Those were the men who had made up their minds to hold up and rob the Tombstone coach; but in order to do so with as little friction as possible, they must first get rid of Morgan Earp. They could as a matter of course, ambush him and shoot him dead from the coach; but that course would hardly do, as it would be sure to bring on a fight with the other members of the Earp family and their friends, of whom they had a great many. They finally concluded to try diplomacy. They sent word to Morgan to leave the employ of the Wells Fargo Express Company, as they intended to hold up the stage upon which he acted as guard, but didn’t want to so long as the coach was in his charge. Morgan sent back word that he would not quit and that they had better not try to hold him up or there would be trouble. They sent word to Wyatt to have him induce Morgan, if such a thing was possible, to quit his job, as they had fully determined on holding up the coach and killing Morgan if it became necessary in order to carry out their purpose.
Wyatt sent back word that if Morgan was determined to continue riding as guard for Wells Fargo he would not interfere with him in any way, and that if they killed him he would hunt them down and kill the last one in the bunch. Just to show the desperate character of those men, they sent Virgil Earp, who was City Marshal of Tombstone at the time, word that on a certain day they would be in town prepared to give him and his brothers a battle to the death. Sure enough, on the day named, Ike and Billy Clanton, and Tom and Frank McLowry rode into Tombstone and put their horses up in one of the city corrals. They were in town some little time before the Earps knew it. They never suspected for a moment that the Clantons and McLowrys had any intention of carrying out their threat when they made it. When Virgil Earp finally realized that they were in town he got very busy. He knew it meant a fight and was not long in rustling up Wyatt and Morgan and “Doc” Holliday, the latter as desperate a man in a tight place as the West ever knew. This made the Marshal’s party consist of the Marshal himself, his brothers Wyatt and Morgan, and “Doc” Holliday. Against them the two Clantons and the two McLowrys, an even thing so far as the numbers were concerned. As soon as Virgil Earp got his party together, he started for the corral, where he understood the enemy was entrenched, prepared to resist to the death the anticipated attack of the Earp forces.
Everybody in Tombstone seemed to realize that a bloody battle was about to be fought right in the very center of the town, and all those who could hastened to find points of vantage from which the impending battle could be viewed in safety. It took the City Marshal some time to get his men together, as both Wyatt and Holliday were still sound asleep in bed, and getting word to them and the time it took them to get up and dress themselves and get to the place Virge and Morgan were waiting, necessarily caused some delay. The invaders, who had been momentarily expecting an attack could not understand the delay, and finally concluded that the Earps were afraid and did not intend to attack them, at any rate while they were in the corral. This conclusion caused them to change their plan of battle. They instantly resolved that if “the mountain would not come to Mahomet—Mahomet would go to the mountain.” If the Earps would not come to the corral, they would go and hunt up the Earps. Their horses were nearby, saddled, bitted and ready for instant use. Each man took his horse by the bridle-line and led him through the corral-gate to the street where they intended to mount.
But just as they reached the street, and before they had time to mount their horses, the Earp party came around the corner. Both sides were now within ten feet of each other. There were four men on a side, every one of whom had during his career been engage in other shooting scrapes and were regarded as being the most desperate of desperate men. The horses gave the rustlers quite an advantage in the position. The Earps were in the open street, while the invaders used their horses for breastworks. Virgil Earp as the City Marshal, ordered the Clantons and McLowrys to throw up their hands and surrender. This order they replied to with a volley from their pistols. The fight was on now. The Earps pressed in close, shooting as rapidly as they could. They fight was hardly started before it was over, and the result showed that nearly every shot fired by the Earp party went straight home to the mark.
