Earps Versus Clantons

Strip away the legend and this was a fight about power and money in Tombstone, Arizona.

The Earps held the town's official muscle and had their hands in the gambling trade. The Clantons and McLaurys ran with the ranchers, a crowd tangled up in cross-border cattle rustling. Two factions, one booming silver town, and not enough room for both.

The tension finally snapped on October 26, 1881, when the two sides faced off in that vacant lot.

When the shooting stopped, three men lay dead: Billy Clanton and the brothers Tom and Frank McLaury. Virgil and Morgan Earp were both wounded.

Then came the part nobody filmed. Ike Clanton, who had run from the fight unarmed, filed murder charges against the Earps and Doc Holliday. A month-long hearing followed, and the judge ruled the killings justified. The courtroom drama lasted far longer than the 30 seconds that started it.