Peter, Kenny has laid out the situation well. Believe me, if the Earps had created any problems it would have made the papers. The CITIZEN warned on August 28, 1881, opening day of the festival that the city would see a gathering of "sharpers of all kinds," adding that "thieves, burglars, pick-pockets, and cut throats will be here in large numbers," but the only reports involving the Earps in September and October 1881 relate to their activities as lawmen in Tombstone.

Doc was a "circuit gambler," even while he was in Tombstone, which explains his periodic absences. That means he followed the games. Kate was a bit confused on her chronology, but I have no doubt that he visited the San Augustin Festival. On September 29, the TUCSON STAR reported that "over two hundred people have left Tucson to attend the feast at Magdalena on the 4th proximo, it being the regular annual feast of San Francisco. This includes a number of the sporting fraternity." This is consistent with Doc's movement. He was back in Tombstone at the end of September and left again. He was not in Tombstone with Lou Rickabaugh reopened the refurbished Oriental on October 11, and the EPITAPH had a listed an unclaimed letter for Kate on October 15. The way I reconstruct things, Doc and Kate returned to Tombstone near mid-October and went back to Tucson sometimes about October 19 or 20. Kate says they were in Tucson this time "about four days," whih would be consistent with the testimony that Morgan went to get him shortly after that in time for Doc to return before the confrontation on the night of the 25th.

"The Earp gang" is a post street fight term. It gained wider use during the vendetta and afterwards during the political battles of 1882. With the Earps gone, it became even more commonly used. Believe me, if the Earps had caused any trouble at San Augustin in 1881, the newspapers would have jumped on it like a crow on a June bug at the time, and it would have been presented as an exhibit against the Earps by the TUCSON STAR which launched a crusade against the Earps early in 1882. They were digging up anything they could find against the Earps. If the STAR's editor had had anything against the Earps that had happened in Tucson, they would have used it.

Just days before the San Augustin Festival the papers were reporting that the Top and Bottom Gang had been driven out of Benson. Ed Byrnes was arrested and jailed at Tombstone, but many of the others headed for Tucson. As for the Earps, they had their hands full. They arrested Stillwell and Spence in Septemberand were otherwise occupied in September. In October, they were part of Behan's group chasing Apaches. On October 8, the Benson stage was robbed north of Contention. On October 13, Virgil took Stilwell and Spence to Tucson on federal charges. He returned to Tombstone the next day, but on October 20 he was back in Tucson along with Marshall Williams and John Behan to testify against Stilwell and Spence, which left Wyatt as acting marshal in Tombstone. On October 22, three men escaped from the county jail, and the Earp brothers joined Behan and Breakenridge in the effort to recapture them.

The Earps were in pretty good shape in August 1881. They were not going to mess it up by doing something stupid in Tucson that could damage their credibility in Tombstone. Two years later, people were blaming everything bad that had ever happened in Arizona on "the Earp gang."

Best!

Gary