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 he was carrying for Holliday's cane. Virgil carried the cane in his right hand and shifted the pistol in his waistband from the right side to his left. Holliday concealed the short shotgun under his long jacket. Wyatt too was not expecting a fight and put his pistol in his overcoat pocket. Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury wore revolvers in holsters on their belts and stood alongside their saddled horses with rifles in their scabbards, possibly in violation of the city ordinance prohibiting carrying weapons in town. When Virgil saw the Cowboys, he testified, he immediately commanded the Cowboys to