Original subtitles

(crickets chirping)

- I swear that the interview I shall give

shall be the truth, the whole truth,

and nothing but the truth.

So help me God.

(peaceful guitar music)

My name is Joseph I. Clanton.

I reside four miles above Charleston on the San Pedro River.

My occupation was stock raising, a cattle dealer.

- [Interviewer] Do you know Virgil Earp, Morgan Earp,

Wyatt Earp, and J.H. Holliday?

- I do.

- [Interviewer] Do you know Frank and Tom McLaury

and Billy Clanton?

- Yes, ma'am.

- [Interviewer] Are they living or dead?

- They are dead.

- [Interviewer] Did they die a natural death

or a violent death?

- [Joseph] A violent death, they were killed.

- [Interviewer] Were you present at the time

they were killed?

- [Joseph] I was.

- [Interviewer] Where and when was this?

- [Joseph] On Fremont Street, in Tombstone.

Cochise County, Arizona Territory.

October 26th, 1881.

(quiet music)

- As a member of the Coroner's Jury,

I can attest the deceased died from

the effect of pistol and gunshot wounds

inflicted by the Earp brothers, and one Holliday,

commonly called Doc.

The cowboy is infinitely worse than the ordinary robber,

being utterly reckless as to human life.

He glories in being regarded a terror,

and rarely cares to steal anything but cattle.

But in the company of human beings,

his revolver is ever brandished,

and on the slightest pretext he sends a bullet

into his victim's heart,

with as little compunction as he would kill a dog.

I am Colonel Roderick Hafford, proprietor

of R.F. Hafford and Company, on the first floor

of the Brown's Hotel building,

down at the corner of Fourth and Allen Streets.

My establishment is popularly known

as Hafford's Corner Saloon.

Ike.

- Colonel Hafford.

Give me an Iroquis eye-opener, I lie a long day.

You seen the Earps and Holliday?

- [Roderick] Nope, not today I haven't.

- Well they oughta be here.

Sons of bitches.

Last night they tried to bullshit me.

You know what?

Nobody bullshits me.

Nobody!

(muttering)

- What time do you say you were meeting with them?

- Before noon.

And it is now five after 12.

- It's 10 minutes past 12.

There will be nothing of it.

You better go home.

Cowboys should be declared outlaws.

They should be hunted down as hostile Indians.

Good day to ya, Isaac.

- Keep the change.

Holliday!

- [Roderick] If the present lesson is not sufficient

to teach the cowboy element that they cannot

come onto the streets of Tombstone

in broad daylight, armed with six shooters

and Henry rifles, then the citizens

will most assuredly take such steps

to preserve the peace.

When the Earps came to Tombstone

they brought (mumbling).

They said they was interested in teamstering.

Or starting up a freight business.

Nothing came of it.

Hey, Wyatt.

- What?

- More coffee?

- I've had enough.

- On the day of the events in question,

Wyatt Earp came in and asked for a cigar.

He went out again.

Stood on the boardwalk smoking.

He went next door to the gun store.

There was some shouting.

Doc Holliday and Morgan Earp came in

and ordered champagne cordials.

Wyatt never drank but Morgan certainly could.

Out in the street, I could see Marshal Earp

holding a shotgun.

It was just after two.

Place had filled up.

People kept coming up to Marshal Earp

making unsolicited reports.

He didn't look too happy, but then he never did.

- Virgil, they're seeing four or five men

down at the O.K. Corral talking about

some trouble they had with you.

Saying that the next time they meet ya,

they'll kill ya dead on sight.

If you want any help, I can furnish 10 men to assist.

- Look, gentlemen, I do appreciate the concern.

As I already said, as long as they stay inside

the Corral, it's not my job to disarm 'em.

Unless they go out on the street.

- Why they're all down there on Fremont Street right now!

(piano music)

- [Roderick] If we oughta gush over the courage

of murderers, desperadoes as they seek to avoid arrest,

(guns firing)

then I'd also eulogize the skill of burglars,

the alertness of sneak thieves,

and the boldness of garroters.

- [Interviewer] Please tell us your name

and place of origin.

- My name is Kate, Kate Haroney,

originally from Budapest in Hungary,

the girl from Budapest, also known as Kate Elder,

Kate Fisher, and Katie Cummings,

for various reasons.

Doc Holliday was my wife and business partner

for several years.

Doc and I fell in love in St. Louis,

before she met Wyatt Earp.

We lived in Las Vegas, New Mexico, over two years.

Doc was practicing dentistry.

- [Interviewer] Dentistry?

- Doc was dentist.

Don't you know this?

Doc has degrees from Pennsylvania College,

one of this country's finest schools.

Then Wyatt Earp comes to Las Vegas.

She tells Doc she will go on to Arizona.

Now Doc follows Wyatt, her old amigo

from Dodge City days.

So we go, with Wyatt Earp and her wife, Mattie,

and her brother, James Earp, and her wife and daughter.

Seven of us in the outfit, and to Prescott we made.

- [Interviewer] How was Prescott?

- Prescott very nice.

Mountain, forest, bear, it's beautiful

but not for Wyatt Earp, nor her brothers.

Tombstone Silver Anza was for them,

and so for Doc, and for a while, me.

(spitting)

Tombstone.

The family Earp.

Virgil, big brother, was City Marshal,

so he could make some money serving papers,

riding in the posse gang.

Morgan, the young one, easy-going,

laughing Morgan.

No job for her, nor for her brother Wyatt.

- [Bar Patron] Take your hands off me.

(glass shattering)

- [Kate] Let me report what Virgil's wife told me.

So much laundry, Mrs. Earp!

- [Mrs. Earp] Katie, this is one of

the dirtiest places in the world.

And how many brothers does Virg have anyway?

Four, five?

They just keep showing up and moving in.

- They can go be prospectors or work in the mines.

- [Man] Evening Katie.

- Four dollars a day.

