The Last Gunfight by Guinn Jeff

Author:Guinn, Jeff [Guinn, Jeff]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Published: 2011-05-17T07:00:00+00:00

Virgil Earp emerged from his house shortly after noon. Daniel Lynch, a housepainter, rushed over and repeated the warning that Virgil had already heard from A. G. Bronk: Ike Clanton was drunk and armed and threatening to kill the Earps and Doc. It was obvious to Virgil that Ike wasn’t going to shut up and stumble off to bed. As he began walking toward the saloon district, Virgil met his brothers Morgan and James. They’d also been alerted about Ike, and wanted to make sure Virgil knew that he was carrying a rifle and handgun. Virgil indicated that he was on his way to find Ike. Morgan went with him, while James went back home or to work. With rare exceptions, James left law enforcement to his brothers. Virgil and Morgan were surely up to the task of getting a single armed, drunken buffoon under control.

Wyatt got up about the same time as Virgil and strolled to the Oriental Saloon. As soon as he arrived, he was accosted by Tombstone attorney and former city council member Harry Jones, who also occasionally served as one of Johnny Behan’s deputy sheriffs. “What does all this mean?” Jones asked Wyatt, who replied that he had no idea of what Jones was talking about. “Ike Clanton is hunting you boys with a Winchester rifle and a six-shooter,” Jones said. Wyatt was never given to self-criticism, but perhaps he spared a moment to berate himself for trying to cut a secret deal with an idiot like Ike Clanton. Then Wyatt told Jones, “I will go down and find him and see what he wants.”

The three Earp brothers briefly met and conferred. Ike had to be disarmed and arrested before the situation got any worse. Police Chief Virgil carried a pistol, and Morgan and Wyatt each had one, too. As special deputies, they were entitled to be armed. Virgil’s and Morgan’s guns were probably tucked into their belts. All three men wore coats to protect themselves from the chilly wind, and Wyatt’s particularly lent itself to armed confrontations. Just the day before, he’d acquired a new coat with a special canvas pocket to carry a handgun—it was less likely to snag the hammer or barrel if the gun had to be drawn in a hurry.

The brothers split up, with Wyatt hunting for Ike on Allen Street and Virgil and Morgan searching for him on Fremont. Within minutes, Virgil and Morgan spotted Ike, but not before the belligerent, drunken Clanton encountered the one man Virgil would have most preferred not to be aware of the tenuous situation.

Tombstone mayor John Clum had just left his office at the Epitaph to wander around town looking for material for stories. He wanted some subject of human interest, and he discovered something very interesting indeed. There at the corner of Fourth and Fremont was Ike Clanton, drunk and, as Clum colorfully remembered it years later in his memoir, “holding a Winchester rifle in his arms much after the fashion of a mother holding her child and fondling it accordingly.

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