution.

Just as other forms of racism and bigotry should not be tolerated and are cconsidered human rights issues, so should the Atheist well funded attacks on Christians - and any symbol of Christianity like Christmas

Arizona Declines to Set up State-based Health Insurance Exchange

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, an ardent critic of President Barack Obama's push to overhaul the U.S. health care system, said on Wednesday she was rejecting a new federal mandate to set up a state-based health insurance exchange under the U.S. Affordable Care Act - aka ObamaCare.

Citing lingering unanswered questions about the exchanges and concerns about high costs she said would be passed on to Arizona families and small businesses, Brewer, a Republican, said her state would opt instead for a federally run exchange.

Such networks are designed to function as online insurance markets where consumers can shop for private coverage at federally subsidized rates, and are an integral provision of the act, a centerpiece of Obama's first term in office.

Under a newly extended deadline, states have until December 14th to notify the U.S. Health and Human Services Department whether they intend to comply with the insurance exchange mandate or leave it to the federal government to set up and operate exchanges for them.

About 17 states have told the Obama administration they plan to move ahead on their own exchanges, while at least nine Republican governors in recent days have rejected the plan outright, as Brewer has, or opted to cooperate with Washington in setting up a hybrid federal-state network.

"My opposition to the Affordable Care Act is unwavering, as is my belief that it should be repealed and replaced," Brewer said in a statement announcing her decision.

Two Sentenced in Fast and Furious Federal Gun-Running Case

No it wasn't Janet Napolitano and Eric Holder as many people hope, but two people have been sentenced to a few years behind bars for their roles in the Federal gun smuggling ring that was part of the Obama administration's failed Operation Fast and Furious.

The U.S. Justice Department says Jacob Anthony Montelongo was sentenced Monday in Phoenix to nearly 3 1/2 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy and dealing guns without a license. Sean Christopher Steward received a nine-year sentence for conspiracy and lying.

During the Fast and Furious operation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents hoped to track illegally obtained weapons to high-level arms traffickers, but authorities lost track of more than 2,700 guns.

Many are right now being used to kill innocent civilians on both sides of the border. Just something else that Obama doesn't seem to care about.

So far, the operation led to congressional inquiries and little else.

It was exposed after two of the illegally obtained weapons were found at the scene of the 2010 fatal shooting of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

Western Senators ask Justice Department to Oil Companies

Six Pacific state senators are asking the Justice Department to investigate whether oil refineries manipulated the price of gasoline when it hit near-record prices in the region from May through October.

The price was more than $4 a gallon during that period and broke the $5 mark last month in California, even though the price of crude oil has been declining.

Analysts have said the near-record prices were the result of refinery problems. But the senators point to a review of California refinery emissions data showing inconsistencies between the time refineries were producing petroleum products and when maintenance shutdowns were publicly reported.

The politicians said misleading reports of shutdowns could have created a perceived shortage of gasoline.

I wonder if those liberal senators will acknowledge out of control federal and state taxation on a gallon is the reason that gas is so high and not some sort of oil refinery manipulation of the price of gasoline?

Probably not. Remember, as far as liberals are concerned - oil companies are an easy scapegoat for Democrats who want to get the focus off the increased taxes put on the public at the pumps.


Story by Tom Correa

RANDOM SHOTS - Sandra Fluke, Obama and the Fiscal Cliff, ObamaCare, and More!

Sandra Fluke's Extreme Promiscuity Pays Off Big Time

First she testified in front of Congress to say that she spent over $3000 on birth control during her three years at Georgetown Law. Then she was picked by the Democrat Party as their poster-girl of new-age promiscuity and actually gave the doll-eyed Fluke the microphone to speak at their Convention.

She has appeared on magazine covers and on talk shows like The View and so on. Well now there is more! And yes, this is too funny!

All of the money that she spent on birth control, and no there is no word if she needed to pay for multiple abortions, is all paying off big time.

Yes, this is really a big deal when we consider that her singular accomplishment in life is needing government assistance to have sex because she spent $1000 a year for condoms and such while in Law School.

Imagine what she has done to become famous? Imagine her road to stardom and fame? Heck, her whole persona is built around the fact that she sleep around so much that she needs government assistance to do what she does in the future.

Now Sandra Fluke, who by the way is now being billed as a "feminist activist" instead of "sex activist," is now being considered for Time Magazine's Person of the Year.

No kidding, it's true. Fluke, pronounced "Fluck" at Georgetown University, is one of 40 contenders who have been nominated to grace the cover of Time as its Person of the Year.

Fluke makes a list of luminaries that includes President Obama, Mitt Romney, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President Bill Clinton, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and many others who haven't done anything noteworthy.

Fluke's nomination might come as a surprise to some, but not to the guys at Georgetown Law. It is rumored that she has been the person of the year at Georgetown Law for at least 4 years.

I received an e-mail telling me that Sandra Fluck is very "popular" there. That explains a lot, especially when you consider that the not very attractive and somewhat vacant looking Fluck spent $1000 a year on condoms and other birth control while attending Law School.

To answer some of your e-mail, I can honestly say that don't know how she found time for classes. Yes, I agree with those writing me, $1000 a year on condoms is an astronomical amount. And no, I don't know how many Prostitutes are attending school at Georgetown Law.

I always assumed that sexually active co-eds weren't as sexually active as someone who would need to have the government subsidize what they do. It appears from what Fluke said that there might be others like her who are extremely promiscuous who need  government subsidies to have sex.

The winner of Times Person of the Year will be announced on December 14th.

Since spending $1000 a year on condoms is a great deal of money, I just can't help but wonder if there are hundreds of guys attending Georgetown Law who will want bragging rights to say they know Time's Person of the Year.

Yep, I can only do the math and wonder!

