Tombstone, Day Two

Rain slowed us down but did not keep us in.  We went to visit Boothill.  We need to add a Blogger’s Aside.  The two of us had visited Boothll several decades ago when it looked like an old cemetery with wooden headstones carved by hand and standing atilt. 

Today all the head stones made of matching wood stand in neat rows.  These are the markers for the cowboys killed in the gunfight with the Earps. 

In the back there was a Jewish Cemetery that a Native American had respectfully cleaned and restored from its dilapidated and abandoned condition.  Today a monument pays impersonal tribute to the Jews who were buried there. 

 It was sad to see the Boot Hill that had a story to tell replaced by a sanitized version of any other old cemetery.

We left Boothill and went for High Tea near the Rose Tree at Sacred Heart Church. 

There we again enjoyed seeing men and women in the wonderful vintage attire including Nellie Cashman, The Angel of the Camp who would go out of her way to feed and care for hungry miners.

After tea, we headed over for the Gunfight at the OK Corral.  First we watched the excellent movie/diorama Tombstone’s Historama narrated by Vincent Price.  As the strain of How the West Was Won filled the air, the Historama told the history of Tombstone from Apache times to today.  This “true” story supports the Earp’s as heroes and the Clanton’s as rustlers and stage robbers.

Next to the location of the actual shootout, appealing “B” characters reenacted the events leading up to the shootout. The story went from the bating of the Earps by the Clantons to the murder of Tombstone’s Marshall.  Then Wyatt Earp proclaimed himself lawman. 

 After the shootout, in this version instigated by the drunken Clanton’s, the Earp’s left town and were later arrested and brought back for trial.  They were found not guilty.  Within a couple of months, two Earp brothers were shot.  They all left Arizona.  Wyatt, the most famous, went to Hollywood where he died in 1929 with his last word being “suppose.”  He is buried in Eternal Home Cemetery in Colma, CA.  His third wife Josie said he was Jewish so that he would be buried with her.

Correction: We went to The Epitaph, the office of one of the early newspapers.  In a previous blog post, we said it was Democratic and pro cowboy.  We were wrong, The Nugget was the Democratic paper.  The Epitaph was anti cow-boy and Republican.  It was started by John Phillip Clum who left Rutgers University for financial reasons.  He became an Indian Agent over the Apaches believing in their policing themselves.  He founded the paper, saying no Tombstone should be without an Epitaph.  He went on to become mayor and then traveled around the country doing various jobs.

Later in the 1880s Tombstone settled down and became “the town too tough to die,” surviving two major fires and the loss of its position as Cochise County Seat.  Now tourism is the major industry and having fun the main occupation.   
                               
Many evenings we enjoy “Members Dinners.”  Tonight was tacos made by several members and it was great.