Metanarratives are altogether unavoidable. This is one of my favorite paradoxes. The legend preaches the Earps were the good guys and the Clantons were the bad guys. The reality is much greyer. They were both bands of opportunists trying to get rich. They had differences. The Earps were northern urban republicans (19th century somewhat progressive Republicans) and the cowboys were mostly southern rural democrats (pre-civil rights conservative Democrats). Doc Holiday was an enigma. In actuality, both groups had been acting in unison to pillage Arizona, but they had a political disagreement, followed by acts of treason against the criminal code. The Earps used their legal "duties" to stop the argument via the gunfight in the empty lot behind the O.K. Corral. But afterward the cowboys killed Morgan Earp and crippled Virgil. The Earps became the defeated and left Tombstone. Metanarratively, the ultimate victory must go to Wyatt Earp, because he used his civil authority as U.S. Marshall to track down most of his brother's assassins and kill them in the line of duty. That's what makes Wyatt Earp a legend. Right or wrong, in the popular imagination, he did something extraordinary and primal to mankind's soul.
The soul of revenge, or of power, or both?
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral - wiki
The Life and Trial of Wyatt Earp - The "O.K. Corral Trial"
Wyatt Earp - Famous Trials
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