Pod Insights American History Tellers Shootout at the O.K. Corral | Law and Disorder | 2 About this episode After several months of anxiety, the tensions in Tombstone finally explode into violence as Ike Clanton and his friends provoke the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday into a deadly showdown.
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0:24 Lindsay Graham? Imagine it's November 12th, 1880, near Tombstone, Arizona. You're a cowboy who usually spends his free time carousing and gambling. But tonight, you and a friend are doing your part to fulfill an important civic duty. You're certifying an election. Tombstone's county calls on citizen volunteers to help oversee voting. So you're at your friend's house, which is serving as the local polling station. You open a lockbox with the ballots inside and spill them out onto the table. Then you divide the pile and both start counting. The big race on the ballot is for city marshal, Democrat Ben Sippy versus Republican incumbent Virgil Earp, who was appointed to the seat just a few weeks prior. You favor Sippy, the Democrat, who's sympathetic to cowboys like you.
1:08 Lindsay Graham? But after a few minutes, you reach the last ballot and realize you don't like the results. What's the count for your pile? I'm at Virgil Earp 32 and Ben Sippy 28. Yeah, I got Virgil ahead 36 to 22. You sure you didn't screw up the count? What is there to screw up? I went to school. I know how to count. Well, let's just count again and make sure. You both recount your piles and you get the same numbers. You groan. Ah, this is a disaster. We can't have Virgil Earp serve a full term as marshal. Ah, I'm not too worried. And why not? All of those Earp brothers are the same. They use their badges to harass us. Well, you know, we haven't counted all the ballots yet. What do you mean by that? Why are you grinning? Your friend reaches into his coat pocket and thumps some papers on the table.
1:53 Lindsay Graham? You pick one off the top. Are these ballots? Yep, already filled in, straight-ticket Democrat. And where'd they come from? Curly Bill sent them over, a little insurance policy. You shudder. Curly Bill Brochus is a fellow cowboy, but a murderous thug. You want nothing to do with him or this. Oh, no, no, I'm not stuffing no ballot box. People are gonna be suspicious. Well, let them be. We're the election officials. What we say stands. You don't want a Republican marshal, do you? Well, no, of course not. And I know you don't want to be on Curly Bill's bad side.
2:28 Lindsay Graham? You swallow hard. Several years of Virgil Urp as marshal would be a disaster for hard-working cattle rustlers like you. But even more than that, you don't want to cross Curly Bill. So you divide up the new ballots and start adding them to the tally. Law and order has no place in a town like Tombstone. And apparently, neither does a fair election.
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3:44 Lindsay Graham? From Wondery, I'm Lindsay Graham, and this is American History Tellers. Our history, your story.
4:05 Lindsay Graham? In the 1880s, the Arizona Territory faced a near-civil war. On one side stood gangs of cowboys and their allies among the ranchers, hard-scrabble men who mostly made their living rustling cattle, who valued freedom and independence above all. On the other side stood law enforcement officials and business leaders in towns like Tombstone, who favored peace and stability and wanted to bring the cowboys to heel. Initially, these cowboys did most of their cattle rustling in Mexico. But when the Mexican government tightened up the border and cracked down, the cowboys began targeting people around Tombstone instead. Cowboys also gained control of a few key politicians, but the Earp brothers were determined to enforce law and order. They went after the cowboy gangs and their allies,
4:50 Lindsay Graham? making powerful enemies and setting up an inevitable showdown. This is episode 2 of our four-episode series on Tombstone: Law and Disorder.
5:02 Lindsay Graham? In November 1880, Virgil Earp ran for a full term of office as city marshal in Tombstone, Arizona, a town that was sharply divided along political lines. Virgil had been appointed to serve as the marshal only a few weeks earlier. He assumed the role after the previous marshal Fred White was killed in a fight involving Virgil's brother Wyatt and the notorious cowboy Curly Bill Brochus. In the struggle to subdue Curly Bill, the cowboy's gun had gone off, accidentally killing White. Now Virgil was seeking the votes of Tombstone residents in order to continue his work and serve a full term as marshal. As a Republican, Virgil campaigned to enforce law and order and a vigorous government. Opposing him were the Democrats, farmers and ranchers who generally preferred
5:46 Lindsay Graham? the government mind its own business. They were wary of the Republican Party, with its ties to the elites of the East Coast and northern cities. And this partisan split between rustlers and townsfolk led to tensions that colored every election. The race for city marshal was no different, and when the votes were counted on November 12, 1880, Virgil Earp lost the election to Democrat Ben Sippy, who'd once been indicted for theft in Texas. The final tally was 311 to 259, and fraud almost certainly played a role. But Virgil declined to challenge the results, reasoning that it wouldn't be gentlemanly. Still, the defeat stung his pride. He loved being marshal, and the loss angered and humiliated him. But fraud wasn't limited to just Virgil's race.