What Will More Taxes On The Rich Get Us?

President Obama’s plan to end the Bush-era tax cuts for families earning more than $250,000 a year would finance the U.S. government for only eight days, says Georgia Republican Rep. Tom Price.

"The president's plan to increase taxes on the upper 2 percent (of American earners) covers the spending by this federal government not for eight years, not for eight months – not for eight weeks, but for eight days," Rep Price, the chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, told MSNBC.

The Obama tax-rate plan would generate only $82.3 billion a year, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office, Price said.

The Bush-era tax rates expire and massive spending cuts automatically kick under sequestration on January 2nd.

"Eight days only," Rep Price told MSNBC. "It's not a real solution. I’m puzzled by an administration that seems to be more interested in raising tax rates than in gaining economic vitality."
A more balanced approach – which includes cuts to federal spending on such programs as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security – is what Obama should be focused on, he said.

The tax increases and spending cuts would total about $500 billion next year, Fox News reports.

In addition, about $1.2 trillion will be cut from the federal budget over 10 years should both sides fail to reach a deal to keep the nation from going over the so-called fiscal cliff.

ObamaCare Should Be On The Table As Well!

Democrats have gone back on their word and have already started cutting Medicare. They did earlier this year with ObamaCare's automatically started $716 Billion in cuts from Medicare.

Back in August, Obama declared that his proposed reforms "won’t touch your guaranteed Medicare benefits. Not by a single dime."

But facts are facts and this was a lie. Fact is that ObamaCare cuts $716 billion from Medicare over the next 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), and uses these "savings" from Medicare to fund other entitlement expansions mandated by ObamaCare.

Medicare becomes a cash cow for ObamaCare, and the Medicare "savings" from payment cuts are not put back into making Medicare solvent. Such massive payment cuts do impact Medicare benefits, as well as seniors’ access to those benefits.

To me, it seems apparent that America is trying to fund ObamaCare by taking from Medicare and seniors.

Why not make cuts to ObamaCare before it's fully implemented in 2014? Why not fix Medicare and Social Security and leave it's essential services alone? Why not shift the focus on making cuts to ObamaCare before it gets off the ground?

Initially, the government said they needed to provide health care coverage for a 5% of the American public. So why create this huge dictatorial program that is going to effect 100% of the public and takes from programs that need the funds?

Why can't someone in Congress come up with Amendments to the ObamaCare Law stopping it from sucking so much money out of the system?

It seems to me that all of the problems that we are having with this so-called "fiscal cliff" stems from the government wanting to fund ObamaCare.

And I ask you this, if Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, Veteran Hospital funding, Military funding, and all the rest are said to be on the table to take a look at for cuts, then shouldn't ObamaCare be on the table as well? 

Black Friday Gun Sales Set Record for Second Year

Can you tell that people are still wiry of Obama and his so-called promises not to go after guns?

Americans know full well that Obama is going to treat his next four years as if he has a mandate to work his agenda. Obama may lie all he wants to, and that's fine because people are on to him.

Gun sales on Black Friday set a record for the second year, as firearm dealers seeking required background check requests shut down FBI calls centers twice.

The FBI said on Monday that it fielded 154,873 calls on Black Friday, up about 20 percent over last year’s previous one-day record of 129,166, USA Today reports.

The requests for background checks were so numerous that FBI call centers experienced two brief outages, one lasting 18 minutes and another 14 minutes, FBI spokesman Stephen Fischer said.

The FBI does not track actual gun sales, but Fischer told USA Today that the number of firearms sold on Friday was likely higher because multiple firearms could be included in one transaction by a single buyer.

Dealers said the continuing gun surge was affected by an increase in women buyers and concerns that lawmakers in President Obama’s second term might impose stricter gun laws, including a ban on assault weapons.

One reporter said that "Obama did not offer any such proposals during the campaign."

But that's a lie, fact is that Obama said that he would like to revive the so-called assault weapons ban in the townhall debate with Mitt Romney. The spin from the left never stops so don't believe when they say something like "Obama did not offer any proposals during the campaign" because he did so.

“With the recent election, some people are making buying decisions just in case something (a new law) happens,” Don Gallardo, manager of Shooter’s World in Phoenix, told USA Today.

Gallardo’s store posted a 10 percent increase in Black Friday sales, he said.

Buyers cited similar reasons right after Obama won his first term in 2008, Gallardo told USA Today.

At Guns Galore in Killeen, Tex., salesman Greg Ebert said his store has seen more purchases by women.

“Women have taken a strong interest in shooting sports,” Ebert told USA Today. “I think they see target shooting and other shooting sports as another form of relaxation.”

That might be well and good, but there is no denying the fact that fear of what Obama will do in the future remains the number one reason for the majority of gun sales in America.

Colorado County Considers Banning Panning For Gold 

Prospectors during widespread Gold Rushes in the 1800s are credited with settling land and developing commerce in several Western states, including Colorado.

However 200 years later, officials in one Colorado county say amateur prospectors panning for gold on county land have become such a nuisance they are considering banning the practice.

9News reports officials in Larimer county say they will vote vote on banning widespread prospecting next month after a significant increase in panning.

"There's certainly an uptick," Dan Rieves, visitor services manager for Larimer County, told 9News. "There's rangers that we've had out in the field who have been working here for 10, 15 years that have contacted more people out prospecting in the past 18 months than they have in their entire career."

The vote would lead "minerals" to be added to a list of things that already can't be removed from county land. Officials say the county is not anti-prospecting, and may consider setting up specific prospecting zones or times in the future if the ban is passed.

"We're really just trying to put that regulatory structure in place, and kind of slow things down," Rieves told 9News.

