Editing Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (section)

== Earp conflicts with Cowboys ==
Tensions between the Earp family and both the Clanton and McLaury clans increased through 1881. On July 25, 1880, Captain Joseph H. Hurst, of Company A, [[12th Infantry Regiment (United States)|12th U.S. Infantry]], and Commanding Officer of [[Fort Bennett]], asked Deputy U.S. Marshal Virgil Earp to help him track Cowboys who had stolen six [[U.S. Army]] mules from [[Fort Rucker, Arizona|Camp Rucker]]. This was a [[Federal government of the United States|federal]] matter because the animals were U.S. property. Hurst brought four soldiers, and Virgil invited Wyatt and Morgan Earp, as well as [[Wells Fargo]] agent Marshall Williams. The [[Posse comitatus (common law)|posse]] found the mules on the McLaury's Ranch on Babacomari Creek, northwest of Tombstone, as well as the [[branding iron]] used to change the "US" brand to "D8."<ref name=lubet>{{Cite book | last1=Lubet | first1=Steven | title=Murder in Tombstone: the Forgotten Trial of Wyatt Earp | year=2004 | publisher=[[Yale University Press]] | location=New Haven, CT | isbn=978-0-300-11527-7 | page=288 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iuqp1zVGnzQC&pg=PA38 | access-date=April 14, 2011 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140101080516/http://books.google.com/books?id=iuqp1zVGnzQC&pg=PA38 | archive-date=January 1, 2014 }}</ref>

To avoid bloodshed, Cowboy Frank Patterson promised Hurst they would return the mules and Hurst persuaded the posse to withdraw. Hurst went to nearby [[Charleston, Arizona|Charleston]], but the Cowboys showed up two days later without the mules, laughing at Hurst and the Earps. In response, Hurst had printed and distributed a [[Flyer (pamphlet)|handbill]] in which he named Frank McLaury as specifically assisting with hiding the mules. He re-printed this in ''The Tombstone Epitaph'' on July 30, 1880.<ref name=lubet/> Virgil later said that McLaury had asked him if he had posted the handbills. When Virgil said he had not, McLaury said if Virgil had printed the handbills it was Frank's intention to kill Virgil.<ref name="realwest"/> He warned Virgil, "If you ever again follow us as close as you did, then you will have to fight anyway."<ref name=lubet/> This incident was the first run-in between the Clantons and McLaurys and the Earps.<ref name="realwest"/>

=== March stagecoach robbery and murder ===
[[File:Kinnear Express stage 1880.jpg|thumb|A Kinnear Express [[stagecoach]] operating from Tombstone to Bisbee in the 1880s. This thorough-brace stagecoach used thick leather straps to support the body of the carriage and serve as shock-absorbing springs.]]
On the evening of March 15, 1881, a Kinnear & Company [[stagecoach]] carrying $26,000 in [[silver bullion]] ({{Inflation|US|26000|1881|r=-4|fmt=eq}}) was en route from Tombstone to [[Benson, Arizona]], the nearest freight terminal.<ref>{{Cite book | last1=O'Neal | first1=Bill | title=Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters | year=1979 | publisher=University of Oklahoma Press | location=Norman | isbn=978-0-8061-2335-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5KLrfdOrI78C&pg=PA180 | access-date=April 14, 2011 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628194015/http://books.google.com/books?id=5KLrfdOrI78C&pg=PA180&lpg=PA180 | archive-date=June 28, 2011 }}</ref>{{rp|180|date=November 2012}} [[Robert H. Paul|Bob Paul]], who had run for [[Pima County, Arizona|Pima County]] Sheriff and was contesting the election he lost due to [[ballot-stuffing]], was temporarily working once again as the [[Wells Fargo]] [[shotgun messenger]]. He had taken the reins and driver's seat in Contention City because the usual driver, a well-known and popular man named Eli "Bud" Philpot, was ill. Philpot was [[riding shotgun]].

