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

== Morning of the gunfight ==

=== Events leading up to the Ike Clanton court hearing ===
[[File:Ok corral 1882.png|thumb|O.K. Corral after a fire in 1882]]
After Holliday's confrontation with Ike Clanton, Wyatt Earp took Holliday back to his room at [[C.S. Fly|Camillus Sidney "Buck" Fly's]] Lodging House to sleep off his drinking, then went home and to bed. [[Tombstone, Arizona|Tombstone]] [[Marshal]] Virgil Earp played poker with Ike Clanton, Tom McLaury, Cochise [[County Sheriff]] [[Johnny Behan]] and a fifth unnamed man in a back room of the Occidental Saloon until morning.<ref name="iketestimony">{{cite web|url=http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/earp/clantontestimony.html|title=Testimony of Ike Clanton in the Preliminary Hearing in the Earp-Holliday Case|access-date=February 6, 2011|year=2005|editor-first=Douglas|editor-last=Linder|work=Famous Trials: The O. K. Corral Trial|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101215162354/http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/earp/clantontestimony.html|archive-date=December 15, 2010}} From Turner, Alford (Ed.), ''The O. K. Corral Inquest'' (1992)</ref>

At about dawn on October 26, the card game broke up and Behan and Virgil Earp went home to bed. Ike Clanton testified later he saw Virgil take his [[six-shooter]] out of his lap and stick it in his pants when the game ended.<ref name="iketestimony"/> Not having rented a room, Tom McLaury and Ike Clanton had no place to go. Shortly after 8:00 am [[barkeeper]] E. F. Boyle spoke to Ike Clanton in front of the [[telegraph]] office. Clanton had been drinking all night and Boyle encouraged him to get some sleep, but Ike insisted he would not go to bed. Boyle later testified he noticed Ike was armed and covered his gun for him.<ref name="boyletestimony"/>

Boyle later said that Ike told him, "'As soon as the Earps and Doc Holliday showed themselves on the street, the ball would open — that they would have to fight' ...&nbsp;I went down to Wyatt Earp's house and told him that Ike Clanton had threatened that when Wyatt, his brothers, and Doc Holliday showed themselves on the street that the ball would open."<ref name="boyletestimony">{{cite web|url=http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/earp/boyletestimony.html|title=Testimony of E. F. Boyle in the Preliminary Hearing in the Earp-Holliday Case|year=2005|access-date=January 13, 2011|editor-first=Douglas|editor-last=Linder|work=Famous Trials: The O. K. Corral Trial|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110102215420/http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/earp/boyletestimony.html|archive-date=January 2, 2011}} From Turner, Alford (Ed.), ''The O. K. Corral Inquest'' (1992)</ref><ref name=turner/> Ike said in his testimony afterward that he remembered neither meeting Boyle nor making any such statements that day.<ref name="iketestimony"/> Deputy Marshal Andy Bronk also heard the talk around town. He woke Virgil, who listened, and went back to sleep. Ike's continuous threats were not worth losing sleep over.<ref name=casey2>{{cite web |last1=Tefertiller |first1=Casey |title=The Walk Down |url=https://truewestmagazine.com/the-walk-down/ |website=True West Magazine |access-date=July 21, 2018 |date=October 19, 2016 |archive-date=July 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180721102835/https://truewestmagazine.com/the-walk-down/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Later in the morning, Ike picked up his [[rifle]] and [[revolver]] from the West End Corral, where he had deposited his weapons and stabled his wagon and team after entering town. By noon that day, Ike was still drinking and once again armed, in violation of the city ordinance against carrying firearms in the city. He told anyone who would listen he was looking for Holliday or an Earp. At Fly's boarding house where Holliday and his common-law wife [[Big Nose Kate|Mary Katharine Horony]] were sleeping, proprietor Mary Fly heard Clanton's threats and banged on Holliday's door. Fly told Horony, "Ike Clanton was here looking for [Holliday], and he had a rifle with him."<ref name=casey2/> Horony woke Holliday and relayed the threat, who replied, "If God will let me live to get my clothes on, he will see me."<ref name=casey2/>

