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Tombstone: A Chronicle In Perspective

by Gary Ledoux; co-published with Clum and Company Old-West Productions

170 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #02-0843; ISBN 1-55395-129-8; US$29.50, C$39.50, EUR23.40, £16.20

In 1877, when prospector Ed Schieffelin discovered silver ore in southeastern Arizona he thought he struck it rich... What he discovered was the beginning of a legend. He called his claim "Tombstone".

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About the book      About the author      Sample excerpts      Catalogue info

About the Book   OH NO ! - Not another Earp book !         This is not just another book about the Earps and Tombstone! It is not yet another retelling of the same (albeit fascinating) stories of the early 1880's in southeastern Arizona. In fact, this book doesn't really tell a story at all!         On the contrary, it makes one think (I hope) about how all the stories you've ever ready about Tombstone and the Earps and the Clantons and McLaury's interrelate in the context of time and associations with other people and places and events.         When we read books about the Old West, they tend to focus on a particular person, event or concept. They might deal solely with Billy The Kid or Butch and Sundance. They might deal with a single event like the Oklahoma Land Rush or the massacre at Wounded Knee. They might deal solely with concepts like cattle drives or building the railroads.         When I first started reading about the settling of the west, I began to wonder how it all fit together and who or what came first. Each book or article I read about the Old West was fascinating in and of itself but, until I started this book and building this time-line, I never really grasped the concept of how it all fit together.         Using the "Tombstone Time-Line Concept", showing other Old West, world, national and popculture events alongside Tombstone-related events helped define for me, the Old West, and how it all fit together.

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About the Author Gary Ledoux is a freelance writer, living in southern California, with a long-time love of the old west. He has had several articles published in the Tombstone Epitaph, Tombstone Independent, and Tombstone Tumbleweed newspapers. He is known as "Mayor" # 17135 in the SingleAction Shooting Society, and as Mayor Clum in the re-enacting community. Gary and his wife, Rachel, founded Clum & Company Old West Productions in July, 2002. ---------------------------------- Click here to visit other Old West sites Mojave Muleskinners and The Smokewagon and www.oldwestalive.com/ www.reenactorstuff.com/cgi-bin/auction.pl ----------------REVIEWS OF TOMBSTONE------------------- "This interesting and unique time-line of Tombstone and other Old West events fills a void in our history by comparing 400 years of world history and events with what was happening in Tombstone and other Old West places simultaneously to put it all in perspective. Earps were active in England when Shakespeare was writing Hamlet. The Earps arrived in California four months before the Civil War ended. On the day that Virgil was ambushed in 1881, Currier and Ives were introducing their first color etchings. Right down to the present, hundreds of comparisons tune us into Old West versus other world happenings. Tombstone comes off as unique. The story ends with a virtual autobiography of John Clum who holds a special interest for the author. An interesting read and one recommended to put the reader in touch with not only Tombstone and the Old West but what else was happening in the world during its long and varied history. Useful for the history buff and casual reader. As reviewed by Earl Chaffin ---------------------------------------------- "This is a delightful and helpful book. It was obviously a labor of love for author Gary Ledoux. The book contains numerous chapters that one would hardly look for in a book of this title, including one on Frederick Jackson turner, another on the Significance of the Frontier in American History, and a fine one, "Gun Safety Message" which lines up with the author's re-enactment hobby. The concept of the book is to look at "402 Years of Tombstone History". In four columns, Ledoux gives a date, a Tombstone event, another Old West event, and then an event from elsewhere. In the twenty-five pages of chronology prior the founding of Tombstone, the author gives birth dates of major and minor Tombstone characters and events in their lives prior to their arrival in Tombstone. The chronology then follows major events in Tombstone and Arizona through October 002. The last section of the book contains several appendices, each of which shows Ledoux's deep interest in his topic. Roy B. Young President of the Western Outlaw and Lawman Association January 2003 -----------------------------------------------

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Sample Excerpts

Why The Fascination With Wyatt Earp?         First, contrary to many fictional western movies and TV shows, rarely did the good guy facedown the bad guy out in the dusty street. Mostly, they ambushed each other, jumping from behind a tree or bushes or sneaking up behind their foe. To wit; Wild Bill Hickok was shot from behind by Jack McCall, Jesse James, while adjusting a picture on the wall was shot from behind by Bob Ford, Morgan Earp's enemies shot him in the back as he played pool, and Billy The Kid was ambushed in a dark room by Sheriff Pat Garrett.         In the case on the OK Corral shootout, eight men faced each other in an open vacant lot and despite lead flying everywhere; Wyatt Earp was the only one to walk away without a scratch thus giving him almost a mystical aura. You might say he was the "Superman" of his time.         Second, the OK Corral shootout was not only one of those rare occasions where men faced each other squarely in the street. It is arguably one of the best-documented events of its type ever. With the Nugget and Epitaph each pouring gallons of ink on paper about the subject, and all the subsequent books and articles about not only the event, but also the time prior to and after the event, it is a veritable "Super Bowl" of the Old West making all who were associated with it, famous.         Perhaps Wyatt Earp fascinates us because of the time he lived in. In a time when the average life expectancy was relatively low, and perhaps even lower if you were part of the crowd that Wyatt ran with, Wyatt lived all through the Old West period and well into the 20th century. Although the Old West seems like a time and place of so long ago, it is interesting to think that there are people alive today (2002) who could have known Wyatt Earp.         Finally, while described as being dour or laconic by contemporaries, (as opposed to his purported jolly brother, Virgil) Wyatt Earp has emerged through the mist of time as a most charismatic character with many thanks to Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner, Hugh O' Brian and many others who have portrayed the "Lion Of Tombstone". The myths, the legends, the truth and everything inbetween all add up to a captivating yet enigmatic man. Why The Fascination With Tombstone?         Dodge City, Leadville, Calico, Bodie, are all great-sounding names for an Old West town. All conjure up scenes of buckskin-clad men with six-guns, woman with large bonnets and dusty streets. But let's face it ­p; nothing says Old West like a town with a name like Tombstone. The very inference of its name says gun-fight and a boot-hill full of men who were just a little bit slow on the trigger. Chances are, there will never be another town named Tombstone. Think how politically incorrect that would be today!         The other great thing about Tombstone, and why it continues to capture our imagination, is that, unlike many Old West towns that grew up, changed, and saw urban renewal, one can still visit many of the same places today that were frequented by the Tombstoners of 1881. All the streets are still laid out as they were in 1881.         Although the Bird Cage Theatre has seen some changes, (during the 1930's it was a coffee shop) it remains pretty much as it was when Curley Bill and Johnny Ringo enjoyed a show there. One can stand at the bar today at the Crystal Palace just like Wyatt and Virgil did so many years before. Or have a meal at Nellie Cashman's restaurant, formerly the Russ House owned by Nellie Cashman, which has been in the same place for over 120 years.         The Grand Hotel, as a hotel, is gone now. But the building still remains and you can visit what was then the lobby and have a beer at Big Nose Kate's Saloon, one of Tombstone's favorite "watering holes". And of course, the coup-de gras of a trip to Tombstone, the OK Corral is still there and one can see how the gunfight happened 121 years ago, several times a day.

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Catalogue Information

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