Gunfights

By George Self

Gunfights, where men faced off and shot each other out in the streets, were rare in Tombstone. This page lists those who died by gunshot between 1878 and 1890. Some of these deaths were gunfights, but most resulted from ambushes, drunken fights, or even suicide. As a note, I am constantly researching Tombstone's history, and if I come across other gunfights, I will add them to this list.

A quantitative study of Tombstone crime published in 1996 offers useful context. Tombstone's overall arrest rate of about 8% of the population per year was comparable to New York City's 6% during the same period, and serious property crimes like robbery and theft were actually less common than in modern American cities. Where Tombstone was a genuine outlier was its homicide rate, which was elevated well above that of eastern cities and even Dodge City at its worst. But most of those homicides fit the pattern visible in this list: personal arguments that turned violent, late at night, in or near saloons. A former Tombstone mayor noted that the town's entire history contained only one deadly street battle and one lynching. The outlaw element that Hollywood places in Tombstone's streets was largely centered in the surrounding county, with its main headquarters at Charleston and Galeyville, not in town.

George Parsons, a mining man who arrived in Tombstone in February 1880, kept a detailed daily journal that traces the escalation in real time. Within weeks of his arrival he was noting that "six-shooters are part of a man's dress here." By midsummer his entries grew darker: "another man killed night before last. Too much loose pistol practice" (July 1880); "men killed, shot, stabbed, suiciding every day or two. This thing must be stopped" (August 1880). The Tombstone Epitaph ran a personal ad from a citizen hoping to retrieve a "gun and holster" left in a water closet behind a saloon. One cowboy shot himself in the leg while practicing the fast draw.

Gunfights

• July 10, 1879: John Hicks was killed by Jeremiah McCormick in a saloon brawl. The fight started when a drunk McCormick and his friend claimed that they could beat any man in a fistfight. They later beat a man named Quinn, who left the saloon to get his two friends, the Hicks brothers. The brothers returned to the saloon with rifles but were outgunned by McCormick and his friend. John Hicks was killed, and his brother was permanently blinded in the gunfight.
• February 25, 1881: Charley Storms was killed by Luke Short in front of Oriental Saloon. Short was a faro dealer at the Oriental, and one day, Storms accused him of cheating. They got into an argument, and Milt Joyce, the owner of the Oriental, made them "take it outside." Once on the street, Storms offered Short the first shot, and Short put two bullets in his chest. As he fell, Storms shot back but failed to hit Short.
• October 26, 1881: Billy Clanton, Frank McLaury, and Thomas McLaury were killed by the Earps and Doc Holliday. Despite the famous name, the fight did not take place inside the O.K. Corral. It occurred on a vacant lot facing Fremont Street, reached from the corral stables through a passageway, and lasted less than 60 seconds. Three weeks earlier, Parsons had ridden out with the town marshal's posse in pursuit of Apache raiders. The party stopped at the McLaury ranch, where Curly Bill Brocius and two followers were present. Parsons recorded the scene: "our present Marshal and said 'C Bill' shook each other warmly by the hand and hobnobbed together some time, when said 'CB' mounted his horse and with his two satellites rode off — first though stealing a pair of spurs belonging to one of our party, as they couldn't be found after their departure." The law and the outlaw, cordial at the McLaury family headquarters. It was three weeks before the same parties faced each other on Fremont Street. Parsons had been in Charleston on the day of the fight itself and rode back to find the town unsettled. He wrote the following day: "Much excitement in town and people apprehensive and scary... Bad blood has been brewing some time and I was not surprised at the outbreak. It is only a wonder it has not happened before." The subsequent assassination attempts on Virgil and Morgan Earp are covered in Morgan Earp: Death in a Pool Hall.
• March 29, 1882: John Gillespie (deputy sheriff), Billy Grounds, and Zwing Hunt were killed during an arrest. Grounds and Hunt had killed an innocent man, M. Robert Peel, and Gillespie tracked the two men to a ranch near Tombstone. A gunfight broke out during the arrest, where Gillespie and Grounds were killed. Hunt was severely wounded but managed to survive. While he was recovering from his injuries in the hospital in Tombstone, a stranger later identified as Hunt’s brother managed to help him escape custody. Ironically, Hunt was then killed by the Apache as he left Cochise County on his way to Texas and freedom.
• November 14, 1882: Billy Claiborne was killed by Frank Leslie. Claiborne was already drunk when he came to Tombstone from Charleston early in the morning. He stopped at the Oriental Saloon, where Leslie was a bartender. Claiborne became obnoxious and called Leslie some names. Leslie physically threw him out of the saloon and told him not to return. About an hour later, Claiborne was back with a rifle and threatened to kill Leslie on sight. Leslie slipped out the side door of the Oriental and shouted down the street for Claiborne to go home. Claiborne spun and fired the rifle, but he missed; Leslie drew his pistol and did not miss. Claiborne was treated by Drs. Willis and Goodfellow but died at the county hospital a short time later.

Death By Gunshot

While these deaths involved guns, they were not gunfights since they resulted from an ambush, a drunken fight, or a lover's quarrel. In each case, the "fight" was one-sided.

