Wyatt Earp and The Cowboy War (2024) s01e03 Episode Script

[dramatic music playing]
[Ed Harris] Now, if you could name
any hero from the Wild West
Wyatt Earp would probably be
at the top of your list.
[dramatic music continues]
[Ed] I mean, he was a good guy.
Always on the right side of the law.
Right?
Wrong.
[somber music playing]
[Ed] Three days
after the gunfight at the O.K. Corral,
he was arrested for murder.
And it wasn't just Wyatt.
Virgil and Morgan
were put under house arrest
while they recovered from their wounds.
And Doc Holliday
was also charged with murder.
In just 72 hours,
the lawmen had gone from heroes
to accused murderers,
and now were set to hang.
[somber music continues]
[music fades]
[suspenseful music playing]
[Ed] Ike Clanton must have been feeling
pretty pleased with himself.
And was probably thinking that,
while he may not have been
as fast as Wyatt Earp with his gun,
he was sure as hell
quicker with his brain.
[suspenseful music continues]
[Ed] I mean,
who else could have figured out
a way to put the toughest lawmen
in the West behind bars?
[Ike laughs]
[Ed] He must've thought
it was a stroke of genius.
Oh, man.
[Ed] He wasn't just a mob boss.
He was like
the puppet master of Tombstone.
And with Wyatt in jail, the town was his
[laughs] What are you looking at?
to do whatever he wanted.
[barks] Yeah!
[Ed] I mean, Ike was probably already
thinking about where to build a gallows.
He wanted as many people as possible
to see Wyatt hang for maximum humiliation.
[Doc] So you think we can escape?
We're not doing that.
Well, how are we gonna get out of here?
[Ed] I think it's fair to say
that Wyatt had absolutely no idea.
But fortunately for them,
the Earps had some friends in high places.
Let me explain.
[upbeat music playing]
[Ed] You see, not everyone thought
that Wyatt and Doc should be in jail.
That's because Tombstone
was what you might call a divided town.
On one side,
you had the Cowboys' supporters.
People who benefited
from doing business with them,
like saloon keepers and butchers.
But then you had another group of citizens
who couldn't stand the Cowboys.
Chaos and lawlessness,
which is what the Cowboys represented,
was bad for business.
And that's exactly why the banks,
the financiers, the mine owners,
they all supported the Earps.
[Ed] The two sides
managed to tolerate each other.
There was a sort of equilibrium.
Until the arrest of the Earps.
Now the business community
feared Ike and his Cowboys would run riot,
so they raised some money
to pay for a lawyer to free the Earps.
[music fades]
Your land is now safe.
You won't have any more trouble.
I will take no payment.
It is my duty to help
hardworking people like yourselves
prosper in this great country.
As the Founding Fathers
expected of all of us.
[dramatic music playing]
[Ed] Meet Thomas Fitch,
lawyer and part-time actor.
[applause]
So Thomas Fitch
was well-educated, well-spoken,
he had a reputation
of being a great orator.
Uh, and he was a lawyer,
but he had also
a number of other enterprises.
What do you think, huh? What do you think?
[Ed] Fitch had been a journalist,
a novelist, a theater impresario,
a playwright, a lawyer, and an actor.
Come on!
[Ed] He was what you might call
a Jack of all trades and a master of none.
- Thank you for coming. Whoo!
- [applause]
[Ed] Now, you might be thinking
that someone with this many careers
doesn't know what they want to be, right?
But Fitch knew he wanted to be great
and adored by the public.
Yeah!
[Ed] So when supporters of the Earps
came looking for a lawyer,
Fitch, of course, said yes.
This could be his moment of greatness.
Don't worry.
I'll have them out of jail in no time.
[tense music playing]
[Ed] The first thing Fitch did
was raise some money
to get Wyatt and Doc out on bail.
[tense music continues]
But getting the murder charges dropped
was going to be a whole nother ball game.
[Fitch] So there's murder.
And then there's "murder." [chuckles]
Now, uh, let's take first-degree murder.
Now, it's serious, you know?
That's that's very serious.
Are we gonna hang?
That's a good question. Um
Uh, if there's a trial, uh, yes.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Ed] Fitch had a point.
