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Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
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=== Weapons carried by the Cowboys === ; Billy Clanton Billy Clanton was armed with a [[Colt Single Action Army#Colt Frontier Six-Shooter|Colt Frontier Six-Shooter]] revolver in .44-40 caliber, which was identified by its serial number at the Spicer hearing. [[C. S. Fly|C.S. Fly]] found Billy Clanton's empty revolver in his hand where he lay and took it from him.<ref name=knuthco1/> ; Frank McLaury Frank McLaury was also armed with a Colt Frontier Six-Shooter in .44-40 caliber, which was recovered by laundryman Fallehy on the street about {{convert|5|ft}} from his body with two [[Cartridge (firearms)|rounds]] remaining in it. Fallehy placed it next to Frank's body before he was moved to the Harwood house. Dr. Mathews laid Frank's revolver on the floor while he examined Billy and Tom. Cowboy witness Wes Fuller said he saw Frank in the middle of the street shooting a revolver and trying to remove a [[Winchester rifle#Model 1873|Winchester Rifle]] from the [[scabbard]] on his horse. The two Model 1873 rifles were still in the scabbards on Frank and Tom McLaury's horses when they were found after the gunfight.<ref name=historynet/> If, as was customary, Frank carried only five rounds in his revolver, then he had fired only three shots.<ref name=cp1237/> ; Tom McLaury Witnesses differed about whether Tom McLaury was carrying a weapon during the shootout or not. No revolver or rifle was found near his body and he was not wearing a cartridge belt. Wyatt testified that he had arrested Tom earlier that day when he found him carrying a weapon earlier in violation of a city ordinance. He [[pistol-whip]]ped him and took him to the courthouse where he was fined. Saloon-keeper Mehan testified that Tom had deposited his revolver at the Capital Saloon on 4th Street and Fremont after his arrest and before the fight, between 1 and 2 p.m.<ref name=historynet/> Several Cowboy witnesses testified that Tom was unarmed and claimed that the Earps had murdered a defenseless man. Behan testified that when he searched Tom McLaury for a weapon prior to the gunfight, he was not thorough, and that Tom might have had a pistol hidden in his waistband.<ref name=turner/>{{rp|164|date=November 2012}} Behan's testimony was significant, since he was a prime witness for the prosecution but had equivocated on this point. Behan's sympathy to the [[The Cowboys (Cochise County)|Cowboys]] was well known, and during the trial he firmly denied he had contributed money to help Ike with his defense costs.<ref name=guinna/> However, documents were located in 1997 that showed Behan served as [[guarantor]] for a loan to Ike Clanton during the Spicer hearing.<ref name="historynet"/> Since Wyatt planned to run against Behan for County Sheriff, Behan had an incentive to help convict Wyatt. A story by Richard Rule in the Cowboy-friendly newspaper, the ''Nugget'', told the story in the manner of the day, without attribution. Rule wrote, "The Sheriff stepped out and said [to the Earps]: 'Hold up boys, don't go down there or there will be trouble; I have been down there to disarm them.'"<ref name="nuggett"/> In his testimony, Behan repeatedly insisted he told the Earps that he only intended to disarm the Cowboys, not that he had actually done so. The article said that Behan "was standing near by commanding the contestants to cease firing but was powerless to prevent it." The ''Nugget'' had a close relationship to Behan; it was owned by Harry Woods, who was also undersheriff to Behan, but Woods was collecting prisoners in El Paso, Texas, that day. So it is extremely likely that Rule interviewed Behan. Both Virgil and Williams' testified that Behan visited Virgil Earp that evening and said, "I am your friend, and you did perfectly right." This corroborated the initial ''Nugget'' report, which upon Wood's return was altered to a version that favored the Cowboys and which Behan later supported in his testimony at the hearing.<ref name="historynet"/> Though saloon-keeper Andrew Mehan had seen Tom deposit his pistol after his beating by Earp and before the gunfight, none of the Earps had any way of knowing that Tom had left his revolver at the saloon. Hotel keeper Albert "Chris" Billickie, whose father Charles owned the Cosmopolitan Hotel, saw Tom McLaury enter Bauer's butcher shop about 2:00 p.m. He testified that Tom's right-hand pants pocket was flat when he went in but protruded, as if it contained a pistol (so he thought), when he emerged.