Two clerks cleaning out a closet have uncovered the original handwritten minutes of a coroner's inquest taken just days after the famous shootout at the O.K. Corral, including testimony from witnesses and survivors, The Arizona Daily Star reports.

The 36 pages of yellowed and taped documents have been turned over to the state archives.

In the famous shootout in 1881, lawman Wyatt Earp, along with Doc Holliday and others, took on four outlaw gunmen, killing three of them.

The documents had been stored away and forgotten for half a century until the two clerks were cleaning out a closet of exhibits of Cochise County Superior Court in Bisbee, Ariz.

See KOLD-TV's video report here.

The documents had been photocopied decades ago, but the technology was so primitive, the material was hard to read.

KOLD-TV reports that the material includes a housekeeper's account of the gunfight that broke out while she was shopping for meat.

Another witness observed that Doc Holliday was carrying his weapon under his coat, The Daily Star says.

State librarian GladysAnn Wells tells the newspaper that she had always thought that in Holliday's era, people wore guns strapped to their hips.

Wells said she found that information to be interesting, considering that Arizona Gov Jan Brewster has recently signed a measure to let virtually all adults carry concealed guns without getting state permits.

Update at 10:09 a.m. ET: The archivists have not provided extensive quotes from the material so far. However, NPR reports the fragile paper will first be stabilized and scanned, and the first pages should be published on the Internet within a week.

Correction: The reference in the original story to the governor signing a measure to allow most adults to carry conceal guns clearly refers to the recent act by Gov. Jan Brewer, and now as it appeared in our original posting. I have corrected the text above to reflect that.

(Posted by Doug Stanglin)