The gunfight at the O.K. Corral is one of if not the most famous gunfight of all time. The O.K. Corral was located in the Arizona territory in the rough town of Tombstone. Even though only three men were killed during this incident, it embodies the old west era, which was legal authorities versus outlaws. The gunfight consisted of nine people who were as follows: Wyatt, Morgan, and Virgil Earp, Doc Holliday,Ike Clanton, Billy Clanton,Tom McLaury, Frank McLaury, and Billy Claiborne. “John Henry “Doc” Holliday was born in Griffin, Georgia, on August 14, 1851.”[1] It is said that he had surgery on his cleft palate when he was two months old, however some historians and physicians debate on whether or not this really happened. “He and his family moved to Valdosta, Georgia in 1864 where his mother died two years later of tuberculosis, Holliday was only 15 at the time.”[1] When he was 19 he moved to Philadelphia where he went to school to earn his dental degree. In 1873 he moved to Dallas, Texas and decided to open a dental office. After a year or so he became a dedicated gambler when he realized that it was more profitable than his dental work. In 1875 he had his first run-in with the law and was indicted for illegal gambling. He was found guilty and left the state for a few years. Holliday came back to Texas in 1877 where he met a man named Wyatt Earp. They began a new unlikely friendship that they would keep until their deaths. They were introduced to each other by a man named John Shanssey. Their friendship was set in stone in 1878 in Dodge City, Kansas. This was when Doc Holliday defended Wyatt Earp from a gang of cowboys who were out to kill him. Wyatt Earp was quoted saying this about Doc Holliday, "I found him a loyal friend and good company. He was a dentist whom necessity had made a gambler; a gentleman whom disease had made a vagabond; a philosopher whom life had made a caustic wit; a long, lean blonde fellow nearly dead with consumption and at the same time the most skillful gambler and nerviest, speediest, deadliest man with a six-gun I ever knew."[2] “Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp was born in Monmouth, Illinois, on March 19, 1848. In October 1874, he earned some money by helping an off duty police officer find thieves who had stolen a man’s wagon.”[2] He got his name in the paper for this and joined the Wichita marshal's office on April 21, 1875. One newspaper called Wyatt Earp "Officer Erp" this was before his official hiring, which makes his role as a man of law in 1874 unclear. He was embarrassed in 1876 when his loaded revolver fell out of his holster while he was leaning back on a chair and discharged when it hit the floor. The bullet went through his overcoat and out the ceiling.
Earp later had his nerves tested in Wichita when a situation which was not reported, but which was substantiated in the diary of his deputy Jimmy Cairns. Wyatt angered a man by acting to repossess a piano in a brothel and forcing them to collect the money to keep the piano in place. Later, a group of nearly fifty armed men gathered in Delano, preparing to take control of Wichita. Law enforcement and citizens in Wichita assembled to oppose the cowboys. Earp stood in the center of the defenders of Wichita on the bridge from Delano to Wichita and was decisive in holding off the drunkards without firing a single shot. “Earp's period as Wichita deputy came to a sudden halt on April 2, 1876, when Earp took an interest in the city marshal's election. Apparently, former marshal Bill Smith made accusations that Wyatt was using his office to help hire his brothers as lawmen.”[3] Wyatt got into a fistfight with Smith and owned him to say the least. Meagher was forced to dismiss and arrest Earp for disturbing the peace, thus ended Earp’s tour of duty which the papers called “exceptional” When Meagher won the election, the city council voted and split evenly on re-hiring Earp. Ike Clanton's bad reputaion is based a lot on his differences with the Earp brothers, mostly with Wyatt Earp and Wyatt's good buddy Doc Holliday. The Earps and the Clantons had several good reasons to hate each other, and the bitterness grew steadily throughout 1881. Helping to fuel the fire was Ike Clanton's reputation as bragging in public, being a drunken lunatic, and having a very fast growing temper. In November 1879, immediately after arriving in Tombstone, Wyatt Earp had a horse stolen from his stable. More than a year later, sometime in December 1880, Wyatt was told that his horse was being used around Charleston, Wyatt and Holliday decided to take a ride to the Clanton's ranch in Charleston and waited for their ownership papers so that they could legally recover Earp‘s horse. According to Wyatt's testimony that he gave, 18 year-old Billy Clanton asked him disrespectfully if he had any more horses that he wanted lose, but Clanton did give up the horse without even having to see the ownership papers, which showed Wyatt that Billy knew who the horse was owned by. The incident had angered Ike Clanton, but it also angered Wyatt Earp. “In October 1880, "Curly Bill" and a member of the Cowboys, got arrested for the murder of then Tombstone marshal Fred White. Wyatt Earp was the man who had arrested him, this only made the bad blood between the Clanton and Earp parties get worse.”