<ref name="Billickie testimony">{{cite web|url=http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/earp/billickietestimony.html|title=Testimony of Albert Billickie in the Preliminary Hearing in the Earp-Holliday Case|access-date=February 7, 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/20110816210758/http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/earp/billickietestimony.html|archive-date=August 16, 2011}} From Turner, Alford (Ed.), ''The O. K. Corral Inquest'' (1992)</ref> Retired army surgeon Dr. J. W. Gardiner also testified that he saw the bulge in Tom's pants.<ref name=cp1237/> However, the bulge in Tom's pants pocket may have been the nearly $3,300 ({{Inflation|US|3300|1881|fmt=eq|r=-3}}) in cash and receipts found on his body, perhaps in payment for stolen Mexican beef purchased by the butcher.<ref name="barra"/>{{rp|182|date=November 2012}} Wyatt and Virgil Earp and Doc Holliday believed that Tom had a revolver at the time of the gunfight. Wyatt thought Tom fired a revolver under the horse's neck and believed until he died that Tom's revolver had been removed from the scene by Wesley Fuller.<ref>{{cite web|title=Full Details for Lot 522|url=http://auctions.alexautographs.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=42+++++++522+&refno=+++66602|work=Wyatt Earp's sketch map of gunfight|publisher=Alexander Autographs|access-date=November 19, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425232556/http://auctions.alexautographs.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=42+++++++522+&refno=+++66602|archive-date=April 25, 2012}}</ref> Witness Fallehy wrote that he saw Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday shooting at a man who was using a horse to barricade himself, and once shot the man fell. In his statement, Fallehy wrote that the man still held his pistol in his hand. Although he did not see him shoot, he thought Tom McLaury was armed.<ref name=fallehytestimony>{{cite web |url=http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2010/07/online-the-gunfight-at-the-ok-corral.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100718174725/http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2010/07/online-the-gunfight-at-the-ok-corral.html |archive-date=July 18, 2010| access-date=September 14, 2016 |title=Online: The Gunfight at the OK Corral}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/cdm/ref/collection/ccolch/id/134 | title=Testimony of P.H. Fallehy and clerk's cover and file sheet | publisher=Cochise County Clerk of the Superior Court | access-date=September 14, 2016 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170117072440/http://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/cdm/ref/collection/ccolch/id/134 | archive-date=January 17, 2017 }}</ref> Ruben F. Coleman also said afterward that he thought Tom was armed, though he later equivocated on this point. He was quoted in the October 27 issue of ''The Tombstone Epitaph'' in which he said, "Tom McLaury fell first, but raised and fired again before he died." Coleman also testified at the coroner's inquest one day later. Part-time newspaper reporter Howell 'Pat' Hayhurst transcribed all of the testimony from the hearing in the early 1930s as part of the [[Federal Writers' Project]], in the [[Works Progress Administration]]. When he transcribed Coleman's second testimony, he quoted Coleman as saying, "Tom McLaury, after the first two shots were fired, ran down Fremont Street and fell ... I think that the report I gave to the ''Epitaph'' was pretty near correct as published." However, it is known that Hayhurst arbitrarily removed text that he decided was not relevant. Author [[Stuart N. Lake]] later said Hayhurst 'mutilated' the transcription.<ref name=historynet2/> The documents were subsequently lost and are still unaccounted for.<ref name=erwin>{{cite book|last1=Erwin|first1=Richard E.|title=The Tuth about Wyatt Earp|year= 2000|publisher=iUniverse|location=San Jose, CA|isbn=978-0595001279}}</ref>{{rp|269}} Even if Tom was not armed with a revolver, [[Virgil Earp]] testified Tom attempted to grab a rifle from the scabbard on the horse in front of him before he was killed. Judge Spicer ruled afterward that "if Thomas McLaury was one of a party who were thus armed and were making felonious resistance to an arrest, and in the melee that followed was shot, the fact of his being unarmed, if it be a fact, could not of itself criminate the defendants [Earps], if they were not otherwise criminated."<ref name="spicerdecision"/> ; Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne both said they were unarmed when they fled the [[gunfight]].
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