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00:14Now, if you could name any hero from the Wild West,
00:19Wyatt Earp would probably be at the top of your list.
00:26I mean, he was a good guy, always on the right side of the law.
00:33Right?
00:34Wrong.
00:43Three days after the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, he was arrested for murder.
00:51And it wasn't just Wyatt.
00:54Virgil and Morgan were put under house arrest while they recovered from their wounds,
00:57and Doc Holliday was also charged with murder.
01:01In just 72 hours, the lawmen had gone from heroes to accused murderers.
01:08And now we're set to hang.
01:28Ike Clanton must have been feeling pretty pleased with himself, and was probably thinking that while he may not have
01:35been as fast as Wyatt Earp with his gun, he was sure as hell quicker with his brain.
01:42I mean, who else could have figured out a way to put the toughest lawmen in the West behind bars?
01:49He must have thought it was a stroke of genius.
01:51Oh, man.
01:54He wasn't just a mob boss, he was like the puppet master of Tombstone.
02:00And with Wyatt in jail, the town was his.
02:05What are you looking at?
02:06To do whatever he wanted.
02:08Ike, Ike! Yeah!
02:10I mean, Ike was probably already thinking about where to build a gallows.
02:16He wanted as many people as possible to see Wyatt hang, for maximum humiliation.
02:36So you think we can escape?
02:38We're not doing that.
02:42Well, how are we gonna get out of here?
02:46I think it's fair to say that Wyatt had absolutely no idea.
02:50But fortunately for them, the Earps had some friends in high places.
02:56Let me explain.
02:58You see, not everyone thought that Wyatt and Doc should be in jail.
03:02That's because Tombstone was what you might call a divided town.
03:08On one side, you had the cowboy supporters,
03:12people who benefited from doing business with them, like saloon keepers and butchers.
03:17But then you had another group of citizens who couldn't stand the cowboys.
03:22Chaos and lawlessness, which is what the cowboys represented, was bad for business.
03:29And that's exactly why the banks, the financiers, the mine owners, they all supported the Earps.
03:37The two sides managed to tolerate each other.
03:40There was a sort of equilibrium.
03:42Until the arrest of the Earps.
03:45Now the business community feared Ike and his cowboys would run riot.
03:48So, they raised some money to pay for a lawyer to free the Earps.
04:00Your land is now safe.
04:02You won't have any more trouble.
04:07I will take no payment.
04:09It is my duty to help hard-working people like yourselves prosper in this great country.
04:14As the founding fathers, expected of all of us.
04:21Meet Thomas Fitch.
04:24Lawyer and part-time actor.
04:29So, Thomas Fitch was well-educated, well-spoken, he had a reputation of being a great orator.
04:35And he was a lawyer, but he had also a number of other enterprises.
04:40What do you think, huh? What do you think?
04:44Fitch had been a journalist, a novelist, a theater impresario, a playwright, a lawyer, and an actor.
04:53Come on!
04:55He was what you might call a jack of all trades, and a master of none.
04:59Thank you for coming.
05:02Now, you might be thinking that someone with this many careers doesn't know what they want to be, right?
05:08But Fitch knew.
05:10He wanted to be great, and adored by the public.
05:15Yeah!
05:19So, when supporters of the Earps came looking for a lawyer, Fitch of course said yes.
05:25This could be his moment of greatness.
05:28Don't worry. I'll have him out of jail in no time.
05:39The first thing Fitch did was raise some money to get Wyatt and Doc out on bail.
05:47But getting the murder charges dropped was going to be a whole nother ballgame.
05:51So, there's murder, and then there's murder.
05:57Now, let's take first-degree murder. No, it's serious. No? That's very serious.
06:04Are we going to hang?
06:06That's a good question.
06:11If there's a trial, yes.
06:16Fitch had a point.
06:20A trial involves a jury.
06:23Twelve people selected at random.
06:27But Fitch thought it highly likely the jury would be tainted by the cowboys.
06:32And regardless of the evidence, they'd convict the Earps and Doc of murder.
