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N0KFQ > TODAY 10.09.15 16:23l 57 Lines 2643 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 66776_N0KFQ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Sep 10
Path: IW8PGT<CX2SA<N0KFQ
Sent: 150910/1420Z 66776@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.63
1881
Tensions grow in Tombstone, Arizona, after a stage coach robbery
On this day in 1881, tensions near the breaking point between the
Earp brothers and the Clanton-McLaury families, the two major
power centers in Tombstone, Arizona.
Two days earlier, a stagecoach had been robbed and the Tombstone
sheriff formed a posse that included Morgan and Wyatt Earp to
find the culprits. On the basis of a boot print found in the
dust, the posse arrested Frank Stillwell, a sometimes deputy of
the Cochise County Sheriff, John Behan. Stillwell's actual guilt
or innocence aside, two of the leading Cochise County ranching
families, the Clantons and McLaurys, saw the arrest as a
deliberate attack by the Earps on their continued control of the
county.
Many country-living ranch families like the Clantons and McLaurys
deeply resented the city folks who increasingly dominated law and
politics in Tombstone-especially the ambitious Earp brothers:
Wyatt, Morgan, Virgil and James. The ranch families maintained
tenuous control over the wide-open country surrounding Tombstone,
thanks in large measure to the sympathetic support of Cochise
County Sheriff Behan. Sheriff Behan detested the Earps-a
sentiment that was entirely mutual-and made a point of ignoring
their well-founded complaints that the Clantons and McLaurys were
stealing cattle and horses. Likewise, while the Earps often acted
as law officers and posse members, Behan and the ranchers knew
the brothers were not above ignoring the law when it came to
their own questionable dealings in the Tombstone gambling and
saloon business. So when the Tombstone sheriff and the Earps
arrested one of Behan's own deputies for the stagecoach robbery,
the Clanton and McLaurys claimed they were being unfairly
harassed and warned the Earps that they would retaliate.
Both sides publicly accused the other of corruption and collusion
with criminals, leading the governor of Arizona Territory to
report later that month, "Many of the very best law-abiding and
peace-loving citizens [of Tombstone] have no confidence in the
willingness of the civil officers to pursue and bring to justice
that element of out-lawry so largely disturbing the sense of
security_[The opinion] is quite prevalent that the civil officers
are quite largely in league with the leaders of this disturbing
and dangerous element."
The governor was right, and the situation would not be resolved
without violence. The Earp brothers and Clanton-McLaury families
were headed for a showdown at the O.K. Corral in October.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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