A trial involves a jury.
Twelve people selected at random.
But Fitch thought it highly likely
the jury would be tainted by the Cowboys.
And regardless of the evidence,
they'd convict
the Earps and Doc of murder.
[music fades]
So we need to avoid a trial.
How?
Hmm.
- [papers rustle]
- [Fitch] Uh [inhales]
Bear with me. Bear with me.
Um
Yeah.
There's gonna be a hearing.
So
Under Arizona territorial law,
they would hold a preliminary hearing
to determine if there was enough evidence
for the case to go to trial.
And it was up to the judge to decide this.
[Ed] So all Fitch needed to do was present
the facts of the case during the hearing,
and to prove the evidence
against his clients was so weak
there was no need for a trial.
Sounds easy enough.
Right?
[upbeat music playing]
The stage was set for another showdown
between Wyatt Earp and Ike Clanton.
Only this time,
the whole world would be watching.
[upbeat music continues]
[Ed] The shoot-out at the O.K. Corral
had gained such notoriety
that newspaper reporters
poured in from all over
to send stories back east
to their excited readers.
[upbeat music continues]
[Ed] You see, people in the east
loved reading about the Wild West
either in dime novels or in newspapers.
Their environment
was factories and offices.
For them, the West was the stuff of myths,
full of adventure,
opportunity, and romance.
[Edward] In the 1880s,
Americans east of the Mississippi
are just increasingly fascinated
with the American West
and all the stories of the American West,
and so various pop culture entrepreneurs
begin to feed that market
with endless numbers of dime novels
about gunslingers,
and cattle rustlers, and buffalo hunters.
[Ed] But what made
the trial of the Earps something special
was that it was a story
that nobody had heard before.
This time, it was the lawmen,
the so-called good guys,
who were accused of murder,
and the Cowboys, the so-called bad guys,
who were the victims.
It was like the world had gone mad.
[music fades]
[voices murmur]
[Ed] Now, normally for a murder case,
the attorney general
would run the prosecution.
But Ike didn't trust him.
So he hired the top lawyer in Tombstone
to take on the case.
Ben Goodrich.
[Paul] I think the prosecution did think
that they had a chance to win.
And their contention was that the Earps
went down to the O.K. Corral
to kill Ike Clanton.
[court official] All rise.
[Ed] But Fitch had a simple plan
to counter the prosecution's case.
This court is now in session.
[Ed] He rounded up witnesses
who'd seen glimpses of what happened
on that fateful day
to show that the Earps
had no intention of starting the gunfight,
that the shooting
was an act of self-defense,
and thus, they were innocent.
[suspenseful music playing]
There was West Fuller, jeweler.
Thomas Keefe, carpenter.
Ernest Storm, butcher.
Bob Hatch, saloon keeper.
Martha King, housewife.
[man] Unlike a normal hearing
which lasts only a couple of hours,
Fitch extended this into weeks,
calling numerous witnesses,
turning the proceedings,
effectively, into a murder trial.
[Fitch] Mrs. King,
could you please, uh, tell the judge
what you saw and what you heard?
I saw the Earp party
walking toward the O.K. Corral.
[tense music playing]
[Fitch] And what happened next?
Trouble is,
Ike Clanton was one step ahead of Fitch.
[tense music continues]
Heard you was gonna be a witness.
Let's talk about what you've seen.
Handsome lad you got there.
We'll be seeing ya.
Let's have a chat.
[Fitch] Mrs. King.
[tense music continues]
I heard Morgan Earp say
"Let him have it."
[people murmur]
[Ed] Fitch hadn't expected
any of the witnesses to lie,
especially Martha King.
Now the situation was a whole lot worse.
Martha King's testimony was evidence
that the Earps had planned
to kill the Cowboys,
which meant they'd be guilty
of premeditated
Murder.
[Casey] These witnesses came in
and testified that the Earps
had committed murder,
that the Cowboys
were in the act of surrendering
when the Earps fired down upon them.
And this would be
in every paper around the southwest.
And all of a sudden, the Earps,
who had been such big heroes,
were looked upon as murderers.
