Morgan Earp shot in a Tombstone pool hall and other interesting billiard facts

Around 10:00pm on March 18th, 1882, Morgan Earp (Brother of Wyatt Earp) was playing a game of pool against owner Bob Hatch at the Campbell & Hatch Billiard Parlor on Allen Street, in Tombstone.  There, while playing, he was hit by a rifle shot to the side of his lower back. An assassination attempt was also made at the same time on Wyatt Earp, who was watching the game, but the bullet missed.

The rifle shots entered the lighted billiard parlor through a glass-windowed locked door which opened from the rear of the parlor onto a dark alley, which ran between Allen and Fremont Streets, along the side of the parlor. The Campbell and Hatch Billiard parlor and card room no longer exists, having burned in a fire in May 1882. It was two lots east of Hafford's Saloon on 4th Street and Allen, which was re-built after the fire and may be seen today. An old photo said to be of the interior of the Campbell & Hatch billiard parlor room, is actually of another similar establishment.

The bullet that hit Morgan shattered his spine and passed through his left kidney. The wound was pronounced fatal by the three doctors who examined him a short time later. After being shot, Morgan was unable to stand even with assistance, and said "This is the last game of pool I'll ever play."

The legends and lives of the Earp family have a long history in the territory of Arizona, and this story of Morgan Earp's demise in a Tombstone pool hall is but one colorful instance of how the game of billiards and pool have left a lasting mark througout history for many different people, nations, and events.

Let us look at a few more interesting facts about pool and billiards in history.

1.  The dome on Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello, conceals a billiard (pool) room. In Thomas Jefferson's day, billiards (pool) was illegal in Virginia.

2.  According to research that was conducted a few short years ago, billiard champions have the highest average age of any sport at 35.6 years.

3.  At times in history, including during the Civil War, billiard results received wider news coverage than the war. Players were so renowned, cigarette cards were issued featuring them.

4.  Through history, pool has bridged the gap between the aristocracy and the masses. Gentlemen and street toughs alike played the game.

5.  In the year 1586, the castle of Mary, the Queen of Scots, was invaded and captured. The invaders left a note forbidding her to use her billiard table. They then proceeded to kill her, and used the cover of the table to cover her body.

6.  Captain Mingaud, credited with the invention of the leather cue tip, went to prison for political reasons during the French Revolution. With the help of his fellow prisoner, he was able to have a pool table installed in his cell. It was during his imprisonment that be became obsessed with the game of billiards, that he came up with and perfected his invention of the leather cue tip. His obsession became so intense, that toward the end of his prison term, he actually asked for a longer sentence in order to complete his study of the game.

7.  The world’s largest pool hall was built during the golden age of billiards. A mammoth seven-story health spa "The Recreation", was a bustling Detroit business in the 1920’s. It had 103 tables, 20 barber chairs, 88 bowling lanes, three manicure stands, a restaurant that could seat 300, 14 cigar stands, a lunch counter on each floor, and an exhibition room with theater seats, that could accommodate 250 people.

8.  Many handicapped people played the game of billiards, but the story of “Handless George” Sutton is one of inspiration. Born in 1870, Sutton lost both of his hands in a sawmill accident at the early age of eight. Despite being handicapped (and long before advanced prosthetics), Sutton studied medicine and graduated from the University of Milwaukee. During college, he took up the game of pool. He became so proficient at pool, he set an 18.2 Balkline world record with a run of 799, in 1921. Sutton took his playing skills on the road, touring the country and amazing audiences for nearly 35 years. He left an everlasting legacy upon his death, in the year 1938.

9.  The Church has been a part of billiard history for a long time. From its earliest days, pool was often denounced as a dangerous, sinful, and morally corrupt activity. In 15th century France, playing billiards was forbidden by the Church and the King. In early American history, laws were actually passed (because of religious influences), outlawing the game of pool in many parts of America.

10.  Harvey Hendrickson made probably as much money as anyone else with his limited skills at a pool table. He actually toured America and amazed his audiences. Not because of an ability to run racks or pocket billiard balls, but because of his freakishly unique ability to pick up and hold all fifteen billiard balls at once using one hand.

11.  The tables originally had vertical flat walls for the rails and their only function was to keep the billiard balls from falling off the table. They resembled riverbanks and used to be called “banks”. Some players discovered that balls could bounce off the rails and began deliberately aiming for them. Thus a “bank shot” is one in which a ball is made to bounce from a cushion as part of the shot.

12.  The game is billiards and pool has some of the most colorful people and events in western history, and has touched both royalty and commoner alike. The sport has had numerous deaths and resurrections, especially in America, and is still going strong today because the spirit of the game lives on through the many amateur players who can enjoy this great sport from an early age, to late in life.

A special thanks to Dallas Pool Table for many of these factoids referenced above.

Update* - Number 5 on the list is slightly incorrect.  Mary Queen of Scots was not killed by Invaders, but beheaded by the Queen.

"In 1587, Mary, Queen of Scots, complains of being deprived of her billiard table while imprisoned at Fotheringay Castle. After her execution, her lady-in-waiting reports that Mary's headless body was wrapped in the cloth from the table."