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Mark Lee Gardner, a notable historian of the Wild West, has released a recent book titled Brothers of the Gun, which examines the stories of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. He expresses frustration with the oft-quoted saying from a iconic movie: “When the legend becomes fact, print the myth.”

“Every historian uses it, they just overuse it,” the author remarks lightheartedly. “And it’s really not accurate. I crafted a story. I hope people to be engaged in the time, but I just get so tired of that line. The legend is legend. It won't become truth. People can repeat the legend but it doesn't make it truth.”

That Infamous Showdown at the OK Corral

In the town of Tombstone, on a day in October 1881, Wyatt Earp and Holliday were involved in a shootout that came to be known as the Tombstone gunfight. Joined by the Earp brothers, the pair met the rustlers, men wanted for crime and rustling. In a brief moment, three gang members were dead and Holliday was hurt, as were the Earp brothers.

Even though being one of countless frontier clashes between authorities and bandits, it joined myth, largely thanks to classic movies including a classic western and the Sturges movie.

Confusion and Disagreement in Eyewitness Accounts

“A lot of what we know about it is verifiable,” he remarked of the actual fight and its sequels. “But I repeatedly go back to one of the most telling remarks, and it’s a very plain quote. An observer, who observed the fight, said: ‘I don’t know. Everything was chaotic.’”

Among the people on the scene had different stories. Testimony from the Spicer hearing is also unclear. Bystanders who were allies of the gang were untruthful, and all story is a bit unique. It’s uncommon when anyone agrees on anything.

“It was all a blur.” – Addie Borland

“Even the participants there were uncertain,” the author continues. “So it’s really challenging to determine it, and it took place in half a minute.”

Storytelling and Hollywood Portrayals

He persisted into the movie era, passing away in 1929 at the years of eighty. First portrayed on a silent film screen in the 1920s, he eventually became the subject of notable mid-century westerns. In more modern decades, he has been portrayed by an actor in a modern western and another actor in a biographical film.

Gardner digs through such storytelling to find the people underneath. His works span the range of the Wild West, from Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett to the notorious bandit.

Multifaceted Lives of Earp and Holliday

Born in Monmouth, Illinois in the mid-19th century, Earp was not old enough to fight in the American Civil War, though he tried to do so. When he was twenty, he started as a law officer in Missouri. Missteps were done. Earp experienced a loss with the demise of his partner, Urilla, from typhoid in 1870. Afterward, as constable, Earp held onto public funds he gathered.

“We don't know why he kept it,” Gardner states. “He escapes, and finds himself in Oklahoma. He’s detained for taking a mount, and then he’s in the state, and he’s operating a bawdy house. In time he goes back out West, and he arrives in Wichita, Kansas.”

Regardless of his checkered history, Earp excelled as a lawman. Newspapers commended him often. In one case, he detained a drunk man who had $500 on him. Earp safeguarded the funds for the individual and gave it back when he freed him from confinement.

Contrasting Natures of the Pair

The historian emphasizes the sharp distinction between the pair. Wyatt was ambitious, aiming to better himself and achieve positions like county sheriff. Holliday, originating in Georgia in 1851, was a tooth doctor turned gambler. Unlike Wyatt, Holliday never show signs of becoming stable.

“Holliday just moves from one saloon to the next one,” he notes. “He doesn't actually transform. And a portion of that’s his obsession to betting. Some of that is tuberculosis, managing that and self-medicating, whether it’s with whiskey or later opium.”

Impact and Historical Importance

The new book illustrates a compelling element of the old west: the conflict between law and lawlessness, and the attempts of leaders to exert control over newly forming societies. The amount of procedure that resulted from a shootout – hearings, affidavits, directives for restitution – might startle those versed with simplified versions of the era.

Moreover, Wyatt and Holliday were involved in partisan politics. He was a a conservative, while local lawman his rival was a opponent, creating a rivalry for power and authority.

In the end, he declines to romanticize these individuals. Wyatt and Doc lived years on each end