This all doesn't surprise me since that state did vote overwhelmingly for Obama. Check behind the curtain and you'll find out that liberal environmentalist are behind any effort to restrict what can be taken out of a river or steam.

No it certainly doesn't surprise me. After all, Colorado is turning into East California!

Story by Tom Correa

Gunfight at the OK Corral - The Aftermath - Part One

To get an idea of what took place right after the shootout, let's start as the smoke started to clear and Cochise County Sheriff John Behan walked up to Wyatt Earp, who was by then one of the few there still standing. Believe it or not, John Behan actually attempts to arrest Wyatt, who had been deputized by his older brother Virgil just before walking down to the lot where everything would take place.

In a line that has become famous with the telling of the OK Corral story, Wyatt supposedly responds, "I won't be arrested today. You threw us, Johnny!"  This apparently meant that Behan had set them up by telling them earlier that he had disarmed the cowboys himself. Wyatt then sees to it that Virgil and Morgan get medical care and are taken to their homes.

Immediately after the shooting, Virgil Earp was suspended as City Marshal pending a full investigation can take place. The shoot-out becomes the talk of the town. The Tombstone Nugget ran a story noting that "The 26th of October, 1881, will always be marked as one of the crimson days in the annals of Tombstone, a day when blood flowed as water, and human life was held as a shuttlecock."

The town is divided on whether Virgil Earp acted appropriately in firing so quickly. Many residents asked why Doc Holliday, a hothead with a personal ax to grind with the Clantons, was deputized by City Marshal Virgil Earp to assist in the disarming of the Clantons and Frank McLaury. Keep in mind that Tom McLaury was not armed when he was killed. This fact riles the citizens. 

A funeral for the slain men showed deep sympathy for the men, with three hundred mourners joining the procession to Boot Hill. An estimated crowd of more than 2,000 onlookers watched the procession from Tombstone's dusty sidewalks.

A couple of days later, Ike Clanton filed murder charges against the Earps and Doc Holliday with Judge Wells Spicer, who was reportedly a good friend of Virgil Earp. While this is taking place, the Earps are being moved into the Cosmopolitan Hotel because they fear for their lives. The hotel turns into an armed fort. Part of their concern is that the Tombstone Vigilance Committee met over their concerns that the Earps may need to be reined in. Even though Tombstone Mayor John Clum, who was the owner of The Tombstone Epitaph, which staunchly supported the Earp faction in Tombstone, was the head of the Tombstone Vigilance Committee, he couldn't stop the citizens from questioning the Earps' actions.

Soon afterward, the Earps and Doc Holliday were charged with murder by Billy Clanton's brother Ike Clanton. Although Virgil and Morgan were excused because of their injuries, a little more than a week later on November 4th, 1881, Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday were arrested by Deputy Sheriff Harry Woods and taken to jail.

Bail was set at $10,000.00 each for Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp. They were initially released after posting said bail. The wealthy people who put up their bail were people like wealthy cattleman Henry Hooker and Tombstone Mayor John Clum. Soon after Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp were released on bail, William McLaury, the brother of the dead men, arrived in Tombstone.

William McLaury is someone who is hardly heard of in the story of the OK Corral, probably because he wasn't a part of the gang. The fact is that William McLaury was an attorney and became outraged when he learned Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday were free on bail. In fact, after meeting with Judge Spicer on November 7th, William McLaury succeeded in getting Wyatt and Doc put back in jail.

Wyatt and Doc were arrested again and were this time jailed pending a preliminary hearing. And yes, believe it or not, Wyatt and Doc were forced to pay out a huge sum of money in legal fees and court costs during this time. No, it wasn't much different than today, where money buys you a better legal defense. In their case, it was their good fortune that they had wealthy supporters like Hooker and Clum.

During the trial, everyone was questioned, from Wyatt Earp to witnesses on the street. But then, as was the case, Wyatt caused a prosecution objection when he asked to tell the events that transpired on the day of the shooting. Why would this cause a problem? Well, it was because Wyatt pulled out a prepared statement written by his lawyer, not himself. It was a prepared statement that was written for him.

When he commenced to read from it, the prosecution immediately objected. Judge Spicer overruled the objection. Wyatt read his statement just as his attorney wrote it. Below is that statement, and please understand that the spelling of names and such is exactly as recorded on the day of his testimony:

The difficulty between deceased and myself originated first when I followed Tom McLowry and Frank McLowry, with Virgil and Morgan Earp and Captain Hearst and four soldiers to look for six government mules which were stolen.

A man named Estes told us at Charleston, that we would find the mules at McLowry's ranch, that the McLowrys were branding "D. S." over "U. S." We tracked the mules to McLowry's ranch, where we also found the brand. Afterwards some of those mules were found with the same brand. After we arrived at McLowry's ranch there was a man named Frank Patterson who made some kind of a compromise with Captain Hearst. Captain Hearst came to us boys and told us he had made this compromise and by so doing he would get the mules back. We insisted on following them up.

Hearst prevailed upon us to go back to Tombstone, and so we came back. Hearst told us two or three weeks afterwards that they would not give up the mules to him after we left, saying they only wanted to get us away: that they could stand the soldiers off. Captain Hearst cautioned me and Virgil and Morgan to look out for those men; that they had made some hard threats against the lives.

About one month after that, after those mules had been taken, I met Frank and Tom McLowrv in Charleston. They tried to pick a fuss out of me, and told me that if I ever followed them up again as close as I did before that they would kill me. Shortly after the time Budd Philpot was killed by those men who tried to rob the Benson stage, as a detective I helped trace the matter up, and I was satisfied that three men, named Billy Leonard, Harry Head and Jim Crane were in that robbery.

