Gunfight at the O.K. Corral to town, and shootings were frequent. In the 1880s, illegal smuggling and theft of cattle, alcohol, and tobacco across the Mexico–United States border, about from Tombstone, were common. The Mexican government assessed heavy export taxes on these items, and smugglers earned a handsome profit by stealing them in Mexico and selling them across the border. James, Virgil, and Wyatt Earp arrived in Tombstone on December 1, 1879, when the small town was mostly composed of tents as living quarters, a few saloons and other buildings, and the mines. Virgil had been hired as Deputy U.S. Marshal for eastern Pima County,
Hunnewell gunfight Hunnewell gunfight The Hunnewell gunfight (August 21, 1884) was a gunfight of the Old West which involved no known gunmen, hence it is mostly forgotten today. However, at the time, it was widely circulated. The gunfight took place in Hunnewell, Kansas, a town frequented by cowboys working on the local ranches and corrals. Hunnewell, which as of the 2000 US census sports a population of 83, at the time was a prosperous cattle town, serving as a shipping point for Texas cattle. The Leavenworth, Lawrence and Galveston Railroad provided quick access to the Kansas City, Kansas stockyards, and in the