[Ed] And that's when the story exploded.
Because it wasn't
just about an exciting shoot-out
between daring gunslingers anymore.
Now, it was about corrupt lawmen
abusing their power.
[reporter] You should see this.
[Ed] Ruling these Western towns
with an iron fist.
Across the country,
people began taking sides.
[John] You had people
that wanted to paint the Earps as bad
and sanctify the Cowboys.
And you had people on the other hand
trying to sanctify the Earps.
[Ed] This was music to Ike's ears.
Because now he knew
his testimony wasn't just to the court.
It was to the whole country.
Left hand on the Bible.
I swear the evidence that I shall give
shall be the truth,
the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth.
So help me God.
Proceed.
[Goodrich] Can you tell the court
what happened on October 26th, 1881?
[Ed] You really think swearing an oath
was going to make Ike tell the truth?
We were just about to leave town
when I heard Wyatt Earp screaming my name.
[Wyatt] Ike Clanton!
Ike Clanton!
Where are you?
And can you describe
the commencement of the fight?
[tense music playing]
[Ike] The Earps and Holliday
pulled their pistols
as soon as they got there.
And Wyatt Earp and Holliday
said, "You sons of bitches."
[tense music continues]
[Ike] They all began shooting.
Ike's story is nobody's armed,
and they all put their hands up.
You know,
they got little halos over their heads.
They're just honest cattlemen
who've just come to town,
and these evil men in these long coats
come down and and abuse them.
This is horrible.
[Ed] Ike told the same lies
he told Sheriff Behan, and more.
[David] Pretty much every account of
the gunfight has Ike begging for his life,
begging Wyatt not to kill him.
But once he gets on the witness stand,
Ike claims he tried to grab Wyatt's gun,
and kind of presents himself
as a hero almost,
trying to be peacemaker.
Can you describe
the moment of your brother's death?
I saw Morgan Earp
pull his pistol
two feet from Billy's chest and fire.
Then Wyatt Earp
finished him off like a dog.
Please don't.
[David] Ike realizes that there are
a lot of people now reporting on this,
reading about it.
And so he becomes a bit savvy,
and he speaks in these lines
that are just perfect
for quotes in the newspaper.
They were like an execution squad.
[people murmur]
An execution squad.
No further questions, Your Honor.
The son of a bitch
is lying through his teeth.
I know.
Don't worry.
[upbeat music playing]
[Ed] Fitch saw his chance.
He'd pull apart Ike's testimony,
show the judge it was a pack of lies
and make Ike a laughingstock.
[music fades]
On October 26th, 1881,
did you or did you not set out
with the sole intention
of killing Wyatt Earp,
his brothers, and Doc Holliday?
No.
Wyatt Earp wanted me dead.
[Fitch] Oh, really?
Huh. Well, I I'm sure we'd love to know
why a lawman with an impeccable record
would want to kill you.
"Impeccable record"?
[scoffs]
Wyatt Earp is a stagecoach robber.
- [dramatic music playing]
- [people exclaim]
- [judge] Order!
- [gavel bangs]
[Ed] Instead of being exposed as a liar,
Ike just doubled down.
One night, Wyatt Earp told me
that he robbed the Benson stagecoach.
[Ed] You remember
the stagecoach robbery, right?
[man yells]
[Ed] The one that Wyatt Earp investigated
and implicated Ike's Cowboys?
Yeah, that one.
Now Ike was saying
that Wyatt was the one behind the robbery.
Later, Wyatt offered me money
because he thought I would squeal.
But I refused.
And from then on,
Wyatt wanted me dead.
[people murmur]
[Casey] Ike started telling
these incredible stories
under Fitch's determined examination.
He started telling
how the Earps had confided in him
that they were robbing stages.
And would he keep their secret?
No further questions, Your Honor.
[Ed] Ike had taken his lying
to a new level.
But as they say, the bigger the lie,
the more people will believe it.
Was any of that true?
No.
There was a deal.
But nothing like he said.
I want the sons of bitches
that killed Bud Philpott.
- When do I get the money?
- [Wyatt] When they're arrested.
[Yohuru] Clanton guesses
that at some point
Fitch might reveal the secret deal
between he and Wyatt Earp.