06:44So, we need to avoid a trial.
06:49How?
06:57Bear with me. Bear with me.
07:04Yeah.
07:06There's going to be a hearing.
07:14So, under Arizona territorial law, they would hold a preliminary hearing
07:18to determine if there was enough evidence for the case to go to trial.
07:23And it was up to the judge to decide this.
07:27So, all Fitch needed to do was present the facts of the case during the hearing
07:32and prove the evidence against his clients was so weak there was no need for a trial.
07:39Sounds easy enough.
07:41Right?
07:47The stage was set for another showdown between Wyatt Earp and Ike Clanton.
07:52Only this time, the whole world would be watching.
07:57The shootout at the OK Corral had gained such notoriety that newspaper reporters poured in from all over
08:04to send stories back east to their excited readers.
08:10You see, people in the east loved reading about the Wild West,
08:15either in dime novels or in newspapers.
08:18Their environment was factories and offices.
08:20For them, the West was the stuff of myths, full of adventure, opportunity, and romance.
08:28In the 1880s, Americans east of the Mississippi are just increasingly fascinated with the American West
08:34and all the stories of the American West.
08:36And so, various pop culture entrepreneurs begin to feed that market
08:40with endless numbers of dime novels about gunslingers and cattle rustlers and buffalo hunters.
08:47But what made the trial of the Earp something special
08:51was that it was a story that nobody had heard before.
08:55This time, it was the lawmen, the so-called good guys,
08:59who were accused of murder.
09:01And the cowboys, the so-called bad guys, who were the victims.
09:06It was like the world had gone mad.
09:14Now, normally for a murder case, the Attorney General would run the prosecution.
09:19But Ike didn't trust him.
09:22So, he hired the top lawyer in Tombstone to take on the case.
09:28Ben Goodrich.
09:30I think the prosecution did think that they had a chance to win.
09:34And their contention was that the Earps went down to the O.K. Corral to kill Ike Clanton.
09:40All rise.
09:44But Fitch had a simple plan to counter the prosecution's case.
09:50This court is now in session.
09:53He rounded up witnesses who'd seen glimpses of what happened on that fateful day
09:57to show that the Earps had no intention of starting the gunfight,
10:02that the shooting was an act of self-defense, and thus, they were innocent.
10:09There was Wes Fuller, jeweler.
10:13Thomas Keefe, carpenter.
10:16Ernest Storm, butcher.
10:19Bob Hatch, saloon keeper.
10:22Martha King, housewife.
10:26Unlike a normal hearing which lasts only a couple of hours,
10:29Fitch extended this into weeks calling numerous witnesses,
10:32turning the proceedings effectively into a murder trial.
10:38Mrs. King, could you please tell the judge what you saw and what you heard?
10:44I saw the Earp party walking toward the O.K. Corral.
10:51And what happened next?
10:56Trouble is, Ike Clanton was one step ahead of Fitch.
11:05Heard you was gonna be a witness.
11:07Let's talk about what you see.
11:10Handsome lad you got there.
11:12We'll be seeing ya.
11:15Let's have a chat.
11:19Mrs. King.
11:23I heard Morgan Earp say...
11:28Let him have it.
11:30Let him have it.
11:36Fitch hadn't expected any of the witnesses to lie.
11:40Especially Martha King.
11:42Now the situation was a whole lot worse.
11:45Martha King's testimony was evidence that the Earps had planned to kill the cowboys.
11:52Which meant they'd be guilty of premeditated murder.
11:57These witnesses came in and testified that the Earps had committed murder.
12:03That the cowboys were in the act of surrendering when the Earps fired down upon them.
12:09And this would be in every paper around the Southwest.
12:12And all of a sudden the Earps who had been such big heroes were looked upon as murderers.
12:19And that's when the story exploded.
12:22Because it wasn't just about an exciting shootout between daring gunslingers anymore.
12:29Now it was about corrupt lawmen abusing their power.
12:33See this.
12:34Ruling these western towns with an iron fist.
