Tombstone, Az "The Town too Tough to Die"

recently David and I took the RV across the country from Atlanta Georgia to the beautiful state of Arizona and with the two of us driving we were able to clip off the states with ease first was Alabama followed by Mississippi [Music] then we enter Louisiana as we crossed over the Mississippi River in a driving rainstorm but no problem clearer skies were ahead as we spent the day traveling through Texas [Music] up next was New Mexico followed by the last state line that we'd cross on this trip and that is Arizona we were in all of the beauty and wonder we'd observe while traveling in this part of the country you see we were looking for an old town that we'd heard so much about a town that should have been dead decades ago this was no ordinary place in fact this place had been called the town too tough to die for it had burned twice during the 1880s but both times quickly rebuilt this town was tombstone [Music] he was born by the outside in the came into life [Music] on the doorstep of a nearby orphanage no [Music] no you here his name is you yes No [Music] No [Music] tombstone was founded in 1879 by an Indian scout and prospector named Ed Schieffelin while working as a scout ed would often leave his company to go search for silver hoping to make it rich when friends learned what shuffling was up to he was told the only stone you'll find here would be your own tombstone well shufflin succeeded in finding silver and his first silver milan he named it tombstone and within a short time the boom was on and tombstone was established as a city and shufflin had achieved his goal he'd made it rich some of his famous citizens were of course whiter his brothers Morgan and Virgil Earp and a man from my own home state in Georgia Doc Holliday on this trip clay traveled by air she's at Tucson Airport now she would meet me here shortly we just made it here and the Tucson Airport so excited to see what - so it looks like see you there in the meantime David and I hit Allen Street the epicenter of the activity during the boom of this historic town we began recording some video and speaking with some of the locals like Arizona Beale a tour guide [Music] you know other Cowboys would have been in hey guys how are y'all and next we talked to some of the performers at the Oriental saloon I had turned the original audio down due to the high winds that we were experiencing and then we ran into John sundström the actor who played the barber in the movie tombstone and then we had a great conversation and then we met an employee who visited tombstone and then decided to move here so be careful if you visit but you may not want to return home let's do a day trip like just the blue day trips tombstone we came down here I loved it so much we turned into my friends I'd turn the music down I go I'm gonna move there it took 18 months and I moved here from Denver I've been here seven months now and I love it so after making our rounds and visiting with other people David and I decided to put our boots on and try to blend in a little and walk around like Cowboys [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] now that clay has arrived in town the first place I wanted to visit with the Crystal Palace the Crystal Palace has its place in history located here at Allen Street and 5th in 1879 it was the Eagle brewery but the building burned in one of the two fires that hit tombstone in late 1882 it was rebuilt as to Crystal Palace Saloon virgil earth was actually shot here in 1881 the would-be assassins shot came from the second floor of what is now called the Longhorn restaurant so now let's take a look inside building is an original building ceiling floor and walls of booths are all original from the 80 under the bar and the back bar are both replicas of the original rebuilt from the original blueprints which is and in case you didn't notice in that old picture the lights are the same ones that are used in the 1880s as is the wallpaper today the Crystal Palace is a popular and busy spot for tourists looking for passage to the boom days of Tombstone they still have period shows here and their employees wear period uniforms and outfits [Music] upstairs provided a nice view of the surrounding mountain landscape as well as Alan Street the next place I wanted to visit was the infamous bird cage theatre it opened in December of 1881 and became the most famous honky-tonk in America for nine years it never closes doors the New York Times wrote third case theater is the wildest wickedest night spot between Basin Street and the Barbary Coast until disaster struck tombstone by the flooding of the mines and in 1889 it closed its doors boarded up with all of his fixtures and furnishings intact for almost 50 years he remained closed its contents touched only by the passing of time during the boom though the birdcage made a reputation that never be forgotten curly bill shot and killed marshal Fred White here I'll show you where marshal white just laid to rest in just a few minutes and I have to tell you I was pretty excited to go inside and check it out [Music] this painting they say has been hanging here in the same place since 1882 and check out the old music box built in 1841 and played music here during the 1880s after paying the $14 per person fee we entered into the actual theater for our self-guided tour it's reported that 16 gunfights took place inside legend has it 26 people lost their lives 140 bullet holes in the ceilings and walls proof of the violence the bird cage theatre gets its name from the 14 bird cage crypt compartments above the main floor it was in these compartments that the prostitutes or the ladies of the night as they were called plied their trade I found this little fact to be of interest as well [Music] the stage was host to many national headline shows but still it was said that respectable ladies would not even walk on the same side of the street as a