Joyce, you write, "Was not your original question asking why I was under the impression Billy was wearing a cross-draw rigging?"

I asked my original question because after reading your section in VANTAGE POINT on R.F. Coleman's testimony, I wanted to verify your reasoning as to why you believed Billy wore a cross drew rig: Whether it was based on your well-known knowledge of cowboy ways and/or on specific testimony.   I was a little confused because you state in the book that you use the fairly recently found handwritten transcript of the coroner's report for Coleman's testimony and, yet, you reprint the Turner version that, "Billy Clanton's had his hand on his pistol which was in the scabbard. His hand (no mention of which hand) was on his left hip as if in the act of drawing." If you had actually used the handwritten account, you would have quoted Coleman as saying ,(grammar in the original) "Billy Clanton's had his hand on his pistol which was in the scabbard his RIGHT hand was on his LEFT hip as if in the act of drawing." That being the case, Coleman's actual statement disputes Billy drawing his gun with his left hand. In fact, not one witness actually says they saw Billy drawing his pistol with his left hand. 

Joyce, you wrote: "Hatch and Coleman both refer to Billy attempting to get a gun out of the scabbard on his LEFT hip. Can you establish that Billy was not right-handed?"

I don't even know what this means, Joyce. The entire purpose of my post was to point out that Coleman said Billy had his "right hand on his left hip as if in the act of drawing", so, of course I believe he was right handed. Hatch, however, says nothing about seeing Billy drawing his revolver, only that he saw him standing and firing after 3 or 4 shots had been fired. 

Joyce, you write: “IF as you suggest, Billy was NOT shot in the right wrist, then he must have done all his shooting with his right hand. So then, apparently Hatch and Coleman did not make a mistake on which hand Billy used to retrieve the gun...it was the Coroner who didn't know his right from his left...He claimed the right hand was destroyed by a bullet, but Wyatt and Hatch and Coleman seem to be under the impression Billy did all his shooting with his right hand. At what point, then, was Billy's right hand damaged? I am confused."

I am the one who is confused here. You, my dear sweet friend, are just wrong.  Neither Coleman or Hatch say Billy used his left hand. Coleman says he used his right hand and Hatch , as I've pointed out above, says nothing at all about seeing Billy draw his weapon. I'm not aware of the coroner describing any wrist wound on Billy.  Thomas Keefe does, as does another witness, I think Fuller. The coroner apparently just described wounds that would have been fatal. Neither Wyatt, Coleman, nor Hatch testify a"s to which hand Billy used when they saw him firing his weapon. Based on testimony, it cannot be clearly established when the wrist wound occurred . Of one believes Claiborne's and Fuller's observations (which I don't, for the most part) that 7 or 8 shots were fired before Billy (or Frank) shot back, one can extrapolate from that the wound happened early in the event, but there is no direct testimony identifying when it happened (I'll return to this issue when I answer Peter Love's post)

Joyce, you write: "The testimonies and the newspaper accounts don't coincide."

We've known all along that there are differences in the NUGGET EPITAPH and HAYHURST/TURNER versions of the various testimonies. However, the handwritten coroner's jury transcript is the only original document we have and it clearly shows that Coleman saw Billy Clanton with his right hand on the scabbard on his left hip as if in the act of drawing after the first two shots. Not grabbing his chest as one prosecution witness claimed. Not clutching his stomach as another said.  AND NOT TRYING TO DRAW HIS WEAPON WITH HIS LEFT HAND.