Gunfight at the O.K. Corral direct conflict with the Earps' roles as lawmen, Johnny Behan was Cochise County Sheriff. Virgil Earp had served for three years during the Civil War and had also been involved in a police shooting in Prescott, Arizona Territory. He was appointed Deputy U.S. Marshal for eastern Pima County by U.S. Marshal Crawley Dake, on November 27, 1879, before the Earps arrived in Tombstone on December 1, 1879. He was appointed acting Tombstone's town marshal (or police chief) on September 30, 1880, after popular Tombstone town marshal Fred White was shot and killed by Curly Bill Brocius. Only a few days
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral they would be departing if they were leaving town. While Ike Clanton later said he was planning to leave town, Frank McLaury reported that he had decided to remain behind to take care of some business. Will McLaury, Tom and Frank's brother and a judge in Fort Worth, Texas, claimed in a letter he wrote during the preliminary hearing after the shootout that Tom and Frank were still armed because they were planning to conduct business before leaving town to visit him in Texas. He wrote that Billy Clanton, who had arrived on horseback with Frank, intended to go with