Near [[Edward Landers Drew#Biography|Drew's Station]], just outside [[Contention City, Arizona|Contention City]], a man stepped into the road and commanded them to "Hold!" Three Cowboys attempted to rob the stage. Paul, in the driver's seat, fired his [[shotgun]] and emptied his [[revolver]] at the robbers, wounding a Cowboy later identified as Bill Leonard in the groin. Philpot, riding shotgun, and passenger Peter Roerig, riding in the rear [[rumble seat|dickey seat]], were both shot and killed.<ref>{{cite web|title=Tombstone, AZ|url=http://silverstateghosttowns.com/tombstone-az.html|access-date=May 17, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324044531/http://silverstateghosttowns.com/tombstone-az.html|archive-date=March 24, 2012}}</ref> The horses spooked and Paul was not able to bring the stage under control for almost {{convert|1|mi|km|spell=in}}, leaving the robbers with nothing. Paul, who normally rode shotgun, later said he thought the first shot killing Philpot had been meant for him.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://historyraider.com/ |title=History Raiders |access-date=February 11, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110208143417/http://historyraider.com/ |archive-date=February 8, 2011 }}</ref>

[[File:Wyatt Earp und Bat Masterson 1876.jpg|thumb|Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson (standing) in 1876 as lawmen in Dodge City, Kansas]]
Deputy U.S. Marshal Virgil Earp, along with temporary federal deputies Wyatt and Morgan Earp, Wells Fargo agent Marshall Williams, former Kansas Sheriff [[Bat Masterson]] (who was dealing [[ Faro (banking game) |faro]] at the Oriental Saloon), and [[County Sheriff]] Behan set out to find the robbers. Wells Fargo issued a [[wanted poster]] offering a $3,600 reward ({{Inflation|US|3600|1881|fmt=eq|r=-3}}) for the three robbers ($1,200 each), dead or alive. Robbery of a mail-carrying stagecoach was both a federal crime and territorial crime, and the posse consisted of both county and federal authorities and deputies.<ref name=weir/>{{rp|181|date=November 2012}}

The posse trailed the robbers to a nearby ranch where they found a [[drifter (person)|drifter]] named Luther King. He would not tell who his confederates were until the posse lied and told him that [[Doc Holliday]]'s girlfriend had been shot. Fearful of Holliday's reputation, he confessed to holding the reins of the robbers' horses, and identified Bill Leonard, Harry "The Kid" Head, and Jim Crane as the robbers.<ref name=weir/>{{rp|181|date=November 2012}} They were all known Cowboys and rustlers. Behan and Williams escorted King back to Tombstone.

Remarkably, King walked in the front door of the jail and a few minutes later walked out the back. King had arranged with [[Undersheriff]] Harry Woods (publisher of the ''Nugget'') to sell the horse he had been riding to John Dunbar, Sheriff Behan's partner in the Dexter [[Livery stable|Livery Stable]].<ref name="jahns">{{Cite book | last1=Jahns | first1=Patricia | title=The Frontier World of Doc Holliday | year=1998 | publisher=University of Nebraska Press | location=Lincoln | isbn=978-0-8032-7608-6 | page=305 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1u65XViWBnsC&pg=PA207 | access-date=April 14, 2011 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629045437/http://books.google.com/books?id=1u65XViWBnsC&pg=PA207 | archive-date=June 29, 2011 }}</ref> On March 19, King conveniently escaped while Dunbar and Woods were making out the bill-of-sale. Woods claimed that someone had deliberately unlocked a secured back door to the jail.<ref name=lubet/> The Earps and the townspeople were furious at King's easy escape.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}} Williams was later dismissed from Wells Fargo, leaving behind a number of debts, when it was determined he had been stealing from the company for years.<ref name="weir"/>

