Shootout at the O.K. Corral | Law and Disorder | 2

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0:56Imagine it's November 12, 1880, near Tombstone, Arizona. You're a cowboy who usually spends his free time carousing and gambling. But tonight, you and a friend are doing your part to fulfill an important civic duty if certifying an election. Tombstone's county calls on citizen volunteers to help oversee voting. So you're at your friend's house, which is serving as the local polling station. You open a locked box with the ballots inside and spill them out onto the table. Then you divide the pile and both start counting. The big race on the ballot is for city marshal, Democrat Ben Sippy versus Republican incumbent Virgil Earp, who was appointed to the seat just a few weeks prior.

1:35You favor Sippy, the Democrat, who's sympathetic to cowboys like you. But after a few minutes, you reach the last ballot and realize you don't like the results. What's the count for your pile? I'm at Virgil Earp, 32, and Ben Sippy, 28. Yeah, I got Virgil ahead 36 to 22. You sure you didn't screw up the count? What is there to screw up? I went to school. I know how to count. Well, let's just count again and make sure. You both recount your piles and you get the same numbers. You groan. Ah, this is a disaster. We can't have Virgil Earp serve a full term as marshal. Ah, I'm not too worried. And why not?

2:11All of those Earp brothers are the same. They use their badges to harass us. Well, you know, we haven't counted all the ballots yet. What do you mean by that? Why are you grinning? Your friend reaches into his coat pocket and thumps some papers on the table. You pick one off the top. Are these ballots? Yep, already filled in. Straight ticket Democrat. Where'd they come from? Curly Bill sent them over. A little insurance policy. You shudder. Curly Bill Brocious is a fellow cowboy, but a murderous thug. You want nothing to do with him or this. Oh, no, no, I'm not stuffing no ballot box. People are going to be suspicious.

2:47Well, let him be. We're the election officials. what we say stands. You don't want a Republican marshal, do you? Well, no, of course not. And I know you don't want to be on Curly Bill's bad side. You swallow hard. Several years of Virgil Earp as marshal would be a disaster for hardworking cattle rustlers like you. But even more than that, you don't want to cross Curly Bill. So you divide up the new ballots and start adding them to the tally. Law and order has no place in a town like Tombstone, and apparently neither does a fair election.

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5:05In the 1880s, the Arizona Territory faced a near-civil war. On one side stood gangs of cowboys and their allies among the ranchers, hardscrabble men who mostly made their living rustling cattle, who valued freedom and independence above all. On the other side stood law enforcement officials and business leaders in towns like Tombstone, who favored peace and stability and wanted to bring the cowboys to heel. Initially, these cowboys did most of their cattle wrestling in Mexico. But when the Mexican government tightened up the border and cracked down, the cowboys began targeting people around Tombstone instead.

5:40The cowboys also gained control of a few key politicians, but the Earp brothers were determined to enforce law and order. They went after the cowboy gangs and their allies, making powerful enemies and setting up an inevitable showdown. This is Episode 2 of our four-episode series on Tombstone, Law, and Disorder.

6:02In November 1880, Virgil Earp ran for a full term of office as city marshal in Tombstone, Arizona, a town that was sharply divided along political lines. Virgil had been appointed to serve as the marshal only a few weeks earlier. He assumed the role after the previous marshal, Fred White, was killed in a fight involving Virgil's brother, Wyatt, and the notorious cowboy, Curly Bill Brocious. In the struggle to subdue Curly Bill, the cowboy's gun had gone off, accidentally killing White. Now Virgil was seeking the votes of Tombstone residents in order to continue his work and serve a full term as marshal.

6:37As a Republican, Virgil campaigned to enforce law and order and a vigorous government. Opposing him were the Democrats, farmers and ranchers who generally preferred the government mind its own business. They were wary of the Republican Party, with its ties to the elites of the East Coast and Northern cities. And this partisan split between rustlers and townfolk led to tensions that colored every election. The race for city marshal was no different, and when the votes were counted on November 12, 1880, Virgil Earp lost the election to Democrat Ben Sippy, who'd once been indicted for theft in Texas.

