Tombstone –Wyatt Earp, the O.K. Corral, and the Vendetta
Ride 1881-82. Osprey Raid -41.
Written by Sean McLachlan, Illustrated by Mark Stacey and
Johnny Shumate.
Scope – Narrow and well defined.
Completeness – Very.
Appeal – High, well presented.
Accuracy – open to debate
Describe
This 80 page, well-illustrated book covers the famed
gunfight at the O.K. Coral. This occurred on October 26, 1881 in the town of
Tombstone, Arizona. In this much retold
and often fictionalized incident of the old West, two factions, the Clantons
and the Earps, faced off and settled their differences with gunplay.
The story has been retold many times. And like most such
true tales of the American West, in many different ways. (For an amusing approach
to trying to make sense of the facts amidst myriad confusing reports, of an old
Western gunfighter’s life, I recommend “Billy the Kid, the Endless Ride,” by Michael Wallis (2007, ww Norton
& Company, New York, New York). Wallis, repeatedly, does a great job of
surveying conflicting claims and weighing their pros and cons and validity in a
manner that is both scholarly and amusing at the same time. Although this book
acknowledges such problems, it does not, for reasons of space, go into them in
as much space.) Therefore, while at times this book is forced to simply repeat
two (or more) conflicting reports of the same incident, it still does do a good
job of explaining the whos, the wheres, the whys, and the hows, of the
legendary gunfight at the O.K. Coral.
In the early 1880s, Tombstone, Arizona was a frontier town
struggling with a political divide. On both sides of this divide were armed men
with a proven history of violence.
The Earp faction represented the law in the town. Although
most considered the enforcement and strictness of the law in this time and
place had to be a bit “fuzzy” and flexible at times, nevertheless, these were
the men who were assigned to keep order and maintain the peace. Today, the
three brothers, Wyatt, Morgan, and Virgil Earp, along with their friend “Doc”
Holliday, a dentist by trade, are almost household names and their exploits
real and imagined have been the focus of countless movies.
The Clantons, the other side of the dispute, were a group of
ranchers who represented the “Cowboys” faction. (that is what they were commonly called at the
time .) The activities of the group
included not just buying and selling cattle, but also rustling cattle and
dealing in stolen cattle, particularly cattle stolen in Mexico to the south.
The town was divided between two political parties, the
Republicans and the Democrats. In the post Civil War American west, the
Republicans were seen as the party of the supporters of the North and the
Democrats as the party of the supporters of the South. There were separate
newspapers for the two factions as well. (My, oh my, how little things seem to
have changed after 140 years.)
Problems involving misbehaving “cowboys” escalated, death
threats were made, and the result was the most famous gunfight in American
history.
This book covers it well, giving a good description of the
time and place, the lives and histories of the people involved, the weapons
used, the stakes they were fighting for, as well as the outside factions and
forces that had to be kept in mind when the people involved made decisions.
Although there was a fuzzy line between what was allowed and what was
permitted, if either side had gone too far the result would have been outside
intervention.
In conclusion, this is a good introduction and survey to the
famed Gunfight at the O.K. Corral as well as the events that took place before
and after. It contains nice art, good photographs and nice art and is well
worth reading.
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