Jul 022011
July 1, 1880 – John Clum, publisher of the new Tombstone Epitaph and soon-to-be mayor, became postmaster and ran the U.S. Post Office in Tombstone.
July 11, 1887- Virgil Earp was elected City Marshal of Colton, California.
July 11, 1889 – After a drunken quarrel with companion Mollie Williams, "Buckskin" Frank Leslie retrieved a pistol and killed her to end the argument. He then turned and shot the only witness to the event, James Neal, who survived to testify against his attacker. Frank was later found guilty and given a life sentence in the Yuma prison.
July 13, 1882 – John Peters Ringo died in Sulphur Springs Valley near Morse's Mill and the Chiricahua Mountains. His body was discovered sitting in a clump of oak trees with a Colt .45 clutched in his right hand. A bullet had apparently entered his right temple and exited the top of his head on the left side.
July 19, 1879 – "Doc" Holliday shot Mike Gordon in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Doc apparently operated a saloon into which Mike decided to fire a few shots after a dispute over a saloon girl. Mike died from his wound the next day. Evidently Doc was not seriously punished for the shooting. A year later the Las Vegas Optic chided Doc for using "one of the many legal loop-holes that characterized Hoodoo Brown's judicial dispensation."
July 22,1880 – The Occidental Saloon opened its doors for business on the north side of Allen Street, next door to the Alhambra and two doors down from the Golden Eagle Brewery. Just 15 months later it would be known to eternity as the location of the all-night poker game that preceded the gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
July 24, 1880 – T.J. Waters was killed by E.L. Bradshaw on Allen Street after a previous altercation involving the blue and black plaid shirt that T.J. wore that day.
July 25, 1888 – Tombstone was struck by its strongest earthquake on record. It measured a Level VI on the Modified Mercalli intensity chart. That equates to roughly a 5.2 on the Richter Scale.
July 27, 1880 – Wyatt Earp was appointed Deputy Sheriff for the Tombstone district of Pima County under Sheriff Charles Shibell.
July 30, 1864 – Johnny Ringo's father accidentally killed himself after dropping a shotgun. The round entered his right eye and exited the top of his head.