On this fourth day
of November, 1881, on the
hearing
of the above entitled cause of the examination of Wyatt Earp and J. H.
Holliday; Mrs. Martha J. King, a witness of lawful age, being
produced
and sworn, deposes and says as follows: Mrs. Martha J. King, a
housewife of Tombstone, says she was in Bauer's butcher shop on Fremont
Street
at the time the shooting commenced, and heard it. She saw some
armed parties
pass the door. She could not say they were all armed. "I saw one man,
Mr.
Holliday, with arms. He had a gun. I mean a gun, not a pistol. I cannot
tell
the difference between a shotgun and a rifle. Do not know whether he
had a
shotgun or a rifle." She identifies Holliday. She
says he had an overcoat and his gun on the left side, with his arm
thrown over
it, and the gun under his coat. "I saw the gun under the coat as he was
walking and his coat would fly open." She saw the Earp party first
between
the butcher shop and the Post Office, going down Fremont Street toward
Third
Street. She only knew the Earp brothers by sight. She says Holliday was
on the
side next to the building. She heard them say something. The one on the
outside
looked around to Holliday and said, "Let them have it!" He [Holliday]
replied, "All right." She heard nothing else. She did not see any of
the fight. She ran back in the shop. She does not know the Sheriff by
sight.
She did not see anyone talking to the Earps. She says the one who said,
"Let them have it!" has been pointed out to her as one of the Earp
brothers. (Q) Did you know what was
meant by the words? "Let them have it!"? (A) I suppose I did.
saw a man just previous to that holding a horse and he said to another
man,
"If you wish to find us, you will find us just below here.” (Q) How long before the men
passed the door was it that you heard the man holding the horse say,
"You
will find us just below here."? (A) I don't think it was more
than four or five minutes. Witness gives more detail of the various
positions
of the men and where she was [just inside the folding doors of the
market]. She
did not hear any other words other than those already quoted. (Q) Was the hearing of
those words the only reason you had for knowing who was meant by the
word,
"them?" (A) When I first went
in the shop, the parties who keep the shop seemed to be excited and did
not
want to wait on me. I inquired what was the matter, and they said there
was
about to be a fight between the Earp boys and the cowboys, and they
said the
party who had the horse was one of the cowboys. [Objected to. Overruled, exception noted.] Further questioning as
to whether she was frightened. Then to query says she did not see
anyone speak
to the Earp party to try to stop them. She believes she would have seen
any
person that had come close to them. |