- Now none of them came to Tombstone

to do any prospecting, Katie.

Jim can't work with that bad shoulder

he got in the war, and Wyatt...

- [Man] Hey, Katie.

- You can't get him to split firewood.

He's that careful about them long, slender

hands of his.

And Morgan, he ain't even good for mattress testing.

(laughing)

My Virg is the only one.

- Take some of this, hm?

- Dr. Barham Solution, 100% cocoa leaf

and opium poppy linctus.

Guaranteed to relive unpleasant pressure on the brain.

Tastes good.

- I told you to keep out of town,

not to show your face on the streets.

- But Wyatt, we didn't stop at the Oriental.

You said it was getting a bad name.

- I told you to keep out of town!

I told you, now get inside. - Wyatt.

I sure hope it ain't habit-forming.

- Me too.

Know what they used to call Wyatt Earp

and her brothers?

The fighting pimps.

That's right.

They were gamblers, too, and posse gang,

but mostly brothel guards.

Unlike Dr. John H. Holliday, who had

a vocational profession, and for whom

gambling was merely pastime.

- Stop looking at my cards.

I said stop looking!

You're jinxing me!

(saloon patrons chatting)

- Wyatt Earp has been Doc's ruin,

no doubt about that!

(thundering) That god damn, foxy, con man

has kept a spell of evil over her.

You write that down!

- Well that's all there, Kate.

- Not that Doc's any saint, but he's a sick man.

Drinking just to keep alive, and he can't help herself.

Doc didn't do those stagecoach robberies by herself.

She was in with Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan

on that affair.

- Yeah, the sheriff wrote it down

just as you said it before, Kate.

Now why don't you do yourself a favor,

be a good little girl, and...

- Have another drink.

- Yes, that's right.

(thundering)

- Doc didn't mean to kill Budd Philpot, Johnny.

You know why he's got them eating out of her hand.

Oh, sorry, Joyce.

I know you are sensitive.

- I am not.

- Anyway, the way I see it, Wells Fargo

tipped them off about the money.

Doc steals it, and then Wyatt Earp

and her gang of no-account tin horn gamblers

rush around in a posse that don't contain

one regular citizen.

Still, got to hand it to them.

Sorry, Joyce.

- Why don't you just sign here, Kate.

- Where?

- Right there where it says complainant signature.

- Doc's not going to get into any trouble

about this, is he?

- No, no, look, we're just gonna put this

in the Wyatt Earp folder for the day

when we arrest Wyatt.

- Well that's just great.

I signed that paper, thinking it would go no further

than me, the sheriff, and Mr. Joyce,

the saloon keeper whose hand Doc had shot off.

Instead, they published my words abroad

and got my Doc arrested.

A day, a night, another day,

Doc Holliday languished in jail.

I, too, was arrested, by Virgil Earp,

and held until I signed further papers

saying that what I told Johnny and Judge Spicer

wasn't true.

I was fined $12.50.

For Doc, there was no charge.

In some ways, I felt partly responsible.

Now at this time I owned a hotel in Globe,

and invited Doc to join me there

for reasons of his health.

Doc survived from the tuberculitis, as you know,

and a complete rest had been prescribed.

But Wyatt Earp had Doc conned the way

she had her conned into the doings at Dodge.

- [Interviewer] What doings at Dodge?

- Don't ask me about them, because I'll never tell.

I did not like it in Tombstone,

and went back to Globe without my Doc.

The Earps had such power that I could not

get her away from them.

I used to get letters from Doc to come to Tombstone,

begging to pay her a visit, but I stayed in Globe

until the fire burned my hotel down.

Then we met.

Doc had invited me to the St. Augustine fiesta in Tucson.

(lively mariachi music) (fireworks booming)

Then a brother Earp appeared.

Morgan said, "Doc, we want you in Tombstone.

"Better go up this evening."

Neither of them wanted me to go with them.

Morgan said, "We are going to ride a freight to Benson."

Doc said, "You can't stand the ride

"on a buckboard from Benson to Tombstone."

I said, "I can stand whatever you can stand."

So we went back to Tombstone.

- [Interviewer] Why?

- [Kate] I don't know why Wyatt and Morgan

needed her so quickly.

We did not discuss.

- [Interviewer] When did you next see Doc Holliday?

- I did not see Doc again until

half past one in the morning.

"Chapter One, Loomings.

"Call me Ishmael.

"Some years ago, never mind how long precisely,

having little or no money in my purse..."

(knocking)

- Holliday!

Holliday!

- [Kate] Ike Clanton asked Mollie Fly

if Doc Holliday was there.

Mollie told Ike she did not know.

He left and Mollie told me that Ike

was looking for Doc and carrying a rifle.

- Holliday!

- [Doc] Ike Clanton said what?

- That he was looking for you and carrying a rifle.

(coughing)

- If God will let me live to get my clothes on,

he will see me.

Hand me my best pants, please.

I may not be back to take you to breakfast.

Best get something to eat, my dear.

- That was my Doc.

Even when danger threatened,

she first thought of others.

But I could not eat.

I watched her greet a party of cowboys.

Doc wished Billy Clanton a very good morning.

I felt so sorry for her.

What a remarkable portrait.

Who is she?

- It has no title.

It's a likeness of a white woman my husband and I met

in Coca Sparro in the Mexican Sierra.

She led us and our party around the town

and claimed to be a photographer herself.

She ushered us into the church,

and hauled out two grinning skulls from the alcove.

- You don't say.

- "Look a'here," said she.

"That's what we're all coming to.

"Don't they look jolly?"

I must confess, I was a bit shocked at her levity.

To which, "Bosh!" cried the lively female.

"What's it matter so long as we're happy?"

- [Man] Stay here, stay back!

I want no fighting!

- "Your skulls and mine maybe footballs

"for the Apaches before the week."

(guns firing)

- [Interviewer] Please report what you saw

from the photographic gallery.

