Story Highlights
- historical event:
- The gunfight lasted for only 30 seconds. About thirty rounds were fired. Frank and Tom McLaury were killed, and so was Billy Clanton.
On this day in the town of Tombstone in Arizona, one of the most famous confrontations in the history of the Wild West took place. Two gangs that fought for supremacy in Tombstone clashed. One was made up of law enforcers – the Earp brothers (Wyatt, Morgan and Virgil) with Doc Holliday, the other one of their cowboy enemies – the Clanton and the McLaury brothers.
O.K. Corral was a fenced place for horses in that town (O.K. stands for Old Kindersley). The gunfight actually took place about six doors down from Corral, so a more correct name would be “the gunfight near the O.K. Corral”. The gunfight lasted for only 30 seconds.
About thirty rounds were fired. Frank and Tom McLaury were killed, and so was Billy Clanton. Morgan and Virgil Earp and Doc Holliday were wounded. Ike Clanton, leader of the cowboy gang, who was the most responsible for the showdown, escaped unharmed even before the shooting began. He retired to his ranch and abandoned the struggle for supremacy over the small town.
