|
Others included the
McLaury brothers,
Frank and
Tom;
Curly Bill Brocius,
and
Johnny Ringo. The notorious
cowboys and their followers lost no time in expressing their displeasure
at the arrival of the
Earps.
On May 1, 1880 the
Tombstone Epitaph,
the oldest continuously published newspaper in
Arizona,
was begun. By June, 1880 there were some 3,000 people in the new town
which had attracted its share of drifters, dancehall girls, outlaws,
saloon keepers and gamblers. Before long,
Tombstone
would be hailed as one of the most violent towns in the Southwest. The Tombstone,
Toughnut and Richmond Mines were producing millions in silver and the town
continued to grow.
Tombstone Epitaph
is
the oldest continuously published newspaper in
Arizona,
photo by Lee Russell,1937.
This
image available for photographic prints
HERE!
By
1881 there were some 8,000 people in the town which boasted more gambling
houses, saloons,
and the largest "red light” district in the Southwest. The town also
supported four churches, a school, two banks and an opera house.
In
February, 1881, former
Dodge City,
Kansas
lawmen Bat Masterson and
Luke Short joined
Wyatt Earp
in Tombstone. Both worked with
Wyatt at
the gaming tables at the Oriental
Saloon. On February 25, 1881,
Short got into a dispute with a man named Charlie Storms which resulted in a
gunfight in the street. Charlie Storms soon
lay dead in the dust from
Short's
quick drawn six-gun. Masterson
stayed in
Tombstone just a few short months before he was urgently summoned back
to Dodge City
to help his brother Jim.
|
|
