TOMBSTONES Chapter Eighteen

 

I think it was too late for thinking. A heartless cold wind was blowing across the Arizona Sonora desert. It was about 3:01 pm on Wednesday, 26 October 1881. And in a small corner of the mining town of Tombstone, 9 men were facing off across a 15 foot wide alley, sandwiched between the wood frame private home of William Arthur Harwood and the 15 room wood frame boarding house managed by "Mollie" Fly. In a span of approximately 30 seconds those 9 men would fire 31 shots, wounding 3 and killing 3 of them. And 2 men would escape uninjured.

Before the fight began 33 year old Wyatt Earp (above) had decided the most dangerous threat to himself and his brothers was 33 year old Frank McLaury. 

In the first second of that fight, and hearing the double click of Doc Holliday's shotgun, Wyatt drew his 3 pound Smith and Wesson 3 revolver (above), aimed its 8 inch barrel dead center at Frank, and fired. 

In that same instant, 19 year old Billy Clanton pulled his 3 pound 13 inch long Colt 1876 revolver (above), and fired at Wyatt Earp.

In both guns the firing pins were driven into the primer at the back of each shell. This ignited a small quantity of mercury fulminate, briefly generating a temperature above 800 degrees Fahrenheit. This ignited a grain of black powder, a mixture of 75% potassium nitrate which provided oxygen, 10% sulfur, which lowered the mixture's combustion temperature so that the 15% softwood charcoal quickly burned. However only 45% of the black powder mass was converted into heat. Well over half did not combust, and was converted into dense white smoke. Still, the heat ignited the 239 adjoining grains of black powder, spreading within the shell casing at a rate of 30 feet per second.

This rapid increase of air pressure sent the lead and atimony bullets racing out of their respective barrels at nearly 850 feet per second, air resistance then causing them tumbling over the six to eight feet between Wyatt and Frank in less than a tenth of a second. Billy Clanton's slug had a couple of more feet to travel, but it did not matter since Billy missed his target.

Wyatt's bullet was almost broadside when it struck Frank McLaury's stomach, multiplying the damage at the point of entry, one inch to the left of his navel. First the flesh was compressed by the lead pellet, then sheered, pulling apart as the metal tore into the abdominal cavity, leaving a thin greasy lead smear on the flesh. Air, heated by friction as the bullet pushed it aside. swelled into the wound as it opened, increasing the air pressure in the cavity, and pulverizing soft tissue. The elastic skin then rebounded, as the air following Newton's Third Law of Motion now rushed back out of the wound. It was still less than a second after Wyatt's gun had fired.

The protective peritoneum tissue surrounding Frank McLaury's abdomen was now perforated as the bullet ripped through the folded small intestines, scattering their bacteria about the cavity. As the bullet's speed was translated into heat, thousands of capillaries were cauterized. But on either side of the bullet track, cavitation vibrations caused even more damage to the soft tissues. Last, the one ounce lead bullet now shattered Frank McLaury's kidney, causing a massive hemorrhage of blood. As this happened, the lower parts of Frank's brain were becoming aware of the damage being suffered, and his face was beginning to distort. In the Second and Third Seconds he staggered backward a step and in the Fourth Second he doubled over.

In the Third Second, 30 year old Morgan Earp fired his pistol at Billy Clanton, who had just shot at his brother Wyatt. Less than one tenth of a second later, Morgan's bullet hit Billy near the inside of the base of his right thumb. Still traveling faster than the speed of sound the bullet shattered the delicate carpal and metacarpal bones. Then the splintered pellet tore out the back of Billy's wrist, carrying away bone, cartilage and muscle, ripping an even larger wound in his lower arm, and rendering Billy Clanton's right hand useless. Arterial blood began to spurt out of Billy's wrist. In the Fourth and Fifth Seconds Billy staggered back against the Harwood house, while struggling to grab the handle grip of his Colt with his left hand.

Also in that First Second, seeing 28 year old Tom McLaury instinctively reach for his holster, 38 year old Virgil Earp pulled his weapon from his pocket and fired at him, and missed. In the Third Second, the 5 foot 4 inch Tom, realizing his holster was empty, reached for the nearest weapon - a pistol secreted in a saddle bag on his brother's horse. Virgil fired again, and missed the moving target. In the Fourth Second the noise and the human's sudden movement caused the horse to back a step, the lead rope pulling Tom off balance. The horse was now blocking Virgil's line of fire, and in the Fifth Second the Marshal took a shot at Tom over the top of the horse, missing for the third time.