6:30 Lindsay Graham? It was rampant in the West. In the election for county sheriff in 1880, members of the cowboy gangs worked as election officials in many precincts and made sure that their party won. They weren't especially subtle about cheating either. One precinct recorded 104 votes, 103 of them for the Cowboys' favorite Democratic candidate. The problem was the precinct only had 10 registered voters. This brazen deception didn't sit well with Wyatt Earp, a Republican like his brother. He resigned his post as deputy county sheriff in protest of the fraudulent voting and eventually the county launched an investigation. Wyatt eagerly took part in it, a bold move since he'd be investigating his former boss. This didn't win him any friends among Democrats, especially after a court ruling a few months
7:15 Lindsay Graham? later handed the job to a Republican. In addition, Wyatt's resignation opened up a chance for the man who would become his greatest rival among the citizens of Tombstone, Johnny Behan. Behan was 36 years old with a thick mustache but not much hair on his head. He had a dubious past but harbored big political ambitions, having gotten his start in politics as a teenager working as a clerk for the Arizona Territorial Legislature. Then as a young man he married into a wealthy family in Prescott, parlaying those connections into jobs as a county sheriff and county recorder. Finally he was elected a territorial representative at the age of 29. But soon after, he lost everything. A well-known philanderer about town, he finally went too far and got caught cheating on his
7:59 Lindsay Graham? wife with a 16-year-old prostitute. This time his wife divorced him, leaving him disgraced. And when he later tried to run for his old job of county sheriff, he lost. Behan washed into Tombstone, hoping to revive his political career in this rich, fast-growing town, and he was charming, making important friends quickly. As a Democrat, he sympathized with ranchers and cowboys. And when Wyatt Earp resigned his deputy sheriff job, Behan arranged to get appointed as his replacement. A heated rivalry would soon grow between these two men, a rivalry made all the nastier by a romantic entanglement. Shortly after moving to Tombstone, Behan had a fling with an actress named Josephine Marcus, who was visiting as part of a touring show.
8:42 Lindsay Graham? After she left town, Behan wrote her a letter, promising to marry her, and she soon returned to Tombstone to join him. But after the initial thrill wore off, Behan kept delaying his promise of marriage. Being an actress was a disreputable profession, and Marcus was also Jewish, both of which could prove a liability for an ambitious politician like Behan. The couple thought about marriage for months until Marcus finally moved out. And when she did, Wyatt Earp caught her eye. It's not clear when their affair started, but seeing the two of them together left Johnny Behan steaming. Still, as 1880 drew to a close, he had a promising position as deputy sheriff, and he quickly proved himself an ally of the cowboys, including Curly Bill Brochus, who had his own grudge against Wyatt.
9:27 Lindsay Graham? Curly Bill still hated the Earp brother for pistol-whipping him into submission during the conflict that accidentally killed Fred White. Adding insult to injury, after the shooting, Curly Bill spent two months in prison. And when he was finally released, knowing he had increasingly powerful supporters like Johnny Behan behind him, Curly decided to celebrate with a series of outrageous stunts.
9:52 Lindsay Graham? Imagine it's January 8th, 1881. You're a young lawyer, and you're in the dance hall in Charleston, nine miles southwest of Tombstone. You've got a lovely young woman named Tessie in your arms, and you both sway to the music. This is only your third date, but already things feel magical. She smiles up at you, and you wonder if she can tell what you're thinking, that you're hoping for a good-night kiss. You gesture toward the door to see if she'd like to step outside for some air. Tessie nods shyly, and you grip her hand in the crown. Her heart is pounding, because this might be your chance. But as you move to the door, a scruffy-looking cowboy suddenly breaks the mood. All right, stop the music, stop playing. I want everyone here to strip naked. You stand there stunned and a bit embarrassed.
