Oct 25 1881

IKE'S NIGHT ON THE TOWN

On this evening Ike and Doc Holliday got the ball rolling. There was allot of bad blood between Ike and Doc mostly stemming from the Benson stage robbery. Doc Holliday was accused of being part of the crime and Ike Clanton as well as Frank and Tom Mclaury witnessed Doc Holliday riding back into Tombstone as fast as he could shortly after the robbery took place. Ike and Doc both met in the Occidental lunch room where poor Ike was just trying to order some supper. It was around 11:00 pm that evening.

Ike's account of the event has Doc Holliday approached Ike and was angry that Ike was threatening Earp boys . Ike denied making such threats. Doc Holliday then called Ike every name in the book and wanted to have it out with Ike then and there. Morgan Earp was also present with his hand resting on his gun and egging Ike on to fight as well. Ike stated that he was unarmed and did not wish to be shot in the back when he left the Occidental. Ike also complained that when the Marshall (Virgil Earp) who was outside the Occidental, warned Doc and Morgan not to bother Ike when Jim was there. Jim Flynn was at that time a deputy to Virgil. Ike forgot to mention in his version of the affair that Virgil had in fact threatened to arrest both Ike and Doc if they did not cease their dispute. There are other versions of this story, some stating that Morgan offered Ike Clanton a gun when Ike said he was unarmed. Ike accepted Morgan's gun at first and then he decided that it would not be in his best interests to fight and then returned the gun to Morgan. Others may say that Morgan was there more as a representative of the law and tried to be the voice of reason between Ike and Doc. Morgan's involvement in this episode may be argued either way however most will agree that Doc instigated the affair and Ike got quite the verbal going over by Holliday.

After the smoke cleared and Holliday and Morgan left for their beds Ike Clanton returned to the Occidental where he engaged in an all night poker game with Johnny Behan, Tom Mclaury, and Virgil Earp. Tomorrow these men will be playing for much higher stakes.