In the Third Second, 30 year old John "Doc" Holliday, cradling the 10 gauge  coach gun in his arms, moved two steps further west on Fremont, to give himself a clear view of Tom McLaury, in the alley. And in the Fifth Second Doc pulled both triggers on the Coach Gun. The twin firing pins were driven into the primer at the back of each shell. Again the mechanical and chemical reactions ignited black powder grains, sending the wax paper wad and 20 one ounce lead and atimony pellets up the two barrels at 800 feet per second.

Because of air resistance, the paper wad fell to the ground well short of Tom McLaury. But less than a second after Doc pulled the triggers, the shot reached Tom, it's 20 BB sized pellets having spread out to a circle of just 4 inches in diameter. These plowed into Tom under his raised right arm, peppering and penetrating the flesh between the 3rd and 5th ribs. Absorbing the energy caused his ribs to crack. Those which missed the bone punctured the upper lobe of his right lung, producing a pulmonary laceration. Air was forced out of his mouth. Most of the pellets ran out of energy just before reaching Tom McLaury's heart. In the Sixth Second, Tom, his hand finally gripping the secreted gun, staggered into Fremont Street, dragging the frightened horse behind him - between himself and Doc Holliday.

In the Sixth Second, as Wyatt Earp was taking aim for a second shot at Frank McLaury, Ike Clanton ran forward, pressing himself against the lawman, and spoiling his shot. Ike cried out that he was unarmed. In the Seventh and Eighth Second, Wyatt told Ike to "Get a heeled", adding, "Go to fighting or get away!" In the Ninth Second Wyatt pushed Ike to his right and rear, out of the line of fire. And during the Tenth through Thirteenth Seconds, Ike stumbled up the steps of Fly's Boarding House, and through the front door - out of the fight. There was now a 2 second pause while the wind cleared enough smoke so the combatants could see each other.

In the Eighth through the Thirteenth Seconds, Tom Mclaury staggered east across Fremont Street, and Doc Holliday dropped the coach gun, pulled his Nickel plated .41 caliber "Long" Colt Thunderer revolver from his shoulder holster and stepped forward to face his enemy. About the Fourteenth Second the horse pulled free from Tom's hand and loped west on Fremont. In the Fifteenth Second Tom McLaury reached the south side of Fremont Street.

In the Sixteenth Second Billy Clanton (above) got a firm grip on the pistol in his left hand by bracing it with his leg. Tom McLaury fired his Colt in blind anger at Virgil Earp. The bullet hit Virgil in the calf. In the Seventeenth Second the big lawman fell. During the Eighteenth through Twenty-first Seconds Virgil staggered to his feet and stumbled back against the wall of Fly's Boarding House.

During the Nineteenth Second, Morgan Earp (above) and Billy Clanton exchanged shots. Morgan's bullet hit two inches below Billy's left nipple. The bullet clipped a rib and penetrated his lung. Billy's shot clipped Morgan's right scapula, and went spinning across his back, burning across his left shoulder blade as well. In the Twentieth through Twenty-third Seconds Morgan fell. He then tried to stand, calling out "I'm hit." But he tripped over a lightly buried water line and fell again. Billy Clanton slumped to the ground, still firing but hitting no one as his sight failed for lack of blood to the vision centers of his brain.

In the Twentieth Second Wyatt Earp fired his last shot at Frank McLaury (above), the bullet striking him in the abdomen beneath the 12th rib, 6 inches to the right of his naval. Frank staggered forward, away from the gunfire, and then began to jog up Fremont Street, out of the fight. Wyatt then turned to help his brother Morgan. In the Twenty-third Second, Tom McLaury stood on the South side of Fremont, telling Doc Holliday, "I have you now." In the Twenty-fourth Second Doc replied, "You're a daisy if you have." In the Twenty-fifth Second Tom fired his Colt revolver, hitting Doc, who cried out, "I'm shot through". He was not. He had suffered a flesh wound.

In the Twenty-eighth Second, braced against the boarding house, Morgan fired his last shot. It traveled the 50 feet in less than a second and struck Tom McLaury (above) just below his right ear, - the best shot in the entire fight. The lead projectile punched in an oval section of Tom's Temporal bone, converting it into a quarter inch think projectile which plowed into the 100 million neurons of Tom's brain. This was followed almost instantly by the bullet, which followed a different path through the greasy white brain matter. 

