The Earp Brothers
- Episode aired Jun 22, 1998
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The Earp Brothers and the Gunfight at the OK Corral
Of all the famous and infamous names of the Old West, I find the story of the Earp Brothers the most fascinating. That's because law and order in the wild west was not always a clear cut proposition. Men like the Earps often worked both sides of the law to suit their own purposes, and if some of those goals included money and power, then a little corruption at the right time and in the right place might go a long way.
This episode in the "Gunfighters of the West" series from 1998 zeroes in on the events leading up to the famed Gunfight at the OK Corral of October 28th, 1981. The Earps (Virgil, Wyatt and Morgan) arrived in Tombstone, Arizona in 1879, just about two years after a prospector struck silver and created a frenzy of migration into the small mining town. Only a year earlier, ranchers named Clanton and McLaury also settled in Tombstone, representing a lawless cowboy faction; they set up a rustling trade into Arizona from just over the border in Mexico.
The Earp Brothers took advantage of the opportunities offered by Tombstone to work the law in their favor, but in street terms, they operated very much like a protection racket. 'Cowboys' were seen by the average citizen as outlaws and troublemakers, although on the other hand, they could be a huge source of income. At the time, Wyatt was the head of the fire department in Tombstone and was part owner of the Occidental Hotel. This episode doesn't mention his partner's name, but another "Gunfighters" chapter does - it was Tombstone's assistant town marshal from Dodge City, Kansas - Bat Masterson.
The town marshal of Tombstone was Wyatt's older brother Virgil. Younger brother Morgan rode shotgun for Wells Fargo on a local run. On March 5th, 1881, a stagecoach carrying twenty five thousand dollars in silver was stopped, and the man riding shotgun was killed but the money wasn't touched. In Tombstone, the Earps blamed the cowboys, while the Clanton's and McLaury's blamed Doc Holliday, an associate of the Earp's, who they claimed was seen riding away from the stage. Wyatt actually tried to cut a deal with Ike Clanton to capture the outlaw who attacked the stage. He was looking for the glory, Ike could claim the reward, and Doc Holliday would be off the hook. But Ike got scared and backed out of the deal, setting up the famous gunfight.
Many movie versions of the Gunfight at the OK Corral have been made, but most don't come close to actual events. The Earps with Doc Holliday faced five men - Ike and Bill Clanton, Frank and Tom McLaury and young Billy Claiborne. They stood a mere ten feet apart. Ike and Claiborne fled the scene, and when gunfire broke out, approximately thirty shots were fired in the span of about thirty seconds. The McLaury's and Bill Clanton were killed; Virgil, Morgan and Doc all suffered bullet wounds. Only Wyatt escaped unscathed.
The gunfight effectively ended the dominance of the Earps in Tombstone. Only two months later, Virgil's arm was shattered by a cowboy attack, and Morgan was shot and killed while playing pool in March, 1882. Wyatt wound up marrying Josephine Marcus and moved to California. As the film industry got under way at the turn of the century and interest grew in the Old West in general, and the famous gunfight in particular, Wyatt became a movie consultant. He died in Los Angeles in 1929 at the age of 81.
Of the two more recent films about the Earps and the Gunfight, I personally prefer 1993's "Tombstone" over the following year's "Wyatt Earp". "Tombstone" portrays the Earps as the opportunistic lawmen who conducted business in town for their own benefit. The later picture is what I'd consider the sanitized version of Earp history with almost an hour of Wyatt Earp back story that delays one's anticipation of the gunfight. Going some years back, 1957's "Gunfight at the O. K. Corral" I find to be OK but nothing special, while a decade earlier, the oddly titled "My Darling Clementine" offers yet another early screen treatment. What I haven't gotten to yet is a large collection of episodes from the classic TV series, "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp", but what I expect to find there is a largely fictional take on events in and around Tombstone of the 1880's.
This episode in the "Gunfighters of the West" series from 1998 zeroes in on the events leading up to the famed Gunfight at the OK Corral of October 28th, 1981. The Earps (Virgil, Wyatt and Morgan) arrived in Tombstone, Arizona in 1879, just about two years after a prospector struck silver and created a frenzy of migration into the small mining town. Only a year earlier, ranchers named Clanton and McLaury also settled in Tombstone, representing a lawless cowboy faction; they set up a rustling trade into Arizona from just over the border in Mexico.
The Earp Brothers took advantage of the opportunities offered by Tombstone to work the law in their favor, but in street terms, they operated very much like a protection racket. 'Cowboys' were seen by the average citizen as outlaws and troublemakers, although on the other hand, they could be a huge source of income. At the time, Wyatt was the head of the fire department in Tombstone and was part owner of the Occidental Hotel. This episode doesn't mention his partner's name, but another "Gunfighters" chapter does - it was Tombstone's assistant town marshal from Dodge City, Kansas - Bat Masterson.
The town marshal of Tombstone was Wyatt's older brother Virgil. Younger brother Morgan rode shotgun for Wells Fargo on a local run. On March 5th, 1881, a stagecoach carrying twenty five thousand dollars in silver was stopped, and the man riding shotgun was killed but the money wasn't touched. In Tombstone, the Earps blamed the cowboys, while the Clanton's and McLaury's blamed Doc Holliday, an associate of the Earp's, who they claimed was seen riding away from the stage. Wyatt actually tried to cut a deal with Ike Clanton to capture the outlaw who attacked the stage. He was looking for the glory, Ike could claim the reward, and Doc Holliday would be off the hook. But Ike got scared and backed out of the deal, setting up the famous gunfight.
Many movie versions of the Gunfight at the OK Corral have been made, but most don't come close to actual events. The Earps with Doc Holliday faced five men - Ike and Bill Clanton, Frank and Tom McLaury and young Billy Claiborne. They stood a mere ten feet apart. Ike and Claiborne fled the scene, and when gunfire broke out, approximately thirty shots were fired in the span of about thirty seconds. The McLaury's and Bill Clanton were killed; Virgil, Morgan and Doc all suffered bullet wounds. Only Wyatt escaped unscathed.
The gunfight effectively ended the dominance of the Earps in Tombstone. Only two months later, Virgil's arm was shattered by a cowboy attack, and Morgan was shot and killed while playing pool in March, 1882. Wyatt wound up marrying Josephine Marcus and moved to California. As the film industry got under way at the turn of the century and interest grew in the Old West in general, and the famous gunfight in particular, Wyatt became a movie consultant. He died in Los Angeles in 1929 at the age of 81.
Of the two more recent films about the Earps and the Gunfight, I personally prefer 1993's "Tombstone" over the following year's "Wyatt Earp". "Tombstone" portrays the Earps as the opportunistic lawmen who conducted business in town for their own benefit. The later picture is what I'd consider the sanitized version of Earp history with almost an hour of Wyatt Earp back story that delays one's anticipation of the gunfight. Going some years back, 1957's "Gunfight at the O. K. Corral" I find to be OK but nothing special, while a decade earlier, the oddly titled "My Darling Clementine" offers yet another early screen treatment. What I haven't gotten to yet is a large collection of episodes from the classic TV series, "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp", but what I expect to find there is a largely fictional take on events in and around Tombstone of the 1880's.
- classicsoncall
- Nov 8, 2014
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