"25mm Wyatt Earp and Gang" Topic

Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan Earp, along with Doc Holiday are
a-watin' the Clanton's and McLaurey's.

link

nice figs!!!!

And well,,,Do like the Earps did…Catch their opponents mostly unarmed…it's easier to kill them that way…

The Clantons should have armed themselves. :)

The Clantons should have armed themselves. :)

The main problem here is that at the time of the "gunfight" (in all reality little more than a group murder), the Clantons were actually obeying Tombstone ordinances and in town (mostly) unarmed. When the shooting started, i think it was Frank McClaury that tried to retrieve a rifle from his horse but was on the wrong side…One of the Clantons I think was actually chased down in the street/alley and shot… If you actually read the newspaper accounts of the time, it even says "Murder in the streets of Tombstone"…

Depends on what version of "the truth" you happen to believe. As for the newspaper, IIRC, there was a divide in the town between the Cowboy faction, including Sheriff Behan, and the Earp faction, which included other civic officials. If the newspaper account was done by someone who was on Behan's side, they would have reported it that way regardless of the actual truth.

The court transcripts have eyewitness testimonies from several people not involved in the fight, and "unarmed Clantons" somehow managed to hit Morgan, Virgil, and graze Doc.

Quite a feat for unarmed, law abiding citizens, I'd say.

PBS documentary:
link

Essay based on the court testimonies with excerpts
link

Primary documents
link

JJ

JJ…gotta disagree with you on some things..

1: Ever been to Tombstone? I actually lived near it for two years and was there quite often. The factions did exist, but even today you can see the differences in what Hollywood tells us and what happened.

2: I said "mostly" not ALL…

Remember…just because the Earp/Clanton issue was "done", there was a LOT of payback killing going on for about a year or so afterwards. Boothill is full of it…

JJ you also DO know that the judge presiding over it was a friend of the Earps right?…

I'm not excusing the Earps, nor taking their side, just pointing out that given the testimony in the primary records, by non-involved persons as well, it isn't as simple as claiming that it was murder, or that the Clanton faction was either mostly unarmed or obeying Tombstone ordinances. AFAIK, Ike was unarmed, everyone else either was armed with a six gun or had ready access to their rifle. As it was against the law to carry in town, all but Ike were in violation of the law. Hardly "mostly" unarmed as you claim.

Been to Tombstone.

I'm not basing my claims on Hollywood, but on extensive readings from a number of sources, and from the viewpoint of both sides.

The presiding judge doesn't change what the witnesses testified.

Behan perjured himself more than once.

Yes there were a lot of payback killings.

You might want to also give a look if you haven't read it at the book on Doc by a decendent

link

Karen Holliday Tanner. It is well documented with references, and it paints an extremely different picture of Doc than you've likely heard anywhere else.

JJ

Also, wanted to share this web page, as almost all of what you'll find is "pro-Earp" on the web ("winners" get to write the history), here's one from the Clantons themselves:

clantongang.com

not that they are totally unbiased either…

JJ

I've visited the site, heard the arguments, etc. etc.

I find it totally implausible that Morgan, Virgil, and Doc would have been wounded if the Clanton/McLaury faction had been unarmed or in the process of surrender.

Either the Cowboys shot first, or (more likely) both sides began shooting at very nearly the same time.

If the fight had happened the way the Cowboys tell it, they would have been dead and the Earp party would have been unscathed.

-Solo Sam

cowboyminiatures.blogspot.com

I've only read the Wikipedia article, hardly the organ of perfect truth, I know, but based on that the whole prosecution stinks, and obviously one side was all lies out of loyalty (misplaced or not, but you obviously had to lie for your "side" or be dealt with.

It just surprises me that to this day there are people who are so partisan about the whole thing on the Cowboy side!

According to Wikipedia it was only the Nugget that called it murder, the Epitaph was much less restrained. It's likely that one of these was paid off, or was just running sensationalist press on their own.