The Wild West in Court: Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday’s Fight for Freedom After the O.K. Corral

Episode Notes

Transcript

Wyatt Earp:

When I saw Billy Clanton and Frank McGorry draw their pistols, I drew my pistol. Billy Clanton leveled his pistol at me, but I did not aim at him. I knew that Frank McGorry had the reputation of being a good shot and a dangerous man, and I aimed at him. The first two shots were fired by Billy Clanton and myself. I don’t know which was fired first. We fired almost together. After about four shots were fired. Ike Clanton ran up and grabbed my left arm. I could see no weapon in his hand and thought at the time he had none. And so I said to him, the fight is commenced. Go to fighting or get away.

J. Craig Williams:

30 shots fired in 30 seconds at the Okay Corral left three men dead and three more wounded and turned into a month long trial with some 30 witnesses in late fall, 1881. Since then, Wyatt Earp’s, legendary gunfight with the clans has kept the town of Tombstone, Arizona alive and has been the source of inspiration for many books and films over the years. 125 years later, many questions are still left unanswered. Were the clans and McClure’s cattle thieves deserving of their death. Why was Doc Holiday a gambler and notorious gunslinger deputized by Virgil Earp? Why did the coroner’s inquest not issue a verdict and who really fired first

Wyatt Earp:

Every few steps, he would look back as if he apprehended danger, and I heard him say to Virgil Earp, for God’s sake, don’t go down there, you’ll get murdered.

H.F. Sills:

I got side of the party. I had overheard making those threats. I thought there would be trouble, and I crossed the street

Ike Clanton:

Just as I stepped out. Morgan Earp stepped up and said, yes, you son of a bitch. You can have all the fight you want. Now

J. Craig Williams:

Please pull up a chair and have a seat with me at the counsel table. You’re going to sit right next to the lawyers while they cross examine witnesses, fight off objections from opposing counsel, and deal with anxious defendants facing big fines, long jail terms, and even death sentences. You’ll also have a front row seat in the jury box as you listen to the testimony straight from the witnesses, and then after hearing the final verdict, you can decide whether the rulings were correct or not. Hi everyone. My name is J. Craig Williams and welcome to In Dispute. In this podcast miniseries, we will look back at 10 famous court cases that stand out for their historical importance, their contrasts with today’s modern criminal trials and their unusual outcomes.

In this episode, as we look at the trial transcripts finally published in 1981 on the hundredth anniversary of the gunfight, we will see the defense team’s masterful decisions about their presentation of the case. On the other side, we’ll see the prosecution’s mistakes in both their cross-examination of witnesses and their failure to develop a cohesive theme that explained everyone’s actions for trial lawyers. This trial presents a wonderful study of trial tactics. It demonstrates the dangers in the art of cross-examination and offers insights into the minds of some of the most famous gunfighters in the Wild West.

In 18 77, 5 years before the shootout at the OK Corral Prospector named Ed Shelan found silver in a remote part of Arizona and named his mining claim Tombstone, the name stuck. The boom was on and Tombstone was born sprouting from an encampment of 40 tents and cabins eventually to a full blown town of more than 7,000 people, complete with banks saloons, a red light district photography studio, and of course a corral. At the time of the shootout, the town’s population hovered around 1000. The town’s boom attracted both commercial and outlaw interests as brothers seeking to find their fortune. Wyatt, Virgil Earp and James Earp arrived shortly after the silver strike in 1879. Their brother Morgan Erb would arrive a year later, followed shortly by Wyatts friend, Dr. John Henry Doc Holiday, a sometimes dentist gambler and notorious Gunfighter I Clinton. Billy Clinton and Thomas McClury were considered cowboys a pejorative term quite different than the meaning we have today. Cowboys at the time were considered reckless and dangerous stage robbers, bandits and wrestlers. The clans allegedly rusted cattle in Cochise County, Arizona and elsewhere between the United States and Mexico. Frank McClary and Tom McClary allegedly worked closely with the clans by purchasing their stolen livestock and then selling it.

