tombstone – Ingliando

On this day, in the town of Tombstone in Arizona, just a short distance from the rear entrance to the O.K. Corral, three men died, three men were wounded, two men ran away and one man fought and remained unharmed in a thirty second shootout that has become an archetype for much of the popular imagery associated with the Old West. The gunfight was the result of a long-simmering feud between five outlaws and four representatives of the law. The trigger for the event was the decision to enforce a city ordinance that prohibited the carrying of weapons into town. The lawmen involved were three brothers, Virgil, Wyatt, and Morgan Earp, and Wyatt’s close friend Doc Holliday. As Deputy U.S. Marshal and Town Marshal, Virgil was in charge, and it was his decision to enforce the ordinance that led to the shootout. The 1931 book Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal by Stuart N. Lake established Wyatt Earp’s role as a fearless lawman and the legend of the “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” in the public consciousness.