The Earps pursued the other two men for 17 days, riding for 60 hours without food and 36 hours without water, during which [[Robert H. Paul|Bob Paul]]'s horse died, and Wyatt and Morgan's horses became so weak that the two men walked {{convert|18|mi}} back to Tombstone to obtain new horses.<ref name="wgbh"/> After pursuing the Cowboys for over {{convert|400|mi}} they could not obtain more fresh horses and were forced to give up the chase. They returned to Tombstone on April 1.<ref name="ball">{{Cite book | last1=Ball | first1=Larry Durwood | title=The United States Marshals of New Mexico and Arizona Territories, 1846–1912 | publisher=[[University of New Mexico Press]] | isbn=978-0-8263-0617-3 | page=325| year=1982 }}</ref>{{rp|123|date=November 2012}}<ref name=cp1237>{{cite web|url=http://cp1237.com/frankandtom/mclhist3.htm |title=The McLaury Brother's Tombstone Story pt. II |access-date=February 12, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141127062122/http://cp1237.com/frankandtom/mclhist3.htm |archive-date=November 27, 2014 }}</ref> Behan submitted a bill for $796.84 ({{Inflation|US|796.84|1881|r=-3|fmt=eq}}) to the county for posse expenses, but he refused to reimburse the Earps for any of their costs. Virgil was incensed. They were later reimbursed by Wells, Fargo & Co., but the incident caused further friction between county and federal law enforcement, and between Behan and the Earps.<ref name=lubet />{{rp|38|date=November 2012}}<ref name="realwest">{{cite web|url=https://www.angelfire.com/co4/earpgang/interviewtwo.html |title="Arizona Affairs" An Interview With Virgil W. Earp – Tombstone History Archives (originally published by the San Francisco Examiner on May 28, 1882) |publisher=Real West Magazine |date=January 1982 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090423122018/http://www.angelfire.com/co4/earpgang/interviewtwo.html |archive-date=April 23, 2009 }}</ref>

After he was passed over by Johnny Behan for the position of undersheriff, [[Wyatt Earp|Wyatt]] thought he might beat him in the next [[Cochise County, Arizona|Cochise County]] election in late 1882. He thought catching the murderers of Bud Philpot and Peter Roerig would help him win the sheriff's office. Wyatt later said that on June 2, 1881, he offered the Wells, Fargo & Co. reward money and more to Ike Clanton if he would provide information leading to the capture or death of the stage robbers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.clantongang.com/oldwest/gangike.html |title=Tombstone History – Ike Clanton |access-date=February 11, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110209141900/http://www.clantongang.com/oldwest/gangike.html |archive-date=February 9, 2011 }}</ref> According to Wyatt, Ike was initially interested, but the plan was foiled when the three suspects — Leonard, Head and Crane — were killed in unrelated incidents.<ref name="historynet"/>

Ike began to fear that word of his possible cooperation had leaked, threatening to compromise his standing among the Cowboys. Undercover Wells Fargo Company agent M. Williams suspected a deal, and said something to Ike, who was fearful that other Cowboys might learn of his double-cross.<ref name="historynet"/><ref name="marks">{{cite book|author=Paula Mitchell Marks|title=And Die in the West: the Story of the O.K. Corral Gunfight| location=New York|publisher=Morrow| year=1989| isbn=0-671-70614-4}}</ref><ref name="panhistoria">{{cite web|url=http://www.wyattsearp.com/history3.html|title=Wyatt Earp: Timeline – Tombstone and Increasing Tensions|access-date=February 6, 2011|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110208204333/http://www.wyattsearp.com/history3.html|archive-date=February 8, 2011}}</ref> Ike now began to threaten Wyatt and Doc Holliday (who had learned of the deal) for apparently revealing Ike's willingness to help arrest his friends.<ref name=wyatttestimony/>

The fallout over the Cowboys' attempt to implicate Holliday and the Earps in the robbery,<ref name=roberts/>{{rp|544|date=November 2012}} along with Behan's involvement in King's escape, was the beginning of increasingly bad feelings between the Earp brothers and Cowboy factions.<ref name=lubet/>{{rp|38|date=November 2012}}