Modern medicine calls what happened an ischemic cascade. In less than a tenth of a second all that was Tom McLaury, his ability to speak, to smell, to hear, to think and plan and dream, 28 years of memories, talents, skills and failings were all obliterated as if they had never existed. His heart would go on beating for some time, and he would continue to breath for a few minutes, but in truth Tom McLaury ceased to exist before his legs crumpled beneath him, and he fell to the sand of Fremont Street.

Billy Clanton (above) was slumped now against the Harwood house, his revolver empty. The 19 year old asked for more cartridges. Fifty feet up Fremont, Tom McLaury collapsed against a telegraph pole at the corner of Fremont and Third Street and died from exsanguination, less than thirty seconds after Wyatt's first bullet destroyed his kidney. In the Thirtieth Second Doc Holliday ran up to Frank McLaury's crumpled body and yelled, "That son-of-a-bitch shot me, and I mean to kill him!"

The Gunfight at the OK Corral was over.

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TOMBSTONES Chapter Sixteen

 

I know what Ike Clanton was thinking on that cold, still morning of Tuesday. 26 October, 1881. Spits of snow were floating slowly down from the false promise of a brightening sky. The good people of Tombstone (above) were not yet awake. The sinners were just snuggling under their bed covers. Caught between them, Ike Clanton, still drunk, was wandering the streets, revolver in his back waistband, a repeating rifle and a whiskey bottle in his hands.  He was stalking the streets of Tombstone, seeking revenge. 

Back in August, the Mexican counsel in Prescott, Arizona had warned Joseph Evens, the Chief Deputy Federal Marshal for Arizona Territory, that if something were not done soon to stop the Cow Boys murdering and stealing in Sonora, his government would be forced to respond against Americans in Mexico.

Replying to the American outrage over the Guadalupe Canyon Massacre, - which killed Old Man Clanton - Tombstone resident Clara Spaulding Brown (above) confessed to the San Diego Union "... the Mexicans...have suffered greatly from depredations of those outlaws, who under the guise of "cowboys" infest this country and pursue the evil tenor of their ways with no attempt at interference on the part of those whose duty it is to suppress crime."  Meaning, of course, Cochise County Marshal Johnny Behan. 

Caught between two governments, caught between between Democrat and Republican politics, being crushed between the Earps and his own "friends and allies" was (above) Joseph Isaac "Ike" Clanton, cornered by his "deal" to help Wyatt Earp catch the Benson stage robbers and earn himself immumity.

Just after eleven, on Wednesday, 26 October, 1881, the Oriental Hotel's bartender, Ned Boyle, knocked on Wyatt Earp's 2nd floor room at the Cosmopolitan Hotel (above). He was there to deliver a warning. Boyle said he had run into Ike Clanton near the Allen Street telegraph office just after 8 that morning, and the Cow Boy was armed with a rifle and a hand gun. And a half full bottle of whiskey.  Clanton had declared that as soon as he saw "those damn Earps...the battle will open. We are here to make a fight, we are looking for the sons-of-bitches!" Clanton did not identify who "they" were.  

Yesterday afternoon J.B. Ayers, the Wells Fargo agent in Charleston, had telegraphed that Billy Clanton and Billy Claiborne had been boasting in a local bar (above) that they intended on joining Ike and Tom McLaury in Tombstone on Wednesday - today.  So Wyatt knew the Cow Boys were planning something in Tombstone. Wyatt got dressed, had a cup of coffee and left the Cosmopolitan about noon. Shortly thereafter a second man warned him that Ike Clanton was "hunting the Earps."

Wyatt found his brother, Deputy Federal Marshal Virgil Earp,  already alerted to Ike's threats, at the corner of Fourth and Allen Streets. Together they decided to, as Wyatt put it "...find him and see what he wants." They split up. Wyatt walked down Allen Street and Virgil down Fifth, to Fremont. Virgil found the belligerent Clanton in a vacant lot, secreted in an alleyway, as if laying in ambush. When confronted, Ike threw his rifle at Virgil, who clobbered the drunk with his pistol. By the time Wyatt came up, Ike was face down and bottoms up in the cold dirt, with his revolver jutting out of the seat of his trousers. 