Several events led up to the gunfight at the OK Corral, starting with a horse stolen from Wyatt Earp two years earlier in 1879, which he recovered from Billy Clan. In mid 1880, Virgil Wyatt and Morgan located mules at the McClury Ranch that were allegedly stolen from the United States Army’s for Rucker. In response, Frank wrote an editorial in the local newspaper and accused the Earps of acting as vigilantes instead of law men. In late 1880, Virgil Earp was appointed by the Tombstone Town Council as its Marshall. There were three levels of law enforcement in Tombstone Town, Marshall Virgil, Earp, Cochise County Sheriff, Johnny Behan and Federal Territory. Marshall Crawley. Drake Behan and Earp competed for the governor’s appointment as sheriff, but Earp withdrew his application. Earp claimed that Behan had agreed to appoint him as an undersheriff, but Behan never did so and there was bad blood between them.

Wyatt Earp and Sheriff Johnny Behan also competed for the affections of Josephine Marcus, an actress actor. She arrived in Tombstone in 1879. Behan and Josephine either lived together in Tombstone for some time or she served as his housekeeper, but she left him in 1881, largely due to an affair Behan had with another woman. In 1882, Josephine lived with Wyatt and adopted Earp as her last name. They eventually married in 1888 and lived together for almost 50 years as the romantic rivalry between Behan and Wyatt. Earp unfolded outlaws by the names of Leonard Head and Crane killed the Bisbee Stagecoach driver and stole $26,000. On March 15th, 1881, Virgil Wyatt and Morgan Earp, along with Doc Holiday headed off in a posse after the Bandits and Behan and another group headed off in a separate posse, the Earpposse captured one of the bandits who confessed his only involvement with the crime was holding the horses and the IIke Earps turned him over to the Behan Posse.

Shortly later, that man escaped from Bean’s Unlocked jail and Behan refused to pay the Earp posse for their work to oust Behan from his position as sheriff and increase his own popularity. Wyatt Earp struck a deal with Ike Clinton and Frank McClury. Wyatt Earp promised to pay them a $6,000 reward for information to allow Wyatt to capture the Bisbee stage stagecoach bandits, but before that arrest could be made, the stagecoach bandits were killed in a gunfight in New Mexico. Tensions then arose between Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday and I, Clanton and Frank McClary over leaks of this secret deal to other cowboys which made Ike and Frank look like traitors. The confrontational history and deep rooted animosity between the Earps and the clans would boil over onto the streets of tombstone facing these threats and not willing to back down. The Earps turned to the law to disarm the clans and McClury practically at the insistence of the Earps. The town of Tombstone passed an ordinance several months before the shootout prohibiting anyone from carrying guns within the town limits except lawmen.

After a night of threats and taunts back and forth between I Clanton Wyatt Earth and Dock Holiday and an uncharacteristically calm card game, the Earps retired in the late evening of October 25th, 1881. Ike continued to drink into the next morning and armed himself with a six shooter and a Winchester rifle and continued to threaten the Herps and Dock holiday. His brother, Billy and Frank and Tom McCleary were also in town apparently willing to make good on their threats against the Herps and Holiday alerted to these threats. When they awoke on the morning of October 26th, the Herps first dismissed them, but as they continued to receive more reports of impending danger, Virgil Wyatt and Morgan Earp gathered together and with Doc Holiday started their march toward the OK Corral to disarm the Clintons and the McClury. Sheriff Johnny Beam attempted to intervene and stop the Earps in Doc Holiday from proceeding warning them that they would be killed, and then Disingenuously advising the lawmen that he had disarmed the glanton in the McClury, but they brushed Behan aside and proceeded to the Okay corral. What happened next is the stuff of legend, much controversy and many questions of trial. As the two groups faced one another, demands were made by the lawmen. Threats were shouted back in response and shots were fired.

