Home > Back to Search Results > From perhaps the most famous town of the Old West...
Click image to enlarge 687598
Show image list »

From perhaps the most famous town of the Old West...



Item # 687598

July 14, 1881

THE TOMBSTONE EPITAPH, Arizona, July 14, 1881  

* Best old West title to be had
* Virgil Earp report


Few could argue for a more recognizable title from the Old West, nor could any town be more linked to the romance of the West than this one. Tombstone is steeped in Western lore, and the several movies done concerning the gunfight at the O.K. Corral have kept this town in popular culture.
This issue was printed just 3 months before the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral. In fact the back page has a report involving one of those involved in the gunfight.
Headed: "What Might Have Been" is a report about Virgil Earp, then chief of police for Tombstone. It was Virgil, his 2 younger brothers (Wyatt & Morgan) and Doc. Holliday who figured prominently in the gunfight at the OK Corral.
The report notes in part: "...last evening, Chief of Police, Virgil W. Earp, came into the Epitaph office with a large roll of bills in his hands & asked a reporter to count them...there was $930...Mr. Earp gave the history of the money...a man blind drunk on the streets..." from whom Earp took the money and kept it safe should he later claim it. It notes at the end: "...This should teach men who want to have a big drunk to deposit their money in some safe place before they start in."
The front page has 2 Ordinance notices signed by John Clum, the first mayor of Tombstone, the publisher of the Epitaph, and the person who captured Geronimo.
Page 2 has a lengthy article on: "Arizona Silver Mines" providing a very favorable prospect for mining in the area.
Complete in 4 pages, archivally rejoined at the spine, very nice condition. This issue is in much better condition than most of this title we have found.

Category: The Old West