| "What Billy Allen Saw"
BILLY ALLEN WAS A RESIDENT OF TOMBSTONE. LIKE ALMOST EVERYONE ELSE THERE HE KNEW THE EARPS (AS DID MANY OTHERS, AND MANY WHO KNEW THE EARPS LIVED TO REGRET IT!)
BUT HIS FRIENDSHIP AND ALLEGIANCE WAS WITH THE COWBOY ELEMENT.
ON THE DAY OF OCTOBER 26, 1881 (THE DAY OF THE OK CORRAL GUNFIGHT,) ALLEN, LIKE EVERYONE ELSE IN THE TOWN, WAS BUZZING WITH THE RISING FRICTION; EVERYONE KNEW A FIGHT WAS BREWING.
SO WHEN THE EARPS BEGAN THEIR WALK TO THE VACANT LOT (WHERE THE GUNFIGHT ACTUALLY TOOK PLACE) BILLY ALLEN WALKED BEHIND THE EARPS.
WHEN THE TWO FACTIONS CONFRONTED EACH OTHER, BILLY WAS STILL BEHIND THE EARPS AND SAW THEM GO INTO ACTION, HENCE, THE PAINTING IS "WHAT BILLY ALLEN SAW." BUT AS THE BULLETS WHIZZED BY, HE HAD TO DUCK FOR COVER AND THEREFORE DID NOT ACTUALLY SEE THE ENTIRE, 27 SECOND, SHOOT-OUT.
AFTER THE GUNFIGHT, A CORONER'S INQUEST WAS HELD. THIS WAS NOT TO DETERMINE RIGHT OR WRONG BUT MERELY TO MAKE SURE THAT EVERYONE KNEW HOW THE MEN WHO DIED HAD ACTUALLY DIED. IT WAS NOT SPECULATION OR JUDGEMENT, IT WAS MERELY "JUST THE FACTS, MA'AM."
AFTER THAT, THERE WAS A PRELIMINARY HEARING. THIS WAS HELD IN THE GIRD BUILDING NOT FAR FROM THE SITE OF THE SHOOT-OUT. HELD BEFORE JUDGE WELLS SPICER, THIS HEARING WOULD DETERMINE IF, IN SPICER'S MIND, THERE WAS WARRANT THAT THE CASE SHOULD GO TO A GRAND JURY. HAD IT DONE SO, THE EARPS WOULD HAVE BEEN ON TRIAL FOR MURDER AND WOULD HAVE BEEN FIGHTING, IN THE COURT ROOMS, FOR THEIR LIVES!
SPICER HEARD FROM ALL THE WITNESSES, OF WHICH BILLY ALLEN WAS ONE. HE
(ALLEN) WAS A VERY GOOD WITNESS (FOR THE PROSECUTION) AND HE CLAIMED HE SAW SMOKE ERUPT FROM THE EARP PARTY FIRST, BUT COULD NOT SAY FROM WHICH EARP IT CAME FROM. HE THEN SAID THAT HE THOUGHT THE SECOND SHOT WAS FROM THE SHOTGUN (DOC HOLLIDAY.)
WHAT WAS MOST IMPORTANT IN WHAT HE SAID WAS THAT HE ADMITTED THAT HE WAS WATCHING THE EARPS AND THEREFORE HE DID NOT SEE WHAT THE COWBOYS WERE DOING, HENCE, HE COULD NOT SAY WITH CERTAINTY THAT THE EARPS ACTED IMPULSIVELY AND IRRATIONALLY. IF HE DIDN'T SEE WHAT THE COWBOYS DID BEFORE THE EARP'S GUNS WENT OFF THAN IT WAS POSSIBLE THAT MAYBE THE COWBOYS INITIATED THE GUNFIGHT WITH A MOVEMENT OF THEIR HANDS TOWARDS THEIR GUNS (WHICH BILLY DID NOT SEE) THUS CAUSING THE EARPS TO REACT WITH SUCH DEADLY FORCE.
SO, IN THIS PAINTING, YOU SEE WHAT BILLY ALLEN SAW, NAMELY THE EARPS......BUT NOT THE COWBOYS.
(FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: VIRGIL, WYATT, AND MORGAN EARP, DOC HOLLIDAY.)
WELLS SPICER DID NOT FIND SUFFICIENT REASON FOR THE CASE TO GO BEFORE A GRAND JURY. HE WAS HARD ON THE EARPS IN HIS SUMMARY, ESPECIALLY TOWARDS VIRGIL FOR TAKING HIS BROTHERS AND DOC HOLLIDAY WITH HIM INTO A SITUATION THAT HE (VIRGIL) KNEW WAS VOLATILE. BUT, HE REASONED, AS THE GUNFIGHT PROVED, VIRGIL NEEDED "STAUNCH AND TRUE FRIENDS" ON WHO HE COULD RELY AND DEPEND SO HE EXCUSED THIS DEADLY DECISION BY VIRGIL TO TAKE HIS BROTHERS AND DOC HOLLIDAY WITH HIM. THUS THE EARPS AND DOC HOLLIDAY AVOIDED A GRAND JURY TRIAL. (THIS PRELIMINARY HEARING REMAINS THE LONGEST STILL IN ARIZONA HISTORY; IT WENT ON FOR ALMOST THE ENTIRE MONTH OF NOVEMBER, AND MOST OF THAT TIME WYATT AND DOC WERE HELD IN JAIL! VIRGIL AND MORGAN , WHO HAD BOTH BEEN WOUNDED IN THE GUNFIGHT, WERE CONFINED TO THEIR BEDS. TO GET VIRGIL'S TESTIMONY THE JUDGE AND JURY HAD TO CONVENE IN VIRGIL'S BEDROOM!)
THE RULING WAS NOT SATISFACTORY TO THE COWBOY ELEMENT, HOWEVER, AND WITHIN 4 MONTHS OF THE END OF THE TRIAL (END OF NOVEMBER) VIRGIL HAD BEEN SHOT AND CRIPPLED FOR LIFE (DECEMBER, 1881,) AND MORGAN HAD BEEN MURDERED (MARCH, 1882.)
AND SO IT WAS THAT WYATT STEPPED OUTSIDE THE LAW AND WENT ON HIS VENDETTA RIDE IN WHICH HE KILLED THREE, IF NOT FOUR, MEN WITHOUT BENEFIT OF TRIAL; HE JUST FOUND THEM AND MURDERED THEM.
FLEEING TO COLORADO WITH HIS POSSE, WYATT AND HIS MEN ESCAPED EXTRADITION FROM COLORADO BACK TO ARIZONA (WHERE HE WOULD HAVE BEEN PUT ON TRIAL FOR MURDER, TO BE SURE) BY THE POWER OF HIS FRIEND, BAT MASTERSON, WHO CONVINCED THE GOVERNOR OF COLORADO TO IGNORE THE EXTRADITION WARRANTS FROM ARIZONA. THE GOVERNOR DID AS MASTERSON ASKED AND WYATT EARP WAS A FREE MAN; HE NEVER AGAIN RETURNED TO ARIZONA.
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