7:10The final tally was 311 to 259, and fraud almost certainly played a role. But Virgil declined to challenge the results, reasoning that it wouldn't be gentlemanly. Still, the defeat stung his pride. He loved being marshal, and the loss angered and humiliated him. But fraud wasn't limited to just Virgil's race. It was rampant in the West. In the election for county sheriff in 1880, members of the cowboy gangs worked as election officials in many precincts and made sure that their party won. They weren't especially subtle about cheating either. One precinct recorded 104 votes, 103 of them for the Cowboys' favorite Democratic candidate.

7:49The problem was the precinct only had 10 registered voters. This brazen deception didn't sit well with Wyatt Earp, a Republican like his brother. He resigned his post as deputy county sheriff in protest of the fraudulent voting, and eventually the county launched an investigation. Wyatt eagerly took part in it, a bold move since he'd be investigating his former boss. This didn't win him any friends among Democrats, especially after a court ruling a few months later handed the job to a Republican. In addition, Wyatt's resignation opened up a chance for the man who would become his greatest rival among the citizens of Tombstone, Johnny Behan.

8:26Behan was 36 years old with a thick mustache, but not much hair on his head. He had a dubious past, but harbored big political ambitions, having gotten his start in politics as a teenager, working as a clerk for the Arizona Territorial Legislature. Then, as a young man, he married into a wealthy family in Prescott, parlaying those connections into jobs as a county sheriff and county recorder. Finally, he was elected a territorial representative at the age of 29. But soon after, he lost everything. A well-known philanderer about town, he finally went too far and got caught cheating on his wife with a 16-year-old prostitute.

9:01This time, his wife divorced him, leaving him disgraced. And when he later tried to run for his old job of county sheriff, he lost. Behan washed into Tombstone, hoping to revive his political career in this rich, fast-growing town. And he was charming, making important friends quickly. As a Democrat, he sympathized with ranchers and cowboys. And when Wyatt Earp resigned his deputy sheriff job, Behan arranged to get appointed as his replacement. A heated rivalry would soon grow between these two men, a rivalry made all the nastier by a romantic entanglement. Shortly after moving to Tombstone, Behan had a fling with an actress named Josephine Marcus, who was visiting as part of a touring show.

9:42After she left town, Behan wrote her a letter promising to marry her, and she soon returned to Tombstone to join him. But after the initial thrill wore off, Behan kept delaying his promise of marriage. Being an actress was a disreputable profession, and Marcus was also Jewish, both of which could prove a liability for an ambitious politician like Behan. The couple thought about marriage for months until Marcus finally moved out. And when she did, Wyatt Earp caught her eye. It's not clear when their affair started, but seeing the two of them together left Johnny Behan steaming. Still, as 1880 drew to a close, he had a promising position as deputy sheriff, and he quickly proved himself an ally of the Cowboys, including Curly Bill Brocious, who had his own grudge against Wyatt.

10:27Curly Bill still hated the Earp brother for pistol-whipping him into submission during the conflict that accidentally killed Fred White. Adding insult to injury, after the shooting, Curly Bill spent two months in prison, and when he was finally released, knowing he had increasingly powerful supporters like Johnny Behan behind him, Curley decided to celebrate with a series of outrageous stunts.

10:52Imagine it's January 8th, 1881. You're a young lawyer, and you're in the dance hall in Charleston, nine miles southwest of Tombstone. You've got a lovely young woman named Tessie in your arms, and you both sway to the music. This is only your third day, but already things feel magical. She smiles up at you, and you wonder if she can tell what you're thinking, that you're hoping for a goodnight kiss. You gesture toward the door to see if she'd like to step outside for some air. Tessie nods shyly and you grip her hand in the crown. Her heart is pounding because this might be your chance. But as you move to the door, a scruffy-looking cowboy suddenly breaks the mood.

11:29All right, stop the music. Stop playing. I want everyone here to strip naked. You stand there stunned and a bit embarrassed. You step forward. Sir, I think maybe you've had a bit too much to drink. Why don't you come on outside and let these people enjoy the night? Who the hell are you? Well, I'm a local lawyer here. Oh, I hate lawyers. Now strip naked. Well, please be reasonable and let's put the gun away. In response, he fires into the ceiling and levels the gun at your head. No, I'm dead serious. Strip naked now. And your girlfriend, too. With trembling hands, you unbutton your shirt. You hesitate with your belt, but then drop your pants.

