Tag: Cochise County

Cochise County, located in the southeastern corner of Arizona, is renowned for its rugged desert landscapes, rich history, and vibrant culture. Named after the legendary Chiricahua Apache leader Cochise, the county is a blend of natural beauty and historical significance. Its terrain ranges from high desert plains to dramatic mountain ranges, including the Huachuca and Chiricahua Mountains, offering outdoor enthusiasts opportunities for hiking, birdwatching, and exploring unique desert flora and fauna. Historically, the region played a pivotal role in the Old West era, with Tombstone, known for the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral, as one of its iconic towns. Today, the county maintains a balance between its Wild West heritage and modern amenities, attracting visitors with its scenic vistas, archaeological sites, and warm southwestern hospitality.

The Tombstone Epitaph

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The Arizona Historical Newspaper, the Tombstone Epitaph announces the gunfight at the O K Coral.
The Arizona Historical Newspaper, the Tombstone Epitaph announces the gunfight at the O K Coral.

The Tombstone Epitaph is a historic newspaper in the American West, closely tied to the lore of the Wild West and the famous town of Tombstone, Arizona. It was founded on May 1, 1880, by John Clum, a former Indian agent and the first mayor of Tombstone. The newspaper played a significant role in documenting the events of one of the most storied periods in American history.

Founding and Early History

John Clum founded the Tombstone Epitaph during a time when Tombstone was booming due to the discovery of silver in the nearby mountains. The town quickly grew into one of the largest and most notorious in the West, attracting miners, gamblers, outlaws, and lawmen alike. Clum, a staunch Republican and supporter of law and order, used the paper to promote his views and to support the efforts of the Earps, who were the town’s law enforcement at the time.

The newspaper’s name, “Epitaph,” was reportedly chosen by Clum as a nod to the violent and often deadly nature of life in Tombstone. He believed that the paper would serve as the “epitaph” for many of the stories and lives that would pass through the town. The Epitaph became known for its bold headlines, sensational stories, and fierce editorials.

The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

One of the most famous events covered by the Tombstone Epitaph was the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral on October 26, 1881. The shootout between the Earp brothers—Wyatt, Virgil, and Morgan—and Doc Holliday on one side, and the Clanton and McLaury brothers on the other, was a pivotal moment in Tombstone’s history. The newspaper provided a detailed account of the event, and its coverage helped shape the public’s perception of the Earps as lawmen battling against lawlessness.

Decline and Revival

As Tombstone’s silver mines began to decline in the late 1880s, the town’s population dwindled, and the Tombstone Epitaph faced financial difficulties. The paper struggled to survive but managed to continue publishing, albeit with less frequency. Over the years, the Epitaph shifted from being a daily to a weekly, and eventually to a monthly publication.

In the 20th century, the Tombstone Epitaph experienced a revival as interest in the Old West and its colorful history grew. The newspaper became a cherished piece of Americana, and its archives were preserved as valuable historical records. In the 1960s, the paper was revived as a historical publication, focusing on the history of Tombstone and the American West. It continues to be published today, both as a historical monthly and as a tourist newspaper, providing visitors with stories and insights into the town’s storied past.

Legacy

The Tombstone Epitaph remains one of the most iconic newspapers of the American West. Its coverage of the events in Tombstone, particularly during the 1880s, has made it a key source for historians and enthusiasts of the Wild West. The newspaper not only documented the events of a bygone era but also helped shape the legends that continue to captivate people today.

Tombstone Epitaph Headlines

The Tombstone Epitaph, Marth 27, 1882 headlined with the murder of Frank Stillwell by Wyatt Earp et all

The Tombstone Epitaph – March 27, 1882

On March 27, 1882, The newspaper the Tombstone Epitaph announced the murder of Frank Stilwell in Tucson Arizona. Frank Stilwell was an outlaw and a…
The Tombstone Epitaph, March 20, 1882

The Tombstone Epitaph, March 20, 1882

The Tombstone Epitaph, March 20, 1882 reports of the murder of Tombstone Resident Morgan Earp while playing pool in Tombstone, Arizona. This event followed the…
The Arizona Historical Newspaper, the Tombstone Epitaph announces the gunfight at the O K Coral.

The Tombstone Epitaph, October 27, 1881

The following is the original transcript of The Tombstone Epitaph published on October 27, 1881 on the infamous gun fight at the O K Corral…

Warren Baxter Earp

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Warren Baxter Earp ( March 9, 1855 – July 6, 1900 ), the youngest of the Earp brothers, was born into a family that would become synonymous with the Wild West and the lawlessness of frontier America. Though not as famous as his older brothers Wyatt, Virgil, and Morgan, Warren’s life was marked by the same tumultuous spirit and sense of loyalty that defined the Earp family.

