Tombstone "The Town Too Tough to Die"

Western movie thrillers of the present day as exaggerated as they may seem to be are tame in comparison to the wild and wooly days in old Tombstone, "the town too tough to die." Tombstone was one of the most famous mining camps of the Old West, and in the eighties, when the town was one of the largest and most important between San Diego and El Paso, gun law held the upper hand, feuds and killings were prevalent, cattle rustling rampant, and stagecoach holdups commonplace.

Tombstone in those early days was the largest city in Arizona; its restaurants the finest; its newspaper the largest, and its theaters and gambling halls the greatest in all the Territory. Newspaper columns were crammed with stories of Tombstone's daily happenings and numerous books have been written extolling the life and times of this rip-roaring boom town.

The camp sprung up almost over night, following news of the discovery of rich silver-laden ore ledges in the area. The discovery was made by Ed Schieffelin in 1877, and the history of the Tombstone District is one of the wonders of the mineral world.

Tombstone is perhaps the strangest name for a town in a long list of strange names, and it is interesting to note the circumstances by which this name was chosen for the new camp. Schieffelin had been following the prospecting game for years, and he seemed to cast aside all semblance of fear in his quest for riches as he wandered along through the hills of the Apache infested region of Southern Arizona.

One day, as he took off on one of his frequent hikes into the hills he was cautioned that if he continued to venture into the Apache country, instead of his finding a "pot of gold" he would find only his tombstone. When Schieffelin made his fabulous strike, he remembered the remark made by his friends and decided to name the new camp which was sure to spring up, Tombstone; and Tombstone it was and still is.

When news of the "strike" reached the outside world, there was a great influx of miners, gamblers, lawyers, businessmen and the usual riffraff along with the good people that was expected in the days of the early West. At first the camp was comprised of mostly tent houses, with hurdygurdy dance halls, saloons and gambling dens.

The Tombstone townsite was laid out in 1879 and by the following year there were almost a thousand wild-eyed fortune seekers in the camp. This number rapidly increased to some three thousand by the close of that hectic year. The flimsy structures gradually gave way to more substantial buildings of frame and adobe. Almost every other business house was a saloon and gambling house; the most famous being the Crystal Palace, once the town's most popular meeting place; the Oriental Saloon, stronghold of the Earp faction; and Bob Hatch's saloon, scene of Morgan Earp's death at the hands of hidden assassins.

Aside from the numerous saloons and gambling halls, perhaps the most popular meeting place was the Bird Cage Variety Theater, a story and a half adobe structure, divided in two sections, the barroom, and the theater proper, separated by a partition. The Bird Cage was the headquarters for all the livelier factions of Tombstone, and during the evening and throughout the early hours of morning it was one of the liveliest places in this great new country. As the Bird Cage attracted the so-called rougher element of miners, gamblers and those on the shady side of the law, so Schieffelin Hall housed the attractions more to the tastes of the so-called cultural groups. The shows at the Bird Cage were of the more risque honky-tonk musical type, while Schieffelin Hall housed plays, home talent programs and the like.

Tombstone had its first newspaper in 1879. It was called the Nugget. The following year, John Clum, mayor and postmaster of the town, founded the Epitaph, a name quite as strange as the name of the camp itself. The Epitaph is the oldest weekly newspaper in the state and is still being published. In naming the Epitaph, Clum asked some fellow travelers on an incoming stage for suggestions as to a name for his new newspaper. Ed Schieffelin happened to be on the stage and remarked that he had christened the district Tombstone and that Clum should have no trouble in furnishing the Epitaph.

Although there were numerous instances of outlawery and murder, the Earp-Clanton battle of 1881 was Tombstone's wildest and most widely publicized fracas, when three men died in one wild minute of desparate "lead throwing." According to the Tombstone Epitaph of October 27, 1881, the following is what transpired in those thrill packed seconds: "The liveliest street battle that ever occurred in Tombstone took place at 2:30 p. m. today, resulting in the death of three persons, and the wounding of two others, one probably fatally. For some time past several cowboys have been in town, and the fight between the city marshal, Virgil Earp, his two brothers, Morgan and Wyatt Earp, and Doc Holliday on one side, and Ike and Billy Clanton and Frank and Tom McLowery on the other.

"The Clantons and McLowery brothers are known as cowboys, and Ike had been in town for the past week drinking freely, and was arrested this morning for carrying concealed weapons, he having appeared on the street with a Winchester rifle and a six-shooter on. After paying his fine he is reported to have made threats against Marshall Earp and his brothers, and it is known that bad blood existed between them for some time.

"About 2:30 o'clock the marshal requested his brothers Morgan and Wyatt and Doc Holliday to accompany him to aid in disarming the cowboy, as trouble was feared in the evening. They started towards the O. K. Corral on Fremont street, and a few doors below the Nugget office saw the Clantons and the McLowery brothers talking to Sheriff Behan, who had requested them to disarm. The marshal called out, "Boys throw up your hands; I want you to give up your shooters."

"At this Frank McLowery attempted to draw his pistol, when Wyatt Earp immediately shot him, the ball entering just about the waist. Doc Holliday then let go at TomMcLowery with a shotgun, filling him full of buckshot under the right arm. Billy Clanton then blazed away at Marshal Earp, and Ike Clanton, who it is claimed was unarmed started and ran off through the corral to Allen street. The firing then became general, and some thirty shots were fired, all in such rapid succession that the fight was over in less than one minute.