12:38Across the country people began taking sides.
12:42You had people that wanted to paint the Earps as bad and sanctify the cowboys.
12:50And you had people on the other hand trying to sanctify the Earps.
12:54This was music to Ike's ears.
12:57Because now he knew his testimony wasn't just to the court.
13:02It was to the whole country.
13:07Left hand on the Bible.
13:12I swear the evidence that I shall give shall be the truth.
13:18The whole truth.
13:20And nothing but the truth.
13:22So help me God.
13:27Proceed.
13:31Can you tell the court what happened on October 26th, 1881?
13:36You really think swearing an oath was going to make Ike tell the truth?
13:42We were just about to leave town.
13:45When I heard Wyatt Earp screaming my name.
13:49Ike Clayton!
13:50Ike Clayton!
13:52Where are you?
13:53And can you describe the commencement of the fight?
13:58The Earps and Holiday pulled their pistols as soon as they got there.
14:04And Wyatt Earp and Holiday said you sons of bitches.
14:13They all began shooting.
14:19Ike's story is nobody's arm.
14:21And they all put their hands up.
14:22You know.
14:23They got little halos over their heads.
14:26They're just honest cattlemen who've just come to town.
14:29And these evil men in these long coats come down and abuse them.
14:34This is horrible.
14:35Ike told the same lies he told Sheriff Behan.
14:38And more.
14:40Pretty much every account of the gunfight has Ike begging for his life.
14:46Begging Wyatt not to kill him.
14:47But once he gets on the witness stand, Ike claims he tried to grab Wyatt's gun
14:52and kind of presents himself as a hero almost.
14:56Trying to be peacemaker.
15:00Can you describe the moment of your brother's death?
15:05I saw Morgan Earp pull his pistol two feet from Billy's chest and fire.
15:15Then Wyatt Earp finished him off like a dog.
15:20Please don't!
15:27Ike realizes that there are a lot of people now reporting on this, reading about it.
15:33And so he becomes a bit savvy and he speaks in these lines that are just perfect for quotes in
15:38the newspaper.
15:41They were like an execution squad.
15:48An execution squad.
15:52No further questions, your honor.
15:54This son of a bitch is lying through his teeth.
15:58I know.
16:01Don't worry.
16:04Fitch saw his chance.
16:07He'd pull apart Ike's testimony, show the judge it was a pack of lies, and make Ike a laughing stock.
16:18On October 26th, 1881, did you or did you not set out with the sole intention of killing Wyatt Earp,
16:27his brothers, and Doc Holliday?
16:29No.
16:31Wyatt Earp wanted me dead.
16:33Oh, really?
16:34Hmm.
16:36Huh.
16:37Well, I'm sure we'd love to know why a lawman with an impeccable record would want to kill you.
16:43Impeccable record?
16:45Huh.
16:48Wyatt Earp is a stagecoach robber.
16:51Porter.
16:52Ike's on our side.
16:55Porter.
17:00We're on our side.
17:02We're on our side.
17:02Porter.
17:03We're on our side.
17:03Instead of being exposed as a liar, Ike just doubled down.
17:10We're on our side.
17:12We're on our side.
17:18right? The one that Wyatt Earp investigated and implicated Ike's cowboys? Yeah, that
17:29one. Now Ike was saying that Wyatt was the one behind the robbery. Later, Wyatt offered
17:37me money because he thought I would squeal. But I refused. And from then on, Wyatt wanted
17:47me dead. Ike started telling these incredible stories under Fitch's determined examination.
17:56He started telling how the Earps had confided in him that they were robbing stages and would
18:03he keep their secret. No further questions here. Ike had taken his lying to a new level.
18:12But as they say, the bigger the lie, the more people will believe it.
18:22Was any of that true? No. There was a deal. And nothing like he said. I want the sons of
18:36bitches who killed by Philpott. When do I get the money? When they're arrested.
18:43Clanton guesses that at some point, Fitch might reveal the secret deal between he and Wyatt Earp.