[2] Later, when “Curly Bill” was found not guilty, the tensions only got worse. In March 1881, an unsuccessful stagecoach heist near the town Benson, resulted in the death of two men divided the two parties yet again, with the Earps believing the Cowboys were yet again involved, but with Ike Clanton publicly accusing Doc Holliday as one of the murderers and that Holliday made the shot that killed the driver. Wyatt however testified that Frank McLaury and Ike Clanton had decided to provide info on the capture of the suspected robbers. After the last of the men had finally died in separate conflicts, Wyatt claimed that a secret deal began to leak out. Ike Clanton, naturally opposed him and claimed Doc Holliday's participation, and of course the Earps' involvement was what was beginning to leak out. “On October the 25th, Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury came into Tombstone. Later that fateful day Doc Holliday got into a altercation with Ike Clanton at the Alhambra Saloon.”[4] Holliday wanted to have a gunfight, but he declined the offer and walked off. “The next day Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury were apprehended by the sheriff Virgil Earp and indicted for carrying firearms in the city limits.”[3] After they were separated from their weapons and released, the two vagabonds joined Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury, who barely got into town. The four cowboys gathered at a place called the OK Corral on Fremont Street. Virgil Earp made a decision to neutralize the weapons of Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury by taking them away. “He also decided to recruit Wyatt Earp, Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday to help him handle this task. Sheriff John Behan was currently in Tombstone and when he heard what was going down he high-tailed it to Fremont Street and begged Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury to peacefully hand over their guns to him. They rudely replied "Not unless you first disarm the Earps".”[4] Behan now ran towards the oncoming group of cowboys and lawmen. He implored for Virgil Earp to not get involved in a gunfight but he was pushed aside as the four lawmen proceeded walking towards the OK Corral. When they reached the four cowboys, Virgil Earp said, "I want your guns". Billy Clanton responded by discharging his gun at Wyatt Earp. He failed epically and Morgan Earp dissed him and fired two bullets at Billy Clanton and who fell against a wall. In the meantime Wyatt Earp engaged with Frank McLaury. The bullet hit Frank in the abdominal region and he fell to the ground. Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury were completely unarmed and tried to run away to no avail however. Clanton was successful in running away, but Doc Holliday had other plans for McLaury and shot him in the back. Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury, even though they were seriously injured, continued to fire their weapons and in the next few seconds Virgil Earp, Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday were all shot but only injured. Wyatt Earp, however was unscathed and managed to finish off Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury. “Sheriff John Behan apprehended the four lawmen for the murders of Billy Clanton, Tom McLaury and Frank McLaury.”[3] Nevertheless, after a one month trial Judge Wells Spicer, who was correlated to the Earps family line, decided that the defendants had been just in their actions. Over the next few months the Earp family had to try and retain control over Tombstone. Virgil Earp was gravely wounded by an assassination effort and Morgan Earp was killed while he was playing pool with Wyatt Earp. Eyewitnesses said that Frank Stilwell was noticed running away from the crime scene. “On Sunday, March 19, the day after the murder of Morgan, Wyatt, his brother James, and a group of associates took his body to Benson. Wyatt Earp felt he couldn’t trust justice and decided to take control on his own. He decided that the only way to for sure deal with Virgil's assassins and Morgan's killers was to kill them himself. Three days later Stilwell was found dead, a Mexican who was also entangled in the offense was also found dead in a lumber camp. It is fabled that big brother Wyatt Earp was accountable for killing both men.”[4] The gunfight at the OK Corral will always be known as one of the most famous in history. The vigilantes versus the law a classic match-up that is usually won by the better of the two, as shown in this incident. I never knew how much information and knowledge I could gain by researching this topic. I learned a lot about our states history and also about the fabled wild wild west. I hope my report could teach you as much as I learned.