American Frontier Justice System?

Question

I recently watched a programme on BBC TV about the Gunfight at the OK Corrall. The programme attempted to de-mythologise the incident and was historically based, using transcripts of the murder trial against the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday which followed the shoot out. I was interested to see that the (not guilty) verdict was brought in by the judge alone, sitting without a jury. Was that normal practise at the time? Was it anything to do with the fact that Arizona was still a territory, rather than a state?

I'm interested in this, both as a retired lawyer and because my mother's elder sister was married to a Mr. Earp! But in Norlfolk, England!

Answer 1

Below are some really good sites on frontier justice.
What you saw was historically accurate. The old west has been romanticized to such an extent that it bears little resemblence to the truth.
Justice, for the most part, was carried out by the citizens of the territory. There were judges...most travelled to several territories and saw cases where "famous" outlaws were caight. By famous I mean well known to the territory. Maybe infamous is a better way to say it.
Take a look at the sites...they are very accusrate, interesting, and surprising! The legal system in the old west, and the northern territories, developed much more slowly than the well settled areas. Not that it was different once established, just slow to establish which gave the people more latitude in dealing with crime..

Answer 2

The gunfight was just another gunfight in those days. It was only "Mythologized" by a reporter in those days. They would write those 5 cent cowboy novels in those days. Otherwise, history would have never known about it. I learned that from the PBS channel that had a program on it. It might have been the same one. But I have seen more than one on the OK Corral gun fight too. I am sure there were other fights that Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday had but are forgotten as they were never wrote about.

Yes, that was frontier justice in those days. It was the good ole boy system there where the sheriff was never wrong. If you stole a horse there you might be hung up when they caught you. Or bought to trial found guilty and then hung. In this age, you would go to court, and take a year before you ever go to trial with a good lawyer, but not in those days.

But that was normal practice in those days. Just like the infamous Judge Roy Bean in Texas, the Law West of the Pecos. hahaha He was on the PBS channel and again history romantacizes him, but they gave the hard facts about him, fact from fiction.

Now I am not familiar with the Earp legacy so sorry I could not help you there. But go to this site here. Maybe she could do a DNA test and find out if she is from the infamous "Wyat Earp" line. Have fun.

http://www.earpconnections.info/