Virgil Earp deputized Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday to support him and Morgan Earp in preparation for the gunfight. Wyatt spoke of his brothers Virgil and Morgan as the "marshals" while he acted as "deputy." Virgil carried a cane in his right hand to signify his intent to avoid a fight, but gave his short double-barrelled shotgun to Doc Holliday, who concealed it under his longcoat.
The two factions had both reportedly anticipated conflict. Martha J. King, who was in Bauer's Butcher Shop on Fremont Street when the Earp party passed, testified that one of the Earps [Morgan] on the outside of that party looked around and said to Doc Holliday, "...let them have it!" to which Holliday replied, "All right." When the Earp party reached the alley between the MacDonald House and Fly's Boarding House, the Cowboys came out to meet them, so that both sides were drawn up in rough lines facing one another at extremely close range. According to Addie Bourland, a seamstress who witnessed the fight from across the street, a man who was probably Holliday stepped forward and poked a "large bronze pistol" into a cowboy's belly (probably Frank McLaury's), then took a couple of steps backward. No hands were seen to be raised by Bourland, who was questioned during the hearing about this point. Virgil Earp immediately commanded the Cowboys to "throw up your hands!" But as people began to reach for weapons and he heard hammers clicking behind him, Virgil yelled: "Hold! I don't mean that!"
Almost immediately, however, general firing commenced. The first two shots were so close together that they were almost indistinguishable. There was then a gap of a few seconds before firing became general from both sides. According to Tombstone old-timers, these shots came from Doc and Morgan. Yet Wyatt would testify that the first two shots came simultaneously as he shot Frank McLaury in the abdomen, and Billy Clanton shot at Wyatt, but missed. This claim was meant to refute the prosecutors' charge that the Earps had opened fire on the Cowboys in cold blood. Various other people would testify as to who opened the fight, with Cowboy partisans stating it was the Earp faction, and Virgil backing up Wyatt's story. Independent witnesses generally did not know the fighters by sight, and could not say for sure which side fired first. Ham Light, a Cowboy partisan, heard the first two shots from his room at the Aztec House across the corner from the fight, and went to the window in time to see all but the first two shots fired. According to Light, at that time Tom McLaury was already running from the fight, although other eyewitness accounts placed Tom's flight later. In fact, Billy Clanton was hit in the right wrist as he was drawing his revolver, probably by Morgan Earp, making his gun hand useless, but he gamely shifted his revolver to his left hand and kept firing until he had emptied his gun.
A shot from behind the Earp party drew their attention, and either Tom or Frank McLaury used that instant to fire over the back of the horse behind which he had taken cover, hitting Morgan Earp in the back, who had turned to answer the shot fired from ambush. As Tom McLaury half-turned to run from the fight and down Fremont Street, Doc Holliday emptied Virgil's shotgun into Tom's left side. Tom staggered farther down the street, where he collapsed and died at the corner in front of the Harwood house. He lay there during the fight.
After this, Holliday tossed away the shotgun and unholstered his revolver, continuing to fire at Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton. The firing continued with Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury wounded but still fighting with their pistols. Either Billy or Frank hit Virgil Earp in the calf. Frank was hit in the abdomen, but was still able to move, and went into the street with his horse, which he lost after firing near it. Frank and Doc squared off in the street and Frank hit Doc glancingly in the left hip; he suffered only a bruise. Morgan Earp fell over a mound, but was back up and still firing, and he, Doc and Wyatt all attested to firing at Frank, who had lost his horse and was by that time on the sidewalk across Fremont street. Morgan and Doc each thought he had fired the killing shot, which hit Frank in the base of the skull below the ear.
General firing did not end until Billy Clanton finally went down from the fatal shot to his left breast, crying out for more cartridges when relieved of his pistol by Fly, who had emerged from his house with a rifle. Wyatt's testimony later was in writing, as was permitted by law, which allowed statements without cross-examination at pre-trial hearings. Wyatt, therefore, was not cross-examined. Wyatt testified that he and Billy Clanton began the fight after Clanton and Frank McLaury drew their guns, and Wyatt shot Frank in the stomach while Billy shot at Wyatt and missed. No witnesses confuted Wyatt's testimony that Ike Clanton had run up to him and protested that he was unarmed. To this protest Wyatt had responded, "Go to fighting or get away!" Thus, the unarmed Ike Clanton escaped the shooting unwounded, as did the allegedly unarmed Billy Claiborne. Wyatt Earp was not hit in the fight, while Doc Holliday, Virgil Earp, and Morgan Earp were hit. Billy Clanton, Tom McLaury, and Frank McLaury were killed.
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