And so,
in order to get ahead of the story,
he concocts this wild tale
that Wyatt Earp is actually the criminal.
[reporters] Mr. Clanton.
[reporters shout over each other]
Today was a day for truth and justice.
[banjo music playing]
Soon, the Earps will face
their day of judgment.
But let's not forget our missing friends.
Frank McLaury,
Tom McLaury
and Billy Clanton
who fought bravely defending our freedom.
[reporter] Mr. Clanton.
[reporters shout over each other]
[Ed] Ike was becoming
a master storyteller.
But even he had no idea
of the effect his words were having.
Because inadvertently
he was stirring up
some deep-seated grievances.
So here's what you have to understand.
[rock music playing]
[Ed] The Civil War came to an end
16 years earlier.
The North won. The South was defeated.
And the hope was
that everything would go back to normal.
But it was a false hope.
[somber music playing]
[Ed] You see,
a lot of Southerners had no interest
in rejoining the United States of America.
[Edward] In the aftermath
of the Civil War,
many Southerners see themselves
as a besieged, put-upon, occupied people.
They do not like the federal government
basically declaring martial law
and, as they see it, running their lives.
And those same kind of resentments
are carried by people who leave the South.
Many people that head west
are former Confederate soldiers.
[Ed] Soon, ex-Confederates
were moving into territories
where they could do
what they wanted without interference,
like Arizona.
And that included the Cowboys,
led by Ike Clanton's father,
who'd fought with the South.
Whereas the Earps were from the North.
Virgil Earp even fought with the Union.
In many ways,
it was a trial of North versus South.
But even though the news of the trial
was exploding around the country,
the president wasn't getting involved.
And there was a reason.
[suspenseful music playing]
You see, during the Civil War,
Chester Arthur
was a general for the North.
He was in charge of handing out contracts
and made a fortune accepting bribes.
So Chester A. Arthur
was known as incredibly corrupt.
And he's just unashamed
about the spoils system
of just taking whatever you could.
[Ed] After the war, he became
a politician for the Republican Party,
which was then considered
to be the party of the North.
[dramatic music playing]
It was rumored that he stole
the election of 1880 from the Democrats
considered then to be
the party of the South.
[tense music playing]
[Yohuru] The election of 1880 is actually
one of the closest in US history.
And at a dinner
for some of his biggest supporters
following the election,
including J.P. Morgan,
Chester Arthur actually boasts
about buying votes,
effectively rigging the election.
[Ed] The South hated him,
so there was no way he was going to say
anything about the trial
and make the situation even worse.
Meanwhile, back in Tombstone,
it was Fitch's move.
But he was fighting an uphill battle.
[tense music playing]
[Ed] To counter Ike's lies,
he wanted the judge to hear the truth.
So he put Wyatt on the stand.
[music stops]
[Wyatt] I told Ike Clanton
that if he would put me
on track with Billy Leonard,
tell me where he hid, I I would give him
[Ed] But here's the problem.
Wyatt read from a statement.
And it sounded like a police report.
When I saw Billy Clanton, Frank McLaury
Billy Clanton leveled his pistol
The testimony of Ike Clanton And I aimed
Wyatt wasn't a great talker,
so he agreed to take the stand
but not be cross-examined
by either the prosecution or the defense.
So he just gave a statement,
which no doubt
his lawyer helped him write.
He shooting at me,
and I shooting at Frank McLaury.
[Ed] It was a bad performance.
But as far as the judge was concerned,
it was Wyatt's word against Ike's.
At that point,
things were fairly balanced.
Unless you were
a supporter of Wyatt or Ike,
it was hard to know who to believe.
But there was one person
who had the power to tip the balance.
[court official] Call Sheriff Behan.
[Ed] As the top lawman,
Behan's testimony was going to be key.
[tense music playing]
[official] Left hand on the Bible.
I swear to tell the truth,
the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth, so help me God.
Sheriff Behan,
can you please tell the court
why you were at the O.K. Corral
shortly before the gunfight?
I'd heard there was trouble,
so I went to see that Ike Clanton
and his boys had left town.