=== Earp and Behan attracted to Josephine Marcus ===
Wyatt Earp and [[Cochise County]] [[sheriff]] [[Johnny Behan]] were interested in the same sheriff's position and also might have shared an interest in the same woman, [[Josephine Marcus]], known as Sadie. Citizens of Tombstone believed that Behan and Sadie were married, but Behan was a known womanizer and had sex with prostitutes and other women. In early 1881, Sadie ended the relationship after she came home and found Behan in bed with the wife of a friend<ref name=heritagebarra>{{cite web|last=Barra|first=Alan|title=Who Was Wyatt Earp?|url=http://www.americanheritage.com/content/who-was-wyatt-earp?page=show|publisher=American Heritage|access-date=April 17, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060507101535/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1998/8/1998_8_76.shtml |archive-date=May 7, 2006 }}</ref> and kicked him out,<ref name=rasmussen>{{cite news|last=Rasmussen|first=Cecilia|title=LA Then and Now: Mrs. Wyatt Earp Packed Her Own Punch|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jun-04-me-37325-story.html|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=June 4, 2000|access-date=January 27, 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131106115959/http://articles.latimes.com/2000/jun/04/local/me-37325|archive-date=November 6, 2013}}</ref> although she used the Behan surname through the end of that summer. She rented her home sometime before April 1881 to [[George E. Goodfellow|Dr. George Goodfellow]].

Wyatt Earp lived with [[Mattie Blaylock]],<ref name=autogenerated4>{{cite book|last=Marks|first=Paula Mitchell|title=And Die in the West: The Story of the O.K. Corral Gunfight|year=1996|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|location=Norman|isbn=978-0-8061-2888-7|edition=paperback}}</ref>{{rp|159|date=November 2012}} who was listed as his wife in the 1880 census. She had a growing addiction to the opiate [[laudanum]], which was readily available at the time.<ref name=wwad>{{cite web|last=Calchi |first=Pat |title=Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp |url=http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/389WesternWomen/calchi.html |publisher=Western Women's Autobiographies Database |access-date=April 15, 2011 |location=New York |date=Fall 2000 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615052322/http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/389WesternWomen/calchi.html |archive-date=June 15, 2010 }}</ref> Earp remained with Blaylock until he left Tombstone in April 1882. There are no contemporary Tombstone records that indicate a relationship between Sadie and Earp, but Earp certainly knew her, because both Behan and Earp had offices above the Crystal Palace Saloon.<ref name=aker>{{cite web |url=http://arizonaoddities.com/2009/10/doc-goodfellow-arizonas-gutsiest-physician-from-the-territorial-days/#sthash.IEkaqdrW.dpuf |title=Doc Goodfellow: Arizona's Gutsiest Physician from the Territorial Days |date=October 19, 2009 |first=Andrea |last=Aker |access-date=March 4, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130307204203/http://arizonaoddities.com/2009/10/doc-goodfellow-arizonas-gutsiest-physician-from-the-territorial-days/#sthash.IEkaqdrW.dpuf |archive-date=March 7, 2013 }}</ref>

