Thomas Keefe, carpenter. To
interrogation, says he saw a difficulty between Wyatt Earp and Thomas
McLaury
on October 26, 1881, to wit: "Around the corner of Fourth Street, about
50
feet from Allen Street, between there and Judge Wallace's court, I do
not
remember the exact time of day-it was about 12 o'clock I think-the man
that
Wyatt Earp had trouble with was walking towards Allen Street on Fourth
Street.
Mr. Earp was going from Allen Street towards Wallace's Court when they
met. I
did not understand what they said, and the fight commenced. I saw Mr.
Earp
knock McLaury down with his pistol, twice-I saw him fall twice-McLaury
threw up
his arms to knock the blows of the pistol off. Mr. Earp then put his
pistol up
and walked away from him. I couldn't say there were over two blows
struck with
the pistol. I could not swear to any more. McLaury then got up and
staggered
and walked toward the sidewalk and picked up a silver band or roll, to
put on
his hat again, that was knocked off. That was the last I saw of him,
McLaury,
for half an hour. He walked away. I saw no other blows struck,
excepting those
that were struck with the pistol. I did not hear any words pass between
the
parties. I was about 22 or 23 feet from them. There were other parties
nearer
to the difficulty than I was." To further questioning, says
he was at the scene of the killing, "after the killing was done." The
shooting was over. He was at Fourth and Allen when the first shot was
heard by
him, "and I ran down Allen Street to Third Street, from Third to the
corner of Fremont." My attention was called then to a man lying on the
corner of Third and Allen Streets. It was Tom McLaury. He was dying. I
called
two or three men and said, "Let's pick this man up and take him in the
house before he dies." We brought him in the house and got a pillow and
laid him on the carpet and made him as easy as I could. I asked him if
he had
anything to say before he died and he made no answer. He could not
speak. Then
I unbuttoned his clothes and pulled his boots off and gave him some
water, and
the other man was halloing so with pain I sent for a doctor to inject
morphine
in him. I believe his name was Billy Clanton. The doctor arrived there
then,
and I helped the doctor inject morphine in him, alongside the wound. He
was
turning and twisting, and kicking in every manner, with the pain. He
said,
"They have murdered me! I have been murdered! Chase the crowd away
from
the door and give me air!" The last words he said before he died were,
"Drive the crowd away!" I stayed there until the Coroner came; about
eight or ten minutes afterwards. Does not know who
helped him carry Tom McLaury into the house-"Everything was all
excitement." Says there were four or five men there. Did not see any
arms
on Tom. Again tells of unbuttoning Tom's clothing, "and as soon as
Doctor
Matthews came, we searched the body and did not find any arms on him.
We
examined him close enough to see if there were any arms on him, and
there were
none on him; we only found money on him.” Tells of running to
where Tom was lying, in the street, and says that three or four other
men came
up about the same time. He raised up Tom's head. Again declares that
there were
no ammunition or arms on Tom at that time, nor on the ground near or
about him,
nor on his person, nor was there any belt on him. Says when they took
Tom into
the house, Billy Clanton was there, and Mr. Noble and Mr. Campbell, the
Clerk
of the Board of Supervisors, and another man who stops at Vogan's, "I
don't know his name." As questions continue,
he says he examined Billy Clanton and found he was shot through the
right
wrist, his arm was broken; he was shot on the left side of the belly;
he was
shot below the left nipple and the lung was oozing blood out of the
wound; he
was shot again through the pants of the right leg-it did not touch the
skin.
Says he examined the right wrist closely, even "ran my finger into the
wound, feeling the bone." Says the ball passed through the arm about
two
inches above the knuckle joint of his wrist. CROSS
EXAMINATION
Says he
has lived here about one year. Came from Bodie, California, where he
lived two
years and a half, before that lived in Oakland, California, eight
months;
before that about one year in San Francisco. Worked as a carpenter and
builder
in Bodie. Has been busy at this trade, "pretty near all the time," in
Tombstone. Did not know Billy Clanton nor the McLaury brothers, but
knew Ike
Clanton about two weeks before the shooting. Had no business
relations with
Ike Clanton, and denies receiving either promise or money from Ike
Clanton or
anyone else connected with the prosecution. Says he knows William Allen
for two
or three months." Says Billy Clanton was in the house when they brought
Tom
in. Tells of sending for doctor and of Dr. Miller coming. Says he told
the
doctor to inject morphine into the wound near the stomach says Billy
was
"halloing" for morphine [because of pain]. Says he held Billy on his
back while the doctor injected; that it was before the injection that
Billy
said he had been murdered; that he died, "about 10 or 15 minutes"
after the injection of "two syringe fulls; morphine syringes; about the
thickness of a small sized lead pencil about two inches long." In response to question
as to shot in wrist: "It went from the inside to the outside." Course
of ball was diagonal across the wrist [here witness illustrates upon
the arm of
Mr. Fitch, the direction in which the ball passed through the arm of
Billy
Clanton, by showing that the ball entered the wrist nearly in line with
the
base of the thumb and emerged on the back of the wrist diagonally.]
