Tombstone

Car hooked up, everything checked, Freddy in his seat, time to get in and go.

New Mexico scenery along I10

Into Arizona

 Time for a break

 After miles of nothing, it was nice to see some rocks

some were huge

Then back to the desert

 Tombstone, Arizona
"The Town Too Tough To Die"
They had two major fires that destroyed most of the town

The street is not usually this empty. I took this about 9:30 AM

It was a silver mining town until the mines flooded

a lot of these signs around town

and the most famous of the gunfights

more on this later

 We had to do the stage coach ride

 Cathy had to pet the horses

The street lady wasn't happy when the man she knew reached for her dollar

 The Courthouse

 and gallows.

 Wyatt Earp's statue

next to his house

 The Crystal Palace Saloon  has great buffalo burgers

a lot of the furnishings are original

The stage

It is a gift shop now

One of the gunfights in the Oriental Saloon

Gunfighter Hall of  Fame
Not all of the gunfighters in the museum were in Tombstone and some are movie characters

One such movie character is Paladin from "Have Gun Will Travel"

 These are the original guns from that TV series

John Wayne's favorite gun is here also

Also the rifle he used in several westerns

Clint Eastwood as "Dirty Harry" and his 44 Magnum

The curator let me hold the gun and badge
It is a real gun, not one that shoots blanks.
Note over my right shoulder, "Billy the Kid" watching my back.

Hugh O'Brian as Wyatt Earp used this "Buntline Special"

"Billy the Kid", a lot of people think his real name was William Bonney, not so. He was born in New York City as William Henry McCarty, JR.

They had his gun also.
No notches, real gunfighters never notched their guns.

 Pat Garrett was the sheriff of Lincoln County
He killed Billy the Kid after Billy escaped from his jail and killed two deputies

The end of Pat Garrett
Self defense when shot in the back of the head?

One of the Dalton Gang

After a shootout with a posse

Butch Cassidy's 44-40 Colt revolver

One very interesting gunfighter Doc Holiday.
He got tuberculosis back east when he was a dentist  and moved to Tombstone for the drier air.

His guns are in this museum. He was good with them but preferred a shotgun.

He did have a girlfriend, "Big Nose" Kate

She died in 1940

She was not with him to the end. He was accused of being precipitating in a stage coach robbery. She testified against him.

One of the most notorious was John Wesley Hardin

He tried being a lawyer but liked women and gambling too much

He was married

but that did not stop him

 His gun

part of his legacy

Jesse James

 Early Frank James

 Virgil Earp and wife Allie

Morgan Earp and wife Lou

 The Earp brothers with Wyatt on both ends at different ages
James was not a lawman

John Behan was sheriff of Cochise County. He had this nude photo of his girl friend so he could show it off. Wyatt, as Marshall of Tombstone signed her license to be a "lady of the evening".  Sadie Jo left John and moved in with Wyatt. They were partners for 47 years until he died Jan. 1929. She died Dec. 1944

Her license as signed by Wyatt Earp.

THE BIRD CAGE THEATRE 
In Tombstone AZ, had its Grand Opening On Dec 26 1881. It gained a reputation as 
one of the wickedest theaters between New Orleans and San Francisco. 
The New York Times reported 
"The Bird Cage Theater is the Wildest, Wickedest Night Spot, Between Basin Street 
and the Barbary Coast"...
The Bird Cage Theater operated continuously, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, 
for Eight Years, from 1881 to 1889. Legend has it that 26 people were killed in 
The Bird Cage Theater during its Reputed Years as one of the 
Wildest and Meanest places in Tombstone Arizona. 
Over One Hundred and Forty bullet holes remain in the building.

It was closed, with everything inside in1892
The building was not opened again until it was purchased in 1934, and the new owners were delighted to find that almost nothing had been disturbed in all those years. It has been a tourist attraction ever since.
 This picture was in the saloon and still has 3 bullet holes in it.

These are the "bird cages" that line both sides of the saloon.
The ladies would ply their trade from here.

The faro table where Doc Holiday and Wyatt Earp dealt.

 The first Grand Piano to arrive in Tombstone

Lily Langtry "Jersey Lily" know for her looks and charm and acting ability performed here.

 As did Sarah Bernhart

 The "Black Mirah". The hearse that carried all but 6 of the people currently buried in "Boot Hill"

The undertakers sign

Used from 1881 until 1917

 Site of the longest continuous poker game

 It lasted 8 years, 5 months and 3 days 24/7

Note the names like Diamond Jim Brady, Adolphus Bush and William Randolph Hearst

Another view showing the bar in the background

 One of the "Ladies of the Nights" room

Site of the famous gunfight

Their ages

 The actual gunfight was in the street just outside the rear entrance of the OK Corral

 In black, left to right, Doc, Morgan, Virgil and Wyatt. Doc, Morgan and Virgil were wounded, Wyatt was unharmed.

left to right, Billy Clanton, Ike Clanton, Frank McLaury and Tom McLaury. All were killed except Ike, he ran away

Cathy wandering thru the corral

Boot Hill

Killed in the OK Corral gunfight

 

The Clanton's father also killed

 lots of unknown

some hung or lynched

This one  tells it all
Sorry this was so long, but there was so much and a I wanted to keep it all together.