theater and here the Faro table where Doc Holliday dealt cards and had his incident with Johnny Ringo [Music] and don't forget the grand piano it's been in the same spot they say since 1881 [Music] and here's how the theater looks from the stage it's a little smaller than I had anticipated [Music] and below the stage of the birdcage well that's where the longest poker game in Western history took place the game lasted some eight years five months and three days with a thousand-dollar entry fee for each player those are three to four day wait just to even get in the game it's reported that these are the original tables and chairs mirrors and even most of the bottles that were here when it closed in 1889 after vision the birdcage we had to do what do you expect to do in Tombstone wait for a passing stagecoach that's headed out of town and then we continue to walk down Allen Street [Music] there's Watt and tablo's Undertaker I'm told this is where the morgue actually used to be today the old morgue just a shooting range and that's big nose Kate's saloon as you can see the building is a historic landmark once the Grand Hotel [Music] I took this video while they were closed but it's a happening place when they're open and I just wanted you to see all the memorabilia they have up on the walls [Music] when we exited big-nose Kate we noticed it more law dogs were in the area and they were on the move it appeared something with a foot we also notice more Cowboys showing up as well started to get a bad feeling that trouble was coming but for now clay and I continued to walk down the street taking in this old piece of Western history checking out the shops along the way [Music] [Music] and of course we had to stop by the Stetson hat company and let David sample of you [Music] [Music] next we even walked down to the tombstone courthouse this place was built in 1882 as well then there's the two stone mines we didn't take this tour but I've seen video of it and it looks like it'd be a pretty interesting thing to do and back on Allen Street war Cowboys meanwhile we walk down a couple blocks to Fremont and first to what is reported to be white herbs house his statue prominently displayed outside [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] as we walk back to the middle of town it seems we walked right into a good old bar fight between a jealous woman and another then we ran across a full fledge fashion show it's of a very colored cotton now Miss Devi has on a lovely red hat trimmed in white lace followed by street performance [Music] so we continue our journey down Alma Street [Music] [Applause] though tombstone was in a beautiful part of the country I just had a bad feeling something ugly was about to happen for cowboys and in the first trouble began between two guys who'd had too much to drink but challenged each other to a duel you wind up shooting everyone in the street except each other after that a strange wind began to howl and the streets of Tombstone cleared the stagecoaches we're all heading out of town I even boarded the train headed for Tucson but thought better of it later I figured if something bad was gonna happen they'll need to have some good eyewitnesses and then it was clear the herbs along with Doc Holliday too had enough of the Cowboys [Music] [Music] [Music] and word was something was going to go down on Fremont Street close to the okay Corral so clay and I did what any other concerned citizen would do we got a front-row seat to the action and then it happened in case that happened a little too fast for you here it is as wide or drew out a map himself for the court it makes a little bit more sense to me if the map is inverted but you get the point as you can see Holliday and the herbs rug all dressed in black on the left on the right Billy and Ike Clanton flanked by Frank and Tom McLaury in less than 30 seconds and some 30 rounds later it was over billy clanton lay dead along with the McCleary brothers Morgan Virgil and Doc were all wounded in the shootout but survived and are you a little surprised as I was to see how close it appeared that they were and now let's see where those who were killed here as well as many others who died in Tombstone are buried okay we just arrived here at the Bootheel graveyard very famous graveyard here in Tombstone so just walk around now and check out who's here and maybe what happened to him the Bootheel cemetery was founded in 1878 it's on a slight Hill just northwest of the city this historical cemetery was a burial ground for all of tombstones earliest pioneers the name Boot Hill comes from the fact that many of these graves were filled with people that died suddenly or violently with their boots on just as the McLaurys and Clanton did at the shoot-out at OK Corral [Music] so tombstone was a pretty violent place back in the 1880s you can see just those tombstones how many foot tracks killed and shot and murdered etc they actually had three Undertaker's cuz they were so busy some 250 known people were buried here in Boot Hill before it officially closes doors in 1884 [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] she was not playing cards you see how the dead man's hand utilize mr. Moore for slugs from the 44 no less no more probably be one of the most famous there are two law men buried here as well marshal Fred white as you recall he was shot in from The Birdcage by curly bill [Music] and John Gillespie [Music] well I hope you enjoyed the video of the old town of Tombstone if you did don't forget to smash that like button and consider subscribing if you haven't done so you want to see more content in the future as always thanks for watching and until next time be well and stay safe [Music]

Channel: Tolleson Life

Views: 356,668

Rating: 4.9041734 out of 5

Keywords: Tombstone, Arizona, Oldwest, tiffinmotorhome

Id: BCzVnqn-RSM

Length: 22min 50sec (1370 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 26 2019