- Something went wrong with her rifle.

She threw down her rifle and pulled out

her six shooter.

Every shot she fired got a man.

- Blaze away!

You're a-crazy if you do!

- Billy Clanton was killed, as were the two McLaurys.

Virgil and Morgan Earp were killed,

though later they got well.

- This is awful, this is awful.

- Are you hurt?

- No, no I'm not.

- Oh my god, oh my god!

(crying)

- Not now.

- Why?

- I must get back.

- No, Doc no, you...

She went out to see what had become

of the Earps that were wounded.

They were afraid to leave them for fear

that the cow rustlers would come back

and take them in the night.

It is foolish to think that a cow rustler

can come up to a city gunman in a gun fight.

The sheriff knew all about this fight coming up.

She put on her big cow hat and rode out of town.

Johnny Behan will tell you a story, no doubt.

She was sheriff of Cochise County.

- Murray, get your boys outta here, I mean it!

- Anyway, you'll see.

Johnny makes like the heartfelt one.

Real good man, creeping Jesus.

Listen from this.

City of Tombstone, Cochise County.

Johnny Behan, sheriff.

Payable to Sheriff Behan.

Sheriff's fees, $485.

Sheriff's fees, $3,628.63.

Rent jury room, $105.

Sheriff's fees, $1,777.16.

Sheriff's fees, $3,729.17.

All of this in three months.

These are the sheriff's accounts.

How I obtained them, I will never say.

$674 for transporting (mumbles).

I hope she transported herself.

$700, salary as assessor.

$2,773, sheriff's fees.

- You see, what Kate won't tell you

is that's all just part of the job.

This ain't the badge bandit, John Behan, you know.

Salting away the citizenry's funds, no.

It's the law of the land.

Sheriff of Cochise County is entitled

to emoluments, which is almost a percentage,

10% of the county taxes collected by the sheriff.

Who then lawfully, you know, deducts

from which all that he is entitled to.

Only to be be lost at the tables company of France.

The Bacchanals embrace.

Ain't all beer and skittles, though.

Sheriff's gotta maintain order.

Gotta clear dead animals from the streets.

Keep the dust down.

- [Interviewer] Let's begin.

- Okay, great.

My hat on for this or off?

- [Interviewer] Hat on, please.

Please introduce yourself.

- Hello there.

I'm John Behan, this is the Arizona Territory

in Cochise County, sorry, got those mixed up.

(clears throat)

Hello, I'm John Behan.

I'm the sheriff of Cochise County

in the Arizona Territory.

You may not know this, but the county

in which I serve was to be named

after the Apache Indian chief, Cochise.

But thanks to some pen-pushing Prescott,

we're called Cochise, which don't mean anything.

- [Interviewer] Tell us about Tombstone.

- Uh, Tombstone.

Tombstone is a fine town with fine people.

I think it's got a real future ahead of it.

I'm raising my son here.

Sad and terrible things, they happen everywhere.

You know, wonders, those happen too.

And I have the utmost confidence in Tombstone

as the place to serve my country, raise my boy.

- [Interviewer] Describe the difficulty.

- I don't know if I should speak much

of the difficulty, as I know the matter

is still making its way through the courts.

I, of course, was there on the day in question,

and I had spent the previous evening in the company

of its principal protagonists.

(lively piano music)

- [Actor] To be or not to be, that is the question.

- [Johnny] Around 1:00 a.m. 'til just before dawn,

I was playing cards with Virgil Earp,

the City Marshal under my authority,

Tom McLaury, a rancher, and a third party.

During that game, Ike Clanton,

a San Carlos rancher who I know to be

associated with McLaury, he came in and joined us.

- To die, to sleep, perchance to dream,

aye, there's the rub.

For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come

when we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

must give us pause.

(rooster crows)

- 10, jack, queen, king, ace.

At the completion of the game, I collected my winnings

and my friends and I retired.

A long night. (exhales loudly)

Whoo!

I'll get my winnings.

You boys play nice and here, keep the change.

(rooster crows)

- I want you to carry a message from me to Doc.

- Oh yeah?

What is it?

- Tell that damn son of a bitch he's gotta fight.

- Well, I'm not gonna do that, Ike.

I'm an officer of the law.

I'm not gonna listen to you talk like that either.

(grumbles)

I'm going home, going to bed.

I don't want you causing any trouble

when I'm in bed.

- Such altercations are not at all uncommon.

People have a drink or two, stay up all night,

betwixt the paste boards and the ivory.

At breakfast, sometimes there are words.

But rarely worse.

I retired to a home I share with my son, Albert,

and my sister, Julia, and saw nothing more

of Ike Clanton or the Earps for several hours.

(rooster crowing)

- Hey, good morning, Ike.

What are you up to?

- Waitin' on the Earps and Holliday.

- What for?

- Soon as they show themselves, the ball will open.

- What do you mean, the (laughs) ball will open?

- What do you mean?

What do I mean when I say the ball is gonna open.

What do you think I mean, Ed?

- I reckon you aim to fight them, hm?

- You reckon right.

- Take it easy, Ike.

- I rose around 1:30 and went, as is my wont,

to Barron's Barber Shop on Allen Street,

a shaving and bathing saloon ambitious

in all its appointments.

Once completed, there'll not be one finer

this side of San Francisco.

Today, it still wants for chairs, which are

en route direct from the Rochester factory,

and mirrors, which, being made of the finest

French plate, of course, come from France.

For an officer of the law to be seated

in a barber shop serves two purposes.

It reassures the civilized community

that the officer has not yet descended

into barbarity.

It also furnishes a bully crow's nest

from which to surveil the comings and goings

of the town.

- [Barber] There's going to be trouble.

- [Johnny] Oh, tell all.

- The Earps buffaloed two of the cowboys.

Two more just rode in kicking up a fuss.

I hear they telegraphed to Charleston

for the whole cowboy gang.

