GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL
A shoot-out in a narrow alley in Tombstone, Arizona Territory, now known as “The Gunfight At The O.K. Corral”, became etched in the lore of the American West on October 26, 1881.
The names of Earp, Clanton, and McLaury, and Doc Holliday were added to the pages of a history that has been re-visited countless times in literature and Hollywood movies. In less than a minute three men were killed and three more wounded. Every second of the “thirty seconds and thirty bullets” has been studied and documented by historians and aficionados, but what remains is a picture of a small outpost where the rule of law was in its infancy and the gun was the prevailing “equalizer”.
The current citizens of Tombstone do their best to take the visitor back to that fateful day. In what is clearly a community effort, that famous gunfight is re-enacted in a little outdoor theater. We were invited to step back into time to that autumn day.
The performance takes place daily and is reached by walking through from Tombstone’s main street into a shop area where not only can one purchase tourist items but can also view some interesting artifacts from the period. My favorite was an appropriate vehicle for the day, a large black hearse.
Along the short walk from the shop to the entrance of the theater the visitor can find other interesting aspects of daily life of Tombstone in the 1880’s. Life was particularly hard for women in this place and especially so for those who faced life on their own.
As we left the performance and walked back through the shop, we passed a blacksmith working in the old smithy.
Back on the main street we headed to The Four Deuces Saloon for a refreshing beverage.
I wasn’t quick enough to catch photos of the leather-clad group that occupied this rather small establishment but did manage to get a photo of a local as he left the saloon. As we sat at the bar in this little establishment we chatted with other patrons on either side. To our left was a older couple from England, suntanned and dressed very appropriately in Western garb. It turns out that they live most of the year near Tombstone, where they can have horses, and from time to time go back to England to visit their family. On our right was a middle-aged fellow who told us that he lived in Tombstone but worked in Tucson at Raytheon, where, he advised, most of the missiles produced in the U.S. are designed and produced. Our bartender and the proprietress arrived in Tombstone from San Diego. All seemed to have found their place in this off-the-beaten path town of Tombstone.
The next post will take us to the Earp house and then to the most famous “resting place” in the West, “Boot Hill”.
webs and threads travels 