10:37 Lindsay Graham? You step forward. Sir, I think maybe you've had a bit too much to drink. Why don't you come on outside and let these people enjoy the night? Who the hell are you? Well, I'm a local lawyer here. Oh, I hate lawyers. Now, strip naked. Well, please be reasonable, and let's put the gun away. In response, he fires into the ceiling, then levels the gun at your head. No, I'm dead serious. Drip naked now, and your girlfriend too. With trembling hands, you unbutton your shirt. You hesitate with your belt, but then drop your pants. Next to you, Tessie is in her corset. Well, here you are. I think the joke's gone far enough. Won't you agree? Let's be dignified. The cowboy responds by pressing the gun barrel against your forehead.
11:21 Lindsay Graham? Still hot from the last shot, you can smell gunpowder. I said get naked. Every one of you, get naked! The cowboy and his companion start circling the room, shoving them in and tearing a few women's dresses. In minutes, all of you are stark naked. Then the cowboy screams at the band to play something peppy, and orders everyone to dance.
11:45 Lindsay Graham? You obey as the music starts up. You stare at the ceiling, unable to meet Tessie's eyes. You're blushing again, but this time in shame. The cowboy circles among you, slapping people's behinds and cackling. Meanwhile, you keep dancing, realizing the best night of your life has turned into a nightmare.
12:07 Lindsay Graham? After forcing the patrons of the dance hall to strip naked, Curly Bill Brochus and his friends weren't done celebrating. The next day, they burst into a church and forced the minister to dance a jig onstage while they took potshots at him. Luckily, no one was killed in this rampage. But the incident added to a growing sense that events in the region were spinning out of control. They would soon grow worse for the people of Tombstone, thanks to developments in the Arizona territorial legislature. Tombstone was part of Pima County, a vast and sprawling region that occupied most of the southern third of the Arizona Territory. It was too large and unwieldy for one sheriff to handle, so in February 1881, the territorial legislature split Pima into multiple counties.
12:51 Lindsay Graham? One of these new jurisdictions was Cochise County. Tombstone became the county seat, so it needed a sheriff. Although this was normally an elected position, that first sheriff would be appointed by the territory's governor. Wyatt Earp wanted the job and figured he was a shoe-in. For one thing, he had experience as a sheriff. Plus, the territorial governor was a Republican, like Wyatt. Finally, Wyatt's brother Virgil knew Arizona's number-two politician, the territorial secretary, and could put in a good word with the governor. But ultimately Wyatt was naive when it came to politics. He didn't realize that despite working together, the territorial governor and the secretary despised each other, so the secretary's recommendation actually hurt Wyatt's chances.
13:35 Lindsay Graham? Moreover, the territorial governor did not care about maintaining law and order in a backwater-like Tombstone. Although he was a Republican, he let it be known that he would consider appointing a Democrat as sheriff. This would curry political favor with Democrats in the territorial legislature, a favor he could cash in later. Wyatt didn't see any of this coming, but his political rival Johnny Behan did, and started to work his contacts to win the county sheriff job for himself. All the stars were aligning in Behan's favor. Still, Behan was a savvy politician and wanted to ensure he got the job. So he approached Wyatt with a deal. If Wyatt dropped out of contention and cleared a path for him, Behan promised to appoint Wyatt his deputy sheriff.
14:18 Lindsay Graham? Upon realizing that he was outmaneuvered, Wyatt grudgingly agreed to this deal. And before long, Behan was appointed sheriff of Tombstone. But when the time came to name a deputy, Behan double-crossed Wyatt and named someone else. Wyatt was furious. But Behan's coup didn't stop there. He took things a step further and formed an alliance with some of the rustling cowboys, including Curly Bill Brochus. In fact, Behan approached Curly Bill with a job offer. By law in Arizona, the sheriff's department collected taxes from its citizens. The sheriff then got to keep 10% of the tax revenue. It was a major perk of the job. But given their dislike of government in all forms, cowboys hated paying taxes and rarely did.
