In the aftermath of the O.K. Corral Shootout, the Earp Brothers and their friend Doc Holliday were brought before a court of law and charged with murdering the McLaury Brothers and Billy Clanton.

This preliminary hearing resulted in a not-guilty verdict for the defendants. Long-forgotten connections to Iowa led the Pella Historical Society and Museums and the Wallace Winkie Foundation to create a play, *Tombstone Trial: the Iowa Connection*, based on this hearing.

A number of Iowa towns are touched by the O.K. Corral Shootout connection. The Earp Brothers grew up in Pella; the McLaury Brothers had their boyhood home in Belle Plaine before moving to Buchanan County; and Wells Spicer, the Justice of the Peace presiding over the trial, grew to adulthood and owned a newspaper in Tipton.

Wyatt Earp’s wife at the time of the trial came from Fairfax, and Doc Holliday’s wife spent her teenage years in Davenport.

Locally, Margaret McLaury, an older sister of the McLaury Brothers, married the prominent Tama County attorney David Applegate and remained in the area. Margaret and her family helped to support the trial depicted in the courtroom drama.

Tombstone Trial: The Iowa Connection* will be on stage at the historic Wieting Theatre, Jan. 6, 2018, at 2 p.m.

More information about the play and the performance can be found on parkitvirtualmuseum.com/tombstone-trial-the-iowa-connection or

pellahistorical.org or

wieting.tamatoledo.com.