The youngest Earp, Morgan, arrived a moment later. While Virgil sought out the on duty Justice of the Peace, Albert Osborne Wallace, Morgan and Wyatt walked Ike over to the Miners Exchange Office (above, center building) , which was used as a court.

When dropped unceremoniously onto a bench seat, Ike decided to threaten Morgan, telling him, "If I had a six shooter I would make a fight with all of you." Morgan (above) offered to return to Ike his own revolver, saying, "If you want to make a fight right bad I will give you this one." 

Wyatt (above) had heard enough. He knew he was going to have to fight the Cow Boys sooner or later, and his odds of survival would be better if  the confrontation was at a place and time of his choosing, and not theirs.  Wyatt told Ike, "You damn dirty cur thief, you have been threatening our lives. I think I would be justified shooting you down any place I meet you. But if you are anxious to make a fight, I would go anyplace on earth to make fight with you, even over to the San Simon among you own crowd."

The mention of Ike's  Cow Boy allies hit a cord, and Ike (above) blustered back. "I only want four feet of ground to fight on,."  Wyatt was infuriated at the threat, and almost exploded. Instead he walked out of the room, hoping to regain control of himself. But stepping on to the plank board sidewalk Wyatt bumped into an angry Tom McLaury, coming to rescue Ike. It was a short confrontation, and brutal.

As usual Tom (above) immediately started with threats, advancing on Wyatt and inviting Earp to meet him anywhere, anytime for a fight.  As Tom advanced, Wyatt saw the flash of a gun stuck in McLaury's waistband. Without a word Wyatt slapped Tom across the face and drew his own revolver, shoving the barrel into McLaury's belly. Wyatt invited McLaury to "Jerk your gun and use it." Since Tom's gun was not in easy reach, McLaury kept quiet.  When Tom dd not reply, Wyatt slammed his gun into Tom McLaury's head, twice, knocking him to the ground. 

Then, Wyatt admitted, he walked around the corner to Hafford's saloon (above), bought and paid for a cigar, and then walked back onto Fourth Street and lit it up.

About the same time Wyatt was making smoke, Judge Wallace arrived via the back door and quickly passed judgement on Ike Clanton.  Ike paid his $25 fine for carrying a weapon in city limits. Virgil told him he could pick up his rifle and pistol at the front desk of the Grand Hotel. But when he walked out of the courtroom Ike found Tom McLaury on the sidewalk, his head bloodied. Virgil arrested Tom for carrying a weapon. It was now close to 1:00pm in the afternoon, and Thomas "Tom" Clark McLaury had less than 2 hours to live.

About half an hour later, 19 year old Billy Clanton rode into Tombstone, accompanied, as expected, by 21 year old Billy "The Kid" Claiborne. Unexpectedly the pair was accompanied by Frank McLaury, the most explosive of the Cow Boys. They headed for the Grand Hotel, on Allen Street.

Frank had not been seen in Charleston. So he must have been waiting for the younger men along the road to Tombstone. His sudden and unexpected presence in town ratcheted up the danger to the Earps, and individual citizens rushed to warn the lawmen. The friendly staff at the Grand Hotel  informed the 2 Cow Boys of the arrest and beating of Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury. The trio remounted and left in search of their brothers, still carrying their now illegal weapons.

After paying his fine, Tom McLaury was released, and Virgil told him his pistol could be retrieved from the bartender at the Capital Saloon, on the corner of Fourth and Fremont. After a stop at Dr. Charles Gillingham's second floor office on Allen Street, to have their wounds tended and documented, the pair were united with the 3 new arrivals.  Had their plan, whatever it was, been blown? Ike suggested they get a drink and decide what to do next. But Frank McLaury dismissed that idea. Instead, he insisted, they proceed to Spangenberger's hardware and gunsmith's store on Fourth Street . Passing right in front of the 3 Earps, Tom and the Billys tied their horses to the rail, and all six went in to stock up on ammunition.

The Earps were gathered in front of Hafford's saloon and as they watched,  the winds began to pick up. A gust disturbed  Frank McLaury's horse, and it walked across the plank sidewalk and put its head into the shop, to get it out of the wind. Wyatt took the opportunity to cross to the hardware store, and pull the horse back. When both McLaury brothers and Billy Clanton rushed to the door, Wyatt warned them, "You have to get this horse off the sidewalk." Frank guided his horse back into the street.  But Wyatt had seen what he needed to. The Cow Boys were buying guns and ammo.

