Tom Barnes's Blog: Tom's 'RocktheTower' Blog - Posts Tagged "library"
Gunsmoke Hangs Above the OK Corrral
Researching a Legend Part 12
I still needed the second half of the Tombstone Nugget's daily reports on the Spicer Hearing and fortunately the Arizona Historical Society came through again. They had provided me with microfiche copies of the newspaper's coverage for the first half of the hearing and when I asked for their assistance they pointed me to the Bancroft Library located on the Berkeley Campus of the University of California.
The Bancroft people were very helpful and with a couple of phone calls we struck a deal and they sent me the missing parts of the Spicer Hearings.
It took me months to piece the hearing together and also run down evidence to support my research.
At this point, to give you a better sense of place, we'll pick up the narrative of 'Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone' using a set of excerpts that begin moments after the shootout at the OK Corral.
'A chilly wind swirled, but the gun smoke hovered and clung head high above the place. In less than thirty seconds it was over. The only action left was a blood soaked Billy Clanton, sitting on the ground, glassy eyed, waving his forty-five and searching for a target.
Buck Fly came out of his boarding house and mercifully took the gun out of Billy's hands.
Frank and Tom McLowry appeared to be dead and Billy Clanton was bleeding to death from his several wounds.
Virgil and Morgan Earp, wounded, gritted their teeth and suffered the pain.
Doc determined his own hit was no hit at all, but a ricochet off his gun belt that had caused a painful bruise.
Numerous bullets pierced the skirt of Wyatt's coat, but he didn't have a scratch.
The acrid and pungent smell of gunpowder had not had time to dissipate when Johnny Behan came out of hiding, counted the dead and realized the street fight had been a disaster for the ring-cowboy faction.
Behan's alternative was to put the ring's backup plan on the table. Blame the Earps and Holliday. Show them to be the culpable party and the cowboy’s as innocent victims.
The sheriff got the attention of the lawmen with a sneering smile, and a tone designed to infect the gathering crowd, announced, "I'll have to arrest you."
"We won't be arrested today," was Wyatt’s terse reply. “We're right here and we're not going away. You have deceived us, Johnny. You lied to us, you son-of-a-bitch.”
Johnny Behan backed down and quickly made a hasty retreat.
Virgil limped over to the front doorstep of the boarding house, squeezed his right leg and grimaced with pain. Morgan stood nearby, bent over, breathing heavily and hurting.
Doc ignored his own pain as he observed the predicament of his friends. "Somebody grab a bandanna and tie a tourniquet around Virg's leg."
Mr. Comstock took a kerchief out of his pocket and tied it into place. "I don't understand the sheriff saying what he did. Couldn't he see you fellows were just doing your job?"
Morgan stood upright, put his arm around Doc and leaned on him for support.
Wyatt called out, "Somebody go for Dr. Goodfellow. Tell him to meet us at Keatney's Pharmacy.”
Dr. Goodfellow arrived at the pharmacy shortly after his patients. The doctor patched Virgil and Morgan up and sent them home to recover.
Doc and Wyatt walked the short distance to the New Orleans Restaurant, and Doc finally savored his first sip of that long overdue coffee. Millie hung around, inviting conversation, but neither Doc nor Wyatt said anything. She cleared her throat and talked below the din. "Would one of you gentlemen give me the actual version of what happened? I've already heard the cowboy's side."
Doc arched his eyebrows. "And what was that?"
"I'm sure it's straight from the ring," Millie frowned, "they say that you fellows gunned down three unarmed cowboys and it would have been four, but Ike Clanton was quick on his feet and he escaped."
Doc grinned. "Well, they got part of it right. Ike was quick on his feet."
"The rest was a flat out lie," Wyatt said. "They were armed to the teeth. Six-shooters and rifles."
Doc and Wyatt ordered their regular breakfast, the ones they had missed earlier.
The afternoon shoot-out had settled nothing and they both knew it. Millie brought their orders. Doc picked at his eggs and grits trying to sort things out. Johnny Behan’s attempt to arrest them. For what? And that unarmed cowboy's story. That was a lie, but it gives that crowd time to start a few rumors and place a story or two in the Nugget where the lie just might take legs.
(To be Continued)
Writers Notebook:
In my novel 'The Goring Collection' the Nazi's looting during World War II is laid bare.
Review by Lenora Smalley poet, writer.
Some readers may have forgotten or never knew that Hermann Goring, Hitler's ruthless second in command, was in charge of looting and hiding thousands of museum paintings created by some of Europe's most famous artists and some whose work would become more valuable during proceeding decades. They have become known as The Goring Collection. Hundreds of these paintings are still missing today.
Tom Barnes has written a well researched, exciting story initiated by a stolen painting. Jacob Meyers saw his father's Pissarro among the paintings at The Old World Auction House in Manhattan. When he starts asking questions, the painting disappears. Since Meyers owns an intelligence agency, he immediately alerts Interpol . Two paintings, a Manet and a Cezanne sold as copies by an international cartel in Berlin show up at the Berghoff Gallery in Chicago. Meyers's agency investigates this con game of the cartel from a mansion in the state of Georgia across the country to a notorious odds maker in Las Vegas. The action and excitement of the story are propelled by the characters in the agency who are tracking the stolen paintings. Their intriguing personalities and working relationships make you hope the author writes a sequel to allow them to solve more international mysteries.
Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
http://TheHurricaneHunter.blogspot.com
I still needed the second half of the Tombstone Nugget's daily reports on the Spicer Hearing and fortunately the Arizona Historical Society came through again. They had provided me with microfiche copies of the newspaper's coverage for the first half of the hearing and when I asked for their assistance they pointed me to the Bancroft Library located on the Berkeley Campus of the University of California.
The Bancroft people were very helpful and with a couple of phone calls we struck a deal and they sent me the missing parts of the Spicer Hearings.
It took me months to piece the hearing together and also run down evidence to support my research.
At this point, to give you a better sense of place, we'll pick up the narrative of 'Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone' using a set of excerpts that begin moments after the shootout at the OK Corral.
'A chilly wind swirled, but the gun smoke hovered and clung head high above the place. In less than thirty seconds it was over. The only action left was a blood soaked Billy Clanton, sitting on the ground, glassy eyed, waving his forty-five and searching for a target.
Buck Fly came out of his boarding house and mercifully took the gun out of Billy's hands.
Frank and Tom McLowry appeared to be dead and Billy Clanton was bleeding to death from his several wounds.
Virgil and Morgan Earp, wounded, gritted their teeth and suffered the pain.
Doc determined his own hit was no hit at all, but a ricochet off his gun belt that had caused a painful bruise.
Numerous bullets pierced the skirt of Wyatt's coat, but he didn't have a scratch.
The acrid and pungent smell of gunpowder had not had time to dissipate when Johnny Behan came out of hiding, counted the dead and realized the street fight had been a disaster for the ring-cowboy faction.
Behan's alternative was to put the ring's backup plan on the table. Blame the Earps and Holliday. Show them to be the culpable party and the cowboy’s as innocent victims.
The sheriff got the attention of the lawmen with a sneering smile, and a tone designed to infect the gathering crowd, announced, "I'll have to arrest you."
"We won't be arrested today," was Wyatt’s terse reply. “We're right here and we're not going away. You have deceived us, Johnny. You lied to us, you son-of-a-bitch.”
Johnny Behan backed down and quickly made a hasty retreat.
Virgil limped over to the front doorstep of the boarding house, squeezed his right leg and grimaced with pain. Morgan stood nearby, bent over, breathing heavily and hurting.
Doc ignored his own pain as he observed the predicament of his friends. "Somebody grab a bandanna and tie a tourniquet around Virg's leg."
Mr. Comstock took a kerchief out of his pocket and tied it into place. "I don't understand the sheriff saying what he did. Couldn't he see you fellows were just doing your job?"
Morgan stood upright, put his arm around Doc and leaned on him for support.
Wyatt called out, "Somebody go for Dr. Goodfellow. Tell him to meet us at Keatney's Pharmacy.”
Dr. Goodfellow arrived at the pharmacy shortly after his patients. The doctor patched Virgil and Morgan up and sent them home to recover.
Doc and Wyatt walked the short distance to the New Orleans Restaurant, and Doc finally savored his first sip of that long overdue coffee. Millie hung around, inviting conversation, but neither Doc nor Wyatt said anything. She cleared her throat and talked below the din. "Would one of you gentlemen give me the actual version of what happened? I've already heard the cowboy's side."
Doc arched his eyebrows. "And what was that?"
"I'm sure it's straight from the ring," Millie frowned, "they say that you fellows gunned down three unarmed cowboys and it would have been four, but Ike Clanton was quick on his feet and he escaped."
Doc grinned. "Well, they got part of it right. Ike was quick on his feet."
"The rest was a flat out lie," Wyatt said. "They were armed to the teeth. Six-shooters and rifles."
Doc and Wyatt ordered their regular breakfast, the ones they had missed earlier.
The afternoon shoot-out had settled nothing and they both knew it. Millie brought their orders. Doc picked at his eggs and grits trying to sort things out. Johnny Behan’s attempt to arrest them. For what? And that unarmed cowboy's story. That was a lie, but it gives that crowd time to start a few rumors and place a story or two in the Nugget where the lie just might take legs.
(To be Continued)
Writers Notebook:
In my novel 'The Goring Collection' the Nazi's looting during World War II is laid bare.
Review by Lenora Smalley poet, writer.
Some readers may have forgotten or never knew that Hermann Goring, Hitler's ruthless second in command, was in charge of looting and hiding thousands of museum paintings created by some of Europe's most famous artists and some whose work would become more valuable during proceeding decades. They have become known as The Goring Collection. Hundreds of these paintings are still missing today.
Tom Barnes has written a well researched, exciting story initiated by a stolen painting. Jacob Meyers saw his father's Pissarro among the paintings at The Old World Auction House in Manhattan. When he starts asking questions, the painting disappears. Since Meyers owns an intelligence agency, he immediately alerts Interpol . Two paintings, a Manet and a Cezanne sold as copies by an international cartel in Berlin show up at the Berghoff Gallery in Chicago. Meyers's agency investigates this con game of the cartel from a mansion in the state of Georgia across the country to a notorious odds maker in Las Vegas. The action and excitement of the story are propelled by the characters in the agency who are tracking the stolen paintings. Their intriguing personalities and working relationships make you hope the author writes a sequel to allow them to solve more international mysteries.
Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
http://TheHurricaneHunter.blogspot.com
Tom's 'RocktheTower' Blog
I do a variety blog and post every Wednesday. I am an actor, writer and hurricane hunter and my subjects are generally written about those fields. During Hurricane Season I do at least one story every
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