Dumb as it sounds, a misunderstanding about local politics leading to one thing leading to another leading to what it ultimately led to. (Claiborne sounds like a real piece of work, but then Leslie apparently was as well, in his own way.) Left unanswered, though, if one is to credit Leslie's later Ringo-killing claim, is motive.

Aware of but haven't read the Bossenecker yet. (Terrific title.) So what's his take on Ringo's demise, if he has one, do you know?

I'm beginning to realize that many if not most serious writers on the subject ultimately conclude that Ringo was a suicide. The old "preponderance of the evidence" and all that. By the same token, if they even bother to address it, it seems that they dismiss as the least credible or likely scenario the one that involves Wyatt Earp, despite his subsequent claim. Is that your sense of it as well?

Perhaps the time has come to put this subject to bed before it puts everyone here to sleep, if they're not deep in REM already.