They're fixing to raise the town.

- Well, let's just get on with this shave.

- Yes sir, Sheriff.

- Good morning, Sheriff Behan.

You have quite the hurly burly on your hands.

- Oh well, thank you kindly, Sheriff Shibell.

- Former sheriff, Johnny.

Bob Paul's sheriff of Pima County now.

- Hm, still it would be nice to count on you today.

- (chuckling) No, no, no.

I would not want to intrude.

Seems to me you and the Earps have this

all under control.

- Well, good morning, Marshal.

- [Virgil] Johnny!

- What is all the excitement?

Doc.

- Lots a sons of bitches in town looking for a fight.

- Well, you'd better disarm the crowd.

- I won't do it.

If they want a fight they can have it.

- Charlie and I are about to take a drink.

Won't you join us?

(saloon patrons chatting loudly)

Good, good, just fine.

(muffled chattering)

So how is that racehorse of yours, Nick?

Is that his name?

- Dick Nailer.

- Hm, Dick Nailer.

- Wyatt's horse.

- That is one expeditious beast.

Don't think I have seen one faster,

except of course my own little Nell.

You seen that horse race, Charlie?

- I don't believe that I have.

- Look Johnny, there's an armed gang

in the corral down the street.

They threatened my brothers and me.

- Hm.

- Like Wyatt says, it'd be well within my rights

to shoot them down on sight.

- Well, not technically speaking, Marshal.

You see, the difficulty here arises

out of city law number nine which prohibits

the carrying of deadly weapons inside

the city limits of Tombstone.

Now that rule was adopted by the mayor,

town council, some six months ago.

Section two of city law number nine,

well that exempts ones from its provision,

provided that they are on their way

to a corral or a hotel to deposit their guns,

or on their way out of town,

or already inside a corral.

So as long as Ike and Billy and the McLaurys

were inside the O.K. Corral, armed though they may be,

they weren't breaking any law.

- Excuse me, Marshal Earp.

May I speak with you?

- Excuse me, gentlemen.

- Marshal, my name is William B. Murray.

I'm a stockbroker here with the vizna in Toughnut Mines.

I'm also the leader of the Citizen's Safety Group.

Now I know you're gonna have trouble.

And we have plenty of men in arms

standing by to assist you.

- I appreciate your concern, Mr. Murray.

But as long as those boys stay inside the corral,

it's not my job to disarm them.

Not unless they go into the street.

- Well you can count on us if there's any danger.

- Thank you.

- What did that strangler want?

- Gave me 25 men to help disarm them.

- God damn stranglers.

- Well, you gonna help me disarm 'em?

- By no means.

Do not attempt to disarm that bunch

or they will kill you.

- I think I'll head down there now

to where they are.

They're not gonna hurt me.

- All right.

Good morning, boys.

- [Man] Good morning, sheriff.

- (clears) Durish, looking well.

- Morning, sheriff, how you doing today?

- Hello, do me a favor, save me some ice.

- I will.

- Plenty of it.

Bruce, looking good.

Howdy, ma'am.

- If you owe us, and we owe Tom, it all evens out.

- It does not even out.

My debt to you is mine.

What you owe to Tom, you owe to him.

- Frank, 'bout time you turned in that pistol,

wouldn't you say?

- I can't do it.

- Franklin, you know the drill.

- I don't intend any trouble, sheriff.

As long as the people of Tombstone act so,

I'm not gonna give up my arms.

- People of Tombstone, come on.

- I don't wanna make a fight.

I intend no trouble.

- How many in your party?

- Me, Tom, Ike, Billy.

- Who's that fella?

- I don't know, a friend of Billy's.

- Let's go find out. - Johnny.

- Can you step aside, please?

- Johnny.

- Frank, I'm gonna need your help

if I'm gonna get these boys home.

You can help by shutting up.

Hello, boys!

I'm gonna make this nice and quick if I can.

First things first.

Who are you?

- Billy the Kid.

- Whoo, Billy the Kid.

Right here in Tombstone, eh?

That'd be a first.

I'm gonna ask you again.

Be serious.

What's your name?

- Billy Claiborne.

- Where ya from?

- Hereford.

- Hereford?

Mm-hmm, how old are you?

- 21.

- You carrying a gun?

- No sir.

- Is his mama here?

- No.

- My mama?

- Yeah, your mama.

She here with you?

- No.

- Back home?

- In Hereford, Arizona Territory.

- That's right.

- Ain't no need to bring her into this.

- Well we'll try not to.

- That's enough, kid.

- Wouldn't want to get you a whuppin'.

What about you, Ike?

You healed?

- No, Johnny, I'm not.

- Let's see for ourselves, shall we?

Oh Ike, you know I love you, right?

Taking time out of my busy day.

Tom?

- Oh no.

- Whoo, looking good, Tom, and clean.

Now you two, you know city law number nine,

and you know that means those six shooters,

you gotta hand 'em over to me.

So who's first?

- I demure.

- Oh say, what'd he say?

- I demure.

I'll not surrender my arms until the other party

gives up theirs.

- [Johnny] How 'bout you, handsome?

- I didn't come to town to make a fight.

I just came here to get Ike to come home.

There's no need to take away my weapons.

I'm just leaving town.

- Well good, how about the two of you

jump on them horses and get out of my town.

- We're going now.

- I'm leaving too.

Spring wagon's in the west end corral

and I just left word to have my team hitched up.

- Good, solves my problem.

Franklin, you remember where my office is, don't you?

- Remind me, Johnny.

- (laughing) Well, it's just across the street,

in the Gerb building.

You walk over with me there now.

You turn in that six shooter and that rifle

'til you're ready to leave town.

That sound good to you?

- All right.

- Here they come!

(exciting music)

- [Interviewer] What is your philosophy as a peace officer?

- Enforcing a communities laws,

especially when they are numerous and novel,

it's always a challenge.

