What a nifty picture! Great old Parker. Of course your gun was a coach gun and sure the guard who carried used it to protect the strong box packed with bullion. Hopefully the old boy survived the robbery that caused him to toss the gun over the side, clattering on the dusty road below.
Bud Philpot, who was the guard killed on the Benson stage was shot and dropping his shotgun. He let go the reins which fell down behind the horses. He fell forward and onto the road below. The coach over ran him and left him to die in the middle of the road.
Later that day, or early the next morning, the Earps rode out there and found his body. It was taken back to Tombstone. A passenger in the coach was also killed, he died a day later. Philpot was sent back home and buried in Calistoga, CA. I've spend many hours searching for his grave. No luck yet.
Doc Holliday was accused of being one of the robbers, but he wasn't. His old roommate from his days in Las Vegas, NM was. Tomas Leonard, his old friend, who was also a "lunger" was one of the robbers. None of the four men who participated in the robbery lived very long.
The shotgun that Philpot used and dropped may have been your gun. Unlikely of course...but you know what? We will never know.
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