Virgil Earp:

Throw up your hands. I’ve come to disarm you hold. I don’t mean that I’ve come to disarm you.

Ike Clanton:

I’ve got You now

Doc Holliday:

Blaze away. You’re a daisy if you do.

J. Craig Williams:

After the 30 seconds of shooting subsided, Frank and Tom McClary laid dead on the street. Billy Clinton would die one hour later in a nearby home. Ike Clanton had thrown down his arms and escaped unharmed. Though he testified that bullets buzzed by his head. Morgan had been shot twice, once through each shoulder, but recovered. Virgil had been shot in the calf and also recovered. Doc was grazed by a bullet near his hip. Wyatt alone stood unscathed. In Swift response, the coroner empaneled a grand jury of 12 citizens and started a five day inquest after the grand jury and coroner inspected the bodies of the dead men. They conducted a brief inquiry and swore nine witnesses. None of the witnesses were cross examined in this proceeding, which was conducted solely by the coroner. Typically, a coroner’s inquest determines how and why an individual died. It is usually conducted by the coroner and includes a court reporter who transcribes the sworn statements of the witnesses who came before the grand jury in a grand jury proceeding.

However, there are no defense attorneys present and no cross-examination. These grand jury statements can be used in later criminal or civil proceedings because they are given under oath, but generally only if that witness can be cross-examined under the confrontation clause of the sixth Amendment in the manner of the deaths of the McClure’s and Billy Clanton, the grand jury for the coroner’s inquest heard from some nine witnesses, two of which who were directly involved in the shooting, Ike Clanton and Sheriff Behan. Of those two, the most important for Wyatt and Doc’s upcoming criminal trial was the statement of Ike Clanton. Since the prosecution, as you will see developed its theme around his testimony at the hearing, since Ike was also set to testify at trial, the defense lawyers could then use Ike’s statements from the coroner’s inquest against him if he varied from that testimony before the grand jury.

Ike testified that on the night before the shootout, the Herps pistol whipped him and he got into a verbal fight with the Herps and holiday, but somehow managed to stay up all night and play cards with them. In the morning they exchanged more threats and at the OK Corral it was the Herps and Holiday who fired first trying to kill him. He testified he grabbed Wyatt and his gang had no guns. Although other witnesses testified in the coroner’s inquest, Behan and Clayton’s testimony was the most slanted toward a finding that the lawman caused the deaths of the McClure’s and Billy Clanton Ike clan’s testimony may not have had the advice of counsel in the yet to be filed murder charges against the lawman and consequently, the prosecution was now stuck with his story as he told it to the coroner’s grand jury. Having testified under oath, Ike could not change his testimony without risking being called a liar and he therefore cast in stone the prosecution’s theory, which severely limited the prosecution’s ability to shape the strongest case against the Earps and holiday. The coroner’s grand jury verdict came in either implicating the lawmen nor clearing them the lack of any indictment or decision against either side. Involved in the shootout left the boys as the newspaper called them free to go.

Ike Clanton, however would tolerate no such result that allowed the Ibsen holiday to go free. In October 30th, 1881, he swore out a warrant to arrest the lawman for the murder of his brother and the McClure’s. On the same day. The court set the bail for the law men at $10,000 each, which they then posted testimony in the criminal trial started the following day on October 31st, just five days after the shooting. The tactic I describe next is the most important aspect of Wyatt Earps defense strategy. The trial of the Earps and Doc Holiday was actually a preliminary hearing the step before an actual trial. In a preliminary hearing, the judge is charged with determining whether there is probable cause a crime was committed, and if so, then the defendants are bound over for trial. No jury is impaneled for a preliminary hearing. The judge is the sole fact finder.