At about 1:00&nbsp;p.m., Marshal Virgil and his Deputy Morgan Earp found Ike on Fourth Street, still armed, and Virgil [[pistol whip]]ped him from behind. Disarming him, the Earps took Ike to appear before Justice of the Peace A.O. Wallace for violating the ordinance. Wyatt waited with Clanton while Virgil went to find Justice Wallace so a court hearing could be held.<ref name=wyatttestimony/>

=== Ike Clanton court hearing ===
[[File:Morgan Earp.jpg|thumb|Morgan Earp, later murdered by the Cowboys]]
While Wyatt waited for Virgil to return with Justice Wallace, witnesses overheard Wyatt tell Clanton, "You cattle thieving son-of-a-bitch, and you know that I know you are a cattle thieving son-of-a-bitch, you've threatened my life enough, and you've got to fight!", Ike Clanton was heard to reply, "Fight is my racket, and all I want is four feet of ground!"<ref name="campbelltestimony">{{cite web|url=http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/earp/campbelltestimony.html|title=Testimony of R. J. Campbell in the Preliminary Hearing in the Earp-Holliday Case|year=2005|access-date=March 19, 2015|editor-first=Douglas|editor-last=Linder|work=Famous Trials: The O. K. Corral Trial|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403234946/http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/earp/campbelltestimony.html|archive-date=April 3, 2015}} From Turner, Alford (Ed.), ''The O. K. Corral Inquest'' (1992)</ref>

Ike reported in his testimony afterward that Wyatt Earp cursed him. He said Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan offered him his rifle and to fight him right there in the courthouse, which Ike declined. Ike also denied ever threatening the Earps.<ref name="iketestimony"/> Justice Wallace fined Ike $25 ({{Inflation|US|25|1881|fmt=eq|r=-1}}) plus court costs. Ike paid the fine and Virgil told Ike he could pick up his confiscated rifle and revolver at the Grand Hotel, which was favored by Cowboys when in town. Ike testified that he picked up the weapons from William Soule, the jailer, a couple of days later.<ref name=iketestimony/>

=== Tom McLaury's concealed weapon ===
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:PeteSpence.JPG|thumb|[[Pete Spence]], an alias for Elliot Larkin Ferguson, in an 1893 Yuma Penitentiary prison mugshot]] -->
Outside the court house where Ike was being fined, Tombstone Deputy Marshal Wyatt almost walked into 28-year-old [[Tom McLaury]] as the two men were brought up short nose-to-nose. Tom, who had arrived in town the day before, was required by the well-known city ordinance to deposit his pistol when he first arrived in town. When Wyatt demanded, "Are you heeled or not?", McLaury said he was not armed. Wyatt testified that he saw a [[revolver]] in plain sight on the right hip of Tom's pants.<ref name="Bauertestimony">{{cite web|url=http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/earp/bauertestimony.html|title=Testimony of A. Bauer in the Preliminary Hearing in the Earp-Holliday Case|access-date=February 6, 2011|year=2005|editor-first=Douglas|editor-last=Linder|work=Famous Trials: The O. K. Corral Trial|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110816210806/http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/earp/bauertestimony.html|archive-date=August 16, 2011}} From Turner, Alford (Ed.), ''The O. K. Corral Inquest'' (1992)</ref> As an unpaid [[deputy sheriff|deputy]] [[marshal]] for Virgil, Wyatt habitually carried a pistol, in his waistband or in a coat pocket lined with leather to make drawing it easier. Witnesses reported that Wyatt drew his [[revolver]] from his coat pocket and [[pistol whip]]ped Tom McLaury with it twice, leaving him prostrate and bleeding on the street. Saloon-keeper Andrew Mehan testified at the Spicer hearing afterward that he saw McLaury deposit a revolver at the Capital Saloon sometime between 1:00–2:00&nbsp;p.m., after the confrontation with Wyatt, which Mehan also witnessed.<ref name="historynet"/>

Wyatt said in his deposition afterward that he had been temporarily acting as city marshal for Virgil the week before while Virgil was in Tucson for the [[Pete Spence]] and [[Frank Stilwell]] trial. Wyatt said that he still considered himself a deputy city marshal, which Virgil later confirmed. Since Wyatt was an off-duty officer, he could not legally search or arrest Tom for carrying a revolver within the city limits — a [[misdemeanor]] offense. Only Virgil or one of his city police deputies, including Morgan Earp and possibly [[Warren Earp]], could search him and take any required action. Wyatt, who was portrayed as a non-drinker, testified at the Spicer hearing that he went to Haffords and bought a cigar and went outside to watch the Cowboys. At the time of the gunfight about two hours later, Wyatt could not know if Tom was still armed.<ref name="wyatttestimony"/>