I know that Leonard, Head and Crane were friends and associates of the Clantons and McLowrys and often stopped at their ranches. It was generally understood among officers, and those who have information about criminals, that Ike Clanton was a sort of chief among the cowboys; that the Clantons and McLowrys were cattle thieves, and generally in the secrets of the stage robbers; and that the Clanton and McLowrvs ranches were the meeting place, and place of shelter for the gang.

I had an ambition to be sheriff of this county next election, and I thought it would be a great help to me with the people and the business men if I could capture the men who killed Philpot. There were rewards offered of about $1,200 each for the robbers. Altogether there was about $3,600 offered for their capture. I thought that this amount might tempt Ike Clanton and Frank McLowry to give away Leonard, Head and Crane; so I went to Ike Clanton and Frank McLowry, when they came in town.

I had an interview with them in the back yard of the Oriental saloon. I told them what I wanted. I told them I wanted the glory of capturing Leonard, Head and Crane; if I could do so, it would help me make the race for sheriff next election. I told them if they would put on the track of Leonard, Head and Crane - tell me where those men were hid - I would give them all the reward, and would never let anybody know where I got the information. Ike Clanton said that he would be glad to have Leonard captured, that Leonard claimed a ranch that he claimed, and if he could gel him out of the way he would have no opposition about the ranch. Ike Clanton said that Leonard, Head and Crane would make a fight, that they would never be taken alive, and that I must first find out if the reward would be paid for the capture of the robbers dead or alive.

I then went to Marshall Williams, the agent of Wells, Fargo & Co., in this town, and at my request he telegraphed to the agent of Wells, Fargo & Co., at San Francisco to find out if the reward would be paid for the robbers dead or alive. He received in June, 1881 a telegram which he gave me, promising that the reward should be paid dead or alive. I showed this telegram soon after I got it to Ike Clanton in front of the Alhambra and afterwards told Frank McLowry of its contents.

It was then agreed between us that they should have all the $3.600 reward outside of necessary expenses for horses in going after them and Joe Hill should go to where Leonard, Head, and Crane were hid, over near Eureka, in New Mexico, and lure them in near Frank and Tom McLowry's ranch near Soldier Holes, 30 miles from here, and I would be on hand with a posse and capture them. I asked Joe Hill, Ike Clanton and Frank McLowry what tale they would make to them to get them over here. They said they had agreed upon a plan to tell them that there would be a pay master going from Tombstone to Bisbee shortly to pay off the miners, and that they wanted them to come in and take them; Ike Clanton then sent Joe Hill to bring them in; before starting Joe Hill took on his watch and chain and between two and three hundred dollars in money, and gave it to Virgil Earp to keep for him until he got back. He was gone about ten days and returned with the word that he had got there a day too late; that Leonard and Harry Head had been killed the day before he got there by horse thieves. I learned afterward that the thieves had been killed subsequently by members of the Clanton and McLowry gang.

After that Ike Clanton and Frank McLowry said I had given them away to Marshal Williams and Doc Holliday, and when they came in town they shunned us, and Morgan and Virgil Earp and Doc Holliday and myself began to hear of their threats against us. I am a friend of Doc Holliday, because when I was city marshal of Dodge City, Kansas, he came to my rescue and saved my life, when I was surrounded by desperadoes. A month or so ago Morgan and I assisted to arrest Stillwell and Spence on the charge of robbing the Bisbee stage. The McLowrys and Clantons have always been friendly with Spence and Stillwell, and they laid the whole blame of their arrest on us, though the fact is, we only went as a sheriff's posse.

After we got in town with Spence and Stillwell, Ike Clanton and Frank McLowry came in. Frank McLowry took Morgan into the middle of the street, where John Ringgold, Ike Clanton and the Hicks boys were standing, and commenced to abuse Morgan Earp for going after Spence and Stillwell. Frank McLowry said he would never speak to Spence again for being arrested by us. He said to Morgan, "If ever you come after me you will never take me." Morgan replied that if he ever had occasion to go after him he would arrest him. Frank McLowry then said to him, "I have threatened you boys' lives, and a few days ago I had taken it back, but since this arrest it now goes." Morgan made no reply, and walked off.

Before this and after this, Marshal Williams and Farmer Daly, and Ed. Burns and three or four others, told us at different times of threats made to kill us, by Ike Clanton, Frank McLowry: Tom McLowry, Joe Hill and John Ringgold. I knew that all these men were desperate and dangerous, cattle thieves, robbers and murderers. I knew of the Clantons and McLowrys stealing six government mules. I heard of Ringgold shooting a man down in cold blood near Camp Thomas. I was satisfied that Frank and Tom McLowry killed and robbed Mexican in the Skeleton canyon two or three months ago, and I naturally keep my eyes open, and I did not intend that any of the gang should get the drop on me if I could help it.

Three or four weeks ago Ike Clanton met me at the Alhambra, and told me that I had told Holliday about this transaction, concerning the capture of Head and Leonard. I told him I never told Holliday anything. I told him when Holliday came up from Tucson I would prove it. Ike Clanton said that Holliday had told him so; when Holliday came I asked him and he said no; I told him that Ike Clanton had said so.

On the 25"' of October Holliday met Ike Clanton in the Alhambra saloon and asked him about it. Clanton denied it, and they quarreled for three or four minutes. Holliday told Ike Clanton he was a d-d liar, if he said so. I was sitting eating lunch at the time. They got up and walked out on the street. I got through and walked out, and they were still talking about it.

I then went to Holliday, who was pretty tight, and took him away. Then I came back alone and met Ike Clanton. He called me outside and said his gun was on the other side of the street at the hotel. I told him to leave it there. He said he would make a fight with Holliday any time he wanted to. I told him Holliday did not want to fight, but only to satisfy him this talk had not been made.

