I love history, especially history new enough to reach out and touch

Click the pics so you can see the pictures without your glasses.

What does Tombstone, and lamps made in Turkey have in common? Other than they both start with "T" I have no idea.

I went to the courthouse Museum this morning since I do love history. And a Museum is usually the best place to find real history.

This courthouse in Tombstone reminds me a lot of the courthouse in Cripple Creek,  Colorado, where I spent a lot of my time. They were built at approximately the same time and had the same function. The difference is the Cripple Creek courthouse is still in use as the county seat of Teller County, but the county seat of Cochise County was moved to Bisbee, so this courthouse is no longer in use. But while living in Colorado I spent a lot of time in the antique, but still used, courthouse in Cripple Creek dealing with property records, property taxes, and worst of all... Jury duty.

But the Tombstone courthouse Museum had a lot of interesting things for me to look at. And it is a good way to learn that the Earp brothers and the OK corral weren't the only things going on in Tombstone in the 1800s.... Undoubtably the most memorable thing, but not the only thing.

The biggest thing happening here was silver mining. And the Clantons,  were only here to provide cattle for the miners to eat. And the Earp brothers were here mainly to fleece the miners with gambling and prostitution, and later on control of the local Police Department. But silver mining was the reason for the town's existence, and everything else just revolved around that.

If the Clantons had run a normal cattle ranch, Tombstone probably would have become nothing more than another Western ghost town with played-out mines. But the Clanton's were cattle rustling, a little bit locally, but mostly across the border in Mexico. Old man Clanton was eventually shot and killed by Mexican cowboys seeking retribution for the massacre of 19 Mexican cowboys by Clanton's cowboys in Guadalupe Canyon.

So if the Clanton's hadn't been a bunch of troublemakers like they were, the Earp brothers probably would've made a few bucks skinning the miners and then moved on to greener pastures as the mines started playing out, and may never have become the famous people they ended up being.

Then there would be no Tombstone history books, no movies, no TV shows. And where would Doc Holliday be if it wasn't for his friendship with the famous Wyatt Earp, who wouldn't have been nearly as famous himself were it not for the OK corral and the Clanton's?

But silver mining brought them all together in this one place. And it was that mixture of the cast of characters, both good and evil, even though you often couldn't tell which was which, that led to the history, the legends, and the outright lies of this town named Tombstone.

Tombstone local lady.

These are either aliens from another galaxy that crash landed in Arizona. Or the very first members of the Mickey Mouse club.

Protagonists in the story of Tombstone.

The Tombstone courthouse where life-and-death decisions were made by a jury of your peers.

After the jury of your peers finds you guilty, some folks might receive an invitation to the hanging.

Conveniently located in the court yard next to the courthouse is the gallows used to dispatch the worst of the miscreants. And the small size of the courtyard is the reason that invitations would be given out, there's just not enough room for the whole town to attend.

And witnesses played an important part in the judicial system. Because without unbiased witnesses to the hanging, a rich or important person might be able to buy off the sheriff that could just pretend to hang them.

But with a couple of dozen eyewitnesses to the hanging it was the final step in making sure justice was served.