Tombstone Arizona
Remembering Days Gone By.....

Edward Lawrence Schieffelin
 (Born 1847 Died May 27, 1897)

He was a Tioga County, Pennsylvania native who was the founder of Tombstone, Arizona.

Schieffelin lived a relatively quiet life for thirty years, until he decided, in 1877, to travel to California, looking for gold. This was during the California gold rush era.

He ended up as an Indian scout working out of Camp Hauchuca. He kept prospecting in his spare time, and eventually near the San Pedro Valley, Arizona, at a waterless plateau called Goose Flats, he found silver instead of gold. Having been joshed by soldiers about his rock-collecting to the effect that "The only rock you will find out there will be your own tombstone", Schieffelin decided to name the mining claim the "tombstone." Although it took a year to prove that the ore was good, and to locate a sizable vein of it, Schieffelin and several other men finally divided several very valuable mining claims. Originally surveyed as Goose Flats, the town of Tombstone (named after the mine and founded in 1879) boomed into a modern business city of the time, a county seat, and the site of the legendary gunfight near the O.K. Corral.

Schieffelin Hall, an entertainment center built by Ed's brother Al in 1881 at the height of Tombstone's prosperity, remains preserved in Tombstone today.

Tombstone's mines played out in the late 1880's but they had already made Ed Schieffelin a rich man. He left town and traveled widely, but wanted to be returned to Tombstone when he died. He died suddenly of natural causes while prospecting in Oregon in 1897, at the age of 49. He was found alone in his miner's cabin, slumped over valuable samples of ore, origin unknown. His journal said "Struck it rich again, by God!" As requested in his will, Schieffelin is interred about two miles from Tombstone (at a cemetery located at West Allen street). He was buried as his will specified in mining clothes, with pick, shovel, and his old canteen.

The Bird Cage Theatre

The original name was "The Elite Theatre" The Bird Cage opened on December 25, 1881 during the height of the silver boom in Tombstone, and for the next eight years never closed.

It operated continuously 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. It was not only a theater but also included a saloon, gambling parlor, and a brothel in the basement.

The theater gained a reputation as one of the wildest places in Tombstone. The New York Times reported in 1882, that the Bird Cage Theatre is "the wildest, wickedest night spot between Basin Street and the Barbary Coast." The building contains numerous bullet holes attesting to the Times description.

The basement poker room is reported to be the site of the longest poker game in history. Played continuously 24 hours a day for eight years, five months, and three days, it is said that as much as 10 million dollars changed hands during the marathon game, with the house retaining 10 percent.
 

Some of the participants were Doc Holliday, Bat Masterson, Diamond Jim Brady, and George Randolph Hearst.

 When ground water began seeping into the mines in the late 1880s the town went bust and along with it, the Birdcage Theatre. The poker game ended and the building was sealed up in 1889.

The building was not opened again until it was purchased in the year 1934, the new owners were delighted to find that almost nothing had been disturbed in all those years.

It has been a tourist attraction ever since, and is open to the general public year-round. The theater is said to be haunted.



                   

The Shootout At The OK Corral

The gunfight happened at about 3 p.m. on Wednesday, October 26, 1881, in a vacant lot, known as lot 2, in block 17, behind the corral in Tombstone, Arizona Territory, United States. Some of the fighting was in Fremont Street in front of the vacant lot. About 30 shots were fired in 30 seconds.

Although only three people were killed during the gunfight, it is generally regarded as the most famous gunfight in the history of the west.

Many other gunfights resulted in more people killed, such as the Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight, the Going Snake Massacre, and the Gunfight at Hide Park.


Snippet from the newspaper that carried the story on October 26, 1881.

The Gunfighters:

Wyatt Earp, Morgan Earp, Virgil Earp, and Doc Holliday fought Frank McLaury, Tom McLaury, Billy Claiborne, Ike Clanton, and Billy Clanton. Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne ran from the fight, unharmed.

Both Tom and Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton were killed. They were buried the next day on October 27, 1881.  All three are buried in "Boot Hill" Tombstone, AZ

Morgan Earp, Virgil Earp, and Doc Holliday were wounded.

To learn more about the Gunfight At The OK Corral click here or visit the History Channel