As soon as the smoke from the battle cleared away sufficiently to permit of an accounting being made, it was seen that the two McLowrys and Billy Clanton were killed. They had been hit by no less than half a dozen bullets each, and died in their tracks. Morgan Earp was the only one of the Marshal’s force that got hit. It was nothing more than a slight flesh wound in one of his arms. Ike Clanton made his escape, but in doing so he stamped himself as a coward of the first magnitude. No sooner had the shooting commenced than he threw down his pistol and with both hands above his head, he ran to Wyatt and begged him not to kill him. Here again Wyatt showed the kind of stuff that was in him, for instead of killing Clanton as most any other man would have done under the circumstances, he told him to run away, and he did.
The Earp party were all tried for this killing, and after a preliminary examination lasting several weeks, during which more than a hundred witnesses were examined, they were all exonerated. There were at this time two other outlaw bands in the country, who, when they heard of the killing of the McLowry brothers and Billy Clanton, swore to wipe out the Earp family and all their friends. They had no notion, however, of giving the Earps any more battles in the open. In future, killings would be done in ambush, and the first one to get potted by this guerilla system of warfare was Virge Earp, the City Marshal. As he was crossing one of the most prominent corners in Tombstone one night he was fired upon by someone not then known, but was afterwards learned to be “Curly Bill,” who was concealed behind the walls of a building that was then in the course of construction on one of the corners. A shotgun loaded with buckshot was the weapon used. Most of the charge struck Virge in the left arm between the shoulder and the elbow, shattering the bone in a frightful manner. One or two of the other shot hit him but caused no serious injury. He was soon able to be about again, but never had use afterward of his left arm. As a matter of course the shock he sustained when the buckshot hit him caused him to fall, and the would-be assassin, thinking he had turned the trick successfully, made his escape in the dark to the foothills. The next to get murdered was Morgan Earp, who was shot through a window one night while playing a game of pin-pool with a friend.
Wyatt the realized that it was only a question of time until he and all his friends would be killed in the same manner as his brother, if he remained in town. So he organized a party consisting of himself, “Doc” Holliday, Jack Vermillion, Sherman McMasters, and Bill Johnson, and after equipping it with horses, guns, and plenty of ammunition, started out on the warpath intending to hunt down and kill every one he could find who had any hand in the murder of his brother and the attempted assassination of Virge. Wyatt had in the meantime, learned that Pete Spence, Frank Stillwell, and a Mexican, by the name of Florentine, were the three who were interested in the killing of Morgan. Pete Spence had a ranch about twenty-five miles from Tombstone near the Dragoon Mountains, which was in reality nothing more than a rendezvous for cattle thieves and stage robbers.
Wyatt and his party headed straight for the Spence ranch as soon as he left Tombstone on his campaign of revenge. He found only the Mexican when he reached the ranch, and after making some inquiry as to the whereabouts of Spence, and learning that he had left early that morning for Tombstone by a different route from the ones the Earps had traveled, proceeded, with further ceremony to shoot the Mexican to pieces with buckshot. They left the greaser’s body where it fell, and returned to Tombstone, where they expected to find Spence. He was there all right enough, but seemingly to anticipate what Wyatt intended doing, had gone to the sheriff, who was not on friendly terms with the Earp faction, and surrendered, having himself locked up in jail.
Of course, Wyatt had to let him go for the time being, and was getting ready to start out on another expedition when he received word from Tucson that Frank Stillwell and Ike Clanton were there. Wyatt and “Doc�
�� Holliday immediately started for Benson where they took the train for Tucson, which was about sixty miles further south. Both were armed with shotguns, and just before the train came to a stop in Tucson station, Wyatt and “Doc” Holliday, from the platform of the rear coach saw Clanton and Stillwell standing on the depot platform. They immediately jumped off and started for the depot, intending to kill them both, but they were seen coming by the quarry who had evidently been made aware of Earp’s movements and were on the lookout at the station. Clanton and Stillwell started to run as soon as they saw Wyatt and Holliday approaching, Stillwell down the railroad track and Clanton towards town. Wyatt and Holliday immediately gave chase to Stillwell and succeeded after a short run in overtaking him. He threw up his hands and begged not to be killed, but it was too late. Besides Wyatt had given instructions that no prisoners should be taken, so they riddled his body with buckshot and left it where it fell, just as they had the Mexican. Wyatt and Holliday then returned to Tombstone, thinking there might still be a chance for a crack at Pete Spence, but the latter still clung to jail.