I then went away and went to the Oriental, and in a few minutes Ike Clanton came over with his six shooter on. He said he was not fixed right; that in the morning he would have man for man that this fighting talk had been going on for a long time, and it was about time to fetch it to a close. I told him that I wouldn't fight no one if I could get away from it. He walked off and left me, saying, "I will be ready for all of you in the morning." He followed me into the Oriental, having his six shooter in plain sight. He said, "You musn't think I won't be after you all in the morning." Myself and Holliday walked away and went to our rooms.

I got up next day, October 26, about noon. Before I got up, Ned Bolye came to me and told me that he met Ike Clanton on Allen street, near the telegraph office that morning; that Ike was armed; that he said "As soon as those d-d Earps make their appearance on the street to day the battle will open," That Ike said, "We are here to make a fight, we are looking for the sons of b--s." Jones came to me after I got up and went to the saloon, and said, "What does all this mean?" I asked what he meant. He says, "Ike Clanton is hunting you Earp boys with a Winchester rifle and a six shooter. "I said, I will go down and find him and see what he wants."

I went out, and on the corner of Fourth and Allen streets I met Virgil Earp, the marshal. He told me how he had heard that Ike Clanton was hunting us. I went up Allen street, and Virgil went down Fifth street and then Fremont street. Virgil found Ike Clanton on Fourth street in an alley. He walked up to him and said, "I hear you are hunting for some of us."

Ike Clanton then threw his Winchester rifle around towards Virgil. Virgil grabbed it and hit Clanton with his six shooter and knocked him down. Clanton had his rifle, and his six shooter was exposed in his pants. By that time I came up, and Virgil and Morgan took his rifle and six shooter away and took them to the Grand Hotel after the examination, and took Ike Clanton before Justice Wallace. Before the investigation Morgan Earp had Ike Clanton in charge, as Virgil Earp was out. A short time after I went into Wallace's court and sat down on a bench. Ike Clanton looked over to me and says, "I will get even with all of you for this. If I had a six shooter I would make a fight with all of you." Morgan then said to him, "If you want to make a fight right bad I will give you this one." At the same time offering Ike Clanton his (Ike's) own six shooter. Ike Clanton started to get up to take it, when Campbell, the deputy sheriff, pushed him back on his seat, saying he wouldn't allow any fuse. I never had Ike Clanton's arms at any time as he has stated.

I would like to describe the position we occupied in the courtroom at that time. Ike Clanton sat down on a bench, with his face fronting to the north wall of the building. I myself sat down on a bench that was against the north wall right in front of Ike. Morgan Earp stood up against the north wall with his back against the north wall, two or three feet to my right. Morgan Earp had Ike Clanton's Winchester in his left hand and his six shooter in his right hand, one end of the rifle was on the floor. Virgil Earp was not in the court room any of the time, and Virgil Earp came there after I walked out. I was tired of being threatened by Ike Clanton and his gang. I believed from what they had said to others and to me, and from their movements, that they intended to assassinate me the first chance they had, and I thought if I had to fight for my life against them, I had better make them face me in an open fight.

So I said to Ike Clanton, who was then sitting about eight feet away from me, "you d--d dirty cur thief, you have been threatening our lives, and I know it. I think I should be justified shooting you down any place I should meet you, but if you are anxious to make a fight, I will go anywhere on earth to make a fight with you, even over to the San Simon among your own crowd." He replied, "all right, I will see you after I get through here. I only want four feet of ground to fight on."

I walked out and just then outside the court room, near the justice's office, I met Tom McLowry. He came up to me and said to me, "If you want to make a fight I will make a fight with you anywhere." I supposed at the time he had heard what had first transpired between Ike Clanton and me. I knew of his having threatened me and I felt just as I did about Ike Clanton, that if the fight had to come, I had better have it come when I had an even show to defend myself, so I said to him all right "make a fight right here," and at the same time I slapped him in the face with my left hand, and drew my pistol with my right. He had a pistol in plain sight on his right hip, but made no move to draw it. I said to him, "Jerk your gun use it."

He made no reply and I hit him on the head with my six shooter and walked away down to Hafford's corner. I went into Hafford's and got a cigar, and came out and stood by the door. Pretty soon after I saw Tom McLowry, Frank McLowry and William Clanton. They passed me and went down Fourth street to the gunsmith shop. I followed down to see what they were going to do. When I got there Frank McLowry's horse was standing on the sidewalk with his head in the door of the gun shop. I took the horse by the bit, as I was deputy city marshal, and commenced to back him off the sidewalk.

Frank and Tom McLowry and Billy Clanton came to the door, Billy Clanton had his hand on his six shooter. Frank McLowry took hold of the horse's bridle. I said, "you will have to get this horse off the sidewalk." He backed him off on the street Ike Clanton came up about that time and they all walked into the gunsmith's shop. I saw them in the shop changing cartridges into their belts.

They came out of the shop and walked along Fourth street to the corner of Allen street. I followed them as far as the corner of Fourth and Allen streets, and then they went down Allen street and over to Dunbar's corral. Virgil Earp was then city marshal; Morgan Earp was a special policeman for six weeks, wore a badge and drew pay. I had been sworn in Virgil's place to act for him while Virgil was gone to Tucson on Stillwell and Spence, on the charge of robbing the Bisbee stage trial. Virgil had been back several days, but I was still acting. I know it was Virgil's duty to disarm those men. He suspected he would have trouble in doing so; and I followed up to give assistance if necessary, especially as they had been threatening us, as I have already stated.