If the defense is successful in proving the lack of probable cause, then the case is dismissed and does not proceed to a full trial. Before jury, local attorney and Judge Wells w Spicer acted as justice of the peace. In the preliminary hearing, Spicer had been admitted to theBar in both Iowa and Utah where he defended a man accused in the then famous Mountain Meadows massacre. That trial resulted in what Spicer considered the unjustified conviction of the defendant and his death by a firing squad. The Earps and Holiday couldn’t have hoped for a better judge for their side of the case. In reality, however, it would’ve been difficult to find a judge with a different disposition given the lawlessness present in the territory and the court’s requirement to enforce the law. Also given Spicer’s years of practice, he was considered well-versed in the law. The lawyers before him were equally skilled.

Prosecutor Lyttleton Price who was appointed by the governor of Arizona and consequently was beholden to the business interests in Tombstone, was not believed to be the best choice by those who supported the clans and the McClure’s. Ike Clinton brought his personal lawyer, Ben Goodrich onto the prosecution team. Tom and Frank’s brother Will McClure, who was also both a lawyer and a judge likewise joined the prosecution team on November 14th, 1881. Almost halfway through the trial, the Earpbrothers were ably represented by attorney Tom Fitch who had a long documented career as both a politician and a lawyer, which gave him the nickname the Silver Tongue Orator of the Pacific. Due to a conflict of interest with the Earps, doc Holliday was represented by local attorney TJ Drum, who was a local federal judge in addition to his everyday law practice, the Earps and holiday’s best defense lie in the united front that today we would call a joint defense.

Today, prosecutors typically single out and offer to one or more of the defendants a plea to a lesser charge or sometimes outright immunity from further charges. In exchange for that defendant’s testimony and evidence against the other defendants, it appears the prosecution did not use this tactic, which likely would not have been effective. In any event, given the strong friendship between Wyatt and Doc, Virgil or Morgan could have easily blamed the fight on Wyatt and escaped their own hanging with the self-defense argument, but again, it was unlikely that brothers who fought together and relied on one another for a living would betray one another. Under the Arizona Territory law of 1881, the prosecution in the preliminary hearing only had to meet the minimal burden of proof of sufficient cause to believe the defendant’s guilty. This standard is well below the criminal standard of beyond a reasonable doubt for a guilty verdict and even below the lesser standard of preponderance of the evidence, sometimes called a 51 40 9% finding that we use in a civil trial.

Prosecutors typically call only a few witnesses to establish the bare likelihood a crime was committed. Because defense counsel treats a preliminary hearing as a discovery method to learn how the prosecution will present its case wise, prosecutors limit the evidence presented to just enough to meet their burden of proof and defense counsel equally avoids showing their hand prior to the actual trial and frequently will not call any witnesses. In the Earps and holidays case, however, the defense employed a much different tactic. They recognized Judge Spicer’s predilection toward law abiding commercial interests in tombstone, which aligned directly with the accused lawman. Given the theory chosen by the defense, it would be easy to align the law’s case with Judge Spicer’s predispositions, especially when 2000 people showed up for the funerals of the McCalls and Billy Clinton at Boot Hill and Tombstone. The defense counsel believed their best chance lay instead with Judge Spicer for a favorable verdict.

In the preliminary hearing, instead of a jury of cowboy sympathizers, the prosecution on the other hand had two main choices for a winning theory, either pin the start of the gunfight on the known Renegade doc holiday and thus implicate the Earps by association or show the ips themselves as rogues trying to kill off a rival gang. The prosecution started by laying out their theory of the herps and dock as rogue lawman out for a personal vendetta against the clans and the McClure’s. On November 7th, 1881, they called Wesley Fuller an eyewitness of the shootout. Fuller’s testimony was fairly damning of the lawmen.

Wesley Fuller:

The Earp party fired the first shots. The two were fired right away and they were fired almost together. They commenced firing them very rapidly and fired 20 or 30 shots. Both sides were firing. Five or six shots were fired by the Earp party before the other party fired. Billy Clanton and Frank McClury were the only two I saw fire at the Clanton party. As the first shots were fired by the Earp party, Billy Clanton had his hands up. Frank McClury was standing holding his horse when the firing commenced, he was not doing anything that I could see. He had no weapon that I saw on him. I saw his hands and he had nothing in him. If there had been, I would’ve seen him. I think the first two shots were aimed at Billy Clanton. I saw that he was hit. He threw his hands on his belly and he wheeled around. I didn’t see any effect on anybody else at that time.