It was early afternoon by the time Ike and Tom had seen doctors for their head wounds. The day was chilly, with snow still on the ground in some places. Both Tom and Ike had spent the night gambling, drinking heavily, and without sleep. Now they were both out-of-doors, both wounded from head beatings, and at least Ike was still drunk.<ref name=wgbh/><ref name=rosen>{{Cite book | last1 = Rosen | first1 = Fred | title = The Historical Atlas of American Crime | year= 2005 | publisher = Facts on File | location = New York | isbn = 978-0-8160-4841-0 | page = [https://archive.org/details/historicalatlaso0000rose/page/298 298] | url = https://archive.org/details/historicalatlaso0000rose/page/298 }}</ref>{{rp|138|date=November 2012}}

=== More Cowboys enter town ===
[[File:Fmclaury.jpg|thumb|left|Frank McLaury, killed during the gunfight]]
At around 1:30–2:00&nbsp;p.m., after Tom had been [[pistol whip|pistol-whipped]] by Wyatt, Ike's 19-year-old younger brother Billy Clanton and Tom's older brother Frank McLaury arrived in town. They had heard from their neighbor, Ed "Old Man" Frink, that Ike had been stirring up trouble in town overnight, and they had ridden into town on horseback to back up their brothers. They arrived from Antelope Springs, {{convert|13|mi}} east of [[Tombstone, Arizona|Tombstone]], where they had been rounding up [[livestock|stock]] and had breakfasted with Ike and Tom the day before. Both Frank and Billy were armed with a revolver and a rifle, as was the custom for riders in the country outside Tombstone. [[Apache]] warriors had engaged the U.S. Army near Tombstone just three weeks before the O.K. Corral gunfight, so the need for weapons outside of town was well established and accepted.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://southwestbackcountry.wordpress.com/category/ghost-towns/page/2/ |title=Gunfight at the O.K. Corral |access-date=March 11, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110108073107/http://southwestbackcountry.wordpress.com/category/ghost-towns/page/2/ |archive-date=January 8, 2011 }}</ref>

Billy and Frank stopped first at the Grand Hotel on Allen Street, and were greeted by Doc Holliday. They learned immediately about their brothers' beatings by the Earps within the previous two hours. The incidents had generated a lot of talk in town. Angrily, Frank said he would not drink, and he and Billy left the saloon immediately to seek Tom. By law, both Frank and Billy should have left their firearms at the Grand Hotel. Instead, they remained fully armed.<ref name=lubet/>{{rp|49|date=November 2012}}<ref name=roberts/>{{rp|190|date=November 2012}}

=== Virgil and Wyatt Earp's reactions ===
Wyatt said that he saw Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury in Spangenberg's gun and hardware store on 4th Street filling their [[gun belt]]s with [[Cartridge (firearms)|cartridges]].<ref name="wyatttestimony"/> Ike testified afterward that Tom was not there and that he had tried to buy a new revolver but the owner saw Ike's bandaged head and refused to sell him one.<ref name="iketestimony"/> Ike apparently had not heard Virgil tell him that his confiscated weapons were at the Grand Hotel around the corner from Spangenberg's shop.<ref name="iketestimony"/><ref name="virgiltestimony"/>

