Facts about the gunfight at the OK Corral

With BC-CNS-Wyatt Earp

By Cronkite News Service

Some facts about the gunfight at the OK Corral:

_ Date: Oct. 26, 1881.

_ Location: On a street near, but not in, the OK Corral in Tombstone.

_ Wyatt Earp’s Allies: Virgil and Morgan Earp, Wyatt’s brothers; Doc Holliday, a dentist, gambler and gunslinger.

_ Origin: There was a three-way power struggle at the time between the Earp brothers and their allies, Sheriff Johnny Behan and county Democratic Party leaders and the Clanton gang.

_ Flashpoint: The gunfight occurred a day after a verbal confrontation between Ike Clanton and Doc Holliday and shortly after Ike Clanton’s arrest for carrying firearms as he went gunning for Holliday.

_ Killed: Billy Clanton, Frank McLaury and Tom McLaury.

_ Aftermath: The Clanton sought revenge through ambush tactics. Virgil Earp was crippled by buckshot two weeks later and Morgan Earp was shot and killed five months later. Wyatt Earp went on a personal vendetta, and soon after suspects Frank Stillwell, Florentino Cruz and Curly Bill Brocius were dead.

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Source: “Roadside History of Arizona,” by Marshall Trimble, Arizona state historian.