J. Craig Williams:

The prosecution then moved to revoke bail for Wyatt and Doc who were taken into custody by none other than Sheriff John Behan, and they remained in his custody. For the next 16 days, Virgil and Morgan stayed at their homes recovering from their wounds, accusing the Earps of causing the fight and portraying the cowboys as victims was a difficult theory to prove. Most murder cases require the prosecution to approved motive, which frequently is based either on money or blood relationships. Here pit the murders on the herps and holiday required the prosecution to demonstrate an entirely different motive. Since none of the defendants were related to the McClure’s or the Clintons and had nothing to gain financially from their death, the prosecution started Ike clan’s questioning on November 9th, 1881. In the first part of his testimony, his statements and claims mirrored his testimony before the coroner’s in Quest that the lawman barely gave warning before they started firing. The prosecution made its motive clear with clan’s testimony, but at trial it was the first time clan’s, grand jury testimony would be challenged. Through cross-examination, the prosecution attempted to establish the animosity between the two groups.

Ike Clanton:

Yes, sir. There was a difficulty between Holiday and Morgan Earp and I the night before at a lunch stand in this town near the Eagle Brewery Saloon. While sitting down at the table, doc Holiday came in and commenced cursing me and said I was a son of a bitch of a cowboy and told me to get my gun out and get to work, and I told him I hadn’t no gun. He said I was a damned liar and had threatened the Earps. I told him I had not to bring whoever said so to me and I would convince him that I had not. I looked behind me and saw Morgan Earp with his feet over the lunch counter. He has his hand in his bosom also looking at me. I then got up and went out on the sidewalk. Doc Holliday said as I walked out, you son of a bitch, if you ain’t armed, going arm yourself. Just as I stepped out, Morgan Earp stepped up and said, yes, you son of a bitch. You can have all the fight you want. Now,

J. Craig Williams:

It was on cross, however that Ike Clinton made a major accusation about Wyatt Earp

Defense Attorney Tom Fitch:

Did not. Wyatt Earpapproach you Frank mc and Joe Hill for the purpose of getting you three parties to give Leonard head and crane away in the Arizona parlance so that he, Wyatt Earp could capture them.

Ike Clanton:

Wyatt Earp approached me in the Eagle Brewery Saloon one night. He asked me to take a drink with him and while they were mixing our drinks, he told me that he wanted a long private talk with me. After we had drank, he stepped out into the middle of the street with me. He then told me he would put me on a scheme to make $6,000. I asked him what it was. He told me he wanted me to help put up a job to kill Crane Leonard and head. He said there was between four and 5,000 reward for them and he said he would make the balance at the $6,000 up out of his own pocket. I then asked why he was anxious to capture these fellows. He said that his business was such that he would have to kill them or else leave the country for they were stopping around the country so damn long that he was afraid some of them would be caught and would squeal on him. I then told him I would see him again before I left town. I never talked to Wyatt Earp anymore about it.

J. Craig Williams:

Having accused Wyatt Earp of committing the stagecoach robbery with Leonard Hill and Crane Clanton then went on to shift the blame for the killing of the Stagecoach driver to Doc Holiday. The prosecutors lept on clan’s testimony which offered them the motive they had sought. They could now portray the law in his criminals themselves for robbing the stage coach and show that holiday was himself a killer, but the prosecution’s lead attorney Lyttleton Price could not resist asking one question too many.