Sadie, traveling as either Mrs. J. C. Earp or Mrs. Wyatt Earp, left for Los Angeles on March 25, 1882,<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=Los Angeles Herald |volume=17 |number=29 |date=March 25, 1882 |access-date=October 2, 2014 |title=Passengers Due This Evening |url=http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH18820325.2.21&srpos=1&e=01-03-1882-01-04-1882--en--20-LAH-1--txt-txIN-Passengers+Due+This+Evening++earp------ |page=3 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141112000917/http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH18820325.2.21&srpos=1&e=01-03-1882-01-04-1882--en--20-LAH-1--txt-txIN-Passengers+Due+This+Evening++earp------ |archive-date=November 12, 2014 }}</ref> and then returned to her family in San Francisco. In July 1882, Wyatt left Colorado and went to San Francisco,<ref name=mattie>{{cite web|url=http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-womenlist-b.html|title=The Complete List of Historical Women – Last Name Begins with B|publisher=LegendsofAmerica.com|access-date=March 1, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110318191932/http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-womenlist-b.html|archive-date=March 18, 2011}}</ref> where he sought out Sadie and his brother Virgil, who was seeking treatment for his arm.<ref name=woog>{{cite book |title=Wyatt Earp |last=Woog |first=Adam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_y9wsnur9R0C |publisher=Chelsea House Publications |year= 2010 |isbn=978-1-60413-597-8 |page=110 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160529144528/https://books.google.com/books?id=_y9wsnur9R0C |archive-date=May 29, 2016 }}</ref>{{rp|29}} In February or March 1883, Sadie and Earp left San Francisco for [[Gunnison, Colorado|Gunnison]], where Earp ran a Faro bank until he received a request in April for assistance from Luke Short in Dodge City.<ref name=tefertiller>{{cite book |title=Wyatt Earp – Life Behind The Legend |url=https://archive.org/details/wyattearplifebeh00tefe |url-access=registration |first=Casey |last= Tefertiller|year=1997 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc.}}</ref>{{rp|275–298}} Sadie was his common-law wife for the next 46 years.<ref name=woog/>{{rp|29}}

=== September stage holdup ===
Tensions between the Earps and the McLaurys further increased when another [[stage coach|passenger stage]] on the 'Sandy Bob Line' in the Tombstone area, bound for [[Bisbee, Arizona|Bisbee]], was held up on September 8, 1881. The masked bandits robbed all of the passengers of their valuables since the stage was not carrying a [[Safe|strongbox]]. During the robbery, the driver heard one of the robbers describe the money as "sugar", a phrase known to be used by [[Frank Stilwell]]. Stilwell had, until the prior month, been a deputy for Sheriff Behan but had been fired for "accounting irregularities".<ref name=cp1237/>
[[File:Frank Stilwell.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Frank Stilwell, suspected of killing Morgan, murdered by the Earps]]
[[File:Thomas McLaury of Tombstone.jpg|left|thumb|upright|Tom McLaury, killed in the gunfight]]
[[File:Pete Spence (mugshot).JPG|right|thumb|upright|Pete Spence, suspected of ambushing Virgil]]
Wyatt and [[Virgil Earp]] rode with a sheriff's posse and tracked the Bisbee stage robbers. Virgil had been appointed Tombstone's [[Marshal#State and local marshals|town marshal]] (i.e., [[chief of police]]) on June 6, 1881, after Ben Sippy abandoned the job. However, Virgil at the same time continued to hold his position of deputy U.S. marshal, and it was in this federal capacity that he continued to chase robbers of stage coaches outside Tombstone city limits. At the scene of the holdup, Wyatt discovered an unusual boot print left by someone wearing a custom-repaired boot heel.<ref name=cp1237/> The Earps checked a shoe repair shop in Bisbee known to provide widened boot heels and were able to link the boot print to Stilwell.<ref name=cp1237/>

==== Stilwell and Spence arrests ====
Frank Stilwell had just arrived in Bisbee with his livery stable partner, [[Pete Spence]], when the two were arrested by Deputy U.S. Marshal Virgil Earp for the holdup. Both were friends of Ike Clanton and the McLaurys. At the preliminary hearing, Stilwell and Spence were able to provide several witnesses who supported their [[alibi]]s. Judge Spicer dropped the charges for insufficient evidence just as he had done for Doc Holliday earlier in the year.<ref name=spicerhearing>{{cite web |url=http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/earp/spicerdecision.html |title=Decision of Judge Wells Spicer after the Preliminary Hearing in the Earp-Holliday Case |date=November 30, 1881 |access-date=April 17, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110816194502/http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/earp/spicerdecision.html |archive-date=August 16, 2011 }}</ref>