When Virgil Earp learned that Wyatt was talking to the Cowboys at Spangenberg's gun shop, he went there himself. Virgil testified afterward that he thought he saw all four men, Ike Clanton, Billy Clanton, Frank McLaury, and Tom McLaury, buying cartridges.<ref name="virgiltestimony">{{cite web|url=http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/earp/vearptestimony.html|title=Testimony of Virgil Earp in the Preliminary Hearing in the Earp Case|access-date=February 6, 2011|year=2005|editor-first=Douglas|editor-last=Linder|work=Famous Trials: The O. K. Corral Trial|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110203142604/http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/earp/vearptestimony.html|archive-date=February 3, 2011}} From Turner, Alford (Ed.), ''The O. K. Corral Inquest'' (1992)</ref> Virgil went around the corner on Allen Street to the [[Wells Fargo]] office, where he picked up a 10-gauge or 12-gauge, [[coach gun|short, double-barreled shotgun]]. It was an unusually cold and windy day in Tombstone, and Virgil was wearing a [[Duster (clothing)|long overcoat]]. To avoid alarming Tombstone's public, Virgil hid the shotgun under his overcoat when he returned to Hafford's Saloon.<ref name=lubet/>{{rp|4|date=November 2012}}

From Spangenberg's, the Cowboys moved to the O.K. Corral where witnesses overheard them threatening to kill the Earps. For unknown reasons the Cowboys then walked out the back of the O.K. Corral and then west, stopping in a narrow, empty lot next to C. S. Fly's boarding house.<ref name=lubet/>{{rp|4|date=November 2012}}

Virgil initially avoided a confrontation with the newly arrived Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton, who had not yet deposited their weapons at a hotel or stable as the law required. The statute was not specific about how far a recently arrived visitor might "with good faith, and within reasonable time" travel into town while carrying a firearm. This permitted a traveler to keep his firearms if he was proceeding directly to a livery, hotel or saloon. The three main Tombstone corrals were all west of 4th Street between Allen and Fremont, a block or two from where Wyatt saw the Cowboys buying cartridges. Miner Ruben F. Coleman later told ''The Tombstone Epitaph'':<ref name="virgiltestimony"/><ref name=historynetgun/><ref name=epitaph171881/>

{{blockquote|I was in the O.K. Corral at 2:30 p.m. when I saw the two Clantons and the two McLaurys in an earnest conversation across the street at Dunbar's corral. I went up the street and notified Sheriff Behan and told them it was my opinion that they meant trouble, and it was his duty, as sheriff, to go and disarm them. I told him they had gone to the West End Corral. I then went and saw Marshal Virgil Earp and notified him to the same effect.<ref name=epitaph171881>{{cite news|title=Yesterday's Tragedy|newspaper=Tombstone Epitaph|url=http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/earp/epitaph.html/|access-date=17 February 2014|date=27 October 1881|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213174107/http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/earp/epitaph.html|archive-date=13 December 2013}}</ref>}}

=== Behan attempts to disarm Cowboys ===
[[File:JohnnyBehan.jpg|thumb|Johnny Behan, attempted to arrest Earps]]
[[Cochise County]] [[Sheriff]] [[Johnny Behan]], a friend of the Cowboys,<ref name=epitaph1226/> later testified that he woke up about 1:30&nbsp;p.m. after the late-night card game he went to get a shave at a barbershop. That is where he first learned that the Cowboys were armed. Behan stated he quickly finished his shave and went to locate the Cowboys. At about 2:30&nbsp;p.m. he found Frank McLaury holding a horse and talking to someone on 4th Street near the corner of Fremont. When he saw Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury near C. S. Fly's photography studio, he walked there with Frank. He told the Cowboys that they must give up their arms. Ike Clanton said he was not armed, and Tom McLaury pulled his coat open to show he was not carrying a weapon.<ref>{{cite news|title=Coroner's Inquest|url=http://www.tombstone1880.com/archives/behan.htm|newspaper=Tombstone Epitaph|access-date=March 1, 2016|date=October 29, 1881|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151024021157/http://www.tombstone1880.com/archives/behan.htm|archive-date=October 24, 2015}}</ref>

The Cowboys were located in a narrow {{convert|15|-|20|ft|m}} lot<ref>{{cite web|last1=Tefertiller|first1=Casey|last2=Morey|first2=Jeff|title=O.K. Corral: A Gunfight Shrouded in Mystery|url=http://www.historynet.com/ok-corral|website=HistoryNet.com|access-date=August 27, 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819203345/http://www.historynet.com/ok-corral|archive-date=August 19, 2014}}</ref> between the Harwood house and Fly's 12-room boarding house and photography studio at 312 Fremont Street,<ref>{{cite web|last1=Ziegler|first1=Jack|title=C.S. Fly: Frontier Photographer|url=http://www.bensonnews-sun.com/article_d4f5efb2-93a4-5956-bf1b-12f3dceece48.html|publisher=Benson News-Sun|access-date=August 27, 2014|date=May 5, 2000|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109162703/http://www.bensonnews-sun.com/article_d4f5efb2-93a4-5956-bf1b-12f3dceece48.html|archive-date=November 9, 2017}}</ref> where Doc Holliday roomed.