Prosecutor Lyttleton Price:

Why have you not told what knock holiday Wyatt Virgil Earp and Morgan Earp said about the attempted stage robbery and the killing of Bud Phillippe before you have told it? In this examination

Ike Clanton:

Before they told me, I made a sacred promise not to tell it and never would’ve told it had I not been put on the stand. And another reason is I found out by Wyatt Earp’s conversation that he was offering money to kill the men that were in the stage robbery his accomplices for fear that Leonard Crane and Head would be captured in tell on him, and I knew that after Leonard Crane and Head was killed, that some of them would murder me for what they had told me.

J. Craig Williams:

Clinton did not realize the mistake he had just made. He had earlier claimed to have grabbed Wyatt Earp as the fighting began and when Wyatt rebuked him for being unarmed, Clanton successfully ran away to escape the gunfire. As Judge Spicer later observed in his ruling. Earp could have easily killed him at that point if clan’s fanciful story about the lawman robbing the stage was true. Moreover, clan’s story was unbelievable in and of itself. What possible motivation would any of the Earpbrothers have to disclose their supposed robbery and killing story to Clanton? If Clanton truly hated the ips as he claimed? Why had he not previously reported the story to Sheriff Behan and had them arrested? Sheriff Behan next took the stand and like Ike Clinton largely repeated his grand jury testimony from the coroner’s inquest. Defense attorney Fitch got Sheriff Behan to admit to a contradiction in his testimony about Tom McClary and how he was able to shoot back at the lawman.

Defense Attorney Tom Fitch:

Were you satisfied when you put your arm around the waist of Ike Clinton to Mclure threw the lapels of his coat aside and Billy Clinton said he did not want to fight that these parties had no arms.

Sheriff Johnny Behan:

When I left the Clanton party to meet the Earps, I was satisfied that I Clanton and Tom McClure had no arms on them. Could they not have had arms and you not know it? I Clanton could not without my knowing it. Tom McClure might’ve had a pistol and I not know it.

Defense Attorney Tom Fitch:

As you examined him simply around the waist, could he not have had a pistol in his pocket?

Sheriff Johnny Behan:

He could not have had a pistol in his pocket. As I examined him very closely with my eye,

J. Craig Williams:

I Clinton had earlier admitted both Tom and Frank McClury had rifles on their horses and other testimony exists about Tom firing it at the lawman. By Fitch’s questioning, he has shown sheriff bean’s testimony to be suspect. Why would a trained lawman have missed the rifle on McClure’s horse? The prosecution’s case was less than airtight, something that surely would not go unnoticed by Judge Spicer. Sir, unlike the prosecution’s case, the defendants presented a different and much simpler theory of the events that appealed to Judge Spicer’s belief in the need for law enforcement. Put simply, the defense argued that the case was about the good guys versus the bad guys. Defense attorney Tom Fitch pulled off a notable tactic citing an Arizona statute that allowed the accused to read a prepared statement and eliminated the ability of the prosecution to cross-Examine the defendant on the statement. Fitch apparently helped Wyatt Earp write his statement. Despite the prosecutor’s objections, judge Spicer let the statement into evidence. Wyatt Earp with just a few introductory questions, read his testimony.

Wyatt Earp:

I am a friend of Doc Holiday because when I was City Marshall of Dodge City, Kansas, he came to my rescue and saved my life. When I was surrounded by Desperados, while Virgil Morgan Doc Holiday and myself were standing on the corner of fourth and Allen Streets, several people said, there is going to be trouble with those fellows. And one man named Coleman said to Virgil Earp, they mean trouble. They have just gone from Dunbar’s Corral into the okay corral all armed and I think you would better go and disarm them. Virgil turned around to Doc Holiday Morgan Earp and myself and told us to come and assist him in disarming them. When we got within about 150 feet of them, I saw Ike Clanton and Billy Clanton and another party. We had walked a few steps further and I saw Behan leave the party and come toward us every few steps.

