Gunfight at the O.K. Corral me if I could help it." On July 27, 1880, Pima County Sheriff Charles A. Shibell, whose offices were in the county seat of Tucson, appointed Wyatt Earp as deputy sheriff. On October 28, 1880, Tombstone Town Marshal Fred White attempted to disarm some late-night revelers who were shooting their pistols in the air. When he attempted to disarm Curly Bill Brocius, the gun discharged, striking White in the abdomen. Wyatt saw the shooting and pistol-whipped Brocius, knocking him unconscious, and arrested him. Wyatt later told his biographer John Flood that he thought Brocius was still armed at the time,
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral came to each other's aid. Virgil Earp thought that some of the Cowboys had met at Charleston, Arizona, and taken "an oath over blood drawn from the arm of Johnny Ringo, the leader, that they would kill us." Among the lawmen involved in the O.K. Corral shooting, only Virgil had any real experience in combat, and he had far more experience than any of his brothers as a sheriff, constable, and marshal. The Earps' work as lawmen was not welcomed by the Cowboys, who viewed the Earps as badge-toting tyrants who ruthlessly enforced the business interests of the town. In