OK Corral on the Science Channel

[jrdudas]

Last night while surfing the cable channels I happened upon a program on the Science Channel.  Don't remember the exact title of the production, but it was an analysis of the shootout at the OK Corral.  They essentially tried to do a "CSI" type investigation of the event.  It seemed like a good idea but I'm not sure that the end result justified the effort that went into it.  Very little background information was provided with regard to what led up to the event, and little new information about the actual shootout was revealed.

In defense of the producers, the only evidence available is about 125 years old and the witness accounts of the event were varied.  So they had little to go on, but they knew that going in.  They pretty much just used the reports from the Tombstone coroner and the eyewitness accounts.  Much of their time was spent on trying to decide who fired the first shot.  They started by stating that the general opinion among most historians is that Doc Holliday shot first.  I don't know if that is what most historians think or not.  One of the items of evidence that they focused on was the coroner's report of the wounds sufferred by Frank McLaury.  The most significant wound was a shotgun blast to the side of the upper right torso.  The report stated that the pattern of the shotgun pellets covered approximately a 4" area.  Based on this statement they determined that Doc Holliday had to be about 18' from Frank McLaury when he fired the shotgun. 

According to reports of the positions of the lawmen, the outlaws, and the outlaw's horses, they decided that at the beginning of the shooting Frank McLaury was shielded from Doc's shotgun by his horse. And that the only way he could have taken the shotgun blast as he did would have been by reaching for his rifle while his horse turned away and exposed him to Doc.  That part seems to make sense.  They go on to assume that Frank would not have reached for his rifle unless the shooting had already started.  Following that line of thought they state that Doc probably did not fire the first shot. 

They cite Virgil Earp's testimony that his statement of "that's not what I want" that preceded the shooting was in response to him hearing the click of two gun hammers being cocked.  They believe that Virgil's comment was directed at Doc rather than at the outlaws.  It is their theory that Doc cocked both barrels on the shotgun in preparation for the fight.  According to most reports, the shooting commenced right after Virgil's statement.  The producers say that while they think that the outlaws made the first move for their guns there is really no evidence other than eyewitness accounts to determine who fired the first shot.

So, the only thing that I found new here was the determination that Doc was more likely about 18' from Frank McLaury and not about 10' as had often been reported.  I realize that an analysis of the shootout is a difficult task given the age of the incident and the biased statements from witnesses.  But it does seem like they took a program that should have filled 30 minutes and stretched it to 60.

JR
     

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Greetings, Jr. (or perhaps J.R.) Dudas.  Thanks for the information.  Nice recap of the show!

If that's the same one I saw, it was originally on the History channel.  I saw that one about a year ago, and if my fuzzy, suspect memory is right, that's about what I remember from back then.

You're right about the comment about a 30 min. program stretched to 60 min.  AND they always come back from their commercial breaks and rehash everything for 2-4 minutes.  I guess that isn't so bad, since someone just finding the show late will at least know the jist of the program so far.

All in all, it's STILL much more interesting than a lot of the junk on other channels!

[Four-Eyed Buck]

That does sound like the History Ch. program. Results on the SG are skewed because they didn't use BP rounds in it. If I Recall they actually decided that the clicks weren't the SG and Wyatt's testimony of him and one of the McLaury's firing simultainiously was correct. Because in a situation like that, to hesitate is to die........Buck