Released on bail, Spence and Stilwell were re-arrested October 13 by Marshal Virgil Earp for the Bisbee robbery on a new federal charge of interfering with a [[mail carrier]].<ref name=tanner>{{cite book|last1=Tanner |first1=Karen Holliday |first2= Robert K. |last2=Dearment |title=Doc Holliday: a Family Portrait|year=2001|publisher=Univ Of Oklahoma Press|location=Norman|isbn=978-0-8061-3320-1}}</ref> The newspapers, however, reported that they had been arrested for a different stage robbery that occurred on October 8 near Contention City.

Ike and other Cowboys believed the new arrest was further evidence that the Earps were illegally persecuting the Cowboys.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-petespence.html |title=Pete Spence – Escaping the Wrath of the Earps |access-date=January 9, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140213115235/http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-petespence.html |archive-date=February 13, 2014 }}</ref> They told the [[Earp family|Earps]] that they could expect retaliation.<ref name="history-com">{{cite web| url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/tensions-grow-in-tombstone-arizona-after-a-stage-coach-robbery| title=Tensions Grow in Tombstone, Arizona, After a Stage Coach Robbery| access-date=February 5, 2011| publisher=History.com| url-status=live| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110818044346/http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/tensions-grow-in-tombstone-arizona-after-a-stage-coach-robbery| archive-date=August 18, 2011 }}</ref> While Virgil and Wyatt were in Tucson for the federal hearing on the charges against Spence and Stilwell, Frank McLaury confronted Morgan Earp. He told him that the McLaurys would kill the Earps if they tried to arrest Spence, Stilwell, or the McLaurys again.<ref name=wyatttestimony/> ''The Tombstone Epitaph'' reported "that since the arrest of Spence and Stilwell, veiled threats [are] being made that the friends of the accused will 'get the Earps.'"<ref name=rosen/>{{rp|137|date=November 2012}}

==== Cowboys accuse Holliday of robbery ====
Milt Joyce, a [[county supervisor]] and owner of the Oriental Saloon, had a contentious relationship with [[Doc Holliday]]. In October 1880, Holliday had trouble with a [[gambler]] named Johnny Tyler in Milt Joyce's Oriental Saloon. Tyler had been hired by a competing gambling establishment to drive customers from Joyce's saloon.<ref name="historynetgambler"/> Holliday challenged Tyler to a fight, but Tyler ran. Joyce did not like Holliday or the Earps and he continued to argue with Holliday. Joyce ordered Holliday removed from the saloon but would not return Holliday's revolver. But Holliday returned carrying a double-action revolver. Milt brandished a pistol and threatened Holliday, but Holliday shot Joyce in the palm, disarming him, and then shot Joyce's business partner William Parker in the big toe. Joyce then hit Holliday over the head with his revolver.<ref>''The Daily Nugget'', October 12, 1880</ref> Holliday was arrested and pleaded guilty to assault and battery.<ref name="historynetdoc">{{cite web|url=http://www.historynet.com/doc-holliday.htm|title=Doc Holliday|access-date=February 8, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006175447/http://www.historynet.com/doc-holliday.htm|archive-date=October 6, 2011}}</ref>