The police professional approaches this task

with the ultimate outcome in mind.

Will this bring about a safer, saner,

more just society,

or will my actions only add more chaos,

violence and confusion to the mixture?

That decision is every citizen's,

every time he or she leaves the house.

I mean, what was all this about?

Someone got beat up, someone got fined,

someone got all beefed up about it.

So what?

Stay here, stay back!

I want no fighting!

All right, boys, all right.

Now stop!

There's no need to go up there.

- We're gonna disarm 'em, Johnny.

- Marshal, I've been here disarming 'em.

Please, come on.

There was no need for it.

(exciting music)

(guns firing)

Take his pistol away, or I'll shoot him!

There was a conversation afterwards.

Wyatt Earp said something along the lines of,

"Behan, you deceived me.

"Behan, you put me on,

"Behan, you said you had disarmed them."

I told him he was mistaken.

I told him what I had said which was,

I was there for the purpose of disarming them.

He said he thought I said I had disarmed them.

I am a skilled lawman,

an experienced Indian fighter,

and if I do say so myself, a savvy politician.

I know my way around words.

So how a misunderstanding like this

could have possibly happened is a complete mystery.

- I do not agree to answer any questions.

I am willing to read a statement I prepared,

that is all.

My name is Wyatt Earp.

32 years old last March 19.

I was born in Monmouth, Warren County, Illinois.

I reside in Tombstone, Cochise County, Arizona.

My present profession is saloon keeper.

I also have been a deputy sheriff and detective.

The difficulty which resulted in the death

of William Clanton and Frank McLaury

originated last spring.

I was in the Huachuca Mountains locating some water rights.

I met a man named McMasters.

He told me if I would hurry up, I'd find

a horse I'd had stolen from me in Charleston.

I telegraphed to Tombstone to James Earp

and told him to have papers for the recovery

of the horse made out to me.

While I was waiting for the papers,

Billy Clanton found out I was in town

and went and tried to take the horse out of the corral.

I told Billy that he couldn't take him out,

that it was my horse.

He gave the horse up, but asked me if I

had any more horses to lose.

I told him I would keep them in the stable after this

and give him no chance to steal them.

I had an ambition to be sheriff of this county

at the next election and I thought it

would be a great help to me with the people

and businessmen if I could capture

the men who held up the stage

and killed the driver, Philpot.

It was generally understood among officers

that Ike Clanton was sort of chief

among the cowboys, that the Clantons and McLaurys

were cattle thieves, and generally

in the secret of the stage robbery.

And that their ranches were places of shelter

for the gang.

We had an interview.

What I want is the glory of capturing

those three stagecoach robbers.

Leonard, Head and Crain.

You know 'em?

Friends of yours?

- I heard Doc Holliday was in on that one.

- Some parties in town are trying to

give Doc the worst of it.

If I can capture Leonard, Head and Crain,

then I can prove to our good citizens

Doc knew nothing of it.

- I thought Doc and Leonard were partners.

- This here is a Wells Fargo reward poster.

It doesn't say Doc Holliday.

It says Leonard, Head and Crain.

Three separate awards of $1,200 each.

That's $3,600, Ike.

- I knew that.

- It's all yours, minus the expenses of the posse.

- What do you get, Mr. Earp?

- Like I say, Frank, just the glory.

I think it'll help me make the race for sheriff.

Invite all three of 'em over to one of your ranches,

tell them there's another silver shipment,

and you need a hand.

I'll be waiting with a posse.

- These fellows will give you a fight.

They won't be taken alive.

- This reward good for dead men, Marshal?

- I secured a telegram from Wells Fargo

confirming that the reward for the robbers

was good, dead or alive.

I showed this to Ike Clanton, who told

Frank McLaury of its contents.

But neither provided any help to our investigations.

Leonard and Head were killed by horse thieves

over in New Mexico, and Crain was shot by Mexicans

in Guadalupe Canyon.

After this, my brothers and I began to hear

threats against us.

Marshal Williams, Farmer Daley, Ed Burns,

old man Eurides, Charlie Smith,

and three or four others, told us at different times

of threats to kill us.

I am a friend of Doc Holliday, because when I was

City Marshal of Dodge City, Kansas,

he came to my rescue and saved my life

when I was surrounded by desperadoes.

Ike Clanton met me in the El Hombre

and claimed I had told Holliday of this transaction

concerning the capture of Leonard, Crain and Head.

I told him I had never told Holliday anything.

When Holliday came up from Tucson I would prove it.

- I'm not goin' to Tombstone tonight.

(mumbling) (lively mariachi music)

All right, all right, if Wyatt needs me, I'll go.

- When Holliday met Ike Clanton in the El Hombre

Saloon and asked him about it, Clanton denied it.

They quarreled, and later I met Ike on the street.

- [Ike] When Holliday spoke to me that way

last night, I wasn't fixed.

Come the morning, I'll have man for man.

This fighting talk's been going on for too long.

Guess it's about time to fix it to a close.

- [Wyatt] I'm not gonna fight you, Ike.

- [Ike] Why not?

- [Wyatt] 'Cause there's no money in it.

- [Ike] Well I'll be waiting for ya'll in the morning.

- I got up the next day, October 26, about noon.

Before I got up, Ned Boyle came and told me

he had met Ike Clanton on Allen Street

near the telegraph office.

That Ike was armed and that he said,

"As soon as those damned Earps make

"their appearance on the street today,

"the ball will open.

"We are here to make a fight.

"We are looking for the sons of bitches."

I laid in bed some little time after that

and then got up and went downtown.

On the corner of 5th and Allen, I met Virgil Earp,

the Marshal.

I went down Allen Street and Virgil went down 5th,

and then Fremont.

We found Ike Clanton on Fourth Street

in the mouth of an alleyway.

I walked up to Ike and said, "I hear

"you're hunting for some of us."

