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KF5JRV > TODAY 08.12.19 09:39l 49 Lines 2660 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 16715_KF5JRV
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Subj: Today in History - Oct 26
Path: IZ3LSV<IK7IJR<IW2OHX<HB9ON<IW8PGT<I3XTY<GB7COW<GB7YEW<N7HPX<KF5JRV
Sent: 191026/1136Z 16715@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQK6.0.18
On this day in 1881, the Earp brothers face off against the
Clanton-McLaury gang in a legendary shootout at the OK 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
orderö 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.
Sheriff John Behan of Cochise County, who witnessed the shootout,
charged the Earps and Holliday with murder. A month later, however, a
Tombstone judge found the men not guilty, ruling that they were “fully
justified in committing these homicides.ö The famous shootout has been
immortalized in many movies, including Frontier Marshal (1939), Gunfight
at the OK Corral (1957), Tombstone (1993) and Wyatt Earp (1994).
73, Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV @ KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
Email: KF5JRV@GMAIL.com
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