Warren Baster Earp ( March 9, 1855 - July 6, 1900 )
Warren Baster Earp ( March 9, 1855 – July 6, 1900 )

Early Life

Warren Baxter Earp was born on March 9, 1855, in Pella, Iowa, to Nicholas Porter Earp and Virginia Ann Cooksey. As the youngest of the Earp brothers, Warren grew up in a household that was constantly on the move, eventually settling in Colton, California. Unlike his older brothers, Warren did not participate in the Civil War, as he was too young. He was, however, deeply influenced by his older siblings, particularly Wyatt and Virgil, who served as lawmen in the rough-and-tumble towns of the American West.

Tombstone and the Earp Vendetta Ride

Warren Earp first made his way to Tombstone, Arizona, in the early 1880s, joining his brothers in the bustling mining town. Although he was not directly involved in the famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral on October 26, 1881, Warren’s presence in Tombstone placed him at the heart of the events that followed.

After the assassination of his brother Morgan in March 1882, Warren became an active participant in the Earp Vendetta Ride, a series of revenge killings led by Wyatt Earp. The Vendetta Ride was a direct response to the murder of Morgan and the perceived lack of justice from local authorities. During this period, Warren showed his loyalty to his family, joining his brothers in hunting down those they believed were responsible for Morgan’s death.

Later Life

After the events in Tombstone, Warren Earp led a relatively unsettled life, drifting across the West and working various jobs, including as a cowboy, stagecoach driver, and occasional lawman. Unlike his brothers, who eventually found some measure of stability, Warren never fully escaped the shadow of his family’s tumultuous past. His fiery temper and propensity for getting into conflicts often put him in dangerous situations.

By the late 1890s, Warren Earp had made his way to Willcox, Arizona, a small but lively cattle town that served as a hub for ranchers and cowboys in the region. Willcox, like many frontier towns, was a place where disputes were often settled with fists or firearms rather than words, and Warren, with his reputation and temperament, fit right into this rough environment.

The Fatal Encounter

On the evening of July 6, 1900, Warren Earp found himself at the Headquarter Saloon in Willcox. He had been drinking and, according to various accounts, was in a combative mood. Warren had a longstanding grudge against a local ranch hand named John Boyett, and that night, the simmering tensions between the two men came to a head.

Details of what transpired in the saloon are somewhat unclear, as different witnesses provided varying accounts of the events. However, it is generally agreed that Warren, who was known for his temper, began provoking Boyett, possibly over some perceived slight or lingering resentment. The confrontation escalated quickly, and Warren, who was unarmed at the time, reportedly taunted Boyett, daring him to draw his weapon.

Feeling threatened and perhaps fearing for his own life, John Boyett drew his revolver and shot Warren Earp, striking him in the chest. Warren collapsed to the floor and died shortly thereafter, his life ending in a manner not unlike the violent encounters that had defined much of his family’s history.

Legacy

Warren Baxter Earp was buried in the Willcox Cemetery, and while his grave is not as visited as those of his more famous brothers, it remains a part of the larger Earp legend. Warren’s life, though cut short, exemplifies the rough and often violent existence of men living on the frontier. His story is a reminder that the Earp family legend is not just one of heroism and law enforcement but also of the complexities and contradictions that defined the American West.

Earp Family Members

James Cooksey Earp ( June 28, 1841 - January 25, 1926 )

James Cooksey Earp

James Cooksey Earp ( June 28, 1841 - January 25, 1926 ) James Cooksey Earp ( June 28, 1841 - January 25, 1926 ) was…
Morgan Earp historical photo, 1881. Probably taken by C.S. Fly.

Morgan Seth Earp

Morgan Seth Earp, born on April 24, 1851, in Pella, Iowa, was a notable figure of the American Old West, primarily recognized for his association…
Virgil Earp 1843 -1905

Virgil Walter Earp

Virgil Walter Earp ( July 18, 1843 – October 19, 1905) was born in Lincoln County, Kentucky, was a prominent lawman and frontier figure known for his…
Warren Baster Earp ( March 9, 1855 - July 6, 1900 )

Warren Baxter Earp

Warren Baxter Earp ( March 9, 1855 - July 6, 1900 ), the youngest of the Earp brothers, was born into a family that would…
Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp - Aged 39

Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp

Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (March 19, 1848 – January 13, 1929) was an American lawman and gambler who became a legendary figure of the Old…

Tombstone (Images of America)

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Tombstone (Images of America) - Author: Jane Eppinga
Tombstone (Images of America) – Author: Jane Eppinga

Tombstone sits less than 100 miles from the Mexico border in the middle of the picturesque Arizona desert and also squarely at the heart of America’s Old West. Silver was discovered nearby in 1878, and with that strike, Tombstone was created. It soon grew to be a town of over 10,000 of the most infamous outlaws, cowboys, lawmen, prostitutes, and varmints the Wild West has ever seen. The gunfight at the O.K. Corral made Wyatt Earp and John Henry “Doc” Holliday legendary and secured Tombstone’s reputation as “The Town Too Tough to Die.” In this volume, more than 200 striking images and informative captions tell the stories of the heroes and villains of Tombstone, the saloons and brothels they visited, the movies they inspired, and Boot Hill, the well-known cemetery where many were buried.

