1881: Shootout at the O.K. Corral

On October 26, 1881, the Earp brothers face off against the Clanton-McLaury gang in a legendary shootout at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona.

After silver was discovered nearby in 1877, Tombstone quickly grew into one of the richest mining towns in the Southwest. Wyatt Earp, a former Kansas police officer working as a bank security guard, and his brothers, Morgan and Virgil, the town marshal, represented “law and order” in Tombstone, though they also had reputations as being power-hungry and ruthless. The Clantons and McLaurys were cowboys who lived on a ranch outside of town and sidelined as cattle rustlers, thieves and murderers. In October 1881, the struggle between these two groups for control of Tombstone and Cochise County ended in a blaze of gunfire at the OK Corral.

On the morning of October 25, Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury came into Tombstone for supplies. Over the next 24 hours, the two men had several violent run-ins with the Earps and their friend Doc Holliday. Around 1:30 p.m. on October 26, Ike’s brother Billy rode into town to join them, along with Frank McLaury and Billy Claiborne. The first person they met in the local saloon was Holliday, who was delighted to inform them that their brothers had both been pistol-whipped by the Earps. Frank and Billy immediately left the saloon, vowing revenge.

Around 3 p.m., the Earps and Holliday spotted the five members of the Clanton-McLaury gang in a vacant lot behind the OK Corral, at the end of Fremont Street. The famous gunfight that ensued lasted all of 30 seconds, and around 30 shots were fired. Though it’s still debated who fired the first shot, most reports say that the shootout began when Virgil Earp pulled out his revolver and shot Billy Clanton point-blank in the chest, while Doc Holliday fired a shotgun blast at Tom McLaury’s chest. Though Wyatt Earp wounded Frank McLaury with a shot in the stomach, Frank managed to get off a few shots before collapsing, as did Billy Clanton. When the dust cleared, Billy Clanton and the McLaury brothers were dead, and Virgil and Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday were wounded. Ike Clanton and Claiborne had run for the hills.

The Aftermath Of The Shootout

Many took sides with the deceased Cowboys. When their funeral procession went through the town, more than 300 people came out to watch. Mourners packed close to four city blocks. The funeral was, as one of the local papers noted, “the largest ever witnessed in Tombstone.”

Sheriff John Behan of Cochise County, who witnessed the shootout, charged the Earps and Holliday with murder. A month later, however,  Tombstone judge Spicer found the men not guilty, ruling that they were “fully justified in committing these homicides.”

Shortly after the verdict of the trial of the O.K. Corral gunfight, a Cowboy fired a shotgun through the glass door of a saloon and into Virgil Earp’s back. Virgil survived, but his brother Morgan was later not so lucky. In the midst of a game of pool, the Earp brother was fatally shot in the back in a second assassination plot thought to be orchestrated by none other than Ike Clanton.

Wyatt Earp responded with a rampage of his own which ended in a warrant for his and Holliday’s arrest. The two fled Tombstone and Earp would spend the remainder of his days wandering the west, eventually settling in California, where he died at the age of 80 in 1929.

The gunfight at the O.K. Corral remains an infamous moment in American history. The event perfectly represented the grey area of justice that was apart of the Wild West as the shootout was both divisive and controversial with no real winner on either side.

The true heroes of the O.K. Corral shootout remain ambiguous, as was the nature of the lawless west, but thanks in part to films such as Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and Tombstone, the Earps and Doc Holliday remain the protagonists of the tale.

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