Holliday and his on-again, off-again mistress [[Big Nose Kate]] had many fights. After a particularly nasty, drunken argument, Holliday kicked her out. [[County Sheriff]] John Behan and Milt Joyce saw an opportunity and exploited the situation. They plied Big Nose Kate with more booze and suggested to her a way to get even with Holliday. She signed an [[affidavit]] implicating Holliday in the attempted stagecoach robbery and murders. Holliday was a good friend of Bill Leonard, a former [[watchmaker]] from [[New York City|New York]], one of three men implicated in the robbery.<ref name=weir>{{Cite book | last1=Weir | first1=William | title=History's Greatest Lies: the Startling Truths Behind World Events our History Books Got Wrong | year=2009 | publisher=Fair Winds Press | location=Beverly, MA | isbn=978-1-59233-336-3 | page=288}}</ref>{{rp|181|date=November 2012}} [[Judge]] [[Wells Spicer]] issued an [[arrest warrant]] for Holliday. The Earps found [[witness]]es who could attest to Holliday's location at the time of the murders and Kate sobered up, revealing that Behan and Joyce had influenced her to sign a document she did not understand. With the Cowboy [[Conspiracy (political)|plot]] revealed, Spicer freed Holliday. The [[district attorney]] threw out the charges, labeling them "ridiculous." Doc gave Kate some money and put her on a [[stage coach|stage]] out of town.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

=== Ike Clanton's conflict with Doc Holliday ===

Wyatt Earp testified after the gunfight that five or six weeks prior he had met Ike Clanton outside the Alhambra Hotel. Ike told Wyatt that Doc Holliday had told him he knew of Ike's meetings with Wyatt and about Ike providing information on Head, Leonard, and Crane, as well as their attempted robbery of the stage. Ike now accused Earp of telling Holliday about these conversations. Earp testified that he told Ike he had not told Holliday anything. Wyatt Earp offered to prove this when Holliday and the Clantons next returned to town.<ref name=wyatttestimony/>

A month later, the weekend before the shootout, Morgan Earp was concerned about possible trouble with the Cowboys. He asked Doc Holliday to come back to Tombstone from a fiesta celebration in Tucson where Holliday had been gambling. Upon his return, Wyatt Earp asked Holliday about Ike's accusation.<ref name=wyatttestimony/>

On the morning of Tuesday, October 25, 1881, the day before the gunfight, Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury drove {{convert|10|mi}} in a [[wagon|spring wagon]] from Chandler's Milk Ranch at the foot of the [[Dragoon Mountains]] to Tombstone. They were in town to sell a large number of beef [[livestock|stock]], most of them owned by the McLaurys.<ref name=lubet/> Fred Dodge, an undercover detective for Wells Fargo, heard from J.B. Ayers, another undercover Wells Fargo man in Contention, that Frank McLaury, Billy Clanton, and Billy Claiborne were in town and planning to join Ike and Tom in Tombstone Wednesday afternoon. Dodge, who had been sick, got up and went looking for city marshal Virgil Earp. He found Tombstone Deputy City [[Marshal]] Morgan Earp at the Alhambra Saloon instead and told him the news.<ref name="hornung">{{cite book |last1=Hornung |first1=Chuck |title=Wyatt Earp's Cow-boy Campaign: The Bloody Restoration of Law and Order Along the Mexican Border, 1882 |date=2016 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9781476624655 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gPcWDAAAQBAJ |access-date=July 21, 2018 |language=en}}</ref>{{rp|87}}

Near midnight, Holliday saw Clanton in the Alhambra Saloon and confronted him, accusing him of lying about their previous conversations. They got into a heated argument. Wyatt Earp (who was not wearing a badge) encouraged his brother Morgan to intervene. Morgan took Holliday out onto the street and Ike, who had been drinking steadily, followed them. City Marshal Virgil Earp arrived a few minutes later and threatened to arrest both Holliday and Clanton if they did not stop quarreling. Wyatt Earp walked over to the Oriental Saloon and Ike followed him. They talked again, and Ike threatened to confront Holliday in the morning. Ike told Earp that the fighting talk had been going on for a long time and that he intended to put an end to it. Ike told Earp, "I will be ready for you in the morning." Wyatt told Ike to go home "because there was no money in it." Ike sat down near Wyatt, his revolver in plain sight, and told Earp "You must not think I won't be after you all in the morning." Virgil Earp went to the Occidental Saloon across the street.<ref name="wyatttestimony"/><ref name="hornung"/>{{rp|88}}