Joyce - I didn't think you were confused. The confusion between Frank Patterson and Frank McLaury has come down through the many times this 'mules incident' has been reported and written up by others - sometimes decades later.
Actually - I thought your analysis was quite clear and a really good parsing of the available information. I agree with you that Hurst was probably uncomfortable - he might have been "getting the laugh" while he was waiting in Charleston - and lashed out in print. McLaury lashed back.
....Well, sometimes I run ahead of myself when I am wound up on these things, but I should have differentiated between Frank Patterson and Frank McLaury. Of course, I am sure you realized I was referring... more
Paul, since you have studied this entire situation probably more than any other researcher/author, what is your opinion on whether the stolen mules had a second brand unmentioned by Hurst or Wyatt, the... more
Bob, if you go back and look at my original posts on this subject and also in my book when you get it, you will see that Wyatt's story about tracing the McLaurys to the ranch is indeed full of holes. There... more
but somewhere in Parsons' diary he mentions being at the McLaury ranch (and this could have been during the mule search incident, but I am not sure) when Virgil Earp "greeted warmly" the outlaw Curly Bill.... more