Then I went to see the Earps.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Johnny] They're leaving town.
You can turn around.
[Goodrich] And what happened next?
[suspenseful music continues]
The Earps pushed past me
and pulled out their weapons.
Get out of the way.
[Johnny] Wyatt!
Boys.
- Wyatt, don't.
- [gunshots]
Billy Clanton begged for mercy.
[Billy] Please, don't.
And Wyatt Earp shot him in cold blood.
[Goodrich] No further questions,
Your Honor.
[Casey] After the Earps
had been celebrated as heroes,
Behan came in and testified
that the Earps had committed murder.
That the Cowboys
were in the act of surrendering
when the Earps fired down upon them.
And it was just a shock.
It was a shock to the town.
And Behan, again,
is the most liked and trusted man in town.
And all of a sudden,
they have put together
a case against the Earps,
where not only does it look like
they might convict them of murder,
they might put their heads in a noose.
[judge] Order!
[Ed] Bail for Wyatt and Doc was revoked.
And they were put back in jail.
I mean, you couldn't have murderers
free to walk the streets.
[foreboding music playing]
I need to know why Behan was lying.
Tell him.
Tell him what?
[Doc] Tell him about Josephine.
- What about Josephine?
- Jesus, Wyatt.
I know about you and her.
Wh who is Josephine?
[Doc] The sheriff's girl.
Really?
[romantic music playing]
Wyatt and her?
[romantic music continues]
Holy shit.
[gasps] It's perfect.
- Case dismissed.
- [applause]
We can show the judge
that Behan's testimony is prejudiced.
Yeah, it's not gonna happen.
What?
Josephine, she stays out of it.
Great.
We're gonna hang.
[David] Josephine was key
to the whole yarn of Tombstone.
Her name never came out during the trial,
and that was Wyatt.
Wyatt did not want her reputation stained,
uh, so he protected her.
[gentle music playing]
[music fades]
[exhales]
[solemn music playing]
[Ed] Fitch was out of ideas.
And he didn't know what to do.
He'd taken on the case for the glory.
[cheering and applause]
[Ed] But now Wyatt, his brothers,
and Doc were gonna hang.
He had to do something.
He had to find a way.
Was there anyone? An anyone at all?
I'm asking everyone.
I'm desperate.
There's one man.
I saw them by the O.K. Corral. I heard
them talking. They're coming to kill you.
- Do you know his name?
- [Virgil] No idea.
- Don't think he was from around here.
- Well, uh, what did he look like?
He, uh,
walked with a limp, had a cane.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Good luck with that.
Small man, uh, late thirties.
Uh, walks with a limp.
I'm looking for a gentleman.
Um, he he walks with a cane. Uh
Sir, excuse me.
[Ed] Fitch had gotten nowhere.
The mystery witness
had disappeared without a trace.
Small man, with a cane.
He walks with a with a cane.
He walks with a cane. Small.
It's only life and death. [chuckles]
[Ed] Either he'd left town,
or maybe the Cowboys had gotten to him.
[suspenseful music playing]
[music fades]
[somber music playing]
[exhales]
[somber music continues]
[knocking on door]
[somber music continues]
[music fades]
[man] Mr. Fitch?
Yes.
I think you've been looking for me.
Yes.
[Ed] Incredibly, the one witness
that could help Fitch win the trial
turned up at his door.
H.F. Sills was a railroad man
who had come
to get medical treatment in Tombstone.
And on the morning of the street fight,
he had gone to Virgil Earp and said,
"The Cowboys are heavily armed."
"They're down at the O.K. Corral,
and they're making threats."
[somber music playing]
[Fitch] Mr. Sills.
Can you please, uh, point to the map
and show the judge
exactly where you were standing,
uh, prior to the gunfight?
[somber music continues]
[John] Sills was there
and saw parts of the gunfight.
And he testified that the Earp brothers
had acted properly.
Why have you, uh, come forward to testify?
Are you not, uh, afraid of the Cowboys?
[exhales] No.
And why is that?
Because I'm dying.
[Yohuru] H.F. Sills is a stranger in town,
so he has no affiliation
either with the Cowboys or the Earps,
which makes him an unbiased witness.