12:08Next to you, Tessie is in her corset. Well, here you are. I think the joke's gone far enough. Won't you agree? Let's be dignified. The cowboy responds by pressing the gun barrel against your forehead. It's still hot from the last shot, and you can smell gunpowder. I said get naked. Every one of you, get naked! The cowboy and his companion start circling the room, shoving the men and tearing a few women's dresses. Within minutes, all of you are stark naked. Then the cowboy screams at the band to play something peppy and orders everyone to dance. You obey as the music starts up. You stare at the ceiling, unable to meet Tessie's eyes.

12:50You're blushing again, but this time in shame. The cowboy circles among you, slapping people's behinds and cackling. Meanwhile, you keep dancing, realizing the best night of your life has turned into a nightmare.

13:06After forcing the patrons of the dance hall to strip naked, Curly Bill Brocious and his friends weren't done celebrating. The next day, they burst into a church and forced the minister to dance a jig on stage while they took potshots at him. Luckily, no one was killed in this rampage. But the incident added to a growing sense that events in the region were spinning out of control. They would soon grow worse for the people of Tombstone, thanks to developments in the Arizona Territorial Legislature. Tombstone was part of Pima County, a vast and sprawling region that occupied most of the southern third of the Arizona Territory.

13:42It was too large and unwieldy for one sheriff to handle, so in February 1881, the Territorial Legislature split Pima into multiple counties. One of these new jurisdictions was Cochise County, and Tombstone became the county seat, so it needed a sheriff. Although this was normally an elected position, that first sheriff would be appointed by the territory's governor. Wyatt Earp wanted the job and figured he was a shoe-in. For one thing, he had experience as a sheriff. Plus, the territorial governor was a Republican like Wyatt. Finally, Wyatt's brother Virgil knew Arizona's number two politician, the territorial secretary, and could put in a good word with the governor.

14:21But ultimately, Wyatt was naive when it came to politics. He didn't realize that despite working together, the territorial governor and the secretary despised each other, so the secretary's recommendation actually hurt Wyatt's chances. Moreover, the territorial governor did not care about maintaining law and order in a backwater-like tombstone. Although he was a Republican, he let it be known that he would consider appointing a Democrat as sheriff. This would curry political favor with Democrats in the territorial legislature, a favor he could cash in later. Wyatt didn't see any of this coming, but his political rival Johnny Behan did and started to work his contacts to win the county sheriff job for himself.

15:00All the stars were aligning in Behan's favor. Still, Behan was a savvy politician and wanted to ensure he got the job. So he approached Wyatt with a deal. If Wyatt dropped out of contention and cleared a path for him, Behan promised to appoint Wyatt his deputy sheriff. Upon realizing that he was outmaneuvered, Wyatt grudgingly agreed to this deal. And before long, Behan was appointed sheriff of Tombstone. But when the time came to name a deputy, Behan double-crossed Wyatt and named someone else. Wyatt was furious. But Behan's coup didn't stop there. He took things a step further and formed an alliance with some of the rustling cowboys, including Curly Bill Brocious.

15:41In fact, Behan approached Curly Bill with a job offer. By law, in Arizona, the sheriff's department collected taxes from its citizens. The sheriff then got to keep 10 % of the tax revenue. It was a major perk of the job. But given their dislike of government in all forms, cowboys hated paying taxes and rarely did. So Behan approached Curly Bill and asked him to collect taxes from his fellow cowboys in exchange for a cut. At first, Curly Bill laughed at Behan. A cowboy collecting taxes seemed like a ridiculous idea. But after thinking things through, it began to appeal to Curly Bill's perverse sense of humor.

16:17Plus, he saw some advantage in it. If the other cowboys paid at least some of their taxes, that could weigh in their favor if they ever got in trouble with the law. So Curly Bill accepted the job, and he turned out to be a great tax collector. No one dared cheat him, and he raised lots of revenue for the county. And in a way, this made Johnny Behan look like a genius. Still, most citizens were outraged that a thug like Curly Bill was working so closely with the sheriff and enriching them both in the process. Month by month, it felt like the law and order factions in Tombstone, including the Earp brothers, were growing weaker, while the likes of Behan and the cowboy gangs were only growing stronger and more dangerous.