About ten minutes afterwards, and while Virgil, Morgan, Doc Holliday and myself were standing in the center of Fourth and Allen streets several persons said, "there is going to be trouble with those fellows," and one man named Coleman said to Virgil Earp, "they mean trouble. They have just gone from Dunbar's corral into the 0. K. corral, all armed. I think you had better go and disarm them." Virgil turned around to Doc Holliday, Morgan Earp and myself and told us to come and assist him in disarming them. Morgan Earp said to me, "they have horses; had we not better get some horses ourselves, so that if they make a running fight we can catch them?" I said, "No, if they try to make a running fight we can kill their horses, and then capture them."

We four then started through Fourth to Fremont street. When we turned the corner of Fourth and Fremont streets we could see them standing near or about the vacant space between Fly's photograph gallery and the next building west. I first saw Frank McLowry, Torn McLowry, Billy Clanton and Sheriff Behan standing there. We went down the left hand side of Fremont street. When I got within about 150 feet of them I saw Ike Clanton, Billy Claiborne and another party. We had walked a few steps further when I saw Behan leave the party and come towards us, every few steps he would look back as if he apprehended danger.

I heard Behan say to Virgil Earp, "For God's sake don't go down there or you will get murdered." Virgil replied, "I am going to disarm them" - he, Virgil Earp, being in the lead. When I and Morgan came up to Behan he said, "I have disarmed them." When he said this I took my pistol, which I had in my hand, under my coat, and put it in my overcoat pocket. Behan then passed up the street, and we walked on down.

We came up on them close - Frank McLowry, Tom McLowry and Billy Clanton standing all in a row against the east side of the building on the opposite side of the vacant space west of Fly`s photography gallery. Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne and a man I did not know were standing in the vacant space about halfway between the photograph gallery and the next building west. I saw that Billy Clanton and Frank McLowry and Tom McLowry had their hands by their sides and Frank McLowry's and Billy Clanton's six shooters were in plain sight. 

Virgil said, "Throw up your hands. I have come to disarm you." Billy Clanton and Frank McLowry had their hands on their six shooters. Virgil said, "Hold I don't mean that; I have come to disarm you." They - Billy Clanton and Frank McLowry - commenced to draw their pistols, at the same time Tom McLowry threw his hand to his right hip and jumped behind a horse. I had my pistol in my overcoat pocket where I had put it when Behan told us he had disarmed the other party.

When I saw Billy and Frank draw their pistols I drew my pistol. Billy Clanton leveled his pistol at me but I did not aim at him. I knew that Frank McLowry had the reputation of being a good shot and a dangerous man, and I aimed at Frank McLowrv. The two first shots which were fired were fired by Billy Clanton and myself he; shot at me, and I shot at Frank McLowry. I do not know which shot was first; we fired almost together. The fight then became general. After about four shots were fired Ike Clanton ran up and grabbed my arm. I could see no weapon in his hand and thought at the time he had none, and so I said to him, "The fight has now commenced go to fighting or get away." At the same time I pushed him off with my left hand. He started and ran down the side of the building and disappeared between the lodging house and the photograph gallery.

My first shot struck Frank McLowry in the belly. He staggered off on the sidewalk but first fired one shot at me. When we told them to throw up their hands Claiborne held up his left hand, and then broke and ran. I never saw him afterwards until later in the afternoon, after the fight. I never drew my pistol or made a motion to shoot until after Billy Clanton and Frank McLowry drew their pistols.

If Tom McLowry was unarmed I did not know it. I believe he was armed and that he fired two shots at our party before Holliday who had the shotgun, fired at and killed him. If he was unarmed there was nothing to the circumstances or in what had been communicated to me, or in his acts or threats, that would have led me even to suspect his being unarmed.

I never fired at Ike Clanton, even after the shooting commenced, because I thought he was unarmed and I believed then, and believe now, from the acts I have stated, and the threats I have related, and other threats communicated to me by different persons, as having been made by Tom McLowry, Frank McLowry and Isaac Clanton, that these men, last named, had formed a conspiracy to murder my brothers Morgan and Virgil, and Doc Holliday and myself. I believe I would have been legally and morally justified in shooting any of them on sight, but I did not do so or attempt to do so; I sought no advantage.

When I went as deputy marshal to help disarm them and arrest them, I went as a part of my duty and under the direction of my brother the marshal. I did not intend to fight unless it became necessary in self defense, and in the performance of official duty. When Billy Clanton and Frank McLowry drew their pistols - I knew it was a fight for life, and I drew and fired in defense of my own life and the lives of my brothers and Doc Holliday.

I have been in Tombstone since December 1, 1879. I came here from Dodge City Kansas, where, against the protest of business men and officials, I resigned the office of City Marshal, which I held from 1876. I came to Dodge City from Wichita, Kansas. I was on the police force in Wichita, from 1874 until I went to Dodge City. The testimony of Isaac Clanton that I had anything to do with any stage robbery, or any criminal enterprise, is a tissue of lies from beginning to end. Sheriff Behan made me an offer in his office on Allen street, and in the back room of the cigar store, that if I would withdraw and not try to get appointed sheriff of Cochise county, that we would hire a clerk and divide the profits. I done so; and he never said another word to me afterward in regard to it. The reasons given by him here for not complying with his contract, are false.

I give here as a part of this statement, a document sent me from Dodge City, since my arrest, and marked Exhibit A, and another document sent me from Wichita, since this arrest, which I wish attached to this statement. and marked Exhibit B. Myself and Doc Holliday happened to go to Charleston the night that Behan happened to go down to subpoena Ike Clanton. We went there for the purpose of getting a horse that had been stolen from us a few days after I came to Tombstone. I had heard several times that the Clantons had him. When I got there that night I was told by a friend of mine that the man that carried the dispatch from Charleston to Ike Clanton's ranch had my horse. 

