Gunfight at the O.K. Corral the law in their favor when it affected their gambling and saloon interests, which earned them further enmity with the Cowboy faction. To reduce crime in Tombstone, on April 19, 1881, the city council passed ordinance 9, requiring anyone carrying a bowie knife, dirk, pistol or rifle to deposit their weapons at a livery or saloon soon after entering town. The ordinance was the legal basis for City Marshal Virgil Earp's decision to confront the Cowboys on the day of the shootout. In the borderlands south of Tombstone there was only one passable route between Arizona and Mexico, a passage
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was fined. Saloon-keeper Mehan testified that Tom had deposited his revolver at the Capital Saloon on 4th Street and Fremont after his arrest and before the fight, between 1 and 2 p.m. Several Cowboy witnesses testified that Tom was unarmed and claimed that the Earps had murdered a defenseless man. Behan testified that when he searched Tom McLaury for a weapon prior to the gunfight, he was not thorough, and that Tom might have had a pistol hidden in his waistband. Behan's testimony was significant, since he was a prime witness for the prosecution but had equivocated on this point.