The Tombstone Epitaph The Tombstone Epitaph The Tombstone Epitaph is a Tombstone, Arizona-based monthly publication that serves as a window in the history and culture of the Old West. Founded in January 1880 (with its first issue published on Saturday May 1, 1880), "The Epitaph" is the oldest continually published newspaper in Arizona. It long has been noted for its coverage of the infamous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral on Oct. 26, 1881, and its continuing research interest in Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and their cowboy adversaries. In 2005, for example, it presented for the first time a sketch of the O. K.
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral had been properly deputized by Virgil Earp. The public perceptions were controversial concerning the Earp brothers' actions, and especially those of Wyatt. Even today, the brothers have strongly opinionated admirers and detractors. A hand-drawn sketch of the gunfight was made by John Flood with Wyatt Earp's assistance on September 15, 1921; it was sold at auction in October 2010 for $380,000. The map describes the position of a number of witnesses and all of the participants with the exception of Ike Clanton, who fled from the gunfight. In 1952, Victor Clyde Forsythe, a popular painter of desert scenes and cowboy