15:00 Lindsay Graham? So Behan approached Curly Bill and asked him to collect taxes from his fellow cowboys in exchange for a cut. At first, Curly Bill laughed at Behan. A cowboy collecting taxes seemed like a ridiculous idea. But after thinking things through, it began to appeal to Curly Bill's perverse sense of humor. Plus, he saw some advantage in it. If the other cowboys paid at least some of their taxes, that could weigh in their favor if they ever got in trouble with the law. So Curly Bill accepted the job, and he turned out to be a great tax collector. No one dared cheat him, and he raised lots of revenue for the county. And in a way, this made Johnny Behan look like a genius. Still, most citizens were outraged that a thug like Curly Bill was working so closely with the sheriff
15:44 Lindsay Graham? and enriching them both in the process. Month by month, it felt like the law and order factions in Tombstone, including the Earp brothers, were growing weaker, while the likes of Behan and the cowboy gangs were only growing stronger and more dangerous. So even as the obstacles kept mounting, Wyatt Earp set in motion a plan to reclaim his status by directly challenging Behan for political power.
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17:48 Lindsay Graham? In February 1881, after losing his chance to become county sheriff for the Tombstone region, Wyatt Earp didn't need any more bad news, but the bad news kept coming anyway. Wyatt's main source of income was a quarter interest in a saloon and gambling den called the Oriental. He earned his interest by dealing cards and providing security. But after a series of brawls broke out, the owner decided to shut down its card game. This move left Wyatt in a precarious financial situation. He still had some stakes in local silver mines, but they didn't pay much. Ultimately, Wyatt decided that his best, long-term chance to shore himself up was to try again to get himself elected county sheriff, so he could rake in 10% of local tax revenue.
18:31 Lindsay Graham? Unseating incumbent Johnny Beahan would also be sweet revenge. The next election for sheriff would take place in November 1882, giving Wyatt more than a year and a half to plan. And to beat Beahan, Wyatt figured he would have to paint his rival as dangerous and incompetent. A golden opportunity to do so soon fell into Wyatt's lap. At the time, Wells Fargo was the nation's biggest and most reliable delivery service. Out west, its agents made deliveries in horse-drawn stagecoaches, which sometimes carried thousands of dollars in cash, among other valuables. Delivering such goods in an empty desert swarming with gangs of cowboys proved difficult, and during the past year, the threat to stagecoaches grew more and more dangerous.
19:18 Lindsay Graham? Imagine it's February 1881 in a second-floor office in downtown Tombstone, Arizona. You're an agent for Wells Fargo, the delivery company. A fly buzzes lazily around your head as you review the accounting books for the month. Things are looking grim. A series of stagecoach robberies over the past few weeks have spooked people. Your coaches haven't been hit, thankfully, but the overall volume of shipments in the region is down. Suddenly, you hear pounding footsteps on the stairs. The door flies open and you're startled to see Charlie George, one of the armed guards who accompanies your stagecoaches. Charlie, what are you doing here? We got hit. Gang of cowboys showed up, robbed us right past the edge of the mesa. And you couldn't do anything? There were a half dozen of them, all armed.
20:02 Lindsay Graham? They came on so quickly, I didn't even have time to grab my shotgun. Oh, God. Was anyone hurt? Yeah, Peter. They shot him in the shoulder. Peter? Our driver? What happened? Well, he got a bit too smart-mouthed, I suppose, and one of those thugs plugged him. Oh, God. How badly is he hurt? I don't think it's good. But there was a doctor on board. He's not gonna lose the arm, but he's not gonna drive again, neither. Well, what did they get away with? All the passengers' jewelry and wallets. That's it? Nah, they found a lockbox, too. Oh, Lord almighty. We hid that in a flower barrel. How'd they find it? They went right for it. I suspect someone tipped them off. Well, that box had $2,000 inside. Did you get a look at any of them?
20:45 Lindsay Graham? No, they were all wearing bandanas on their faces. Besides, what good would it do? You think Johnny B. Hand's really gonna track them down? You drop your head into your hands and groan. This is a mess, and it'll only make people more skittish to take stagecoaches in the future. But the disappearance of that $2,000 is even worse. It was intended for a bank in Prescott, and Wells Fargo guarantees delivery of all merchandise or they'll fully refund the amount lost, which means your monthly finances just took a huge hit. March was already shaping up to be a rough stretch. Now it could well cost you your job.