At this time I did not know where Ike Clanton's ranch was. A short time afterward I was in the Huachucas, locating some water rights. I had started home to Tombstone, and had got within twelve or fifteen miles of Charleston, when I met a man named McMasters. He told me if I would hurry up I would find my horse in Chaleston. I drove to Charleston, and saw my horse going through the streets toward the corral. I put up for the night at another corral. I went to Barnett's office, to get out papers to recover the horse. He was not at home, having gone to Sonora to see some coal fields that had been discovered. I telegraphed to Tombstone, to James Earp, and papers were made out and sent to Charleston, that night. 

While I was in town, waiting for the papers, Billy Clanton found out I was there. He went and tried to take the horse out of the corral. I told him that he could not take him out, that it was my horse. After the papers came he gave the horse up without the papers being served, and asked me "if I had any more horses to lose." I told him I would keep them in the stable after this, and not give him a chance to steal them.

In one of the conversations I had with Ike Clanton about giving away Leonard, Head and Crane, I told him one reason why I wanted to catch them was to prove to the citizens of Tombstone that Doc Holliday had nothing to do with it, as there were some false statements circulated to that effect. In following the trail of Leonard, Head and Crane, we struck it at the scene of the attempted robbery, and never lost the trail or hardly a footprint from the time that we started from Drew's ranch, on the San Pedro, until we got to Helm's ranch, in the Dragoons.

After following about eight miles down the San Pedro river and capturing one of the men, named King that was supposed to be in with them, we then crossed the Catalina mountains within fifteen miles of Tucson, following their trail around the front of the mountain after they had crossed over to Tres Alamos, on the San Pedro river. We then started out from Helm's ranch and got on their trail. They had stolen fifteen or twenty head of stock so as to cover their trail. Wyatt Earp, Morgan Earp, R.H. Paul, Breckenridge, Johnny Behan and one or two others still followed the trail up into New Mexico. Their trail never led south from Helm's ranch, as Ike Clanton has stated. 

We used every effort we could to capture these men. I was out ten days. Virgil Earp and Morgan Earp were out sixteen days, and we done all we could to capture these men, and I safely say if it had not been for myself and Morgan Earp, they would not have got King, as he started to run when we rode up to his hiding place, and was making for a big patch of brush on the river, and would have got in it if it had not been for us."

_______________________________

It is interesting to note that Wyatt was never cross-examined after reading his statement. That fact meant that his statement was not challenged. Which of course was very favorable to the defense.

In addition to the letter of support that the citizens of Wichita sent to Judge Spicer, the citizens of Dodge City similarly submitted a letter in support of Wyatt Earp:

"We, the undersigned citizens of Dodge City, Ford County, Kansas, and vicinity do by these presents certify that we are personally acquainted with Wyatt Earp, late of this city, that he came here in the year 1876; that during the years 1877, 1878, and 1879, was a Marshal of our city; that he left our place in the fall of 1879; that during his whole stay here he occupied a place of high social position and was regarded and looked upon as a high minded, honorable citizen; that as Marshal of our city he was ever vigilant in the discharge of his duties and while kind and courteous to all, he was brave, unflinching, and on all occasions proved himself the right man in the right place. Hearing that he is now under arrest, charged with complicity in the killing of three men termed cowboys, from our knowledge of him we do not believe that he would wantonly take the life of his fellow man, and that, if he was implicated, he only took life in the discharge of his sacred trust to the people, and earnestly appeal to the Citizens of Tombstone, Arizona, to use all means to secure for him a fair and impartial trial, fully confident that when tried he will be fully vindicated and exonerated of any crime."

(signed by dozens of people, too many to list here) Defense Exhibit "A", Wells Spicer Hearing, 1881.

The prosecution against the Earp party brought a dozen witnesses forward, stating that the Earps were murdering stage robbing psychopaths who were looking for a reason to kill the Clantons and McLaurys. On the other side, the Earps hired an experienced trial lawyer, Thomas Fitch, as defense counsel. Fitch managed to produce testimony from prosecution witnesses during cross-examination that was contradictory and appeared to dodge his questions. Fitch brought about a dozen witnesses of their own who claimed the Clantons and McLaurys were rustling, murdering, psychopaths who had been threatening their lives. 

No one knew what side to believe, and it seemed impossible to find a completely non-partial witness. But then again, there was one witness who is believed to have won the case for the Earps and Holliday.

He was railroad engineer H.F. Sills. As a newcomer to Tombstone, Mr. Sills did not know either party and was not from Tombstone. He had only arrived in town one day before the gunfight took place. He would later testify that he heard the cowboy gang members who had gathered in front of the OK Corral state that they were going to "kill Virgil Earp" on sight. 

By the way, his testimony is part of the reasons that I believe that Virgil and Morgan Earp were the real targets at the shootout. Sills's testimony confirmed that Virgil Earp was the real target and not Wyatt, as some historians have suggested. In fact, I believe that the McLaurys and Clantons didn't see Wyatt as a concern. Between Sills's testimony and the fact that Virgil and Morgan were the targets of assassination attempts later, tells me that Wyatt was probably seen as being pretty far down on the list of threats to the cowboy faction.  

Mr. Sills's impartial testimony was from a man who didn't know either faction and didn't care either way. So yes, his testimony may have been the straw that broke the back of the prosecution. After a preliminary hearing and then again by a local grand jury, at the conclusion of an exhaustive inquest, Judge Wells Spicer made his decision.

Judge Spicer ruled, on November 30th, 1881, that there was not enough evidence to indict the Earps and Doc Holliday. He noted that the doctor who examined the dead cowboys established that the wounds they received could not have occurred if their hands and arms had been in the positions that prosecution witnesses described. He said the evidence indicated that the Earps and Holliday acted within the law and that Holliday and Wyatt had been deputized temporarily by Virgil.

