October 26 1881 2:00 pm

ENTER FRANK MCLAURY AND BILLY CLANTON

The shoot out was about 20 minutes away, the Frank Mclaury, Billy and Ike Clanton along with Billy Claiborne were inside the gun shop were Ike was trying to obtain a gun. Ike was now really pissed off at this point but Billy Clanton was insisting that he and his brother went home. This is another stupid thing you can chalk up for Ike Clanton, what the others were doing in the gun shop was either (A) Loading up for a showdown with the Earp's or more likely (B) trying to calm Ike down and get him to get out of town.The Cowboys must have calmed Ike down because he and Tom Mclaury were later to be found unarmed when the shootout took place. I honestly believe that when the cowboys left the gun shop they were about to leave town however I think it was too late. Ike's mouth had already buried them.

Considering Ike's rampage that morning the Earp's had every reason to believe that they all wanted to fight, why else would they all be in the gun shop?? The tension between the parties had been escalated to a very dangerous level. The Earp's all that day heard that Ike was threatening to do this, Ike was threatening to do that and then seeing them all in the gun shop? You tell me, what are the Earp's supposed to think?

Now the Earp's talked to H.F. Sills, who had not met them before.Sills sought Virgil Earp out when he overheard the Cowboy's saying that they would kill Virgil on site. Sills was a train engineer and only passing through town. Sills had no ties to either party and that is why he later became the most important witness at the Spicer Hearing. More then likely it was Frank or Ike that he overheard, both men were hot tempered and were very angry at the Earp's. Ike because of the earlier events of the day and Frank for Wyatt's beating of Tom. Frank was known as the tougher and more hot headed of the two brothers. Whether or not they intended to kill them there and then is unclear, or maybe they were just talking big.

Enter Johnny Behan, apparently sleeping until half past one and then going to get a shave, the county Sheriff finally arrived. After hearing about the goings on in town that morning and a brief chat with Virgil , Behan headed over to disarm the Cowboys. He met the cowboys at the vacant lot across from Fly's photography and started to talk with Frank Mclaury. He asked Frank along with the rest of the party to surrender their weapons and come into custody with him. According to Behan, Ike and Tom had no weapons on them, Billy was armed but wanted to leave town and Frank would not give up his weapon.s Frank had some business to attend to at the butcher shop and would not surrender his arms knowing that the Earp's still had their weapons.At this point is when Behan noticed that The Earps and Holliday were walking down Freemont street. Behan asked for the Cowboy's to stay where they were while he went to stop the Earp party.

Behan also should receive some blame for the events yet to un fold.He claims to have slept till 2 in the afternoon? He failed twice at crucial moments: First when he failed to disarm the cowboys and Second when he was totally ineffective stopping the Earp party. Furthermore Behan's version of his role in the fight has him Saving Billy Claiborne and throwing him into the photo gallery making sure that Ike was safely out of the battle field as he was un armed, seeing who fired first, second, and so forth,seeing who was hit and where, as well as yelling at the Earp's to stop, and finally dodging bullets. (all in about 20-30 seconds) Seems to me that someone who can't disarm some cowboys and can't stop his fellow law officers was all of the sudden the hero of the day and the best witness. Behan also tried to arrest Wyatt after the gunfight: "I'll have to arrest you know." Stated Behan "I won't be arrested"replied Wyatt as he walked away.