18:48And so, in order to get ahead of the story, he concocts this wild tale that Wyatt Earp is
18:54actually the criminal.
19:09Today was a day for truth and justice. Soon the Earps will face their day of judgment.
19:18But let's not forget our missing friends. Frank McClary. Tom McClary. And Billy Clanton, who fought
19:33bravely defending our freedom.
19:35Mr. Clanton, Mr. Clanton, Mr. Clanton, Mr. Clanton, Mr. Clanton, Mr. Clanton, Mr. Clanton.
19:46But even he had no idea of the effect his words were having. Because inadvertently, he was stirring
19:56up some deep-seated grievances.
20:07So here's what you have to understand. The Civil War came to an end 16 years earlier. The North
20:15won. The South was defeated. And the hope was that everything would go back to normal. But
20:22it was a false hope. You see, a lot of Southerners had no interest in rejoining the United States
20:30of America.
20:32In the aftermath of the Civil War, many Southerners see themselves as a besieged, put-upon, occupied
20:38people. They do not like the federal government basically declaring martial law and, as they
20:44see it, running their lives. And those same kind of resentments are carried by people who
20:49leave the South. Many people that head west are former Confederate soldiers.
20:56Soon, ex-Confederates were moving into territories where they could do what they wanted without
21:01interference, like Arizona. And that included the Cowboys, led by Ike Clanton's father, who'd fought with the South.
21:15Whereas the Earps were from the North. Virgil Earp even fought with the Union.
21:23In many ways, it was a trial of North vs. South. But even though the news of the trial was
21:33exploding
21:34around the country, the president wasn't getting involved. And there was a reason.
21:48You see, during the Civil War, Chester Arthur was a general for the North. He was in charge
21:55of handing out contracts and made a fortune accepting bribes.
22:01So, Chester A. Arthur was known as incredibly corrupt. And he's just unashamed about the spoils system of just taking
22:11whatever you could.
22:12After the war, he became a politician for the Republican Party, which was then considered to be the Party of
22:19the North.
22:33The election of 1880 is actually one of the closest in U.S. history. And at a dinner for some
22:38of his biggest supporters following the election, including J.P. Morgan, Chester Arthur actually boasts about buying votes, effectively rigging
22:48the election.
22:50The South hated him. So, there was no way he was going to say anything about the trial and make
22:56the situation even worse.
23:02Meanwhile, back in Tombstone, it was Fitch's move. But he was fighting an uphill battle.
23:13To counter Ike's lies, he wanted the judge to hear the truth.
23:18So, he put Wyatt on the stand.
23:29I told Ike Clanton that if he would put me on track with Billy Leonard, tell me where he hid,
23:36I would give him...
23:37But here's the problem.
23:39Wyatt read from a statement, and it sounded like a police report.
23:44When I saw Billy Clanton, Frank McClory...
23:47Billy Clanton leveled his pistol.
23:49The testimony...
23:50But I do not aim at him, and I am...
23:52Wyatt wasn't a great talker, so he agreed to take the stand, but not be cross-examined by either the
23:58prosecution or the defense.
24:00So, he just gave a statement, which no doubt his lawyer helped him write.
24:04He shooting at me, and I shooting at Frank McClory.
24:13It was a bad performance.
24:18But as far as the judge was concerned, it was Wyatt's word against Ike's.
24:26At that point, things were fairly balanced.
24:30Unless you were a supporter of Wyatt or Ike, it was hard to know who to believe.
24:35But there was one person who had the power to tip the balance.
24:41Call Sheriff Behan.
24:45As the top lawman, Behan's testimony was going to be key.
25:01Left hand out in the Bible?
25:02I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so I hope in God.
25:13Sheriff Behan, can you please tell the court why you're at the O.K. Corral shortly before the gunfight?
25:20Well, I'd heard that there was trouble, so I went to see that Ike Clanton and his boys had left
25:24town.
25:26Then I went to see the herbs.
25:30If I leave him town, you can turn around.
25:33And what happened next?
25:52The Arabs pushed past me and pulled out their weapons.
