Conflicting Versions of Events
Many of the facts surrounding the actual events leading up to the gunfight and details of the gunfight itself are uncertain. Newspapers of the day were not above taking sides, and news reporting often editorialized on issues to reflect the publisher's interests. John Clum, publisher of The Tombstone Epitaph, had helped organize the "Committee of Safety" (a vigilance committee) in Tombstone in late September 1881, and was elected as the city's first mayor under the new city charter of 1881. Clum and his newspaper tended to side with the local business-owners' interests, and supported Marshal Virgil Earp. Harry Woods, publisher of the other major newspaper, The Nuggett, was an undersheriff to Behan. He and his newspaper tended to side with Behan, the Cowboys, and the rural interests of the ranchers.
Much of what is known of the event is based on a month-long preliminary hearing held afterward, generally known as the "Spicer Hearings." Reporters from both newspapers covered the hearings and recorded the testimony at the coroner's inquest and the Spicer hearings. But only the reporter from The Nugget knew shorthand. The testimony recorded by the court recorder and the two newspapers varied greatly.
According to the Earp version of events, the fight was in self-defense because the Cowboys, armed in violation of local ordinance, aggressively threatened the lawmen, defying a lawful order to hand over their weapons. The Cowboys maintained that they raised their hands, offering no resistance, and were shot in cold blood by the Earps. Sorting out who was telling the truth then and now remains difficult.
Though usually opposing each other in their reporting of events, the initial reporting by both The Tombstone Epitaph and The Nugget supported the lawmen's version of events. This may have been because the pro-Cowboy Nugget's publisher Harry Woods was out of town during the hearings, leaving an experienced reporter, Richard Rule, to write the story. The Nugget staff had a close relationship with Sheriff Behan, but his story as quoted in the Nugget the day after the shootout backed up the Earp's version of events, which varied widely from Behan's and the Cowboys' later court testimony. Subsequent stories about the gunfight published in the Nugget after that day supported Behan and the Cowboys' view of events.
Read more about this topic: Gunfight At The O.K. Corral
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