21:25 Lindsay Graham? In most stagecoach robberies, bandits targeted the passengers, helping themselves to wallets, watches, and fine jewelry. So to discourage theft, armed guards sometimes rode alongside the driver, eventually giving rise to the term "riding shotgun." But not even shotguns could eliminate the danger of the most audacious cowboys. The most notorious and deadly robbery in the region took place on March 15, 1881, near Benson, a town two dozen miles northwest of Tombstone. There, a group of four robbers shot and killed two people, including the driver and a man riding atop the coach. Hearing the news, the entire town of Tombstone was shocked and outraged by the killings, even though sympathetic to the cowboys agreed that this time, they'd gone too far.
22:09 Lindsay Graham? But the robberies would hurt business in town, too. Coaches often delivered deposits and letters of credit to banks, and if the banks didn't feel safe doing business in the region, they'd pull out. It'd then only be a matter of time before commerce dried up and the town would suffer. So despite his sympathy with the cowboy gangs, Sheriff Johnny Behan had no choice but to round up a posse and pursue the Benson killers. But he wasn't alone. Because the thieves had targeted a coach carrying US mail, that made their robbery a federal offense. Virgil Erb was still a deputy US marshal, so he joined Behan's posse and deputized his brothers Wyatt and Morgan to come along. This posse tracked the fugitives over three frustrating days, at the end of which they had little to show for their efforts.
22:54 Lindsay Graham? Cleverly, the killers had made their escape over rocky terrain to avoid leaving hoof prints and to conceal their trail. But finally, the lawman caught a break. They questioned a ranch owner who swore he knew nothing about the location of the outlaws, but the lawman noticed a ranchhand nearby who was fumbling to milk a cow and seemed out of place. The man also had two guns strapped to his waist. The posse arrested and interrogated the man. He then confessed to taking part in the robbery, although he swore he just held the other men's horses and hadn't shot anyone. He then gave up the names of the three murderers, but they were nowhere to be found. As sheriff, Johnny Behan assumed control of the prisoner and then decided to ride back to Tombstone with him, so he could parade the man through town and take credit.
23:38 Lindsay Graham? Before they left, Wyatt warned Behan to lock the man in leg irons at the jail, so he couldn't escape. But Behan ignored this advice, and when they arrived in Tombstone, he left the outlaw in the hands of an inexperienced jailer. Soon after, the man was able to break free. The loss of the prisoner was a black eye for Behan. He looked foolish and incompetent, so he came up with a dirty ploy to save face. He began spreading rumors that the Earps' friend Doc Holliday, the notorious gambler and brawler, had taken part in the robbery in Benson. Rumors also swirled that Morgan Earp, who worked for Wells Fargo sometimes, had been the one that tipped the robbers off about valuables aboard the coach. These new rumors made the spat between Behan and the Earps even nastier.
24:21 Lindsay Graham? Behan also stymied the hunt for the missing killers, fearing that if Wyatt, Virgil, and Morgan succeeded and took credit, it would make him look even worse. So he refused to provide them with fresh horses or supplies. Still, the brothers continued to hunt the fugitives anyway, even without his help, but they failed to track down anyone else. Then, a few months later, in June 1881, another law enforcement scandal struck Tombstone. The city council reprimanded Town Marshal Ben Sippy, who had bested Virgil Earp in the fraudulent election the year before, accusing him of "absence without leave" and "cowardice" for not standing up to outlaws marauding through town. Shortly after, Sippy fled Tombstone, and it later emerged that he was seriously in debt and wanted to escape his creditors. He never returned.
25:05 Lindsay Graham? So with Sippy gone, Virgil Earp got appointed to his old job as town marshal, and he immediately proved that he was the right man for the job when a fire broke out. The blaze started after a saloon owner and a few friends rolled a barrel of rancid whiskey out into the street to inspect it. As they removed the cork to peer inside, one of them unwisely lit a cigar. The alcohol fumes wafting out of the barrel caught fire, and the barrel then exploded. The bone-dry wooden buildings nearby quickly caught fire. People tried putting the flames out using the town sprinkler system, which only consisted of shooting barrels of water perched on roofs, so streams of water could douse the flames. It did no good.
