7/5/17
Early get up as we’re off to Tombstone! Home of Wyatt Erp, Doc Holliday + the shoot out at the OK Corral.
First stop was at Boot Hill cemetery. It’s the cemetery that was used when the town was first founded and has some infamous tombstones. Ok so first lets do a quick run down on the history of Tombstone. Tombstone was founded by Ed Schieffelin, a member of the US army who when working in the area discovered silver ore. Within a year the town had grown from 1 person, Ed to well over 100,000! Next, the name of Tombstone.. It is so named because Ed’s army buddies kept telling him that the only rock he would find in “them hills” was his own tombstone (due to the Apache raiders).
Tombstone is “on the map” because of the shoot out at the OK Corral.. Quick story recap (although watch the Val Kilmer movie “Tombstone” if you want the detail)… So Wyatt Erp and his three brothers came into town from Dodge City, Kansas because of the marauding “cowboys” who were castle rustling into Mexico (not cattle ranchers). Unlike the movie, they didn’t come because they wanted to.. they came at invitation of the US govt (Mexican govt was threatening war if the rustlers weren’t tamed). Once there they tried to get the gig as the town marshal… they couldn’t because a marshal was already in place. According to the historian (again different to the movie) the marshal was shot by one of the rustlers (he was high on opium and whiskey), shot when he was handing in his gun…. He was actually held by Wyatt Erp so the marshal couldn’t shoot back.. Interesting, the marshal died not of a gun shot wound but by an overdose of morphine (administered by Dr Goodfellow, a good mate of Wyatt’s).. Anyway, Virgil (Wyatt’s brother) then was made the marshal. Wyatt was the card hustler in the Oriental and making packets….
Shoot out happened because Virgil (spurred on by Morgan Erp + Doc Holliday) decided to try and disarm the group of cowboys, who were apparently claiming that they were going to kill Doc Holliday (also same cowboys who shot the marshal). The Erp brothers and Doc Holliday (who was a dentist BTW) then shot at the cowboys not in a stand up fight (as per the movie) but as they were saddling their horses to leave town… Three of the four died, only one from a gun shot, the other two from overdoses of morphine (again).. Don’t rely on Dr Goodfellow to save you!! Apparently, more men died in Tombstone of “lead poisoning” than any other type of ailment.. Lead poisoning was code for gun shot wound.. If the doctor put on your death certificate lead poisoning then no-one would stand trial!
Anyway, upshot was eventually Virgil and Morgan were killed in Tombstone by members of the cowboy group (two different occasions), Doc Holliday died of consumption (TB) + Wyatt lived to the ripe old age of 80+ and died of old age in California.
Other interesting facts about Tombstone.. over 136 registered millionaires in the town in 1887! Big Nose Kate (Doc Holliday’s girlfriend) owned the Grand Hotel where rooms were $500 per night (that’s not today’s money that was the cost in the day!). Consequence and Grand Central mines produced the most silver. Hay day for silver mining was really for only three years before the miners struck the water table and the mines were all shut down. In those three years, the town burnt down twice! One infamous guy murdered 13 people and was not charged for any of them! All 13 went down as “natural causes” (lead poisoning I bet). Of those 13 one of them was his wife-to-be’s husband! Eventually, he also killed the woman and for this crime he finally went to gaol. 7 yrs later and he was a free man again!
Anyway, history lesson over and back to the day’s events… So from Boothill we headed into Tombstone itself. The town has one main street (Allen st) which is blocked to traffic and is the tourist attraction. Here you can mingle with Doc Holliday, Wyatt Erp and the cowboys (and of course a few of the ladies of the night).. I grabbed a selfie with Morgan Erp who joined us at the bar in Big Nose Kate’s saloon!
Of course, we saw the re-enactment of the shoot out (although it isn’t’ the historically accurate version).. we shopped (bought jewellery).. we ate + drank… (lunch was a pulled pork sandwich and a glass of beer) and went into a few of the historical locations; the bird cage theatre (still in its original condition—dust and all!), the Oriental saloon (now a shop), the Grand Hotel (now Big Kates’ saloon), and the county court house. The biggest downer about the day was the wind! Goodness, I felt like I was back in the wild west with the wind blowing dust everywhere! Jumpers and long pants on all day!! My day ended with me going on the local history and ghost tour of the town. The history I’ve already shared, the biggest standout was the COLD… Holy, Dooley…. I swear it was low teens and the wind was blowing!!! Let’s put it this way, I joined M+D in Big Nose Kate’s for pizza for dinner and I downed my pieces in quick time so that I could get to our digs for a hot shower… My feet were frozen blocks of ice!
All in all, Tombstone was a tops day out, going back in time to the days of the Wild West!!