About the author

Writing credentials include over 200 articles for both popular and professional publications. For four years I produced all material for the Arizona Sheriff Magazine. My writing credentials include more than 200 articles for both popular and professional publications covering a broad spectrum of children’s fiction, travel, personal profiles, biology, construction, food, and public relation pieces. My books include a biography of Henry Ossian Flipper, West Point’s First Black Graduate, Arizona Twilight Tales, and books in Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series focusing on Arizona towns including Tucson, Nogales, Apache Junction and Tombstone. She writes regularly for Biology Digest a quarterly publication for high school science teachers. In 2009, Globe Pequot published my book. They Made Their Mark: An Illustrated History of the Society of Woman Geographers. That same year she made a presentation on the Society of Woman Geographers at the 10th International Congress of Women in Madrid, Spain.

Book Summary

NameTombstone (Images of America)
AuthorJane Eppinga
PublisherArcadia Publishing
Pages128 Pages

The Tombstone Epitaph, March 20, 1882

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The Tombstone Epitaph, March 20, 1882 reports of the murder of Tombstone Resident Morgan Earp while playing pool in Tombstone, Arizona. This event followed the O K Corral shootout and the attempted murder of Virgil Earp. These two events caused Wyatt Earp to lead a vendetta ride across the desert hunting the assassins. The death of Moargan made the right side of page three.

The Tombstone Epitaph, March 20, 1882
The Tombstone Epitaph, March 20, 1882
Morgan Earp historical photo, 1881. Probably taken by C.S. Fly.
Morgan Earp historical photo, 1881. Probably taken by C.S. Fly.

March 20, 1882
THE DEADLY BULLET
The Assassin at Last Successful in His Devilish Mission

Morgan Earp Shot Down and Killed While Playing Billiards

At 10:00 Saturday night while engaged in playing a game of billiards in Campbell & Hatch’s Billiard parlor, on Allen between Fourth and Fifth, Morgan Earp was shot through the body by an unknown assassin.

At the time the shot was fired he was playing a game with Bob Hatch, one of the proprietors of the house and was standing with his back to the glass door in the rear of the room that opens out upon the alley that leads straight through the block along the west side of A.D. Otis & Co.’s store to Fremont Street.

This door is the ordinary glass door with four panes in the top in place of panels. The two lower panes are painted, the upper ones being clear. Anyone standing outside can look over the painted glass and see anything going on in the room just as well as though standing in the open door.

At the time the shot was fired the deceased must have been standing within ten feet of the door, and the assassin standing near enough to see his position, took aim for about the middle of his person, shooting through the upper portion of the whitened glass.

The bullet entered the right side of the abdomen, passing through the spinal column, completely shattering it, emerging on the left side, passing the length of the room and lodging in the thigh of Geo. A.B. Berry, who was standing by the stove, inflicting a painful flesh wound.

Instantly after the first shot a second was fired through the top of the upper glass which passed across the room and lodged in the wall near the ceiling over the head of Wyatt Earp, who was sitting as a spectator of the game.

Morgan fell instantly upon the first fire and lived only about one hour. His brother Wyatt, Tipton, and McMasters rushed to the side of the wounded man and tenderly picked him up and moved him some ten feet away near the door of the card room, where Drs. Matthews, Goodfellow and Millar, who were called, examined him and, after a brief consultation, pronounced the wound mortal.

He was then moved into the card room and placed on the lounge where in a few brief moments he breathed his last, surrounded by his brothers, Wyatt, Virgil, James and Warren with the wives of Virgil and James and a few of his most intimate friends.

Notwithstanding the intensity of his mortal agony, not a word of complaint escaped his lips, and all that were heard, except those whispered into the ear of his brother and known only to him were, “Don’t, I can’t stand it. This is the last game of pool I’ll ever play.” The first part of the sentence being wrung from him by an attempt to place him upon his feet.

The funeral cortege started away from the Cosmopolitan hotel about 12:30 yesterday with the fire bell tolling its solemn peals of “Earth to earth, dust to dust.”