He would look back as if he apprehended danger, and I heard him say to Virgil Earp, for God’s sake, don’t go down there, you’ll get murdered. Virgil Earp replied, I am going to disarm them. He Virgil being in the lead. When I and Morgan came up to Behan, he said, I have disarmed them. When he said this, I took my pistol, which had been in my hand, under my coat and put it in my overcoat pocket. Behan then passed up the street and we walked on down. I saw that Billy Clanton and Frank and Tom McClory had their hands by their sides. Frank McClory and Billy Clanton, six shooters were in plain sight. Virgil said, throw up your hands. I have come to disarm you. Billy Clanton and Frank McCorry laid their hands on their six shooters. Virgil said, hold, I don’t mean that I have come to this arm.

You then Billy Clanton and Frank McCorry commenced to draw their pistols. When I saw Billy Clanton and Frank McCorry draw their pistols, I drew my pistol. Billy Clanton leveled his pistol at me, but I did not aim at him. I knew that Frank McGorry had the reputation of being a good shot and a dangerous man, and I aimed at him. The first two shots were fired by Billy Clanton and myself. He’s shooting at me and I shooting at Frank McCorry. I don’t know which was fired. First we fired almost together. The fight then became general. After about four shots were fired, Ike Clanton ran up and grabbed my left arm. I could see no weapon in his hand and thought at the time he had none. And so I said to him, the fight is commenced, go to fighting or get away. At the same time pushing him off with my left hand like this, he started and ran down the side of the building and disappeared between the lodging house and the photograph gallery.

J. Craig Williams:

Wyatt reported that his first shot struck Frank McClary in the belly and that McClary fired off one shot at him. He insisted that he never drew his pistol or made a motion to shoot until after Billy Clanton and Frank McClury drew their pistols. Wyatt concluded his statement, which was marked Exhibit A.

Wyatt Earp:

I believe I would’ve been legally and morally justified in shooting any of them on site, but I did not do so nor attempt to do so. I sought no advantage when I went as Deputy Marshall to help disarm them and arrest them. I went as a part of my duty and under the direction of my brother, the Marshall. I did not intend to fight unless it became necessary in self-defense and in the performance of official duty. When Billy Clanton and Frank McClory drew their pistols, I knew it was a fight for life and I drew in defense of my own life and the lives of my brothers and Doc Holiday

J. Craig Williams:

Exhibit A was pure character reference for Wyatt Earp, which today is inadmissible as hearsay evidence. Unless the defendant’s character is attacked first given the prosecution could not cross examine Wyatt on his statement. It’s a wonder Judge Spicer admitted this evidence. This exhibit was surely designed to appeal to Judge Spicer’s affinity for the local establishment and to vouch for Wyatt Earp’s good character, which Impliedly had been put into question by the murder charges themselves. On November 23rd, 1881, after the testimony of HF sills, a locomotive engineer on layover and tombstone and arguably the only neutral witness to take the stand, judge Spicer released Wyatt and dock from jail with sills testimony the defense had turned the corner Sills testified.

H.F. Sills:

I saw four or five men standing in front of the okay corral on October 26th, about two o’clock in the afternoon talking of some trouble that they had had with Virgil Earp and they made threats at the time that on meeting them they would kill him on site. Someone of the parties spoke up at the time and said they would kill the whole party of burps when they met him. One of the men that made the threats had a bandage around his head at the time and the day of the funeral. He was pointed out to me as Isaac Clinton. I recognized him as one of the party I had seen at the OK Corral. A few minutes after I had spoken to Marshall Virgil or I saw him in a party start down fourth Street. I followed him down as far as the post office.

Then I got side of the party. I had overheard making those threats. I thought there would be trouble and I crossed the street. I saw the Marshal go up and speak to this other party. I was not close enough to hear their conversation, but saw them pull out their revolvers immediately. The Marshall had a cane in his right hand at the time. He’d throw up his hand and spoke. I did not hear the words though. By that time, Billy Clanton and Wyatt Earp had fired their guns off. The Marshall then changed his, came from one hand to the other and pulled his revolver out. He seemed hurt at the time and he fell down. He got up immediately and went to shooting. The shooting became general and I stepped back into the hallway afterwards, saw Billy Clanton when he was dead and recognized him as the one who had fired. At the same time as Wyatt hurt.