25:46 Lindsay Graham? The resulting blaze gutted downtown Tombstone. There were no fatalities, but sixty-six structures burned. As a boomtown, Tombstone could have replaced the lost structures quickly, except a problem arose: so-called "lot jumpers." The moment the fires died down, these men pitched tents on the smoldering lots downtown and claimed squatters' rights. If the true owners tried to evict them, the men got violent, demanding payment before they'd move. As the new town marshal, Virgil took action against these squatters. He organized a posse consisting of Wyatt, Morgan, and another recently arrived Earp brother, Warren. They began tearing down the tents with lassos and pistol-whipping any squatters who resisted.
26:27 Lindsay Graham? Clearing the lots made Virgil a hero to many in town, and then Tombstone was able to rebuild, replacing wooden structures with fire-resistant adobe. But seeing his older brother restored to his job and publicly celebrated only made Wyatt all the more eager to become county sheriff. The lack of arrests in the Benson stagecoach murders remained a sore subject in town. The fugitives were still at large, so Wyatt devised a scheme to capture them. If he succeeded, he'd make himself look far more clever and competent than Johnny Beahan, and give the people a reason to vote for him in the next election. But his plan depended on the cooperation of three men who dabbled in criminal activity themselves. One was the cowboy Joe Hill, another was rancher Frank McLory, who'd stolen the army mules
27:12 Lindsay Graham? a year earlier and remained Virgil's sworn enemy. The third was Ike Clanton, another rancher who had befriended several members of the cowboy gangs and was involved in cattle rustling. Clanton had curly hair and a thin strip of beard running down his chin. He was thirty-four years old and lived on his ranch with two hell-raising brothers. But nevertheless, Wyatt Earp approached Clanton, Hill, and McLory with a proposal. Wells Fargo had decided to offer an outrageous $3,600 reward for bringing the three-stagecoach killers to justice. Wyatt offered to hand over the entire amount to these three men if they helped him catch the killers. He figured they were greedy enough to make this plan enticing, and the killers might also trust the trio since they were cowboys and ranchers.
27:56 Lindsay Graham? So Wyatt directed the trio to tell the murderers that they'd gotten a hot tip about another stagecoach, one they could rob at a certain place in the desert for easy pickings. But Wyatt would be lying in wait at the spot, and when the men showed up, he'd plan to arrest them. At first, the three men agreed to the plan. But Ike Clanton soon had second thoughts. He knew the killers and doubted whether they'd be taken alive. So he asked Wyatt whether Wells Fargo would still pay up for dead bodies. To answer this question, Wyatt had a telegram sent to Wells Fargo Company headquarters, inquiring whether the fugitives needed to be captured alive. The answer came back no, and that meant that Wyatt's plot could move forward, and he could take the wanted men, dead or alive.
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30:51 Lindsay Graham? By the late spring of 1881, Wyatt Earp had developed a clever plan to track down the Benson Stagecoach killers and lure them into a trap by using some cowboys and ranchers they trusted. But his plan soon ran into trouble when two of the three murderers got killed in another robbery shootout. Because the men had died accidentally and not as the result of anyone trying to bring them to justice, Wells Fargo declined to pay the full reward. Wyatt cursed his luck. The men he'd enlisted to track down the fugitives suddenly had much less incentive to help him. But the third killer, Jim Crane, was still at large, making mischief near Mexico. Cowboys like Crane often raided cattle from ranches south of the US-Mexico border and sold them to ranchers in Arizona.
31:34 Lindsay Graham? Cowboys also smuggled other goods across, including liquor and tobacco, which faced steep import tariffs. By avoiding these tariffs, the cowboys could sell the goods for a tidy profit. But it wasn't just cowboys doing the smuggling. Some Mexican citizens plied the trade as well. This angered the cowboys, who considered the Mexicans competitors. And being cowboys, they tried to eliminate the competition through threats and violence. And in late July 1881, a group of cowboys intercepted two separate pack trains of Mexican smugglers near Tombstone and opened fire. Between the two incidents, 12 Mexican citizens were shot dead. The cowboys then stole their smuggled goods. The Mexican government was enraged at the murders of their citizens and lodged formal protests with Washington.