Ike Clanton then threw his Winchester rifle around,

but Virgil grabbed it and hit Ike

with his six shooter and knocked him down.

Virgil and Morgan took his rifle and revolver,

and I took Ike Clanton before Justice Wallace.

- I will get even with you all for this.

If I had my six shooter right now,

I'd make a fight with all of ya.

- If you want a make a fight right bad, Ike,

I can give you this one.

- You damn dirty cow thief.

You have been threatening our lives

and I would be justified in shooting you down

any place I should meet you.

If you're anxious to make a fight,

I will go any place on this earth

to make a fight with you.

Even over to San Simon, among your crowd.

- I'll see you when I get through here.

All I need is four feet of ground.

- [Bailiff] All rise, Justice of the Peace.

- I came out of the courtroom

and Tom McLaury came up to me,

wanting to make a fight.

So I said to him, "All right, jerk your gun

"and use it."

At the same time, I slapped him in the face

with my left hand and drew my pistol with my right.

He had a pistol in his pants,

but made no move to draw it.

I hit him in the head with my pistol

and walked away, down to Hafford's Corner.

Pretty soon I saw Tom McLaury, Frank McLaury

and William C;anton pass me and go down Fourth

to the gunsmith shop.

You'll have to get this horse off the sidewalk.

- Calm down, calm down, Sheriff,

or Captain, or whatever the hell it is

you call yourself these days.

Come on, come on, come on.

- Virgil Earp was then City Marshal.

Morgan Earp was a special policeman.

He wore a badge and drew pay.

I had been sworn in in Virgil's place,

to act for him while he was gone to Tucson.

Virgil had been back several days,

but I was still acting.

(townspeople chattering)

- Why they're all down there on Fremont Street

right now!

- They're up on Fremont.

- Where ya going?

- Down the street, to make a fight.

- You're not gonna leave me out are you?

- It's none of your affair, Doc.

- Hell of a thing to say to me.

- Here Doc, put that under your coat.

Come on.

- [Doc] Hm, if they have horses, hadn't we better

not get some horses ourselves, in case

they make a running fight.

- No, if they try to make a running fight

we can kill their horses.

When we turned the corner at Fourth and Fremont,

we saw them standing out about the vacant space

between Fly's Photograph Gallery,

and the next building west.

- [Johnny] Now boys!

Don't come down here, you're gonna

get yourselves murdered.

- You better disarm 'em, Johnny.

- Well I have, I have disarmed them.

- When I heard this, I took my pistol,

which I had in my hand, and put it

in my overcoat pocket.

Throw up your hands, boys!

We're here for your guns.

Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury both laid hands

on their six shooters.

Virgil called out, "Ho, hold, I don't mean that!"

Then Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury

commenced to draw their pistols.

At the same time, Tom McLaury jumped behind his horse.

I had my pistol in my overcoat pocket

where I had put it when Behan told us

he had disarmed the other parties.

When I saw Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury

draw their pistols, I did not aim at Billy.

Frank had the reputation of being a good shot

and a dangerous man.

- [Man] No, I don't want that!

(guns firing)

- Five minutes, go to fight her and get away!

(horse whinnies)

I've got you now!

- Blaze away, you're a-crazy if you do!

(guns firing) (horse whinnying)

You got anymore horses to steal?

- Give me some more cartridges.

- Take (mumbles) away, or I'll kill him!

- If Tom McLaury was unarmed, I did not know it.

I believe he was armed and fired two shots

at our party before Holliday killed him.

- [Johnny] Wyatt, I'll have to arrest you.

- I won't be arrested today.

I'm right here and I'm not going away.

You deceived me.

You told me those men were disarmed.

I'll add to this record, this letter

from 66 citizens of Dodge City, Kansas,

attesting to my moral character.

Wyatt Earp was Marshal of our city.

High-minded, honorable citizen.

Kind and courteous to all.

Brave, unflinching, charged with complicity.

Fully confident that he will be fully vindicated

and exonerated of any crime.

The signatories include a representative,

a sheriff, county commissioner, pastors,

merchants, and the editor of the "Dodge City Times."

Also this letter, signed by seven citizens

of Wichita, Kansas, describing my

honesty and integrity as a police officer.

The mayor of Wichita and two former Marshals

are among the signatories.

Then there's this.

This Bible was presented to me by

a Dodge City law firm.

The inscription reads, "To Wyatt S. Earp,

"as a slight recognition of his many

"Christian virtues and steady following

"in the footsteps of the meek and lowly Jesus."

Sutton and Colburn, Attorneys at Law,

Dodge City, Kansas.

- [Interviewer] Please hold the book

to your breast again for a longer moment.

Now lower it and bring it up again.

Thank you.

Just do that one more time for us, please.

Now read it.

- Are we done?

- [Interviewer] Did you know Billy Leonard,

Harry Head and John Crain?

- Billy Leonard and Jim Crain sometimes

stop at my ranch.

Harry Head I only seen a few times.

I was not acquainted with him.

- [Interviewer] Were these parties connected

with the attempt to rob the stage

and the killing of Budd Philpot?

- I don't know anything but what Doc Holliday

and Wyatt Earp me about it.

Wyatt said that he wanted to put me

on a scheme to make $6,000.

- It's a legitimate transaction.

- Well what is it?

Wyatt said he wanted to put up a job.

Kill Crain, Leonard and Head.

Said that there was five grand reward,

and he'd put up another thousand dollars.

Why are you so anxious to capture these fellows?

Wyatt told me that he had to kill 'em all

or else leave the county.

Said that he and his brother Morgan

had piped off the Wells Fargo money

that was supposed to be on that stagecoach

to Holliday and Leonard.

Now Head and Crain were in the frame

and they might squeal.

He needed 'em all dead.

- [Interviewer] What was your response to this proposal?

- I had no further conversation

with Wyatt Earp on this matter.

Morgan Earp asked me what conclusion

I had come to.