J. Craig Williams:

On Cross-examination, the prosecution was unable to shake Sills story, which validated the testimony given by the ips doc. Holliday did not testify in the trial. After hearing all the witnesses and considering all the evidence, judge Spicer issued his decision. Judge Spicer bought the defense’s case lock, stock and barrel and disregarded the prosecution’s incongruous theory, which did not explain many facts as his ruling pointed out, that theory also defied his concept of common sense to demand that the chief of Police and his assistance should be disarmed is a proposition both monstrous and startling. Simple theories such as the one offered by the defense law men doing their job in the face of danger and disarming defiant men holding guns more than justified. Their actions in quitting Virgil, judge Spicer’s opinion both condemned Virgil’s action of deputizing his brother and doc holiday and at the same time seemingly supported it.

Judge Spicer:

Virgil committed an in judicious and such act and although in this he acted in cautiously and without due circumspection, I can attach no criminality to his unwise act. In fact, as the result plainly proves he needed the assistance and support of staunch and true friends upon whose courage, coolness and fidelity. He could depend in case of an emergency.

J. Craig Williams:

From the law man’s perspective, judge Spicer’s decision saved them from the Hangman’s News. The Cowboys, on the other hand saw the legal maneuvering as a fast talking lawyer’s trick. By avoiding a jury trial the law, men’s lawyers likely avoided convictions for their clients and those convictions would’ve destroyed the realities and the myths. We now see depicted in westerns on the silver screen had Wyatt, his brothers and Doc Holliday been convicted of murdering the clan gang. The West may have taken a lot longer to tame and settle, perhaps throwing it into an extended period of lawlessness. Truly the Wild West. Indeed what Lawmen would’ve wanted a job where he risked death twice, once by bandits and then once again by the courts. The outlaws of the 1880s had little use for any system of justice other than a fast drawn pistol.

But what Ike Clinton may have seen as a fast talking lawyers trick was in fact an expression of reality. Court systems are set up by law abiding citizens and lawyers both then and now are trained to work within the rules to their client’s advantage. When lawyers present an argument most favorable to the perspective of the decision maker, whether it be a jury or a judge, those lawyers count on a verdict most favorable to their clients. Thank you for joining us today. I hope you enjoyed this story. This episode was adapted from the chapter in my book. How Would You Decide 10 famous Trials That Changed History? So if you want the full story of the OK Corral trial and the other nine trials covered in my book, please pick up a copy and learn all the details, testimony, and juicy bits that didn’t make these episodes.

You can buy copies on Amazon and all major booksellers. The book is published by Crimson Cloak Publishing and I’m its author, J. Craig Williams. Thanks. Also, go to our script writer, sound designer and sound mixer. Nathan Todd Hunter, our producer, Kate Kenny Nutting. Lisa Kirkman, our director of partnerships, and the publisher of my book, Carly McCracken of Crimson Cloak Publishing, who granted permission for the Legal Talk Networks adaptation. And a very special thanks to our voiceover actors, David Woodham, who played the role of Wyatt Earp. Jeremy Brown, who played the role of Ike Clanton Scott, well, who played the role of Wesley Fuller. Ken Sutherland, who played the role of Lyttleton Price. JD Friedman, who played the role of Tom Fitch, Jamy Duarte, who played the role of Sheriff Johnny Behan, judge Franz Miller, who played the role of HF Sills and Wiley Aiken, who played the role of Judge Spicer. In the next episode, we will examine the trial of the most notorious sports team in American history, the 1919 Chicago Black Socks. Thanks for the privilege of your time today. We look forward to seeing you again. I’m Craig Williams. Please stay tuned for our next episode of In Dispute on the Legal Talk Network.

Wesley Fuller:

Yeah, here him. Get up. Get him in the corral. Come on, get him in the shoot. Let’s go.