In addition, there's a rumor circulating
that he's suffering from tuberculosis,
which is essentially a death sentence.
So he has no reason
to fear retaliation from the Cowboys.
Could you please tell the court
what you overheard
prior to the gunfight taking place?
I saw five or six men
standing out in front of the O.K. Corral.
One of them was talking about
some trouble he had with a Wyatt Earp.
They'll think they control the town.
[Fitch] Can you identify
that person for the court?
[suspenseful music playing]
[Fitch] And what else did this person say?
I heard him say
"We ought to go kill all the Earps
and that son of a bitch
Doc Holliday right now."
- Lies! Lies!
- [gavel bangs]
- [judge] Order! Order!
- [Fitch] No more questions.
[Ed] For the first time in the case,
Fitch had gotten a break.
Unbiased testimony that corroborated
the Earps' version of events.
But that wasn't enough.
Though the judge thought Sills
was a compelling witness,
he was just one man,
whereas Ike's team had almost 30 witnesses
testifying the opposite.
"Let him have it."
[Ed] But even more than that,
they had Sheriff Behan,
the top lawman in Tombstone.
And his testimony carried enormous weight.
[dramatic music playing]
[music fades]
[Ed] So Fitch had to find a way of
tearing apart Sheriff Behan's testimony.
[Johnny] Billy Clanton begged for mercy.
And Wyatt Earp shot him in cold blood.
[Ed] And there was only one person
who carried anything close
to the same weight as Behan
and had yet to testify.
And that was Tombstone's marshal.
[Virgil] When we approached them
near the O.K. Corral,
they already had their guns raised.
Billy Clanton, he fired first.
We fired in self-defense. And then
And then all hell broke loose.
I got shot in the leg, and
I guess you know the rest.
And have you told
your version of events to anyone?
Yeah, to Sheriff Behan.
And when was that?
That evening. He came to my room
wanting to know what happened.
I told him everything.
And what did he say?
[Virgil] They left us no choice
but to fire back.
He said
You did the right thing.
[Virgil] Thank you, sheriff.
- I'd done the right thing.
- [Goodrich] No, you're lying.
I ain't lying.
Well, then I guess it's your word
against Sheriff Behan's.
Anything else?
Yes.
He was there.
He was there?
Yep.
You're a tough son of a bitch.
[Virgil] He was there.
[triumphant choral music playing]
[Ed] Fitch had stumbled upon a way
to blow apart the case
for the prosecution.
[Fitch] Could you please identify yourself
for the court?
Winfield Scott Williams.
Assistant to the prosecution.
[Casey] Winfield Scott Williams had
just started working for the prosecution.
And on the night of the gunfight,
he had gone down to visit Virgil Earp,
and had gone in and was seeing Virgil
when Johnny Behan came in to visit Virgil.
[Fitch] So Sheriff Behan
said to Virgil Earp,
"You did perfectly right."
[tense music playing]
Yes.
[people exclaim]
So Sheriff Behan's testimony
is a falsehood.
Hmm? A pack of lies.
- [triumphant choral music playing]
- [all chattering]
[Casey] When Williams came on,
he said that he witnessed
Behan telling Virgil Earp
that he had done just right.
So essentially, they caught Behan lying,
and it impeached the testimony of Behan
who was considered the most credible
witness for the prosecution.
And it was a critical moment in the trial.
- Order!
- No more questions.
[judge] Order!
[triumphant music continues]
Order!
[music fades]
Case dismissed.
[uplifting music playing]
[Ed] Fitch finally had
his moment of glory.
This is a great victory.
Not just for the Earps and Doc Holliday,
but for America.
[uplifting music continues]
We cut him off a third.
[Ed] And as for the Earps and Doc,
well, they were celebrating.
After a month of hell,
they were looking forward
to peaceful times.
[music fades]
[Ed] And that could have been
the end of it.
[bell tolls]
[Ed] But Ike wasn't done.
He was consumed with vengeance.
And he wasn't gonna stop
[suspenseful music playing]
until Wyatt Earp was dead.
[gun cocks]
[gunshot]
[dramatic Wild West music playing]
[music fades]