Back in April 2012 I wrote a piece concerning Tombstone near, our B&B, about the Tombstone Archives. The Archives have a lot of items and papers in their possession about the town of Tombstone. However they don’t have the day to day happenings of the town. A little more research is needed for that.
Partial article written in 1881 about the shootout at the OK Corral
Recently our friend Bob, who works at the Benson Visitors Center, showed me a website that opens up a whole new way to find out information. The website is from the Library of Congress and it has many newspapers from all over the United States with copies that range from 1836 to 1922. Not all the newspapers nor all the issues of a newspaper are there but you can search for names, events or just what was reported on a certain date in a certain town or state. They may not show up in the specific paper that you think would have the information but may be in others.
Now just about everyone who has knowledge of the Old West knows that there was a shoot out at the OK Corral. Tombstone, the gunfight and Wyatt Earp have been glorified in many movies, TV shows and books over the years. But have you ever seen a written account from that time period that gives you the newspaper report? I hadn’t seen one until I did the search of the Library of Congress website. On the website I found a long article about what happened and what led up to the fight. The article is a copy of the one written up in the Tombstone Nugget which was a daily paper that was printed in Tombstone during that time period. The article was reprinted in a Tucson paper, The Arizona Weekly Citizen, on October 30 1881 4 days after the shoot out happened. I have copied a portion of the article here but if you would like go read the article in the Citizen then click on the link. The article is at the start of the seventh column.
Now if you want to visit Tombstone you should consider where you are going to stay. There are many things to see in Tombstone including the Graveyard at Boot Hill where the McLaurys and Clanton are buried. Spend the day and watch the gunfight reenactment at 2 PM daily. Down By The River B and B is less than a half hour drive to Tombstone. The San Pedro River BnB is centrally located to many different historical locations, birding sites, wineries and also State Parks and National Monuments. For a peaceful and relaxing stay visit our website and see what great destination Down By The River B&B is for your lodging experience.