The ultimate pool shot

[jgpool]

I went to Tombstone Az today and came across a pool table and a story. I wonder if a sharking was going on?

In March, 1882, Morgan Earp was shot while playing pool in Campbell & Hatch's Billiard Parlor. He lived long enough to tell his brothers who he thought had shot him. A coroner's jury ruled that the likely perpetrators were Frank Stilwell, a Clanton buddy, Pete Spence, and a man known as "Indian Charlie." These were all names that Wyatt recognized.

On March 20 the Earps caught the train at Benson to take their brother's body home to Colton, California, where their parents lived. Wyatt, his brother Warren, and Doc Holliday stepped off the train in Tucson. Shots were fired. The Earps and Holliday jumped back abroad the train as it started. Frank Stilwell's body was found in the railroad yards the next morning.

George Hand of Tucson recorded these events in his journal*
"Mar. 19. Morgan Earp died today from a gunshot wound he received while playing billiards in Tombstone. He was shot through a window from the sidewalk.

"Mar. 21. Frank Stillwell was shot all over, the worst shot-up man that I ever saw. He was found a few hundred yards from the hotel on the railroad tracks. It is supposed to be the work of Doc Holliday and the Earps, but they were not found. Holliday and the Earps knew that Stillwell shot Morg Earp and they were bound to get him."

In spite of the warrant out for their arrest, Wyatt and Doc returned to Tombstone one last time. When they left, they were pursued by a posse including such upright characters as Curley Bill Brocius, John Ringo, and Phin Clanton. The remaining Earp brothers soon left the Arizona Territory for Colorado, and Tombstone returned to business as usual.

 

[pwd72s]

The moral here is to stay out of pool halls unless you have a concealed carry permit? Then, if you're playing, "packing" is a bit problematic...

 

[Jack Madden]

Probably had nothing to do with the pool game.

 

[jgpool]

Right

Probably had nothing to do with the pool game.

History will probably show you are correct. I was just showing how the game took part in history. We are now researching the history of this game to the old west.

 

[Cue Crazy]

That's pretty much the same way the movie went down, and yes it had nothing to do with the pool game, just an easy shot through the window. Greg

 

[JDB]

History will probably show you are correct. I was just showing how the game took part in history. We are now researching the history of this game to the old west.

Who knows whether they were taking literary license or not; however, in the movie Tombstone, they did show Morgan Earp getting shot while playing pool.

If I saw the movie and had an old table, I might try to pass that off too. So it may not be the movie directors/producers taking literary license either.

 

[jay helfert]

The first rule of Pool - Keep your head down! Now we can add to that - Stay away from windows!

 

[scottycoyote]

the story of the earps, tombstone, the cowboys and doc holiday is an interesting one. Even more interesting is the different takes on wyatt earp depending on which books and accounts youve read. Some stories (and most of the movies) have him as an almost mythological lawman and do gooder looking out for the town and his family.........while some books and witness accounts go to the complete opposite end of the spectrum.....a portray him as a corrupt gambler/sheriff/pimp/racketeer. I guess nobody will ever know the truth, i like to think he was somewhere in between

 

[Snoogi]

Who knows whether they were taking literary license or not; however, in the movie Tombstone, they did show Morgan Earp getting shot while playing pool.

If I saw the movie and had an old table, I might try to pass that off too. So it may not be the movie directors/producers taking literary license either.

The first rule of Pool - Keep your head down! Now we can add to that - Stay away from windows!

No wonder must freeze..

 

[bomber]

JGpool,

I graduated with a degree in History from Murray State University and my emphasis was in Western American History and American Expansion. I have done a lot of research on topics such as "gambling in the old west." I did my senior dissertation on the influence of the chinese immigrant on the gambling culture in the west. As far as the Earp story, most historians will agree that he was shot on a pool table. However, the shot came from outside the saloon and had nothing to do with the game of pool. If you would like some information, let me know. I can dig up some of my old research. It might be nice to do some research on the American West for a change...teaching civics and economics can get a little boring.

Thanks,

Bomber

 

[Kevin]

JGpool,

teaching civics and economics can get a little boring.

Surely you jest. What with the current historic lessons in civics and the wisdom of a checks and balances system being violated daily with impunity, and the current credit crunch from the subprime market crash, these are VERY interesting times to be living in.

 

[Irish634]

I went to Tombstone Az today and came across a pool table and a story. I wonder if a sharking was going on?

I've been there. I found the town full of history and stories and I would like to go back some day. If memory serves me correctly, that table hung on the wall for some time, I could be wrong though.

the story of the earps, tombstone, the cowboys and doc holiday is an interesting one. Even more interesting is the different takes on wyatt earp depending on which books and accounts youve read. Some stories (and most of the movies) have him as an almost mythological lawman and do gooder looking out for the town and his family.........while some books and witness accounts go to the complete opposite end of the spectrum.....a portray him as a corrupt gambler/sheriff/pimp/racketeer. I guess nobody will ever know the truth, i like to think he was somewhere in between

I agree, depending on which information you read, you can see very many different facets of Wyatt Earp. For a different perspective of the gunfight at the OK corral (different than the popular version) take a look at this website. Just as your last sentence says, I doubt we'll know the real truth of the event.


One little bit of information that I have always found quite intriguing (as documented by one of the movies and also in a book) - is that for all the gunfights and crap that he was into, Wyatt Earp had never even been grazed by a bullet.