Gun Fight at the OK Corral

Back a few years ago, about 16, when I was writing for the Pharos-Tribune, I ran into a fellow named Ben Traywick in Tombstone, Arizona. I was looking for something to send in with some local color about the Southwest, and for that sort of information, what better place than the local newspaper, in this case, the Tombstone Epitath. The editor there told me to look up Ben and pointed to a building across the street. "That's where Ben lives," he said. "If he answers the door he probably won't talk to you, and if he talks to you, he probably won't let you in." He was wrong all the way around.

Ben was the official town historian then. He has written many books about Tombstone and talking to him was literally a step into the past. We became friends and talked frequently after that. The thing he always wanted to do was set the record straight about his town. So for Ben, here is the truth about the gunfight at the OK Corral.

TOMBSTONE, ARIZ - "I was in a Brisbane pub in '43 and the bartender asked me where I was from," said Ben Traywick. "I said Tennessee, and he asked if that was close to Tombstone."
Traywick, 65, Tombstone town historian, leaned back in his chair. "This is the most famous town in the world," he said, "and it's because of three things. The O-K Corral, the name Tombstone, and the Earps. Right down the street from the O-K Corral was the FW Smith Corral. The town's original name was Goose Flats. If I asked if you heard about the gun fight that took place between the Jones brothers and the cowboys at the FW Smith Corral in Goose Flats, you probably wouldn't care. But the Earps and the O-K Corral, that's something different."
For the last 25 years, Traywick has been researching the history of Tombstone and the gunfight. He has published 40 books and hundreds of articles about the town and gun fight.
"The fight only lasted 30 seconds," he said. "I don't think anybody wanted it. It was a confrontation that got out of control."
There had been problems between the Earps and the cowboys, including the Clantons, and Sheriff Johnny Behan, who was known to be involved with rustling and highway robbery. On the day of the fight, Ike Clanton was arrested by Marshal Virgil Earp, for carrying firearms in town. He resisted and Virgil subdued him with a pistol barrel slap to the head. He was fined and released. Shortly after, Tom McLaury threaten Wyatt Earp. Wyatt pistol-whipped McLaury and left him laying in the street.
Virgil and Wyatt decided to run the Clanton cowboys out of town. They planed to pistol whip them to embarrass them to the point that they would leave town and not return.
"In order to do that," said Traywick, "they had to get close, within six feet of them. With a seven-inch barrel pistol, it only took a step more to get near enough to crack 'em on the head. It was too damn close for a gunfight. So, along with Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday, who took a shotgun, they went looking for the Clantons. Holliday and Morgan were hot tempered, and had had enough. They wanted to settle it with the Clantons.

"The Earps and Holiday met the Clantons and Tom McLaury in an alley, only 15 feet wide, around the corner from the O-K Corral. There were nine men and two horses in that alley. When he got close, Holiday jabbed Tom McLaury with the shotgun and said we're going to kill you guys. They believed him and went for their guns, because they felt they had no other choice. It got out of hand.
"Wyatt and Virgil were shattered when this happened. Virgil shouted, 'You men are under arrest, throw up your hands,' and he said this with a cane in his hand. He had to throw the cane down and then reach for his gun. Wyatt had his gun in his coat, because Sheriff Behan said he had disarmed the cowboys, which he hadn't. The fight had already started before Wyatt could get his gun out. Ike Clanton didn't even have a gun."
When it was over, 28 shots had been fired. Two of the Clanton cowboys were dead. Virgil and Morgan seriously wounded, and Holliday had bullet burns on his buttocks.
"Nobody was ready for a fight," said Traywick. "It was just a confrontation that got out of hand."