16:57So even as the obstacles kept mounting, Wyatt Earp set in motion a plan to reclaim his status by directly challenging Behan for political power.

17:14The End

17:37They were in it, and if you don't listen to them, then I will cut off your tongue, then cut off your head, and then put the tongue in the head hole. Aw, you tried. Listen now exclusively on Audible and download the Audible app today, or off with your head! I'm kidding.

18:00I'm Raza Jaffrey, and in the new season of The Spy Who, we open the file on Benedict Arnold. the spy who betrayed the American Revolution. America is fighting to free itself from the British Empire, and one of its foremost generals is Benedict Arnold. He's a smuggler turned battlefield hero and admired for his aggressive tactics. But when a war wound, a new wife, debts and politics test his loyalty to the Max, he turns spy and devises a plot to shatter the revolution and help Britain capture rebel commander-in-chief General George Washington. And that plot would make him the most infamous traitor in US history.

18:44Follow The Spy Who now, wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also listen to the full season of The Spy Who Betrayed the American Revolution early and ad-free on Audible.

19:06In February 1881, after losing his chance to become county sheriff for the Tombstone region, Wyatt Earp didn't need any more bad news, but the bad news kept coming anyway. Wyatt's main source of income was a quarter interest in a saloon and gambling den called the Oriental. He earned his interest by dealing cards and providing security. But after a series of brawls broke out, the owner decided to shut down its card game. This move left Wyatt in a precarious financial situation. He still had some stakes in local silver mines, but they didn't pay much. Ultimately, Wyatt decided that his best long-term chance to shore himself up was to try again to get himself elected county sheriff so he could rake in 10 % of local tax revenue.

19:49Unseating incumbent Johnny Behan would also be sweet revenge. The next election for sheriff would take place in November 1882, giving Wyatt more than a year and a half to plan. And to beat Behan, Wyatt figured he would have to paint his rival as dangerous and incompetent. A golden opportunity to do so soon fell into Wyatt's lap. At the time, Wells Fargo was the nation's biggest and most reliable delivery service. Out West, its agents made deliveries in horse-drawn stagecoaches, which sometimes carried thousands of dollars in cash, among other valuables. Delivering such goods in an empty desert swarming with gangs of cowboys proved difficult, And during the past year, the threats to stagecoaches grew more and more dangerous.

20:36Imagine it's February 1881 in a second-floor office in downtown Tombstone, Arizona. You're an agent for Wells Fargo, the delivery company. A fly buzzes lazily around your head as you review the accounting books for the month. Things are looking grim. A series of stagecoach robberies over the past few weeks have spooked people. Your coaches haven't been hit, thankfully, but the overall volume of shipments in the region is down. Suddenly, you hear pounding footsteps on the stairs. The door flies open, and you're startled to see Charlie George, one of the armed guards who accompanies your stagecoaches.

21:10Charlie, what are you doing here? We got hit. Gang of cowboys showed up, robbed us right past the edge of the mesa. And you couldn't do anything? There were a half dozen of them, all armed. They came on so quickly, I didn't even have time to grab my shotgun. Oh, God. Was anyone hurt? Yeah, Peter. They shot him in the shoulder. Peter? Our driver? What happened? Well, he got a bit too smart-mouthed, I suppose, and one of those thugs plugged him. Oh, God. How badly is he hurt? I don't think it's good. But there was a doctor on board. He's not going to lose the arm, but he's not going to drive again, neither.

21:43Ugh. Well, what did they get away with? All the passengers' jewelry and wallets. That's it? No, they found a lockbox, too. Oh, Lord Almighty. We hid that in a flour barrel. How'd they find it? They went right for it. I suspect someone tipped them off. Well, that box had$2 ,000 inside. Did you get a look at any of them? No, they were all wearing bandanas on their faces. Besides, what good would it do? You think Johnny Behan's really going to track them down? You drop your head into your hands and groan. This is a mess, and it'll only make people more skittish to take stagecoaches in the future.

22:19But the disappearance of that$2 ,000 is even worse. It was intended for a bank in Prescott, and Wells Fargo guarantees delivery of all merchandise or they'll fully refund the amount lost, which means your monthly finances just took a huge hit. March was already shaping up to be a rough stretch, and now it could well cost you your job.