MURDER IN TOMBSTONE: The Forgotten Trial of Wyatt Earp

The most legendary gunfight in the Wild West—the famous shoot-out at the O.K. Corral—took place in Tombstone, Ariz., on October 26, 1881. Lubet, professor of law at Northwestern University, provides an unusual account of the heretofore obscure court case that followed the gunplay, when local prosecutors with political connections to the Earp brothers' opponents, the Clantons and McLaurys (of whom only Ike Clanton survived), sought quite earnestly to send the Earps and John "Doc" Holliday to the gallows. "To the prosecutors," writes Lubet, "the Earps and Holliday were murderers—law officers out of control.... For the defense, the Earps were steadfast heroes—willing to risk their lives on the mean, dusty streets of Tombstone for the sake of order and stability." As Lubet makes clear in his detailed narrative, the tense, bitterly contested trial was nearly as charged as the shoot-out itself: filled with intrigue, fifth columnists and hidden agendas. The level of emotions may best be illustrated by actions after the acquittals: Clanton partisans shot Virgil Earp on a Tombstone street, crippling him for life, while Morgan Earp took a fatal bullet in the back. Wyatt and Doc, meanwhile, found it advisable to get out of town. Lubet's worthwhile account will interest Wild West buffs as well as readers interested in legal history. Agent, Lydia Wills. (Oct.)