References

Statement of E F Boyle in the Preliminary Hearing in the Earp-Holliday Case

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A Brief History

The gunfight at the O.K. Corral summary refers to an infamous shootout in the American West in the streets of Tombstone Arizona at at 3:00pm, October 26,1881. Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday, and Wyatts brothers Virgil and Morgan confronted Ike Clanton, Billy Clanton, Billy Claiborn and brothers Frank and Tom McLaury in a vacant lot next to the uninteresting O.K. Corral over death threats made in recent days.

The thirty second gunfight caused witnesses to see nine men fire dozens of times at distances of under twenty feet. The aftermath left three men dead and became the most notorious gunfight of the wild west.

Following the trial, murder charges were filed against the Earp brothers and Doc Holiday. I preliminary hearing in front of Justice of the Peach Wells Spencer. The thirty day trail held court in the Tombstone Mining exchange and heard testimony from both sides of the confrontation. The defendants were found not guilty and only promoted a deadly feud between the Earps and the Clantons.

Statement of E F Boyle

The transcribed testimony and statement of E. F. Boyle regarding the gunfight on Fremont Street in Tombstone, Arizona Territory. E. F Boyle is one of six people who testified that they heard Ike Clanton making threats to kill the Earps and Holiday. Boyle testified on November 17th and 23rd, 1881.

On this seventeenth day of November, 1881, on the hearing of the above entitled cause, on the examination of Wyatt Earp and J. H. Holliday; E. F. Boyle, a witness of lawful age being produced and sworn, deposes and says as follows:

E. F. Boyle, November 17, 1881. Barkeeper. To questions, relates that he knows Ike and that he met Ike in front of the telegraph office, about 8:30 or 9 A.M., October 26. They had a talk. Ike had a pistol with him.

(Q) State what if any threats were then made by him in respect to Wyatt Earp, Virgil Earp, Morgan Earp or Doc Holliday, and if any threats were made, whether or not you communicated the same to W. Earp, V. Earp, M. Earp or Doc Holliday before the difficulty [later in the day]. Objected to. Objection sustained. Unanswered.

[Signed] E. F. Boyle

E. F. Boyle, a barkeeper, of Tombstone, November 23, 1881.

(Q) As to any threats he had heard from Ike. Objected to by prosecution. [Overruled.]
(A) After I went off watch at 8 o’clock in the morning, I met Ike Clanton in front of the telegraph office in this town. His pistol was in sight and I covered it with his coat and advised him to go to bed. He insisted that he wouldn’t go to bed: that as soon as the Earps and Doc Holliday showed themselves on the street, the ball would open-that they would have to fight. He started to Kelly’s saloon and I went down to Wyatt Earp’s house and told him that Ike Clanton had threatened that when him and his brothers and Doc Holliday showed themselves on the street that the ball would open. Then I left and went home to bed.

(Q) Did you see any weapons [on Ike] except the rifle?

(A) Yes the pistol.

(Q) Do you know Tom and Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton?

(A) I know them all.

(Q) Do you know their reputation for courage and how expert they were in the use of firearms?

(A) Only by hearsay.

(Q) To what extent is that hearsay?

(A) The hearsay is that they are the finest in the country.

CROSS EXAMINATION

(Q) [Not written].

(A) Ike Clanton was the only one present at the time of our conversation.

(Q) [Not written].

(A) Learned of their reputation last year before the difficulty.

(Q) [Not written.]

(A) Knew Tom McLaury about 18 months, never knew him to be in a difficulty with anybody. Learned of Tom McLaury’s reputation from old James Sweeny of Pick-‘Em-Up. I learned that Tom was one of the best shots in the country. I never questioned his courage.

(Q) Now tell me, who else told you about his reputation as a courageous and fine shot?

(A) Well, there [were] several sitting together down at Pick-‘Em-Up, and Jim Sweeny and Ned Fielder were speaking of his courage and being a fine shot, all I know of his reputation is from these men.

(Q) [Not written].

(A) Knew Billy Clanton about the same length of time. Never was on intimate terms with him. Never knew him to be in any difficulty.

(Q) How do you come to state he had a general reputation for courage and was an expert shot?

(A) From the association of men he traveled with.

(Q) [Not written].

(A) I can’t tell any of the men from whom I heard their reputation. I have known Ike Clanton about two years. Knew Frank McLaury about 18 months. Ed Shipman, he now lives in Los Angeles, and it is from his statement that I got his general reputation, and no other.

(Q) [Not written].

(A) Will Hicks and Frank McLaury were in Kelly’s saloon and a man named Smith that keeps a store in Galeyville and Frank McLaury went out. This all happened one morning about two months ago. I came to open up the saloon for Kelly, and when I opened the saloon, I met this big [sic] Ed Byrnes, Frank McLaury, and John Ringo; and Byrnes started to tell me what-[all crossed out with lines, but no notation of the same.]

(Q) Did you ever of your [own] knowledge know of Frank McLaury to be in any difficulty?

(A) No sir.

Refereces