I told him I wasn't gonna have anything to do

with killing Billy Leonard, Head or Crain.

(grunting) (lively piano music)

- You're a thief and a son of a bitch, Ike.

You could have all the shooting you want

any time.

- You fellas are giving me no show at all.

You'd a been a second late I'd furnished

a coroner's inquest for the town.

- Oh, I'll pay your fine, Ike.

Fight us.

- Fight is my racket.

All I want is four feet of ground.

- Here's your rifle, take it.

- I don't want any of it that way.

- [Bailiff] All rise, Justice of the Peace.

- I had no knowledge that Frank McLaury

and Billy were coming to town.

I was just getting ready to leave,

and then got word that Tom's brother

and my brother were at the Grand Hotel.

I went lookin' for 'em but they

had already gone on to do some business.

Their drinks were still on the bar.

- So what'd he hit Tom for?

- I don't know.

Then we don't drink.

Round up the boys.

- [Interviewer] Tell us about your books.

- You mean the books in my room at Fly's?

Those are Mollie Fly's books.

You imagine I'd travel with a library?

- [Interviewer] You are said to be an educated man.

- In truth, my saddlebag contains two volumes.

"The Whale," by Mr. Melville, a seafaring tale.

And "The Tales of Mystery and Imagination"

of Mr. Poe.

My name is John Henry Holliday,

dentist, et cetera.

I currently reside in Pueblo, Colorado.

(coughs violently)

- [Interviewer] You've been accused of participating

in a stagecoach robbery and a botched attempt

to murder the newly-elected

Sheriff of Pima County, Bob Paul.

How do you respond to these charges?

- A stagecoach robber, I?

Madam, I have killed several individuals

out of necessity, but 'til recently

never was charged with any crime.

I lived in Arizona for three years.

Was part of the time a peace officer,

and defy anyone to say they ever

saw me conduct myself other than

as a gentleman should.

I trace all my current troubles to this fight.

Clantons and the McLaurys,

notorious members of the Cowboys Gang,

had murdered a party of Mexicans

only a month before in Skeleton Canyon,

stealing their mules and their silver.

The gentle greasers roused to vengeance across the border,

gunned down several of the Cowboys in return,

including Crain, the robber,

and Old Man Clanton, leader of the gang.

This left Ike, most reckless of the deadly bunch,

at the head of the crew.

I was associated with this matter

due to a kind and generous heart, my own.

On the periphery of the Cowboy Gang

was a youth named Leonard.

The lad came from good stock, though sadly reduced.

Young Leonard had trained as a jeweler

'til life's necessities drove him

into the arms of Morpheus.

Leonard took no part in robberies,

but had prior knowledge, I fear.

My efforts to reform the lad did not take root.

Clantons gave him money to keep for them,

proceeds of an earlier holdup.

An act of diabolical generosity

paled poor Leonard with his Icarian fall.

I have a reputation as a hard man,

a dime novel character, a red terror

of a bulldog.

I am said to have put more rustlers and cowboys

under the sod than any one man in the West.

Yet I defy anyone to (coughs violently)

(singing)

(coyote howling)

- [Interviewer] What is the origin of the hostility

between the gamblers and the Cowboy faction?

- The Cowboys hated us because we hunted them.

Sheriff John Behan was one of their gang,

and a deadly enemy of mine.

He would pay any money to have me killed.

- [Interviewer] Have you no allies now in Tombstone?

- Respectable element will stand by me.

But they are easily intimidated and unorganized.

If I am taken back to Arizona,

that is the end of Holliday.

- [Interviewer] Tell us about your college years.

- I studied dentistry, you know,

at the Pennsylvania College of Dentistry

in Philadelphia.

That's how I got my title of Doc.

I followed dentistry for about five years.

I attended the Methodist Church regularly,

and was a prominent member of a temperance organization.

(coughs)

'Til my lungs failed me and I was obliged

to come West for my health.

- [Interviewer] Describe the difficulty at the O.K. Corral.

- What difficulty?

- [Interviewer] The gun fight at the O.K. Corral.

- I assume you mean the difficulty

on Fremont Street near Third.

- They're up on Fremont.

Here Doc, put that under your coat.

Come on.

- My friend Wyatt Earp was acting Marshal.

He had requested my presence in Tombstone

on business.

I forget the nature of it now.

One evening in the Occidental lunch room,

I was confronted by a drunken Ike Clanton

making unintelligible threats.

(police siren wailing) These I ignored.

Next morning, I heard that Ike and his whole gang

was gunning for me and the Earps.

- [Voice Over Microphone] We're gonna dissolve 'em, Johnny.

- And proposing to hurrah the town.

I was appointed Deputy Marshal.

We have been full rumblers of government

in towns where there was none.

We are entitled to credit for what we have done.

(exciting music)

(shouting)

(horses whinnying)

It concerned me at the time that Billy Clanton

was a tyro.

Later, I wondered if Tom McLaury,

whom I killed, was perhaps a tyro too.

Awful, it's awful.

These men, known as Cowboys, are not really cowboys.

In the early days, real cowboys,

wild and reckless men, gained a great deal

of notoriety.

Later, after they passed on, their places

were taken by a gang of murderers,

stage robbers, and thieves.

And if I were to become a highway man,

I would be a successful one,

by the mere expedient of shooting

one of the horses.

It is not dentistry.

- [Interviewer] Up to that time, had there

been any shots fired by either

the Clantons or the McLaurys?

- I and the McLaury brothers, and William Clanton,

and a young fellow by the name of Billy Claiborne

were standing in a vacant space talking,

just west of the photograph gallery on Fremont Street.

Sheriff Behan came down and told us

- Ike Clanton!

I will have to arrest and disarm you.

- What for?

- To preserve the peace.

- Well I have no arms.

My arms are confiscated by the Earps.

- You just come from the gunsmith, have you not?

