Gunfight at the O.K. Corral been appointed Tombstone's town marshal (i.e., chief of police) on June 6, 1881, after Ben Sippy abandoned the job. However, Virgil at the same time continued to hold his position of deputy U.S. marshal, and it was in this federal capacity that he continued to chase robbers of stage coaches outside Tombstone city limits. At the scene of the holdup, Wyatt discovered an unusual boot print left by someone wearing a custom-repaired boot heel. The Earps checked a shoe repair shop in Bisbee known to provide widened boot heels and were able to link the boot print to Stilwell. Frank
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral day. Though usually opposing each other in their reporting of events, reporting by both the "Epitaph" and the "Nugget" initially supported the lawmen's version of events. Woods, the publisher of the pro-Cowboy "Nugget", was out of town during the hearings, and an experienced reporter, Richard Rule, wrote the story. The "Nugget" staff had a close relationship with Sheriff Behan, but Rule's story, as printed in the "Nugget" the day after the shootout, backed up the Earps' version of events. This varied widely from Behan's and the Cowboys' later court testimony. Subsequent stories about the gunfight published in the "Nugget" after