Says the
orifice on the outside of the wrist was the largest. Did not see any
powder bum
on Billy Clanton's body or clothing. (A) Bauer, the butcher,
denies having conversed with anyone outside counsel for the prosecution
prior
to giving testimony. Is asked if he sought Mr. McLaury or not. Says
this man
sought him for three days. Then his various positions prior to and
during the
shooting are restated. Says his relations with Isaac Clanton were not intimate, but that he conversed with him on the day of the shooting at Hafford's Comer, about 20 minutes or half an hour before the shooting. (Q) Was anyone with Tom McLaury when he
was hit by Wyatt Earp? (A) I could not say. (Q) Did you ever reside in the state of Nevada? (A) I did. (Q) When and where? (A) At White Pine, Hamilton
County, Virginia City, and Pioche in 1869-70-71 and '72. [Some of these
places
are not on modem maps.] (Q) Were you at any time during your residence
in
Nevada, defendant in any action wherein the State of Nevada was
plaintiff in
any criminal action? (A) I was not. (Q) How long after Tom
McLaury was carried into the house was it before he died? (A) Six or seven minutes. (Q) Did Dr. Miller treat Tom McLaury also? (A) No sir. To query, says there was no weapon on William
Clanton,
but there was a cartridge belt on him, and a pistol was lying near the
door-a
Smith & Wesson, large-sized-about two feet from the door-on the
carpet.
Says he picked [the] pistol up, examined it and thought there were two
empty chambers.
"Then Wes Fuller examined it and said there were three empty, and I
looked
again and saw that three chambers were empty." Doesn't know whose
pistol
it was. Dr. Matthews took it. Says Frank McLaury was not brought into
this
room. He remained there until Tom's and Billy's bodies were taken away
in a
wagon. (Q) Were you not,
during your residence in Bodie, during the times you have already
testified to,
a portion of that time, confined in jail there? [Objection] (A) I was arrested and
put in jail and honorably acquitted. I was in jail for entering my own
house
after coming back from Idaho and dispossessing a certain gentleman who
was
living there. (Q) Go on and state all
about the matter about which you have testified to in your last answer
upon
cross-examination. (A) I went to the
Yankee Fork Country, Idaho, the first of March, two years ago. I left
Bodie.
Was gone eight months and came back and heard some very bad talk in
regard to
my family arrangements-and a man named Don McShannon. I approached him
upon the
subject and he denied all charges in regard to being intimate with my
woman. I
requested him to leave the house and rapped at the door and was shot at
through
the door and I was arrested and put in jail. I was then tried and
acquitted
honorably [All the foregoing is crossed out, beginning with, "I was in
jail." but there is no notice of motion to strike.] (Q) You stated in your
cross-examination that the pistol you saw lying on the floor by the
door was a
Smith & Wesson-are you sure of that? (A) There was a long
slot in the sight, and I know that Smith & Wesson
pistols have
that slot. . . . It was an old pistol, well-worn. There is more
discussion and
then, at request, he picks up from the table what he believes to be the
pistol
in question. Ordered to examine same, learns that it is a Colt.4 In
examining
gun, witness relates much of what has been said about shells fired from
it,
etc. Declares to court he does not think this is the pistol he examined
in the
house. [Witness now examines cartridge under the hammer being gone.] "I
did not revolve the cylinder when I first examined it." (Q) Now take the other
pistol in your hand, brought in by the Coroner, and state. . . . if
that is the
pistol that you examined and you found lying upon the floor. (A) No sir, I don't think it is.
(Q) Do I understand
that after completing your cross-examination this noon, during the
recess and
before resuming the examination this afternoon, you went to Dr.
Matthews' office
and examined the pistol concerning which you have since testified on
re-direct
examination? (A)
I was asked to go up there and examine the pistol and I did so. I was
asked to
go by Judge Robinson. (Q)
What, if anything, was said to you while there, with respect to this
pistol? (A) Judge Campbell and
Mr. Ben Goodrich were there, and wanted [me] to show which way the
pistol laid
on the floor when I first saw it, [and] which way Tom McLaury and which
way
Billy Clanton laid. (Q) As to what about the pistols? (A)
I was requested to look at the two pistols and say which I thought was
the one
[found] on the floor of the little house on the day of the shooting. [Signed]
Thomas Keefe |