Tombstone and how our youngest got his name
Kathleen, Here:
“and they met in a side yard behind a certain corral.”
Where were we today? Can you guess? You history buffs of the old Southwest.
We have been parked at an RV park in Benson, AZ the last couple of nights. There is a lot of history in this area so we took a drive this morning to a neighboring town.
Tombstone. We have seen the movies (lots of them) depicting a famous incident on an October day in 1881. The famous Earp brothers: Wyatt, Virgil, and Morgan walking abreast with Doc Holliday into infamy. Waiting for them at the end of Fremont Street, at the entrance of the O. K. Corral, are a handful of outlaws. Their names also have become infamous and the incident has become the most famous fight in the Old West.
Frank and Tom McLaury, and Ike and Billy Clanton were cattle rustlers and thieves, or as some say, “were just cowboys, trying to make a livin.” Now the leader of this bunch was not present that fateful day. He has also become one of the Wild West’s wildest scoundrels of all time. His name was “Curly Bill” Brocius. I know! More about him later.
On October 26, 1881, what was to be a peaceful confrontation between the lawmen, the Doc., and the Clantons and McLaurys, erupted into a thirty second gun fight. Being nervous about facing Wyatt Earp, Frank McLaury reaches to pull his gun out of its holster and give it up. Witnesses say that Doc Holliday makes a sudden move, pointing his shotgun Tom McLaury. Wyatt Earp jerkes his pistol from beneath his coat and Billy Clanton starts shooting. The rest is history. The Earp brothers walk away unscathed, as does Doc Holliday.
Today the town of Tombstone beckons one into the past to experience and maybe even witness this gun battle. As one strolls down the streets, folks dressed in 1881 costumes greet and invite all to enter museums and shops. One of the most frequented establishments of Old Tombstone was the Bird Nest Theater. Pretty much the way it was back then, there are bullet holes in several places on the walls and ceiling. A painting of “Little Egypt” who was a real “entertainer” covers most of one wall. Steps lead up to the “bird cages,” where the female entertainers performed and enticed their clients.
George Here:
We are currently in Benson Arizona and again staying at a very nice SKP (Escapee) Park. This Park having the nicest layout and look of all the SKP Parks we have stayed in.
One couldn’t be this close to Tombstone Arizona and not visit the OK Corral and all the history that goes with the shootout on October 26th 1881. Even though Curly Bill Brocius was not killed by Wyatt Earp at the Corral that day, he was the leader of the pack of scoundrels that included those killed by Earp on October 26th. It was later that Earp tracked Curly Bill to Gaileville Arizona about 60 miles east of Tombstone and supposedly shot him dead. However legend has it that when they (not sure who they were) went to retrieve the body it was not found and some believe he may have not been dead and escaped to Mexico to live out his life there. With this little bit of knowledge let me explain our day in Tombstone and comment on the naming of our youngest son William (Bill) Brosius.
When Kathleen and I on May 19th had our second son we were searching like all young parents do for a name. We were aware of a gloss over of the history behind the shootout at the OK Corral and knew that there was a Curly Bill Brocius tied to that day. With that little bit of knowledge we went ahead and named our new son William Brosius.
Now you have noticed that the spelling of the last name differs as the outlaw spelled the last name with a “c” and ours is with an “s” but that through history was very common to make a change. We had always been led to believe that Curly Bill Brocius was such a wicked murderous outlaw that shortly after 1881 and all the notoriety our ancestors wanting to distance themselves a bit changed the last name to Brosius.
So here we are. Having visited Boot Hill Cemetery and taken photos of some of the famous grave sites we proceeded to tour the town. We had already learned that the only photo know to exist of Curly Bill was located at the Bird Cage Theater (an original 1800 brothel) on the main street of Tombstone. We entered just as the host (dressed in period costume) was giving a short talk about the theater and then invited those listening to take a self guided tour of the entire facility for the sum of $10.00 each adult. Everyone left except us, not taking her up on the offer. We however asked if we could ask her a question. We asked about the picture we had heard about and introduced ourselves. As soon as she learned we could very well be living, breathing relatives, of the one and only Curly Bill Brosius who so often frequented the place we were invited in and invited to photo anything we wished, for free. I made a comment to her about our naming our youngest son after this outlaw and for many years now we felt somewhat guilty for hanging such reference on our Billy’s head since Curly Bill was such a despicable person. She begged to differ with us, and proceeded to give us her take on the real history. She feels strongly that the real villains were the Earp’s and not those killed and or hunted down by them. She claims that the Earp’s were ruthless, killers, hiding behind their badges and too quick to gun down anyone who might possibly challenge them in any way.
It is a fact that Curly Bill Brocius did kill Sheriff Fred White, but after a short trial in Tucson he was acquitted because evidence showed that the Sheriff was trying to disarm a drunk Curly Bill in one of the saloons and the gun discharged killing him. It was said that Curly Bill wept over the death as he respected Sheriff White.
We came away from this visit a little relieved that perhaps Curly Bill wasn’t such a ruthless outlaw after all and even though rustling a few cattle was pretty serious in its day, perhaps the cloud we hung over our son Williams head wasn’t so bad!