- Spanging bird wouldn't sell me anything.

- Hm, well bully for him.

How about you, Billy?

- I'm just leaving town.

- Well, get outta here.

All right boys, let me have those guns.

- I still got business in town

and I'm not giving up my gun 'til you

find the man who hit Tom.

Disarm him.

- Who hit you?

- Wyatt Earp.

- Frank, do you remember where my office is?

- Never been to your office, Johnny.

- Well it's just down the road, in the Gerb building.

You can come with me now.

- [Tom] Here they come!

- We all remained there because the sheriff

ordered us to.

He went down and met the Earps on Fremont Street.

Told them stop, he had our party in charge.

But they did not stop.

Passed him by.

- These sons of bitches have been looking for a fight.

Throw up your hands, boys.

We're here for your guns.

"You've been looking for a fight," they said.

"Commence shooting."

First two shots came from Holliday and Morgan Earp.

(guns firing)

Wyatt Earp and Virgil Earp, their shots

immediately afterward.

(muffled shouting)

As I jumped through the door of the photographing gallery

I heard more shots pass by my head.

(guns firing)

There were four or five.

- [Interviewer] Up to that time, had there been

any shots fired by either the Clantons

or the McLaurys?

- No ma'am.

They all had their hands up, 'til that time.

Tom had his hands up, holding his coat open.

- [Interviewer] What became of the horses after

the shooting commenced?

- [Ike] I never noticed the horses after

the shooting commenced.

- [Interviewer] Were there are not any arms

on the horses?

- Yes, ma'am.

We had Winchester carbines, one on each horse.

In the gun scabbards.

Cowboy lives a lifestyle you city folks would despise.

Yet he is not without food, a good horse,

arms, ammunition, and a blanket.

We're not all brave, sometimes sneak away

from danger, but I have never known

a cowboy to whine or squeal when he had to die.

You can believe me otherwise about the Earps

being a part of those robberies,

but to suggest that we were all fixing

to kill them is a damn lie.

We had Winchester rifles.

If I was aiming to kill Wyatt Earp,

I'd a dropped him as he came around the corner.

(gun firing)

- Erp, E-R-P?

They spelled my name Erp again!

(fiddle music)

- Shit!

Oh I'm sorry, Wyatt.

I burnt another hole in one of your white shirts.

- It's all right, dear.

- Purveying alcohol to men of violence

is no vocation for a gentleman.

I am, before all else, an ornithologist.

Together with my colleague, Otto Poling,

I have assembled a collection of over 2,000

specimens of Huachuca Mountain bird life,

all of which we have stuffed and sent

to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

- (mumbles) for all that fussing now, okay?

Stay still.

(sighs) It has been said that behind this difficulty

we're not only political rivalries,

but an Affaire Du Collier between myself

and Mr. Wyatt Earp, over the affections of a sprightly

and attractive actress from San Francisco.

And while it is true that the young lady

did stay with us, it was strictly

as a governess to my son Albert here.

I believe Wyatt will join me in decrying

such rumors and in not mentioning

the lady's name.

- What lady, Papa?

- (chuckling) Ho ho, Albert, I'll tell you later.

- Tell me now!

- Oh hey, ow!

Okay, all right, let's calm down.

Sadie, you remember Sadie?

We can't (mumbles)

- So strange to see all through the lens

of the photographic gallery, no?

To look up from the picture of the woman

with the shriveled heads

and witness the difficulty outside

with my Doc in the middle of it.

Bosh, as she inquired, what's the odds

so long as we're happy?

Your skulls and mine might be footballs

for the Apaches before a week.

(peaceful music)

♪ Scoundrel time is back again ♪

♪ Different suits same poker game ♪

♪ How on earth did it come to this ♪

♪ You couldn't make it up but someone did ♪

♪ It's like doing your own dentistry ♪

♪ Take a power drill to your wisdom teeth ♪

♪ It comes with the job ♪

♪ It's not so bad ♪

♪ You almost get used to it ♪

♪ Well I did ♪

♪ Adjustable spanner, snag-nosed pliers ♪

♪ Pass the Novocaine ♪

♪ I just removed this now ♪

♪ And I self-censored myself again ♪

♪ Sweet dreams life is pushy ♪

♪ Follow the lead don't be pushy ♪

♪ Health insurance, the coffee's not bad ♪

♪ In the green zone in Baghdad ♪

♪ Stop joking the press old ♪

♪ Same old same old G.O. quality tool ♪

♪ It's like JFK on the job on the job ♪

♪ Wouldn't have been cool ♪

♪ Adjustable spanner, snag-nosed pliers ♪

♪ Pass the monkey wrench ♪

♪ Ooh that'll do it I gots the trick ♪

♪ And I self-censored myself again ♪

♪ Nixon jolts bolt upright at this grave ♪

♪ Bangs his head on the lid ♪

♪ He needs a shave ♪

♪ Pat looks ropey, she's seen better days ♪

♪ They can't believe how well the press behaves ♪

♪ He says you don't know how good you got it, son ♪

♪ Royal flush son of a gun ♪

♪ You don't know how good you got it, son ♪

♪ The sweet hush hush son of a bush ♪

♪ Granted through peer pressure exhortations ♪

♪ Bearing the weight of expectation ♪

♪ My mouth is full of contraptions ♪

♪ Straightens out the contradictions ♪

♪ Fill in the gaps in my history ♪

♪ Scale and polish my new screed ♪

♪ This conversation's only got one good side ♪

♪ Come on baby let's see that smile ♪

♪ Vibrating noise ♪

♪ Roll over once roll over twice ♪

♪ Come on baby dress it up nice ♪

♪ Maybe you can work for the New York Times ♪

♪ Roll over once roll over twice ♪

♪ Come on baby dress it up nice ♪

♪ You can be an accessory to a crime ♪

♪ Come on baby let's see that smile ♪

♪ Come on baby let's see that smile ♪