25:57Get out of the room.
25:59Wyatt!
26:01Wyatt!
26:04Wyatt, don't!
26:09Billy Clanton beg for mercy.
26:12Please don't!
26:20White Earps shot him in cold blood.
26:27No further questions, Your Honor.
26:33After the Earps had been celebrated as heroes, Behan came in and testified that the Earps had committed murder, that
26:41the cowboys were in the act of surrendering when the Earps fired down upon them.
26:47And it was just a shock. It was a shock to the town.
26:50And Behan, again, is the most liked and trusted man in town.
26:55And all of a sudden, they have put together a case against the Earps, where not only does it look
27:01like they might convict them of murder, they might put their heads in a noose.
27:07Order!
27:09Bail for Wyatt and Doc was revoked.
27:12And they were put back in jail.
27:14I mean, you couldn't have murderers free to walk the streets.
27:32I need to know why Behan was lying.
27:39Tell him.
27:41Tell him what?
27:42Tell him about Josephine.
27:45What about Josephine?
27:46Jesus, Wyatt.
27:49I know about you and her.
27:51Who is Josephine?
27:53The Sheriff's girl.
27:57Really?
28:01Wyatt and her.
28:07Holy shit.
28:12It's perfect!
28:15He's dismissed.
28:23We can show the judge that Behan's testimony is prejudiced.
28:26Yeah, it's not gonna happen.
28:29What?
28:31Josephine, she stays out of it.
28:34Great.
28:36We're gonna hang.
28:38We're gonna hang.
28:42Josephine was key to the whole yarn of Tombstone.
28:49Her name never came out during the trial, and that was Wyatt.
28:56Wyatt did not want her reputation stained, so he protected her.
29:00We're gonna hang a walk into the trial.
29:02We're gonna hang on her.
29:03We're gonna hang on her fight.
29:06We're gonna hang on her now.
29:07No.
29:12Let's go, man.
29:13We're gonna hang on her.
29:15We're gonna hang on her.
29:15We're gonna hang on her now.
29:16Oh, no.
29:18How are you?
29:19Not today?
29:22I can't wait.
29:23Not today.
29:26I'm sorry!
29:27I haven't got you on the battle.
29:29We're gonna hang on her!
29:34But now Wyatt, his brothers, and Doc were going to hang.
29:43He had to do something.
29:47He had to find a way.
29:56Was there anyone?
29:58Anyone at all. I'm asking everyone. I'm desperate.
30:06There's one man.
30:08I saw him. I was by the O.K. Corral. I heard them talking. They're coming to kill you.
30:12Do you know his name?
30:13No idea. Don't think he was from around here.
30:16Well, what did he look like?
30:19He, uh, walked with a limp. He had a king.
30:24Mm-hmm.
30:27Yeah.
30:34Good luck with that small man. Late thirties. Walks with a limp. I'm working for a gentleman. He walks with
30:42a cane. Um, sir, excuse me.
30:46Fitch had gotten nowhere. The mystery witness had disappeared without a trace.
30:51Small man. There's a cane. He walks with a cane. He walks with a cane. Small. The only life and
30:58death.
30:59Either he'd left town, or maybe the cowboys had gotten to him.
31:02Ooh.
31:07Oh, my God...
31:11Ooh.
31:16Ooh.
31:19Ooh.
31:22Ooh.
31:27Ooh.
31:29Ooh.
31:34Mr. Fitch?
31:37Yes?
31:38I think you've been looking for me.
31:43Yes.
31:45Incredibly, the one witness that could help Fitch win the trial turned up at his door.
31:53H.F. Sills was a railroad man who had come to get medical treatment in Tombstone,
32:00and on the morning of the street fight, he had gone to Virgil Earp and said,
32:06the cowboys are heavily armed, they're down at the O.K. Corral, and they're making threats.
32:16Mr. Sills, can you please point to the map and show the judge
32:21exactly where you were standing prior to the gunfight?
32:29Mr. Sills was there and saw parts of the gunfight,
32:34and he testified that the Earp brothers had acted properly.
