Shoot Out in Tombstone
Ike had repeated confrontations with the Earps and Doc Holliday. On October 26, 1881, events came to a head when Billy and Ike got together with Billy Claiborne and brothers Tom and Frank McLaury at the Dexter Corral. When they were seen in town "heeled" (armed), anxious citizens warned the Earps. Upon attempting to disarm the Cowboys, a shoot out broke out, later named the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
There remain today conflicting versions of what actually happened and who fired first. Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne ran away in the opening moments. Billy Clanton emptied his gun during the fight, and was killed along with both McLaurys. Doc Holliday and Virgil and Morgan Earp were wounded.
The town was divided, with many supporting the Clantons, and others supporting the Earps. The funeral that followed was the largest in Tombstone's history, with more than 300 people following the hearse and 2,000 watching from the city's sidewalks. The three Cowboys were buried in the Boot Hill cemetery. William McLaury, Frank and Tom's brother, tried to indict the Earps for killing the Cowboys. He wrote in a letter during the trial that two brothers and Billy Clanton were preparing to come to Fort Worth, Texas to visit after selling their cattle.
Read more about this topic: Billy Clanton
Famous quotes containing the words shoot out, shoot and/or tombstone:
“A good intention clothes itself with sudden power. When a god wishes to ride, any chip or pebble will bud and shoot out winged feet and serve him for a horse.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I bow’d not to thy image for succession,
Nor bound thy bow to shoot reformed kindness,
Thy plays of hope and fear were my confession,
The spectacles to my life was thy blindness;
But Cupid now farewell, I will go play me,
With thoughts that please me less and less betray me.”
—Fulke Greville (1554–1628)
“... the structure of our public morality crashed to earth. Above its grave a tombstone read, “Be tolerant—even of evil.” Logically the next step would be to say to our commonwealth’s criminals, “I disagree that it’s all right to rob and murder, but naturally I respect your opinion.” Tolerance is only complacence when it makes no distinction between right and wrong.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 2, ch. 2 (1962)