In his ruling, Judge Spicer noted that Ike Clanton had, the night before, while unarmed, publicly declared that the Earp brothers and Holliday had insulted him and that when he was armed, he intended to shoot them or fight them on sight. On the morning of the shooting, he was armed with a revolver and a Winchester rifle.

Judge Spicer noted that:

"Witnesses for the prosecution state unequivocally that William Clanton fell or was shot at the first fire and Claiborne says he was shot when the pistol was only about a foot from his belly. Yet it is clear that there were no powder burns or marks on his clothes. And Judge Lucas says he saw him fire or in the act of firing several times before he was shot, and he thinks two shots afterwards."

He also wrote in his decision that Ike Clanton had claimed the Earps were out to murder him, even though the Earps had allowed him to escape unharmed during the fight. He wrote, "the great fact, most prominent in the matter, to wit, that Isaac Clanton was not injured at all, and could have been killed first and easiest."

He described Frank McLaury's insistence that he would not give up his weapons unless the marshal and his deputies also gave up their arms as a "proposition both monstrous and startling!" He noted that the prosecution claimed that the cowboys' purpose was to leave town, yet Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne did not have their weapons with them. 

Judge Spicer did not condone all of the Earps' actions and criticized Virgil Earp's use of Wyatt and Holliday as deputies, but he concluded that no laws were broken, saying:

"In view of these controversies between Wyatt Earp and Isaac Clanton and Thomas McLaury, and in further view of this quarrel the night before between Isaac Clanton and J. H. Holliday, I am of the opinion that the defendant, Virgil Earp, as chief of police, subsequently calling upon Wyatt Earp, and J. H. Holliday to assist him in arresting and disarming the Clantons and McLaurys - committed an injudicious and censurable act, and although in this he acted incautiously and without due circumspection, yet when we consider the condition of affairs incidental to a frontier country, the lawlessness and disregard for human life; the existence of a law-defying element in our midst; the fear and feeling of insecurity that has existed; the supposed prevalence of bad, desperate and reckless men who have been a terror to the country, and kept away capital and enterprise, and considering the many threats that have been made against the Earps.

I can attach no criminality to his unwise act. In fact, as the result plainly proves, he needed the assistance and support of staunch and true friends, upon whose courage, coolness and fidelity he could depend, in case of an emergency."

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Judge Spicer then invited the Grand Jury to confirm his findings. Two weeks later, the County Grand Jury agreed with his ruling -- and also refused to indict either Wyatt Earp or Doc Holliday.

The Trouble Only Gets Worse

Wyatt testified that he drew his gun only after Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury went for their pistols. He detailed the Earps' previous troubles with the Clantons and McLaurys and explained that they intended to disarm the cowboys. He emphasized that they fired in self-defense. 

But even though that was the case and the Earps and Holliday were free, their reputations had been tarnished. And to make matters worse, supporters of the cowboys in Tombstone looked upon the Earps as murderers and plotted revenge. 

On December 14, 1881, Tombstone Mayor and Earp ally John Clum is nearly killed in an assassination attempt while he is riding on the stage from Tombstone. During that incident, the horses pulling the stage are spooked and take off on the run, probably sparing Clum and other passengers their lives. Mayor Clum, feeling the attempt was made on him, leaves the stage and walks most of the way back to Tombstone.

A few days later, on December 17, 1881, Judge Wells Spicer received a threatening letter from "A Miner," which told him that he should leave Tombstone or lose his life. The letter said, among other things, that it was "only a matter of time" before he is no longer among the living.

Spicer retaliates with a defiant letter published by The Tombstone Epitaph, stating he would not bow to threats from the rabble of the city, stating, "The attempt to assassinate Mr. Clum has been made, who will come next?"

Besides Judge Spicer and Mayor Clum, attorney Tom Fitch, Wells Fargo Agent Marshall Williams, and Oriental Saloon owner Lou Rickabaugh, the Earps were also threatened. In December, Ike Clanton went before Justice of the Peace J.B. Smith in Contention City and again filed murder charges against the Earps and Holliday.

A large posse escorted the Earps to Contention, fearing that the cowboys would try to ambush the Earps on the road. The charges were dismissed by Judge Lucas because of Smith's judicial ineptness. The prosecution immediately filed a new warrant for murder charges, issued by Justice Smith, but Judge Lucas quickly dismissed it, writing that new evidence would have to be submitted before a second hearing could be called.

Because the November hearing before Judge Spicer was not a trial, Ike Clanton had the right to continue pushing for prosecution --  but the prosecution would have to come up with new evidence of murder before the case could be considered.

After the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, the Earps relocated their families to the Cosmopolitan Hotel for mutual support and protection. As stated, they turned the hotel into a fort of sorts. Contrary to popular belief today, back then, Virgil Earp was the real lawman in the Earp family.

Though Wyatt has received a lot more attention than his older brother Virgil, it was Virgil who served as a lawman longer and in more ways than Wyatt. While Wyatt apparently straddled the line when it came to being a lawful upstanding citizen during his lifetime, not all of the Earps were that way.

In fact, Virgil was the City Marshal at the time of the so-called gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona Territory. On October 26, 1881, the day of the shootout at the OK Corral, since Morgan was already Virgil's deputy, Virgil deputized Wyatt and dentist-turned-gambler John "Doc" Holliday that very morning as "special deputy policeman."  Virgil was the real lawman in the Earp family, by my way of thinking, and that made him the number one target of what was left of the Clantons and McLaurys.

There is an old saying, "Cut off the head and the snake will die." Many governments and military units have used this rule for thousands of years. In 1881, Tombstone, Arizona, was no different. For the Earps, besides being City Marshal, older brother Virgil was a Deputy U.S. Marshal and the head of the Earp clan. If reprisals were to come, he was their number one target.


Tom Correa