32:38Why have you, uh, come forward to testify?
32:43Are you not, uh, afraid of the cowboys?
32:48No.
32:49And why is that?
32:52Because I'm dying.
32:58H.F. Sills is a stranger in town, so he has no affiliation either with the cowboys
33:03or the Earps, which makes him an unbiased witness.
33:07In addition, there's a rumor circulating that he's suffering from tuberculosis,
33:11which is essentially a death sentence.
33:13So he has no reason to fear retaliation from the cowboys.
33:17Could you please tell the court what you overheard prior to the gunfight taking place?
33:25I saw five or six men standing out in front of the O.K. Corral.
33:31One was talking about some trouble he had with a Wyatt Earp.
33:36They'll think they control the town.
33:39Can you identify that person for the court?
33:46And what else did this person say?
33:49I heard him say,
33:53we ought to go kill all the Earps and that son of a bitch Doc Holliday right now.
33:58Lies! Lies!
34:00Order!
34:00No more questions.
34:01Order!
34:03For the first time in the case, Fitch had gotten a break.
34:09Unbiased testimony that corroborated the Earps' version of events.
34:16But that wasn't enough.
34:18Though the judge thought Sills was a compelling witness,
34:22he was just one man.
34:24Whereas Ike's team had almost 30 witnesses testifying the opposite.
34:29Let him have it.
34:30But even more than that,
34:32they had Sheriff Behan,
34:34the top lawman in Tombstone.
34:37And his testimony carried enormous weight.
34:50So Fitch had to find a way of tearing apart Sheriff Behan's testimony.
34:54Merely clad to beg for mercy.
34:58Wide earth shot him in cold blood.
35:01And there was only one person who carried anything close to the same weight as Behan and had yet to
35:06testify.
35:07And that was Tombstone's marshal.
35:11And when we approached him near the O.K. Corral, they already had their guns raised.
35:18Billy Clanton, he fired first.
35:19We fired him in self-defense and then...
35:23And what did he say?
35:24Well, all hell broke loose.
35:25I got shot in the leg.
35:28I guess you know the rest.
35:30Have you told your version of events to anyone?
35:32Yeah, Sheriff Behan.
35:34Yeah, there's Sheriff Behan.
35:36And when was that?
35:38That evening.
35:39He came to my room wanting to know what happened.
35:42I told him everything.
35:44And what did he say?
35:49He left us no choice but to fire back.
35:53He said...
35:54You didn't need the right thing.
35:57Thank you, Sheriff.
35:58What?
35:58I've done the right thing.
36:00No, you're lying.
36:01I ain't lying.
36:03Well, then I guess it's your word against Sheriff Behan.
36:12Anything else?
36:15Yes.
36:18He was there.
36:24He was there.
36:27Yep.
36:29You tough son of a bitch.
36:35He was there.
36:49Fitch had stumbled upon a way to blow apart the case for the prosecution.
36:57Could you please identify yourself for the court?
36:59Winfield Scott Williams, assistant to the prosecution.
37:06Winfield Scott Williams had just started working for the prosecution.
37:10And on the night of the gunfight, he had gone down to visit Virgil Earp and had gone in and
37:18was seeing Virgil when Johnny Behan came in to visit Virgil.
37:22So, Sheriff Behan said to Virgil Earp, you did perfectly right.
37:44Yes.
37:45Yes.
37:47So, Sheriff Behan's testimony is a falsehood.
37:54And a pack of lies.
38:00A pack of lies.
38:24It was a critical moment in the trial.
38:26Order.
38:27Order.
38:28No more questions.
38:29Order.
38:32Order.
38:35Order.
38:36That.
39:05He's dismissed.
39:06They were celebrating.
39:08After a month of hell,
39:10they were looking forward to peaceful times.
39:18And that could have been the end of it.
39:24But Ike wasn't done.
39:29He was consumed with vengeance.
39:32And he wasn't gonna stop.
39:36Until Wyatt Earp was dead.
40:07See ya.
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