• June 28, 1878: Martin Sweeney was killed by Oliver Boyer in a drunken quarrel.
• June 27, 1880: Mike Killeen was killed by Frank Leslie over Mike's wife, May. Mike and May Killeen were separated when she began seeing Frank Leslie. One night, Killeen showed up at the Cosmopolitan Hotel, where May had a room. Leslie and May were sitting on the balcony in front of the hotel. The next few minutes are somewhat disputed. Leslie said that Killeen began shooting, and the two men struggled over the gun. Leslie was able to take the gun and use it to shoot Killeen three times. In the struggle, Leslie's head was grazed by a bullet. On his deathbed, Killeen told a much different story. He said that one of Leslie's friends, a man named Perine, fired the three shots that killed Killeen before the fight even began. A few months after Mike Killeen's death, Frank Leslie and May Killeen were married.
• July 24, 1880: T.J. Waters was killed over the color of his shirt. During that day, several men on Allen Street had teased Waters about the color of his shirt. Waters went into a saloon and loudly proclaimed that he would beat the next man who said anything about his shirt. Shortly afterward, his friend, E. L. Bradshaw, walked into the saloon and commented on the color of the shirt. Waters hit him hard enough to drop him to the floor. Bradshaw left the saloon and retrieved the gun from his cabin. A few minutes later, he found Waters on Allen Street and shot him four times.
• July 30, 1880: Wilson was killed by Roger King. These men were hostile due to an election where King ran for office as an anti-Chinese agitator. For an unknown reason, King shot at Wilson through a crack in the door at the Headquarters Saloon. Wilson later shot at King as he walked down Allen Street. Still later, King entered the Headquarters Saloon and killed Wilson.
• October 30, 1880: Fred White was killed by Curly Bill Brocius while attempting to take his gun. White had confronted Brocius in an alley near the Oriental Saloon. Parsons recorded the shooting that night: "The Marshal was shot last night by one of the Texas cowboys and will probably die. He was trying to disarm a man who drew and shot him." White died within days. Virgil Earp was appointed to fill the marshal position temporarily, a role that put him on a collision course with the cowboy faction over the next year.
• March 18, 1882: Morgan Earp was shot by an unknown assailant while playing pool at the Campbell & Hatch Saloon. He died approximately 40 minutes later. Parsons, who heard the shots that night, wrote: "Poor Morgan Earp was shot through by an unknown party... Morg lived about 40 minutes after being shot and died without a murmer. Bad times ahead now." The shooting triggered Wyatt Earp's vendetta ride and ultimately drove the Earp family from Arizona. See Morgan Earp: Death in a Pool Hall for the full account.
• March 22, 1882: Florentino Cruz ("Indian Charlie") was killed during Wyatt Earp's vendetta ride when the posse found him at a camp in the Dragoon Mountains.
• May 30, 1882: Seymour Dye and Harry Curry were killed by an Apache party while transporting a load of hay for some cattle.
• July 5, 1882: Deputy Kiv Phillips and Filomino Orante shot and killed each other. Orante was drunk and disorderly in the Moses & Mehan Saloon. One of the customers there went to get a law officer, and Phillips responded. Phillips met Orante outside the saloon and began to disarm him. Orante stumbled and fired his gun as he fell. The round hit Phillips in the shoulder but passed through his windpipe. Phillips was able to return fire and hit Orante in the hip. Orante died four days later.
• July 16, 1882: William Bobier was shot in self-defense by Albert Young. The two men were partners in a business that provided chickens for cockfights every Sunday afternoon in the back room of Walsh’s Saloon. The two men argued about the outcome of one fight when Young, as the referee, called the fight a draw, and all bets were off. While returning to their ranch later in the evening, the two men began arguing when Bobier picked up a rock and threatened to kill Young. Young ran away and fired a 22-caliber pistol toward Bobier as he ran. The round managed to hit Bobier in the chest and kill him.
• November 1, 1882: Joseph Ziegler was killed by Ed Williams. These men were miners and quarreled at work. They brought their quarrel to Tombstone and ended it with a gunshot.
• February 14, 1889: Fortino was killed by Wes Fuller, his brother-in-law. Fuller had been heavily drinking all day and shot Fortino for an unknown reason late in the evening.
• July 10, 1889: Molly Williams ("Blonde Molly") was killed by Frank Leslie in a drunken rage over her affair with Jim Neal. Leslie also tried to shoot Neal, but he escaped and testified against Leslie, who was sentenced to 25 years at Yuma.
• October 6, 1890: Patrick Dawson was killed by McGowan. This murder was a property dispute, but the particulars are confusing. McGowan owned a ranch, but Dawson had driven him out of his own house for some unknown reason. McGowan hid around a corner of his house, and when Dawson came out the door, he shot him. At the coroner's hearing, one of the witnesses stated that Dawson "threatened to kill McGowan if he did not divide his property with him."

Other Notable Gunshot Injuries

• December 28, 1881: Virgil Earp was ambushed as he crossed the street at 5th and Allen by gunmen concealed in the timbers of a building under construction. He did not die but lost the use of his left arm. Parsons was nearby when the shots rang out, nearly hit himself, and visited Virgil at the Cosmopolitan Hotel that night. He recorded Virgil's words: "He was easy. Told him I was sorry for him. 'Its Hell, isn't it!' said he. His wife was troubled. 'Never mind, I've got one arm left to hug you with,' he said."
• May 2, 1882: Pat O'Neil was shot by John Fleming during an argument at a shoemaker's shop on Allen Street. These two men were miners who knew each other, but Fleming shot O'Neil two times, one in the groin and the other in the knee.

Final Note

Several other graves in Boothill indicate someone was shot, but it is not possible to determine the date, location, or circumstances of those deaths. For example, Charley Broncho was "Shot by Ormsby," but there is no date or other information. None of those incidents are included in this document since it is impossible to ascertain any information about the circumstances surrounding the death.