Hearing this, Virgil Earp (above) slipped around the corner and walked down to the Wells Fargo office on the south side of Allen Street. There he grabbed a short double barreled 10 gauge Coach shotgun.  Holding it under his long duster coat, he returned to Haffords, just as Doc Holliday appeared, complaining that people had been banging on his door all morning. Wyatt explained the situation, adding the Cow Boys had moved back down Allen Street,  toward the corrals. The stream of helpful civilians suggested they might be getting ready to leave town.

It was about this time, around 2:30pm, when Ruben F. Coleman, working at the O.K. Corral, was surprised to see the six Cow Boys across Allen street at Dunbar's Corral and Dexter Livery and Feed, between Fourth and Third Streets.  He could hear them insulting the Earps and talking violence. 

He later told the Epitath, "I went up the street and notified Sheriff Behan and told (him) it was my opinion that they meant trouble, and it was his duty, as sheriff, to go and disarm them." Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan was getting a shave, but climbed out of the barber's chair and moved at once to find the Cow Boys. Coleman went on to notify Federal and Town Marshal Virgil Earp, who was standing with his brothers and Doc Holliday,, on the sidewalk outside of Hafford's saloon on Fourth Street.

After arguing for a few more moments, the Cow Boys had come up with a plan for action. The McLaury brothers, Frank and Tom, crossed the street and headed through the OK Corral (above, yellow) and out the alley in the rear, which passed Bauers Butcher shop, to  Fremont Street.  Ike and Billy Clanton and Billy "The Kid" Claiborne along with Wes Fuller, walked down Allen street, until they reached the alley that cut across to Fremont, passing between the Harwood House and Fly's Boarding House and photographic studio (above, green), where they were rejoined by the McLaurys. Frank McLaury hid at the corner of Fremont and Fourth Street, to warn if the Earps started to approach. Wes Fuller lingered at the entrance of the alley, to spread the alarm more quickly.  However the move and re-concentration did not go unnoticed by the townsfolk.

Johnny Behan found Tom McLaury mounted, at the corner of Allen and Fourth street, from where he was keeping an eye on the Earps.  Frank said he had no weapons and dismounted to prove it. Johnny patted him down. But then Behan suggested that with the Earps alerted, it would safer if the Cow Boys either disarmed or left town. And together they walked down Allen to the alley where, after gathering Wess Fuller, Behan offered his advice to Frank McLaury. But. more importantly, than Frank's reaction, was that Tom and Wes Fuller had abandoned their observation posts. The Cow Boys had lost their early warning system, should the Earps suddenly advance. 

Meanwhile a former Los Angeles police captain, John L. Fonk, offered to help the Earps, but Virgil responded that he would wait.  Fonk asked, "Why? They are all down on Fremont Street now." And that was it. All of the lawmen were certain the Cow Boys had armed themselves at Spangenberger's hardware store. And now they had shifted from Allen Street to Fremont, the main street of Tombstone. They were hiding in an alley, next to Doc's quarters in the rooming house,  They were not leaving town. There was no further need of talking. Virgil handed his shot gun to Doc Holliday, who traded it for his walking stick. And then the four men walked up Fourth Street to Fremont and turned the corner toward what and who they knew was waiting for them.

The question that has always hung over the Gun Fight at the OK Corral for me has been "Why there?" Why next door to Fly's boarding house? (above, right)  And the answer is that the boarding house was important because its newest tenant was Doc Holliday. 

The Cow Boys had not seen Doc Holliday (above) since his drunken confrontation at the Alhambra at midnight. As far as they knew, he was still in bed in Fly's boarding house. Doc Holliday was the man Johnny Behan had identified as the weak link in the Earp's defenses. To disarm the Federal government in Tombstone,  to isolate the Earps , the first step would be  to remove Doc Holliday.  And men bursting into Doc's room while he still slept, would throw the odds heavily in the Cow Boys favor.  It was not the gun fight at the OK Corral.  It was the gunfight at Fly's boarding house. But that title lacks romance. 

But there would be nothing romantic about the approaching 30 seconds on this windy cold afternoon, 26 October, 1881, in Tombstone, Arizona.

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