"When the smoke cleared away it was found that Frank McLowery had been killed outright, with one ball through the torso, one in the left breast, and one in the right temple, the latter two wounds being received at the same instant. Tom McLowery lay dead around the corner at Third street, a few feet from Fremont, the load of buckshot fired by Holliday killing him almost instantly. Billy Clanton lay on the side of the street, with one shot in the right waist and another in the right side near the wrist, and the third in Gone are the days of Tombstone's pomp and glory. Only the shells of old buildings and various landmarks remain of the original boom town, in contrast with the Tombstone of today. From a population of some fifteen thousand, today's figure is eight hundred.

order.

From the Epitaph of three days later news of the Coroner's jury findings, after deliberating two hours, was only that the men named came to their deaths in the town of Tombstone from the effect of pistol and gunshot wounds inflicted by Virgil Earp, Morgan Earp, Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. The paper stated that the verdict did not seem to meet with general approval, as it did not state whether the cowboys were killed by the marshal and his party in the discharge of their duty, or whether the killing was justifiable.

A few days later warrants for the arrest of the Earps and Holliday were placed in the hands of the sheriff, but as Morgan and Virgil Earp were confined to their beds with wounds, only Wyatt Earp and Holliday were placed under arrest. They were first denied bail, but later placed under $10,000 bail éach.

The investigation was held behind closed doors, and it was reported that the marshal of Tombstone had telegraphed for troops to protect the town from an attack of cowboy friends of the late murdered cowboys. However, no further trouble occurred at that time.

The Earps were found not guilty. A few months later Virgil Earp was wounded by an unknown assailant and later Morgan Earp was shot through a saloon window by Frank Stillwell and one "Indian" Charley.

BIRD CAGE THEATRE 1881

An account in the Yuma Sentinel of March 5, 1882, says: "To one who has read the history of Cochise county, as it has been enacted during the last year the tragedies last chronicled are in no way surprising. While the killing of Clanton and the McLowery brothers by the Earps and Doc Holliday was made to appear justifiable, before the examin-ing magistrate, yet there is little doubt that had not those conditions presented themselves, some other pretext would have been invented. The shooting of Morgan Earp, on Saturday, cannot be otherwise than a direct outgrowth of the first shooting. The last act, the killing of Frank Stillwell at Tucson, while nothing definite is as yet known, is attributed, by those who are in a position to know, to the Earp party. As is natural and proper, the citizens of Tucson are indignant at the boldness of the murderers of Stillwell in coming to their orderly and peaceful town to perpetrate their fowl deeds."

For a wild and reckless mining camp such as was Tombstone, with its numerous feuds and killings, certainly a more appropriate name for a burial site could not have been found than Boot Hill. In this quaint cemetery west of the town lie the remains of several of the early West's despera-does and bad men who "died with their boots on." Some of the best of the West also "sleep" here. This cemetery was also the burying grounds of the Jewish and Chinese inhabitants.

Uprights of three large crosses, once supporting oil lamps on Tombstone's busy streets, stand as silent sentinels "guarding" the graveyard entrance. Several wooden markers have been placed to mark the graves of some of the old camp's deceased.

Over the three rock-covered McLowery-Clanton graves is a marker bearing the epitaph: "Tom McLowery, Frank McLowery, Billy Clanton, 'murdered on the streets of Tombstone.'"

Schieffelin Hall, far right, in contrast to the Bird Cage Variety Theater, was the home of drama, minstrels, tragedy, musical comedy, light opera-all following one another in brilliant succession. This Hall was built in 1881 by Al Schieffelin, brother of the founder of Tombstone.

Also in this quaint burying ground lie the five Bisbee murderers who were hanged at the same time on one scaffold in Tombstone in 1884; John Heath, taken by a mob from the Tombstone jail and lynched near the courthouse. in connection with the same crime; Charles Peel. son of a pioneer judge, murdered in nearby Charleston; Dutch Annie, one of the free and easy women of the early days of the camp. generous and much-admired lady of the night, and many others. The splendor of Dutch Annie's funeral ranked second only to that of Ed Schieffelin, and the body lies in an unmarked grave. One marker is "Dedicated to the memory of all the unidentified," which includes practically all of the nearly 300 buried here.

Estimates place the maximum growth of Tombstone at between fifteen and twenty thousand population. Within the decade between 1880 and 1890, Tombstone rose from a barren countryside, developed to the extent of becoming internationally known for its great output of mineral wealth, and for its zestful ways of living, and then subsided almost to its original state. When the mines became flooded with water in 1886, most of the inhabitants left for more profitable fields. Of the thousands who lived in Tombstone, there were less than 2,000 by 1890. It was not until 1905 that the camp took on new life as a result of renewed mining activities, an upswing that was short-lived. In 1930, and in 1940, according to the Census, there were less than 1,000 people residing in Tombstone.

Although Tombstone is now a ghost of its former self, its fame as a bright spot in the annals of the once wild and wooly West will live on forever in the pages of history and the recorded word. While there were other boom towns in early Arizona with colorful backgrounds and flaming rip-roaring days, some of which have long since been reduced to dust, others, thriving cities, it is doubtful that history will record any with a more colorful and exciting past than that of Tombstone "the town too tough to die."

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A charming study of Ruby Trailar Campbell graces our cover this month. Sharing this typically Western scene is "Water Boy," Jack Topping's beautiful Tennessee Walking horse. The Kodachrome is by Myrtle Campbell, as is the striking back cover scene of a sunset over Encanto Park, Phoenix.

GENERAL OFFICE