OK Corral gunfight not a case of good v evil

[Still Waters]

Past Boothill Graveyard and around the bend where Arizona 80 becomes Fremont Street, a larger-than-life statue of a man rises from a low sandstone pedestal.

Clad in a duster and broad-brimmed hat, a sawed-off shotgun over one shoulder, Wyatt Earp stands guard at the entrance to this dusty town that calls itself 'too tough to die'.

Since the famed 'gunfight at the O.K. Corral' in October 26, 1881, the famed frontier lawman has loomed large over this former boomtown.

The silver deposits that gave birth to the city have long since been played out, but Tombstone has survived largely by mining the legend of the West's most infamous shootout.

And in popular culture, the Earps have always been the good guys; the McLaurys and Clantons, the bad guys.

But sharp-eyed tourists may spot something subtle away from the action at the O.K. Corral.

Hanging on the stucco wall surrounding the little amphitheatre where the fusillade is re-enacted daily is a tiny bronze plaque.

Unpretentious and easy to miss, it is dedicated, not to the badge-wearing Earps or their tubercular friend, John Henry 'Doc' Holliday, but to the memory of brothers Frank and Tom McLaury - two of the three men who died that day.

Beneath oval portraits of the two is a short, but enigmatic epitaph: 'One owes respect to the living, but to the dead, one owes nothing but the truth.'

To movie-goers who thought they knew the real story of the O.K. Corral, the McLaury clan's message is unmistakable.

Pam Potter of Mountain Center, California, the brothers' great-grand-niece, says: 'The stars of the gunfight were the winners.'

Read more...

[+DieChecker]

I saw the movie with Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton, so I know the truth.

History is written by the winners, right?

[danielost]

I saw the movie with Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton, so I know the truth.

History is written by the winners, right?

Since only one guy died in that idiotiac gunfight. i would say both sides won.

Edited May 24, 2011 by danielost

[ohio state buckeyes]

Interesting that they were trying to bans guns some 130 back.

[AK-Mac]

Ban them in the city, not ban them period. Big difference. You were encouraged and *allowed to own a gun back then. Today, that will soon be gone. Soon, only criminals will have guns. Awesome.

[ohio state buckeyes]

Guns will never be banned and its not due to the best efforts of the NRA to

make gun owners paranoid what should be banned is assault weapons. They have nothing to due with self defense and every thing to do with making people

feel powerful. The argument that there used against the government is just

lame and is not how the constitution reads. The states have a militia and dont

need gun loving right wingers playing army.

[Taut]

My Great grandfather used to tell me stories about Wyatt Earp and some of the better known folks of that time, cause he built roads in that area and saw them a lot. Not to disparage the dead but my Grandfather said that Wyatt was just a mean drunk. Saw him pistol whip an unarmed man in the street once, but never really wanted to know him personally, and my GGrandfather wasn't prone to embellishment like some of the old west story tellers. He had left the Tombstone area by the time of the OK Corral so didn't know anything about it.

My great grandmother grew up with the Dalton brothers and said they were not who the "tabloids" or dime novelists talked about in any way. After a lot of reading and listening to people who's family members or whatever were actually there, it seems to be a lot different than the "stories". Tall tales were cherished back then for their entertainment value.

Just a little aside.

Edited May 26, 2011 by Taut

[27vet]

My Great grandfather used to tell me stories about Wyatt Earp and some of the better known folks of that time, cause he built roads in that area and saw them a lot. Not to disparage the dead but my Grandfather said that Wyatt was just a mean drunk. Saw him pistol whip an unarmed man in the street once, but never really wanted to know him personally, and my GGrandfather wasn't prone to embellishment like some of the old west story tellers. He had left the Tombstone area by the time of the OK Corral so didn't know anything about it.

My great grandmother grew up with the Dalton brothers and said they were not who the "tabloids" or dime novelists talked about in any way. After a lot of reading and listening to people who's family members or whatever were actually there, it seems to be a lot different than the "stories". Tall tales were cherished back then for their entertainment value.

Just a little aside.

Fascinating, because from all that I have read about Wyatt Earp he seemed to be a no-nonsense lawman.

[dharma warrior]

Earp was a lawman, and a pimp, a gambler, a thief and whatever suited his needs at the time. Basically an opportunist. Not the rosy picture that Hollywood has painted for us. Looking forward to a true accounting of the Earp saga.

[27vet]

Earp was a lawman, and a pimp, a gambler, a thief and whatever suited his needs at the time. Basically an opportunist. Not the rosy picture that Hollywood has painted for us. Looking forward to a true accounting of the Earp saga.

What lawman wasn't? I guess it takes a thief to catch a thief.