32:19 Lindsay Graham? But some Mexicans preferred not to wait for diplomats to sort things out, deciding to take matters into their own hands, an action that would send Ike Clanton spiraling out of control.
32:33 Lindsay Graham? Imagine it's early morning in August 1881. You're a cowboy and you're just getting back to your shack outside Tombstone after rustling cattle for two days and two nights straight. You're utterly exhausted. You pull off your boots and plop down on your mattress without even bothering to remove your dirty clothes. You feel like you could sleep for a week. But just as you lie down, your door flies open and your buddy Ike Clanton storms in. Guy, you got any whiskey? I need a drink. Ike, damn it, I'm trying to sleep. Well, tell me where you got your stash and I'll leave you alone. Fine, there's a pint in the boot beneath the table. Clanton finds the pint and removes the cork. He finishes the last of the whiskey in one pull. So what's going on? Well, they shot my dad. Those damn Mexicans, they killed him dead.
33:18 Lindsay Graham? Oh, well, I guess you do deserve some whiskey. But let's use glasses like civilized folk. Here you go. Now tell me what happened. It was an army unit, from what I heard. What, the Mexican army? You bet. Dad was rustling some cattle and they ambushed his camp last night in revenge for the deaths of those Mexican smugglers last week. I didn't know your dad was involved in those killings. He wasn't, but some folks with him last night were. Mexicans didn't care anyway, they saw some gringos with cattle and decided to get revenge. Oh, good God, I'm sorry, Ike. Anyone besides your dad die? Well, that's the thing. They got Jim Crane, too. Jim Crane? The last of the Benson killers? The very same. Well, can't say I'll shed too many tears for him. Well, that's not the point, is it?
34:02 Lindsay Graham? There was a reward out for him. Jim Crane was never gonna be taken alive. Well, Wells Fargo was willing to pay for him dead. I don't believe that, they never have before. They were this time, I had inside information. From who? Well, I can't say, but I had information. I stood to make a killing on that reward, and now it's all fouled up and my dad's dead. Clanton grabs the empty pint bottle and hurls it across the room. It shatters against your pantry shelves and brings one of them down. You cringe as tins and sacks of food tumble all over. This gets you angry, but before you can grab Ike's collar and slap some sense into him, he darts out the door and you know he's going out to find his brothers. You fear the worst.
34:46 Lindsay Graham? He mentioned inside information and he looks determined to seek revenge, so you've got a bad feeling that there's more violence to come.
34:57 Lindsay Graham? The Guadalupe Pass killings of August 12th, 1881, left five Americans dead. Vigilantes were Mexican soldiers seeking revenge for murdered Mexican ranchers. One of the cowboys killed that day was Jim Crane, one of the Benson Stagecoach murderers. And with him dead, Wyatt Earp's scheme to bring the killers to justice fell apart, so too did his plans to undermine Johnny Behan and get himself elected sheriff. But another victim that August day was Ike Clanton's father. He was the first one killed in the shooting. He was hit standing up and fell face-first into a campfire. The elder Clanton had been a stern father who had involved himself in some shady dealings,
35:37 Lindsay Graham? but however poor a role model, he'd at least kept his three sons in line, restraining their worst impulses. With him gone, Ike Clanton in particular would start running wild. But the final consequence of the August 12th killings was a shift in the cowboy gang's crimes. They didn't relish going up against armed Mexican soldiers, so rather than commit their crimes south of the border, they began to steal cattle and target people in Arizona, including in Tombstone. This led to more stagecoach robberies, one of which, on September 9th, provided yet another example of County Sheriff Johnny Behan's corruption. No one died in this robbery, but one of the thieves gave himself away.
36:18 Lindsay Graham? When shaking down the coach passengers, he asked if they had any sugar on them, slang for money. The man's boots also had a broken back heel, which left distinct boot marks in the dirt around the coach. And when the town's Wells Fargo agent organized a posse to investigate, they queried local bootmakers, learning that a man named Frank Stillwell had recently had the back heel of his boots repaired. Stillwell was also known to call money "sugar," easily identifying himself as the culprit. But Stillwell was a former deputy of Sheriff Johnny Behan, and the two remained close. As often happened, Stillwell beat the charges due to lack of evidence, especially the unwillingness of anyone to testify against him.