Meanwhile the sheriff of Tombstone had received telegraphic instructions from the sheriff of Tucson to arrest Wyatt and Holliday, as soon as they showed up, for the murder of Stillwell. When Wyatt got back to town, he hustled his men together for the purpose of going after Curly Bill, whom he believed to be the man who shot Virge from ambush. When the sheriff and his posse reached Wyatt, the latter and his crowd were about to mount their horses preparatory to going on the “Curly Bill” expedition.
“Wyatt, I want to see you,” said the sheriff.
“You’ll see me once to often,” replied Wyatt, as he bounded up into the saddle. “And remember,” continued Wyatt to the sheriff, “I’m going to get that hound you are protecting in jail when I come back, if I have to tear the jail down to do it.”
The sheriff made no further attempt to arrest Wyatt and Holliday. The next night Wyatt killed Curly Bill at the Whetstone Spring about thirty miles from Tombstone and just to make his word good with the sheriff, he and his party returned to town. The sheriff, however, had during his absence released Spence and told him to get across the Mexican border with as little delay as possible if he valued his life, for the Earp gang would surely kill him if he didn’t.
This ended the Earp campaign in Arizona for the time being. Much has been written about Wyatt Earp that is the veriest rot, and every once in a while a newspaper article will appear in which it is alleged that some person had taken a fall out of him, and that when he had been put to the test, had shown the white feather. Not long ago a story was published in different newspapers throughout the country that some Canadian police office somewhere in the Canadian Northwest has given Wyatt an awful call-down; had in fact, taken his pistol from him and in other ways humiliated him. The story went like wildfire, as all such stories do, and was printed and reprinted in all the big dailies in the country. There was not a word of truth in it, and the newspaper fakir who unloaded the story on the reading public very likely got no more than ten dollars for his work. Wyatt, to begin with, was never in the Canadian Northwest, and therefore was never in a position where a little Canadian police officer could have taken such liberties with him as those described by the author of the story. Take it from me, no one has ever humiliated this man Earp, nor made him show the white feather under any circumstances whatever. While he is now a man past sixty, there are still a great many so-called bad men in this country who would be found, if put to the test, to be much easier game to tackle than this same lean and lanky Earp.
Wyatt Earp, like many more of his character who lived in the West in its early days, has excited, by this display of great courage and nerve under trying conditions, the envy and hatred of those small minded creatures with which the world seem to be so abundantly peopled, and whose sole delight in life seems to be in fly-specking the reputations of real men. I have known him since the early seventies and have always found him a quiet, unassuming man, not given to brag or bluster, but at all times and under all circumstances a loyal friend and an equally dangerous enemy.
CHAPTER XII.
THE STATEMENT OF WYATT EARP
By Wyatt Earp
The following is Wyatt Earp’s statement at the preliminary hearing looking into the facts surrounding what has become known as the Shootout at the O. K. Corral. Despite the myriad of speculation and various accounts in books, articles, movies, and television, this testimony remains the clearest, most accurate exposition of the circumstances surrounding the legendary gunfight.
Q. What is your name and age?
A. Wyatt S. Earp; age 32 last March.
Q. Where were you born?
A. Monmouth, Warren county, Illinois.
Q. Where do you reside and how long have you resided there?
A. Tombstone; since Dec. 1st, 1881 [misprint, should be: 1879]
Q. What is your business or profession?
A. Saloon keeper; have also been employed as a deputy sheriff, and also as a detective.
Q. Give any explanation you may think proper of the circumstances appearing in the testimony against you, and state any facts which you think will tend to your exculpation.
A. 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 “US” 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 their lives. About one month after that, after those mules had been taken, I met Frank and Tom McLowry 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 McLowrys 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, thirty 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.
Outlaws and Peace Officers Page 25