Billy Clanton had just come into town. During my conversation with them, Ike Clanton said, ‘We are going out of town.’ But Frank McLaury said, ‘I am not. I am here on business.’”
“Thank you, Sheriff. I have no further questions.”
“My name is Joseph Isaac Clanton. I live on the San Pedro near Charleston. I deal in cattle.”
Ike’s head was sunk between his shoulders, minimizing his almost nonexistent neck and lending him the hunkered look of a bear cornered in its lair. His big horned black-nailed hands lay palms up between his knees with his forearms resting on his thighs and his hooded yellow eyes quartered the room as if calculating the distance of a charge. In reality he was looking for a place to get rid of the tobacco bulging his right cheek. He had on a black suit with worn velvet facings and a gold double eagle for a fob.
“Were you present on Fremont Street on October twenty-sixth, eighteen eighty-one, at the time of the deaths of William Clanton, Robert Finley McLaury, and Thomas Clark McLaury?” Matthews asked.
“I was present. I am the brother of William Clanton who was killed that day. I saw the whole transaction.”
“Please state what happened.”
He swallowed the bitter juice and shifted the plug to his other cheek. “The night before the shooting, I went into the Alhambra lunchroom for a lunch, and while there, Doc Holliday come in and commenced to abuse me. He had his hand on his pistol and called me a damned son of a bitch and told me to get my gun out. I told him I did not have any gun. I looked around and I seen Morg sitting at the bar behind me with his hand on his gun. Doc Holliday kept on abusing me. I then went out the door.
“Virgil Earp, Wyatt, and Morg were all out there. Morg Earp told me if I wanted a fight to turn myself loose. They all had their hands on their pistols while they were talking to me. I told them again I was not armed. Doc Holliday said, ‘You son of a bitch, go arm yourself then!’ I did go off and heel myself. I came back and played poker with Virge Earp, Tom McLaury, and other parties until daylight. Virge Earp played poker with his pistol in his lap the whole time. At daylight he got up and quit the game. We were playing in the Occidental. I followed Virge Earp out when he quit. I told him that I was abused the night before and I was in town. Then he told me he was going to bed.”
Deputy Billy Breakenridge set a cuspidor at Ike’s feet and he used it, splattering brown juice into the polished brass interior. He drew the back of a hand across his lips and resumed chewing. A neglected streak glistened in his chin whiskers.
“I came back and cashed in my chips and stood around town until about eight o’clock. I then went and got my Winchester, expecting to meet Doc Holliday on the street, but never saw him until after Virge and Morgan slipped up behind me and knocked me down with a six-shooter. Shortly afterwards I met my brother Billy. He asked me to go out of town. I just about that time met the corral man where my team was and asked him to harness up the team. We then went to the O.K. Corral in company with the McLaury brothers. We met the sheriff there. He told us that he would have to arrest us and take our arms off. I told him that we were just going to leave town and that I had no arms on. He then searched my waist. He told my brother and Frank McLaury to take their arms up to his office.
“Tom opened his coat and showed him and said, ‘Johnny, I have no arms on.’ Frank McLaury said he would keep his arms unless the sheriff disarmed the Earps. He said that if he would disarm them, he would lay off his, as he had business to attend to in town before he left.
“Just at that time I seen Doc Holliday and three of the Earps coming down the sidewalk. The sheriff stepped forward to meet them and told them that he had these parties in charge, and to stop, that he did not want any trouble. They walked right by him.
“I stepped two or
“Thank you, Sheriff. I have no further questions.”
“My name is Joseph Isaac Clanton. I live on the San Pedro near Charleston. I deal in cattle.”
Ike’s head was sunk between his shoulders, minimizing his almost nonexistent neck and lending him the hunkered look of a bear cornered in its lair. His big horned black-nailed hands lay palms up between his knees with his forearms resting on his thighs and his hooded yellow eyes quartered the room as if calculating the distance of a charge. In reality he was looking for a place to get rid of the tobacco bulging his right cheek. He had on a black suit with worn velvet facings and a gold double eagle for a fob.
“Were you present on Fremont Street on October twenty-sixth, eighteen eighty-one, at the time of the deaths of William Clanton, Robert Finley McLaury, and Thomas Clark McLaury?” Matthews asked.
“I was present. I am the brother of William Clanton who was killed that day. I saw the whole transaction.”
“Please state what happened.”
He swallowed the bitter juice and shifted the plug to his other cheek. “The night before the shooting, I went into the Alhambra lunchroom for a lunch, and while there, Doc Holliday come in and commenced to abuse me. He had his hand on his pistol and called me a damned son of a bitch and told me to get my gun out. I told him I did not have any gun. I looked around and I seen Morg sitting at the bar behind me with his hand on his gun. Doc Holliday kept on abusing me. I then went out the door.
“Virgil Earp, Wyatt, and Morg were all out there. Morg Earp told me if I wanted a fight to turn myself loose. They all had their hands on their pistols while they were talking to me. I told them again I was not armed. Doc Holliday said, ‘You son of a bitch, go arm yourself then!’ I did go off and heel myself. I came back and played poker with Virge Earp, Tom McLaury, and other parties until daylight. Virge Earp played poker with his pistol in his lap the whole time. At daylight he got up and quit the game. We were playing in the Occidental. I followed Virge Earp out when he quit. I told him that I was abused the night before and I was in town. Then he told me he was going to bed.”
Deputy Billy Breakenridge set a cuspidor at Ike’s feet and he used it, splattering brown juice into the polished brass interior. He drew the back of a hand across his lips and resumed chewing. A neglected streak glistened in his chin whiskers.
“I came back and cashed in my chips and stood around town until about eight o’clock. I then went and got my Winchester, expecting to meet Doc Holliday on the street, but never saw him until after Virge and Morgan slipped up behind me and knocked me down with a six-shooter. Shortly afterwards I met my brother Billy. He asked me to go out of town. I just about that time met the corral man where my team was and asked him to harness up the team. We then went to the O.K. Corral in company with the McLaury brothers. We met the sheriff there. He told us that he would have to arrest us and take our arms off. I told him that we were just going to leave town and that I had no arms on. He then searched my waist. He told my brother and Frank McLaury to take their arms up to his office.
“Tom opened his coat and showed him and said, ‘Johnny, I have no arms on.’ Frank McLaury said he would keep his arms unless the sheriff disarmed the Earps. He said that if he would disarm them, he would lay off his, as he had business to attend to in town before he left.
“Just at that time I seen Doc Holliday and three of the Earps coming down the sidewalk. The sheriff stepped forward to meet them and told them that he had these parties in charge, and to stop, that he did not want any trouble. They walked right by him.
“I stepped two or