Behan later said he attempted to persuade Frank McLaury to give up his weapons, but Frank insisted that he would give up his guns only after City [[Marshal]] Virgil Earp and his brothers were first disarmed.<ref name="behantestimony">{{cite web|url=http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/earp/behantestimony.html|title=Testimony of John Behan in the Preliminary Hearing in the Earp-Holliday Case|access-date=February 7, 2011|editor-first=Douglas|editor-last=Linder|year=2005|work=Famous Trials: The O. K. Corral Trial|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101215162316/http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/earp/behantestimony.html|archive-date=December 15, 2010}} From Turner, Alford (Ed.), ''The O. K. Corral Inquest'' (1992)</ref>

The Cowboys were about a block and a half from the West End Corral at 2nd. Street and Fremont, where Ike and Tom's wagon and team were stabled. Virgil Earp later testified that he thought Ike and Tom were stabled at the [[O.K. Corral, Arizona|O.K. Corral]] on Allen between 3rd and 4th, from which he thought they would be departing if they were leaving town.

While Ike Clanton later said he was planning to leave town, Frank McLaury reported that he had decided to remain behind to take care of some business. Will McLaury, Tom and Frank's brother and a judge in [[Fort Worth, Texas]], claimed in a letter he wrote during the preliminary hearing after the shootout that Tom and Frank were still armed because they were planning to conduct business before leaving town to visit him in Texas. He wrote that Billy Clanton, who had arrived on horseback with Frank, intended to go with the McLaurys to Fort Worth. Will McLaury came to Tombstone after the gun fight and joined the prosecution team in an attempt to convict the Earps and Holliday for his brothers' murder.<ref name="behantestimony"/> Paul Johnson told a different story, that the McLaurys were about to leave for Iowa to attend the wedding of their sister, Sarah Caroline.<ref name=usatoday520>{{cite news|title=New epitaphs for dead in O.K. Corral shootout|url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-05-20-ok-corral-shootout_n.htm|date=May 20, 2011|newspaper=USA Today|access-date=April 21, 2013}}</ref> Tom and Frank were especially close to Sarah, one of their 14 siblings and half-siblings.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Robert Houston McLaury Family |url=http://cp1237.com/frankandtom/brothers.htm |access-date=April 21, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120223233412/http://cp1237.com/frankandtom/brothers.htm |archive-date=February 23, 2012 }}</ref> Caroline married James Reed in [[Richland, Iowa]] at the end of November that year.<ref name=johnson>{{cite book|last=Johnson|first=Paul Lee|title=The McLaurys in Tombstone, Arizona: An O. K. Corral Obituary|publisher=[[University of North Texas Press]]|page=26|location=Denton|year= 2012|isbn=978-1574414509|edition=First|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mkLyIwACxO8C|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603190353/https://books.google.com/books?id=mkLyIwACxO8C|archive-date=June 3, 2016}}</ref>

=== Virgil decides to disarm Cowboys ===
Citizens reported to Virgil on the Cowboys' movements and their threats told him that Ike and Tom had left their livery stable and entered town while armed, in violation of the city ordinance. Virgil Earp was told by several citizens that the McLaurys and the Clantons had gathered on Fremont Street. Virgil decided he had to disarm the Cowboys.<ref name="virgiltestimony"/><ref name=historynetgun/> His decision to take action may have been influenced by the Cowboys' repeated threats to the Earps, their proximity to Holliday's room in Fly's boarding house, and their location on the route the Earps usually took to their homes two blocks further west on Fremont Street.<ref name=turner/>{{rp|27|date=November 2012}}

Several members of the citizen's vigilance committee offered to support him with arms, but Virgil refused.<ref name="wgbh"/> He had, during the prior month, appointed Morgan as a Special Policeman. He had also appointed Wyatt as a Special Policeman while Virgil had been in Prescott on business. He had also called on Doc Holliday that morning for help with disarming the Clantons and McLaurys.<ref name=virgiltestimony/> Wyatt spoke of his brothers Virgil and Morgan as the "marshals" while he acted as "deputy."

