Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Friday 10 January 2020
‘Looks like a movie!’ Traveling back in time to Tombstone

By PETER PRENGAMAN the town is working to add
Associated Press attractions beyond the
TOMBSTONE, Ariz. (AP) — gun-slinging.
“Bang!” “Bang!” “Bang!” “The gunfights won’t be in-
And several more “bangs!” teresting to younger gen-
— the gunshots in this reen- erations,” he said, adding
acted shootout happened that he has seen parents
so quickly I couldn’t keep pull their kids away when
count. a reenactment shootout
“That was it,” said the ac- begins because they don’t
tor playing lawman Doc want them to see it.
Holliday at the OK Corral’s Escapule pointed to the
several-times-a-day show town’s mining exhibits,
about what may be the stagecoach rides and
most famous gun battle in nightly ghost tours as exam-
the Old West. “Over before ples of non-gun activities.
it even started.” That isn’t to say the town
Newcomers to Arizona, I of 1,290 residents is moving
had brought my wife and away from its gun history. In
young children to Tomb- some ways, it is further em-
stone, about a three-hour bracing it. In 2017, Escapule
drive southeast of Phoenix, signed a proclamation de-
to learn some of the state’s claring Tombstone “Amer-
history. I figured cowboys ica’s Second Amendment
and gun battles would be City.” The measure was
more interesting to my 8- purely symbolic, as Arizona
and 9-year-old boys than Actors are seen reenacting the events that led to an 1881 shootout in the town that left three dead allows residents, and even
and became one of the most famous gun battles in the Old West on Saturday, Nov. 20, 2019 in
museums. Tombstone, Ariz. visitors from other states, to
But the shootout was over Associated Press carry concealed weapons.
so quickly I couldn’t help “I wanted people to know
but ask myself: “Why is this shoot it out with the town er reenacted shootouts in lent strikes — that it would we believe in the rights of
a big deal?” marshal and a handful of the streets. In the old part have been one of many citizens to bear arms,” said
There are numerous mov- other policemen, culminat- of town, the storefronts and things. Escapule.
ies and books about this ing a feud that was part dirt streets look like they did The gun battle in Tomb- Ironically, one of the cen-
event, and the name personal, part legal, and when the town was found- stone did not actually hap- tral disputes that led to the
“Tombstone” may be spoke to the future of a ed and flourished in the pen at the OK Corral, but famous shootout was the
one of the most recogniz- town. late 19th century. in front of C.S. Fly’s Photo- contention by the lawmen
able in the world. But only Tim Christie, the actor play- “This all looks like a movie!” graphic Studio on Fremont that others, i.e. the cow-
three people were killed in ing Holliday, said much of said my 9-year-old as wom- Street, several doors down boys, should not be able
the 1881 shootout, which the intrigue comes from en in long, full dresses and from the corral’s back en- to carry weapons in town.
seems quaint in today’s digging into the characters men with cowboy hats and trance. Today, many shops have
world of mass shootings. and realizing there were no spurs waddled past us. Popular culture has turned signs on the door saying,
And when you see the re- good guys. Shops sell leather boots, las- the shooting into ``a sto- “No Guns Allowed Inside”
enactment, you couldn’t “They were all bad guys. Ev- sos and toy guns. Children ry of good, solid citizens (private businesses in Ari-
be blamed for thinking erybody had an agenda,” “pan for silver” with bags of standing up to ruffians to zona can prohibit weapons
back on those old movies, said Christie, who is also the dirt mixed with shiny rocks. build a good community,″ on their premises).
with their drawn-out gun show manager and direc- Large and colorful car- Johnston said, adding that One attraction that gives
battles and dashing horses, tor. riages whiz by, and there it ``ignores many nuances.” visitors a broad view of the
and concluding they were Tombstone today is a mix are several saloons to ex- Dusty Escapule, Tomb- town is Tombstone’s “his-
a lot of cow dung. of authenticity and tour- plore along with “cribs,” stone’s mayor and a fourth- torama,” shown at the OK
A quick recap of the basic ism with a heavy dose of where prostitutes lived and generation resident, said Corral. q
conflict: A group of armed cheese. Besides the OK worked.
outlaws, called cowboys, Corral show, there are oth- Jeremy Johnston, historian
for the Buffalo Bill Center
of the West, in Cody, Wyo-
ming, said the glamoriza-
tion of the town and shoot-
out began in the 1930s
after Stuart Lake published
“Wyatt Earp: Frontier Mar-
shal,” a largely fictional
biography that cast Earp
as a courageous lawman.
That led to several movies
and television series in the
decades to come.
Johnston said the shoot-
out was big news locally
at the time, but there were
A horse-driven carriage is seen going through Tombstone, Ariz., so many other conflicts in Reprinted editions of The Tombstone Epitaph are seen in Tomb-
on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2019. the area — Apache Indian stone, Ariz., on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2019.
Associated Press wars, mining disputes, vio- Associated Press