'Guns Instead of Flowers'

[Morgan]

One of the most candidly understated descriptions of a funeral in the history of the Old West was written by Arizona historian Opie Rundle Burgess in her 1967 book Bisbee, Not So Long Ago, when she recorded her mother's memories of her first day in the booming town of Tombstone, Arizona Territory, on March 20, 1882.

Florence Robinson Rundle and her mother (Opie's grandmother) had just arrived in Tombstone by stage, and Florence's father, who had been mining in the area, rented a buggy to drive them to their boarding house. When they heard horses coming up behind them, her father pulled their carriage off to the side of the street, explaining that he was giving way to a funeral procession taking Morgan Earp's body to Contention to be placed on a train. James Earp would accompany his brother's remains to their father's home in Colton, Calif.

Silently the Robinsons waited until the funeral procession passed. Four men rode in front with sawed-off shotguns across their laps; then came a wagon bearing the casket. Following it came a buggy with two women dressed in deep mourning. Back of their carriage rode two more men with guns across their laps. The men nodded as they passed the Robinsons.

[Mr. Robinson said:] 'Morgan Earp was a fine man. He was murdered by a sympathizer of the Clanton gang.'

[Mrs. Robinson replied:] 'Yes, I know. The driver of the stagecoach told us about the shooting. I never before saw guns take the place of flowers at a funeral.'

Morgan Earp was the most luckless of the six Earp brothers. He had almost died after being shot through the shoulders during the shootout near the O.K. Corral on October 26, 1881, allegedly by rustler Tom McLaury. Then, on the night of March 18-19 (Wyatt turned 33 on the 19th), Morgan was killed by a shot in the back while playing pool.

Wild West magazine 9/5/06

[Steve Sanders]

Thanks for the post, Morg

[patrick mark pazen]

great info Morgan glad to see it

[Bungalo Bill]

Which brings to mind a question I have always had - Why were the cow-boys known as the "Clanton Gang" rather than the "McLaury Gang?"  It seems to me that the McLaurys were  the ones doing most of the rustling and selling beef to the government or whoever.  Maybe I don't have the facts straight.

[Morgan]

Bill - this is strictly speculation, but in the 1870s Newman “Old Man” Clanton and his sons Phineas, Ike and Billy, moved to Arizona and started a cattle ranch. By 1877 there's was the largest cattle ranch in the territory. Their ranch was their unofficial headquarters for the Cowboys. And "Old Man" Clanton was leading the raids across the border for Mexican cattle. With him being the "Elder Statesman" of the group, perhaps they named it after him.

[anthony martin]

   Bill,

     They were toying around with calling themselves  The Gang of 4(but had too many cohorts)or Our Gang but finally settled on simply referring to themselves as The Clanton Gang.

[Chet Rollins]

The McLaury ranch was used as a holding ground for stolen livestock as in the July 1880 case when stolen government mules were found on the property. Supposedly the McLaurys never participated in the actual stealing of the livestock or the sale of livestock only in the holding of the livestock. They never assumed ownership or purchase of the animals. Thier opinion was that if the law wanted to make a case of theft then they would have to talk to the owners of the animals and not the owners of the grass the animals were eating. They were walking a fine line between the appearance of respectability and actual involvement.

[Murray A. Gewirtz]

They could have been called "The Atrocious Brocius Bunch."

[Sue Cauhape]

Basically they were "fencing stolen goods" sort of, right? Even though they weren't selling the cattle?

[Sue Cauhape]

By the way, I like the description of Burgess' mother's introduction to Tombstone current events. Moving into town right in the middle of a major conflict. Makes the hair on my neck stand up just thinking about innocents getting caught up in such things.

[Terry Boniface (Malpaso)]

Great story, and thanks for posting this information