Virgil Earp picked up the shotgun he had retrieved from the Wells Fargo office earlier.<ref name="weir"/>{{rp|185|date=November 2012}} He gave the shotgun to Doc Holliday who hid it under his overcoat. He took Holliday's [[walking-stick]] in return.<ref name=boyer>{{cite book |author=Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp |title=I Married Wyatt Earp|others=Glenn G. Boyer, editor |location=Tucson |publisher= [[University of Arizona Press]] |year=1976}}</ref>{{rp|89|date=November 2012}}

As usual, the Earps carried their revolvers in their coat pockets or in their waistbands. Wyatt Earp was carrying a [[.44 S&W American|.44 caliber American]] [[Smith & Wesson Model 3|1869 Smith & Wesson]] revolver.<ref name=shillingberg>{{cite journal|title=Wyatt Earp and the Buntline Special Myth |url=http://www.kshs.org/p/kansas-historical-quarterly-wyatt-earp-and-the-buntline-special-myth/13255 |first=William B. |last=Shillingberg |date=Summer 1976 |volume=42 |number=2 |pages=113–154 |journal=Kansas Historical Quarterly |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120201191828/http://www.kshs.org/p/kansas-historical-quarterly-wyatt-earp-and-the-buntline-special-myth/13255 |archive-date= February 1, 2012 }}</ref> Holliday was carrying a nickel-plated pistol in a holster, but this was concealed by his long coat, as was the shotgun. The Earps and Holliday walked west, down the south side of Fremont Street past the rear entrance to the O.K. Corral, but out of visual range of the Cowboys' last reported location.<ref name=wyatttestimony/> Near the corner of Fourth St. and Fremont St., the Earps ran into Sheriff Behan. He had left the Cowboys and came toward the Earps, though he looked nervously backward several times. Virgil testified afterward that Behan told them, "For God's sake, don't go down there or they will murder you!"<ref name=virgiltestimony/> Wyatt said Behan told him and Morgan, "I have disarmed them."<ref name=wyatttestimony/> Behan testified afterward that he had only said he had gone down to the Cowboys "for the purpose of disarming them," not that he had actually disarmed them.<ref name=behantestimony/> One eyewitness, laundryman Peter H. Fallehy, testified afterward that Virgil Earp told Behan, "those men have made their threats and I will not arrest them but I will kill them on sight."<ref name=fallehytestimony/>

When Behan said he had disarmed them, Virgil attempted to avoid a fight. "I had a walking stick in my left hand and my hand was on my six-shooter in my waist pants, and when he said he had disarmed them, I shoved it clean around to my left hip and changed my walking stick to my right hand."<ref name="virgiltestimony"/> Wyatt said, "I took my pistol, which I had in my hand, under my coat, and put it in my overcoat pocket." The Earps walked further down Fremont street and came into full view of the Cowboys in the lot.<ref name=wyatttestimony/>

Wyatt testified he saw "Frank McLaury, Tom McLaury, and Billy Clanton standing in a row against the east side of the building on the opposite side of the vacant space west of Fly's photograph gallery. Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne and a man I don't know <nowiki>[</nowiki>Wes Fuller<nowiki>]</nowiki> were standing in the vacant space about halfway between the photograph gallery and the next building west."<ref name="wyatttestimony">{{cite web|url=http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/earp/wearptestimony.html|title=Testimony of Wyatt S. Earp in the Preliminary Hearing in the Earp-Holliday Case|access-date=February 6, 2011|year=2005|editor-first=Douglas|editor-last=Linder|work=Famous Trials: The O. K. Corral Trial|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110203011441/http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/earp/wearptestimony.html|archive-date=February 3, 2011}} From Turner, Alford (Ed.), ''The O. K. Corral Inquest'' (1992)</ref> Addie Bourland corroborated Wyatt's testimony, stating that she saw "five men opposite my house, leaning against a small house west of Fly's Gallery and one man was holding a horse, standing a little out from the house."<ref name="addietestimony"/>