36:58 Lindsay Graham? But Stillwell's involvement in the robbery and resulting scandal proved yet another black mark against Behan. But Behan did a little to change his ways. Even as the Cowboys crime wave continued with more robberies, Behan's office made little effort to rein them in. As a result, citizens who were sick of the lawlessness began discussing plans to form vigilante groups and seek revenge of their own beyond the law. Rumors about these vigilantes eventually reached Frank McLory. Not long before, McLory had agreed to work with Wyatt to hunt down the Benson Stagecoach killers, but McLory had also clashed with Wyatt's brother Virgil a year earlier after he stole some army mules. McLory still blamed Virgil for the wanted posters that had gone up around town and humiliated him.
37:42 Lindsay Graham? So that September, after hearing news about the vigilantes, McLory confronted Virgil again outside a hotel in Tombstone and accused Virgil of riling up vigilantes, intent on hanging every cowboy around Tombstone. Virgil denied McLory's charge, telling him that he despised vigilantes, who often got as violent as the criminals they were pursuing. But McLory refused to believe him. The two got into a shouting match and McLory swore that if Virgil ever came after him, he'd die fighting rather than surrender. Another man Wyatt Earp had looped into his plan was Ike Clanton. And after the death of his father, Clanton began drinking more and acting erratically. He also grew increasingly paranoid, terrified that word of his scheme with Wyatt would
38:24 Lindsay Graham? leak or that Wyatt would betray him by deliberately telling others. This fear would soon consume Clanton, making Wyatt Earp yet another dangerous enemy. A showdown was inevitable, and before long Wyatt and his brothers would have to confront the lawless Cowboys. And when they did, a series of skirmishes between them would culminate in a legendary shootout. Next on American History Tellers. After several months of anxiety, the tensions in Tombstone finally explode into violence as Ike Clanton and his friends provoke the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday into a deadly showdown.
39:03 Lindsay Graham? American History Tellers is only possible because of listeners like you, so thank you. And don't miss an episode. Be sure to follow American History Tellers on Audible or wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge new seasons of American History Tellers early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts. And to find out more about me, including my other podcasts, my live show, the history tours I'm arranging, and all sorts of other things, go to historyishuman.com. That's historyishuman.com.
39:39 Lindsay Graham? From Wondery, this is episode two of our four-part series on the shootout at the O.K. Corral from American History Tellers. If you'd like to learn more about Tombstone, we recommend The Last Gunfight by Jeff Gwynn, Tombstone by Tom Clavon, and Ride the Devil's Herd by John Bozenacker. American History Tellers is hosted, edited, and produced by me, Lindsay Graham for Airship. Audio editing by Mohamed Shazib. Sound design by Molly Bah. Music by Thrum. This episode is written by Sam Keen. Edited by Dorian Marina. Produced by Alida Rozansky. Managing producer Desi Blalock. Senior producer Andy Beckerman. Executive producers are Jenny Lauer Beckman, Marsha Louis, and Aaron O'Flaherty for Wondery.
40:28 Speaker 07 A trucker merges onto the I-10 in New Orleans. He checks his mirrors. The lane is clear. And then, boom. Impact. A pickup truck, seemingly out of nowhere, scrapes down the side of his 18-wheeler, multiple passengers inside. One man flees the scene. And the driver of the pickup, he doesn't seem all that upset. It didn't feel like a regular accident, because it wasn't. Across the city, truckers are getting sideswiped, all on the same stretch of the same freeway. And behind many of the cases is one person, a Hollywood stunt woman turned personal injury lawyer named Vanessa Moda. This podcast is a story about fake accidents that lead to real consequences, and a scheme that
41:11 Speaker 07 ends in betrayal and murder. Listen to Over My Dead Body: Operation Sideswipe wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge all episodes early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Previous Shootout at the O.K. Corral | The Road to Tombstone | 1 Next Shootout at the O.K. Corral | Thirty Seconds | 3 Page updated November 1, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated