Wyatt Earp

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For the 1994 film, see Wyatt Earp (film).
Wyatt Earp at about age 21, photo about 1869
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Wyatt Earp at about age 21, photo about 1869
Wyatt Earp at about age 39, photo in San Diego about 1887
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Wyatt Earp at about age 39, photo in San Diego about 1887

Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (March 19, 1848 – January 13, 1929), was a Teamster, sometime buffalo hunter, officer of the law, gambler, and saloon-keeper in the Wild West and the U.S. mining frontier from California to Alaska. He is best known for his participation in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, along with Doc Holliday, Virgil Earp, and Morgan Earp.

Earp is the major subject of many and various movies, biographies and works of fiction.

Contents

[edit] Genealogy

Wyatt Earp was born in Monmouth, Illinois, USA to Nicholas Porter Earp (September 6, 1813 in Lincoln County, North Carolina - November 12, 1907 in Sawtell, California), a cooper and farmer, and his second wife Virginia Ann Cooksey (February 2, 1821 in Kentucky - January 14, 1893 in San Bernardino County, California).

His paternal grandparents were Walter Earp (1787 in Montgomery County, Maryland - January 30, 1853), a school teacher and Methodist Episcopal preacher, and Martha Ann Early (August 28, 1790 in Avery County, North Carolina - September 24, 1881). Nicholas Earp, their first born, was their only child born in North Carolina (their other five sons were born in various parts of Kentucky).

His maternal grandparents were James Cooksey and Elizabeth Smith. They had settled in Ohio County, Kentucky. Little else is known of their life.

[edit] Siblings

On December 22, 1836 in Hartford, Kentucky, Nicholas Porter Earp married Abigail Storm (born September 21, 1813 in Ohio County, Kentucky - died October 8, 1839 in Ohio County, Kentucky). The short marriage produced Wyatt's older half-brother Newton Jasper Earp (October 7, 1837 in Kentucky - December 18, 1928 in Sacramento, California). Another half-sister Mariah Ann Earp (Feb. 12-Dec. 13, 1839) did not survive to adulthood.

On July 30, 1840, widower Nicholas Earp wed Virginia Ann Cooksey in Hartford, Kentucky. This second marriage produced eight children. Note that two of Wyatt's three full sisters did not survive to adulthood.

[edit] Early life

Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp, born in Monmouth, Illinois on March 19, 1848. He was named after Captain Wyatt Berry Stapp of the Illinois Mounted Volunteers, Nicholas Earp's commanding officer during the Mexican-American War. In March, 1850, the Earps left Monmouth for California, but they never reached there, settling instead in Iowa. Their new farm consisted of 160 acres (exactly 1/4 mi.² = ~0.65 km²), seven miles (10 km) northeast of Pella, Iowa.

On March 4, 1856, Nicholas sold his farm and returned to Monmouth, Illinois, but was unable to find a job as a cooper or farmer. Faced with unemployment, Nicholas chose to become a municipal constable, serving at this post for about three years. He reportedly had a second source of income from the selling of alcoholic beverages which made him the target of the local Temperance movement and in 1859 he was tried for bootlegging, convicted and publicly humiliated. Nicholas was unable to pay his fines and on November 11, 1859, Nicholas's property was sold at auction. Two days later, the Earps left again for Pella, Iowa.

Nicholas apparently made frequent travels back to Monmouth throughout 1860 to confirm and conclude the sale of his properties and to face several lawsuits for debt and accusations of tax evasion.

During the family's second stay in Pella, the American Civil War broke out. James, Virgil and Newton joined the Union Army. Wyatt (aged 13 at war outbreak) was too young to join, but later tried on several occasions to run away and join the army, only to have his father find him and bring him home. While Nicholas was busy recruiting and drilling local companies, Wyatt, with the help of his two younger brothers, Morgan and Warren, was left in charge of bringing in an 80-acre corn crop. James returned home in summer 1863 after being severely wounded in Fredricktown, Missouri.

On May 12th, 1864, the Earp family joined a wagon train heading to California. The 1931 book Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal by Stuart Lake, tells of the Earps' encounter with Indians near Fort Laramie and that Wyatt reportedly took the opportunity at their stop at Fort Bridger to hunt buffalo (American Bison) with Jim Bridger. Later researchers have suggested that Lake's account of Earp's early life is embellished, as there is little corroborating evidence to many of its stories. However, there is no good reason to doubt many of these personal tales, either, for they relate to personal actions on the unsettled American frontier, which would not be expected to be recorded anywhere except (with luck) in an occasional diary.

[edit] California

By late summer 1865, Wyatt and Virgil had found a common occupation as stagecoach drivers for Phineas Banning’s Banning Stage Line in Southern California. This is presumed to be the time Wyatt had his first taste of whiskey. He reportedly felt sick enough to abstain from it for the following two decades.

In the spring of 1866, Earp became a teamster, transporting cargo for Chris Taylor. His assigned trail for 1866 - 1868 was from Wilmington, California to Prescott, Arizona Territory. He also worked on the route from San Bernardino through Las Vegas, Nevada Territory to Salt Lake City. In the spring of 1868, Earp was hired by Charles Chrisman to transport supplies for the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad. This is presumed to be the time of his introduction to gambling and boxing.

[edit] Lawman

In the spring of 1868, the Earps moved again, this time settling in Lamar, Missouri where Nicholas became the local constable. When Nicholas resigned to become Justice of the Peace on November 17, 1869, Wyatt was immediately appointed constable in place of his father. On November 26 and in return for his appointment, Earp filed a bond of $1000. His sureties for this bond were his father Nicholas Porter Earp, his paternal uncle Jonathan Douglas Earp (April 28, 1824 - October 20, 1900) and James Maupin.

On January 10, 1870, Earp married his first wife, Urilla Sutherland (1849 - 1870/1871), a daughter of William and Permelia Sutherland of New York City. The marriage was short-lived. Urilla is believed to have died either a few months later, or about a year later. There are two reported versions of her cause of death: one version claims that she died of typhus, the other that she died in childbirth.

In August 1870, Earp bought a house and land for $50. In November, he resold the house for $75. The later event has been used to estimate the death of Urilla, based on presumption that a widower has less need of permanent residence than a married man expecting children. That November, Earp ran for and won his constable's post, beating his older half-brother, Newton, 137 votes to 108. This would be the only time Earp would ever run for office.

After his wife's death, Earp started to have some difficulties with the law. On March 14, 1871, Barton County, Missouri filed a lawsuit against Earp and his sureties. He had been in charge of collecting license fees for Lamar, the collected monies intended as funding for local schools. Earp was accused of never delivering the collected money. The action was eventually vacated, possibly because Earp and his father had moved out of the state.

On March 31, one James Cromwell filed a lawsuit against Wyatt alleging that he had falsified court documents referring to the amount of money that Earp had hand collected from Cromwell to satisfy a judgment. To make up the difference between what Earp turned in and Cromwell owed (and claimed he had paid), the court seized Cromwell's mowing machine and sold it for $38. Cromwell's suit claimed that Earp owed him $75, the estimated value of the machine. The outcome of this case is not known.

On April 1, Earp was one of three men (along with Edward Kennedy and John Shown) facing accusations for horse theft. On March 28, the accused had reportedly stolen two horses, "each of the value of one hundred dollars", from William Keys while in the Indian Country. On April 6, Earp was arrested by Deputy United States Marshal J.G. Owens for the latter charges. The arraignment of the charges against him was read to him by Commissioner James Churchill on April 14. Bail was set at $500. On May 15, the indictment against Earp, Kennedy and Shown was issued.

Anna Shown, wife of John Shown, claimed that Earp and Kennedy got her husband drunk and then threatened his life in order to earn his assistance. However on June 5, Edward Kennedy was acquitted while the case against Earp and John Shown remained. Faced with two lawsuits and a trial, Earp apparently chose to flee the state of Missouri. An arrest warrant was issued.

Both lawsuits and the horse theft case were eventually dropped, in part because of the disappearance of Earp. Researchers of his life do not have enough evidence to conclude whether he was guilty of the charges; however the acquital of one of his co-defendants may have been enough to cause the legal system to lose interest. In any case, this would not be the last time Wyatt Earp settled legal problems through the use of distance.

[edit] Reappearance

For years, researchers had no reliable account of Earp's activities or whereabouts between the remainder of 1871 and October 28, 1874, when Earp made his reappearance in Wichita, Kansas. It has been suggested that he spent these years hunting American Bison (as is reported in the Stuart Lake biography) and wandering from place to place in the great plains.

He is generally considered to have first met his close friend Bat Masterson around this period, on the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River. Nevertheless, the discovery of contemporary accounts that place Earp in Peoria, Illinois, and the surrounding area during 1872, have caused researchers to question these claims. Earp is listed in the city directory for Peoria during 1872 as living in the house of Jane Haspel, who operated a bagnio (brothel) from that location. In February 1872, Peoria police raided the Haspel bagnio, arresting four women and three men. The three men were Wyatt Earp, Morgan Earp, and George Randall. Wyatt and the others were charged with "Keeping and being found in a house of ill-fame." They were later fined twenty dollars and cost for the criminal infraction. Two additional arrests for Wyatt Earp for the same crime during 1872 in Peoria have also been found. Some researchers have concluded that the Peoria information indicates that Earp was intimately involved in the prostitution trade in the Peoria area throughout 1872. This new information has caused some researchers to question Earp's accounts of Buffalo hunting in Kansas.

In Frontier Marshal, Lake claimed that while in Kansas, Earp met such notable figures as Wild Bill Hickok. Lake also identified Earp as the man who arrested gunman Ben Thompson [2] (November 2, 1843 - March 11, 1888) in Ellsworth, Kansas, on August 15, 1873. However Lake failed to identify his sources for these allegations. Consequently later researchers have expressed their doubt about them. Diligent search of the available records has uncovered no evidence that Wyatt Earp was in Ellsworth at the time of Thompson's trouble there. Proponents of Earp's arrest of Thompson, or even Earp's presence in Ellsworth in August of that year, point to unsubstantiated recollections that Earp registered at the Grand Central Hotel there. Research has shown Earp did not check into the hotel that summer. In particular, the activities of Benjamin Thompson during the year of his arrest were covered in detail by the local press without ever mentioning Earp. Thompson published his own accounts for the events in 1884, and he too failed to report Earp as the man responsible for his arrest. Deputy Ed Hogue of Ellsworth actually made the arrest.

[edit] Wichita

Like Ellsworth, Wichita was a train-terminal which ended cattle drives from Texas. Such cattle boom towns on the frontier were a modern policeman's nightmare, as they filled with drunken, armed cowboys, celebrating at the end of long drives. Earp officially joined the Wichita marshal's office on April 21, 1875, after election of Mike Meagher as city marshal (this would cause endless confusion, as "city marshal" was then a synonym for police chief, a term also in use). One newspaper report exists referring to Earp as "Officer Erp" (sic) prior to his official hiring, making his exact role as an officer during 1874 unclear. Probably he served in an unofficial paid role.

City Marshal Mike Meagher was described as a tall, erect, powerful man with chestnut brown hair, a blonde mustache and grey eyes. No doubt he talked with an Irish accent. He, more than anyone, was responsible for keeping a lid on the cauldron that was Wichita. His assistant was John Behrens (not to be confused with Johnny Behan), and his deputies were Jimmy Cairns and Wyatt Earp.

Earp received several public acclamations while in Wichita. He recognized and arrested a wanted horse thief (having to fire his weapon in warning, but not hurting the man), and later a set of wagon thieves. He had a bit of public embarrassment in early 1876 when a fully-loaded single action revolver dropped out of his holster while he was leaning back on a chair and discharged when the hammer hit the floor (single-action revolvers were always dangerous to carry with a round under the hammer). The bullet went through Wyatt's coat and out through the ceiling. It may be presumed from Earp's discussion of the problem in Lake's pseudobiography Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal (published after Wyatt's death) that Wyatt never carried a single-action with six rounds again. Lake's Earp didn't admit that he had first-hand knowledge of this error.

Earp also had his nerves tested in Wichita in a situation which was not reported by the newspapers, but which occurs in the Lake "autobiography" and is substantiated in the memoirs of his deputy Jimmy Cairns. Wyatt had angered a number of drovers by acting to repossess an unpaid-for piano in a brothel, forced a number of drovers to pass the hat to collect the money to keep the instrument in place. Later, a group of nearly 50 armed drovers collected in Delano, preparing to "hoorah" Witchita across the river. ("Hoorah" was the Old West term for out-of-control drunken partying). Police and citizens in Wichita collected to oppose the cowboys. In the end, Wyatt Earp stood in the center of the line of defenders on the bridge from Delano to Witchita and calmly held off the mob of armed men, speaking for the town. Eventually, the cowboys turned and withdrew, peace having been kept without a shot fired or man killed. This pattern would be repeated many times in Earp's career.

Years later Cairns would write of Earp: "Wyatt Earp was a wonderful officer. He was game to the last ditch and apparently afraid of nothing. The cowmen all respected him and seemed to recognize his superiority and authority at such times as he had to use it."

In late 1875 the local paper (Witchia Beacon) carried this item: "On last Wednesday (December 8), policeman Earp found a stranger lying near the bridge in a drunken stupor. He took him to the "cooler" and on searching him found in the neighborhood of $500 on his person. He was taken next morning, before his honor, the police judge, paid his fine for his fun like a little man and went on his way rejoicing. He may congratulate himself that his lines, while he was drunk, were cast in such a pleasant place as Wichita as there are but a few other places where that $500 bank roll would have been heard from. The integrity of our police force has never been seriously questioned."

Wyatt's stint as Wichita deputy came to a sudden end on April 2, 1876, when Earp took too active an interest in the city marshal's election. According to news accounts, former marshal Bill Smith accused Wyatt of wanting to use his office to help hire his brothers as lawmen. (Another story without historical substantiation is that Smith accused the Earp family of running a brothel, but if so this would be a strange insult for the frontier, since Wichita had two licenced brothels and many more in the honkytonk district of Delano across the river). Wyatt responded to the insult, whatever it was, by getting into a fist fight with Smith and beating him. Meagher was forced to fire and arrest Earp for disturbing the peace, the end of a tour of duty which the papers called otherwise "unexceptionable." When Meagher eventually won the election, the city council was split evenly on re-hiring Earp. With the cattle trade diminishing in Wichita, however, Earp solved the problem by moving on to the next booming cow-town, Dodge City, Kansas.

[edit] Dodge City

Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson in Dodge City, 1876. The scroll on Wyatt's chest is a cloth pin-on badge.
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Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson in Dodge City, 1876. The scroll on Wyatt's chest is a cloth pin-on badge.

Dodge City, Kansas became a major terminal for cattle driven from Texas along the Chisolm Trail from Texas after 1875. Earp was appointed assistant marshal in Dodge City, under Marshal Larry Deger, in 1876. There is some indication that Earp traveled to Deadwood, South Dakota Dakota Territory, during the winter of 1876-7. Wyatt was not on the police force in Dodge City in the later part of 1877, although he is listed as being on the force in the spring. His presence in Dodge as a private citizen is substantianted by a July notice in the newspaper that he was fined $1.00 for slapping a muscular prostitute named Frankie Bell, who (according to the papers) "...heaped epithets upon the unoffending head of Mr. Earp to such an extent as to provide a slap from the ex-officer..". Apportionment of the blame for this disturbance of the peace by those of the time is found in the fact that Bell spent the night in jail and was fined costs of $20.00, while Earp's fine was the legal minimum.

In October 1877, Earp left Dodge City for a short while to try his luck on the gambling circuit in Texas. During this time he stopped at Fort Griffin, Texas, where (according to Wyatt's recollection in the Stuart Lake biography) he met a young, card-playing dentist known as Doc Holliday.

Earp returned to Dodge City in 1878 to become the assistant city-marshal under Charlie Bassett [3]. Holliday moved to Dodge City in June 1878, and saved Earp's life in August of the same year. While Earp was trying to break up a bar-room brawl, a cowboy drew a gun and pointed it at Earp's back. Holliday yelled, "Look out, Wyatt," then drew his gun, scaring the cowboy enough to make him back off. This would mark the beginning of Earp's and Holliday's friendship.

In the summer of 1878, Texas cowboy George Hoy, after an altercation with Wyatt, returned with friends and fired into the Comique variety hall, outside of which stood police officers Wyatt Earp and Jim Masterson. Inside the theater, a great number of .45 bullets penetrated the plank building easily, sending Doc Holliday, Bat Masterson, comedian Eddie Foy and many others instantly to the floor. Masterson, Foy, and the National Police Gazette later all gave accounts of the damage to the building and danger to those inside. No one was hurt, but this was by pure luck (Foy would note that a new suit of his, which remained hanging up, was holed three times by bullets). The lawmen both inside and outside the building returned fire, and Hoy was shot from his horse as he rode away, with a severe wound to the arm. A month later, he died of the wound. Whose bullet struck Hoy is unknown, but Wyatt would always claim the shot.

Earp, many years later, claimed Hoy was attempting to assassinate him at the behest of Robert Wright, with whom he claimed an ongoing feud. Earp said the feud between himself and Wright started when Earp arrested Bob Rachals, a prominent trail leader who had shot a German fiddler. According to Earp, Wright tried to block the arrest because Rachals was one of the largest financial contributors to the Dodge City economy. Earp claimed that Wright then hired Clay Allison to kill Earp, but Allison backed down when confronted by Earp and Bat Masterson.

Clay Allison was also a moderately famous character of the Old West, but current research cannot confirm the tale of Earp and Masterson ever confronting him. Bat Masterson was out of town when Allison tried to "tree" (scare) Dodge City on September 19, 1878, and witnesses, cowboy Charles Siringo and Chalkley M. Beeson, proprietor of the famous Long Branch saloon, left written recollections of the incident. They said it was actually Texas cattleman Richard McNulty who faced down Allison. Siringo said Earp was nowhere to be found while Beeson said Earp was working behind the lines. A distant cousin of Earp's has speculated it may be that the incident both Siringo and Beeson remembered happened at another time, but no account of another incident has yet come to light.

Arriving in Dodge with Earp was Celia "Mattie" Blaylock, a former prostitute, who would continue with Earp until 1882.

Earp resigned from the Dodge City police force on September 9, 1878, and headed to Las Vegas, New Mexico.

[edit] The “Buntline Special”

Deputy Earp was known for pistol-whipping armed cowboys before they could dispute town ordinances against carrying of firearms. What kind of pistol Wyatt used for the job has been a mystery.

The existence of Earp’s long-barreled pistol, for many years doubted, may have been a reality. The Lake biography, in describing its origin is probably incorrect, however. The story of the Buntline begins with the murder of actress Dora Hand in 1878. Dora was shot by a gentleman attempting to kill Dodge City mayor, James H. “Dog” Kelly. Dora was a guest in Kelly’s house and sleeping in his bed at the time while Kelly and wife were out of town. Dora was a celebrity in 1878 and her murder was a national story. Earp was in the posse which brought down the murderer. The story of the capture was reported in newspapers as far as New York and California.

Five men were dispatched as a posse to capture the assassin: Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, a very young Bill Tilghman, Charlie Bassett and William Duffy. Earp shot the man’s horse and Masterson wounded the assassin, James "Spike" Kenedy, son of Texas cattleman Miflin Kenedy. The Dodge City Times called them “as intrepid a posse as ever pulled a trigger”.

It is very likely that Dora’s murder and the tracking down of her assassin were the events which caused Ned Buntline to bestow the gift of the “Buntline Specials”. Earp’s biography claimed the Specials were given to “famous lawmen” Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Bill Tilghman, Charlie Bassett and Neal Brown in 1876 by author Ned Buntline in return for “local color” for his western yarns. The historical problem, of course, is that neither Tilghman nor Brown was a lawman then. Further, Buntline wrote only four western yarns, all about Buffalo Bill. So, if Buntline got any “local color”, he never used it. His stock in trade was sea yarns (a buntline is a knot).

If Lake made up the Buntline Special he even fooled himself because he spent an extraordinary amount of time trying to track it down through the Colt company and Masterson and contacts in Alaska. In all probability it was a 10 inch barreled Colt Single Action Army model with standard sights and wooden grips into which the name, “Ned”, was carved. (And, sorry, no shoulder stock). This gibes with both Lake’s original description and the description of one eyewitness to the gunfight at the O.K. corral shooting. The butcher, Bauer, saw a “pistol 14 or 16 inches long." A Colt SAA with a 10 inch barrel is exactly 15 inches overall. It is known that Wyatt was carrying his side-arm in the pocket of his pea-coat. Many people would believe that this is not the place for a pistol with a 10-inch barrel, but Wyatt's coat pockets were specially made. They were 1 1/2' deep, coated with with rubber inside, making it like a holster.

[edit] Tombstone

Wyatt and his older brothers James (Jim) and Virgil moved to silver-mining boomtown Tombstone, Arizona Territory, in December 1879. Wyatt brought a wagon with him that he planned to convert into a stagecoach, but on arrival he found two established stage lines already running. Good-natured Jim worked as a barkeep. Virgil was appointed deputy U.S. marshal, just prior to arriving in Tombstone. [The U.S. marshal for the Arizona Territory, C.P. Dake, was based in Prescott 280 miles (about 450 km) away, so the deputy U.S. marshal job in Tombstone represented federal authority in the southwest area of the territory.] In Tombstone, the Earps staked mining claims. Wyatt also went to work for Wells Fargo, riding shotgun for their stagecoaches when they held strongboxes, a position usually called "messenger" (see shotgun messenger).

Eventually, in the summer of 1880, younger brothers Morgan and Warren Earp moved to Tombstone, as well.

On July 25, 1880, U.S. deputy marshal Virgil Earp accused Frank McLaury, a "Cowboy," (often capitalized in papers as a local term for a cattle-dealer that often was synonymous with rustler) of taking part in the stealing of six Army mules from Camp Rucker. This was a federal matter, because the animals were federal property. The McLaurys were caught red-handed by the army representative and Earp, changing the "U.S." brand to "D.8." However, to avoid a fight the posse withdrew on the understanding that the mules would be returned. They were not. In response, the Army's representative published an account in the papers, damaging Frank McLaury's reputation. This incident would mark the beginning of animosity between the McLaurys and the Earps.

About the same time, Wyatt was appointed deputy sheriff for the southern part of Pima County, which was at that time the surrounding country containing Tombstone. The office of sheriff was, of course, a county position. Wyatt would serve in office only three months.

In September 1880, Doc Holliday moved to Tombstone.

On October 28, 1880, as Tombstone town-marshal (police chief) Fred White was trying to break up a group of late revelers shooting at the moon on Allen Street in Tombstone, he was shot in the groin as he attempted to confiscate the pistol of "Curly Bill" William Brocius, who was apparently one of the group. The pistol was later found to be fully-loaded except for one expended cartridge, implying that Brocius had not been shooting. Morgan and Wyatt Earp, along with Wells Fargo agent Fred Dodge came to White's aid. Wyatt hit Brocius over the head with a pistol borrowed from Dodge and disarmed Brocius, arresting him on the deadly weapon assault charge (Virgil Earp would replace White as town marshal, but Virgil was not present at White's shooting or Brocius' arrest). Wyatt and a deputy took Brocius in a wagon the next day to Tucson to stand trial, possibly saving him from being lynched (Brocius waived preliminary hearing to get out of town faster, probably believing the same). White, age 31, died of his wound two days after his shooting, changing the charge to murder.

On December 27, 1880, Wyatt testified in Tucson court regarding the Brocius-White shooting. Partly because of Earp’s testimony (and also a statement given by White himself, before he died, that he thought the shooting had not been intentional), the judge ruled the shooting accidental, and set Brocius free. Brocius, however, would remain a friend of the McLaurys and (after the O.K. Corral fight) a deadly Earp enemy. He would later become one of the principal targets in what became known as the Earp Vendetta Ride.

Wyatt Earp resigned as deputy sheriff of Pima County on November 9, 1880 (just 12 days after the White shooting), because of an election vote-counting dispute. Wyatt favored the Republican challenger Bob Paul, rather than his current boss, Pima Sheriff Charlie Shibell. Democrat Shibell was re-elected after what was later found to be ballot-box stuffing by area Cowboys. He appointed Democrat Johnny Behan as the new deputy undersheriff for the south Pima area, to replace Earp.

Several months later, when the southern portion of Pima County was split off into Cochise County, both Earp and Behan were applicants to be appointed to fill the new position. Wyatt, as former undersheriff and a Republican in the same party as Territorial governor Fremont, assumed he had a good chance at appointment, but also knew current undersheriff Behan had political influence in Prescott. Earp would later testify that he made a deal with Behan that if he (Earp) withdrew his application, that Behan would name Earp as undersheriff if he won. Behan would testify there was never any such deal, but that he had indeed promised Wyatt the job if Behan won, no strings attached. However, after Behan gained appointment as sheriff of the new Cochise County in February 1881, he in fact chose Harry Woods (a prominent Democrat) to be the undersheriff. This left Wyatt Earp without a job in Tombstone, even after Wyatt's friend Bob Paul later won the disputed Pima sheriff election. Fortunately for Earp, about this time all the Earps were beginning to make some money on their mining claims in the Tombstone area.

Wyatt had had one of his branded horses stolen in late 1879, shortly after he arrived in Tombstone. More than a year later, after the election dispute court hearings began (probably in December, 1880 or early January 1881), Wyatt heard that the horse was in the possession of Ike Clanton and Billy Clanton, who had a ranch near Charleston. Earp (now again a private citizen) and Holliday rode to Charleston (passing on their way deputy sheriff Behan in a wagon with two other men, heading to serve an election-hearing subpoena on Ike Clanton) and recovered the horse. Wyatt would testify in disgust at the Spicer Hearing that Billy Clanton had given up the horse even before being presented with ownership papers, showing that he knew it was stolen. The incident, while nonviolent, damaged the Clantons' reputations and convinced the Earps that the Clantons were horse thieves.

This incident also began the Earps' public difficulties with Behan (at least according to Behan), who later testified that Earp and Holliday had put a scare into the Clantons by telling them that Behan was on his way with an armed posse to arrest them for horse theft. Such a mission would have had the effect of turning the Clantons against Behan, who badly needed the Clantons' political support since they certainly weren't afraid of him (according to Behan's testimony, Ike swore at the time that he'd never stand for being arrested by Behan). In any case, an embarrassed Behan would give this incident as his reason for not naming Earp as his undersheriff. If Behan ever served his subpoena on Ike Clanton, Ike never responded to it, and Behan never tried to enforce the summons.

In January 1881, Wyatt Earp became part owner, with Lou Rickabaugh and others, in the gambling concession at the Oriental Saloon. Shortly thereafter, in Earp's story, John Tyler was hired by a rival gambling operator to cause trouble at the Oriental to keep patrons away. After losing a bet, Tyler became belligerent and Earp took him by the ear and threw him out of the saloon. This episode is seen in the film Tombstone.

Tensions between the Earps and both the Clantons and McLaurys increased through 1881. In March, 1881, three Cowboys attempted an unsuccessful stagecoach holdup near Benson, during which the driver and passenger were murdered in the gunfire. There were rumors that Doc Holliday (who was a known friend of one of the suspects) had been involved, though the formal accusation of Doc's involvement was started by Doc's drunken companion Big Nose Kate after a quarrel, and later recanted after she sobered. Wyatt later testified that in order to help clear Doc's name and to help himself win the next sheriff's election, he went to Ike Clanton and Frank McLaury and offered to give him all the reward money for information leading to capture of robbers. According to Earp, both Frank McLaury and Ike Clanton agreed to provide information for the capture, knowing that if word got out to the Cowboys that he had double-crossed them, that the lives of Frank and Ike would be worth little.

Later, after all three Cowboy suspects in the stage robbery were killed in unrelated violent incidents, and there was no reward to be made from them, Clanton accused Earp of leaking their deal to either his brother Morgan, or to Holliday. Clanton especially blamed Holliday.

Meanwhile, tensions between the Earps and the McLaurys increased with the holdup of yet another stage in the Tombstone area (September 8), this one a passenger stage in the Sandy Bob line, bound for nearby Bisbee. The masked robbers shook down the passengers (the stage had no strongbox) and in the process were recognized from their voices and language as Pete Spence (an alias) and Frank Stilwell, a business partner of Spence who was also at the time a deputy of Sheriff Behan's. Wyatt and Virgil Earp rode in the posse attempting to track the Bisbee stage robbers, and during the tracking, Wyatt discovered the unusual print of a custom repaired boot heel. Checking a shoe repair shop in Bisbee known to provide widened bootheels led to indentification of Stilwell as a recent customer, and a check of a Bisbee corral (Silwell and Spence were business partners with interests in Bisbee) turned up both Spence and Stilwell, Stilwell being found with a new set of wide custom boot heels matching the prints of the robber. Stilwell and Spence were arrested by the sheriff's posse under sheriff's deputies Breakenridge and Nagel for the stage robbery, and later by U.S. deputy marshal Virgil Earp on the federal offense of mail robbery. However, despite the evidence, both Stilwell and Spence were released on bail.

A month later (October 8) came yet another stage robbery, this one near Contention city. Though five robbers were seen involved, again Spence and Stilwell were arrested October 13, and taken by Virgil and Wyatt Earp to jail and arraignment in Tucson. The papers of the time reported that they had been arrested for the Contention robbery, but they had actually been re-arrested by Virgil for the (new) federal charge of interfering with a mail carrier for the earlier Bisbee robbery. This final incident may have caused a misunderstanding among Spence and Stilwell's friends, making them look like scapegoats. Occurring less than two weeks before the O.K. Corral shootout, it had the immediate effect of causing Frank McLaury, who was a friend of Spence and Stilwell, to confront Morgan Earp, while Wyatt and Virgil were still out of town for the Spence and Stilwell hearing. Frank reportedly told Morgan that the McLaurys would kill the Earps if they tried to arrest either man again, or the McLaurys. These personalized threats by McLaury against the lives of the Earps for performing their official duty would rankle the Earps, very shortly before Ike Clanton caused the situation to turn violent.

[edit] Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

Wyatt Earp 19 months after the gunfight, much as he would have appeared at the O.K. Corral and quite possibly wearing the same suit and hat
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Wyatt Earp 19 months after the gunfight, much as he would have appeared at the O.K. Corral and quite possibly wearing the same suit and hat
Main article: Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

Wyatt Earp participated in this conflict at the request of Virgil Earp, giving him authority during the fight as acting under direction of the city marshal. However, Earp was not formally a city lawman at the time of the fight, but was rather deputized for the occasion, as was Holliday. Wyatt spoke of his brothers Virgil and Morgan as the "marshals" while he himself acted as "deputy." In this sense, Wyatt uses the word "deputy" as he would do for all his life, as referring to a man deputized for an occasion (such as a posse) but not a man in regular employment as an officer.

Wyatt's testimony at the Spicer indictment hearing was in writing (as was permitted by law, which allowed statements without cross-examination at pre-trial hearings) and Wyatt therefore wasn't cross-examined. Wyatt testified that he and Billy Clanton began the fight after Clanton and Frank McLaury drew their pistols, and Wyatt shot Frank in the stomach while Billy shot at Wyatt and missed.

The unarmed Ike Clanton escaped the fight unwounded, as did the unarmed Billy Claiborne. Wyatt was not hit in the fight, while Doc Holliday, Virgil Earp, and Morgan Earp were wounded. Billy Clanton, Tom McLaury, and Frank McLaury were killed.

Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury were openly armed with pistols in gunbelts and holsters, and used them to wound Virgil, Morgan and Doc. Whether Tom McLaury was armed during the fight was an open question at the time, and remains open today. However, the preponderance of evidence is that he was not armed (see O.K. Corral). In his testimony, Wyatt states that he believes Tom was armed with a pistol, but his language here (and nowhere else in his testimony) contains equivocation. The same is true of Virgil Earp's testimony on Tom. Both Earp brothers left themselves room for contradiction on this point, but neither one was equivocal about the fact that Tom had been killed by Holliday with the shotgun.

[edit] From heroes to defendants

On October 30, Ike Clanton filed murder charges against the Earps and Holliday. Wyatt and Holliday were arrested and brought before the Justice of the Peace, Wells Spicer, while Morgan and Virgil were still recovering. Bail was set at $10,000 apiece. The hearing to determine if there was enough evidence to go to trial started November 1. The first witnesses were Billy Allen and Behan. Allen testified that Holliday fired the first shot and that the second one also came from the Earp party, while Billy Clanton had his hands in the air. Then Behan testified that he heard Billy Clanton say, "Don't shoot me. I don't want to fight." He also testified that Tom McLaury threw open his coat to show that he wasn't armed and that the first two shots were fired by the Earp party. Behan also said that he thought the next three shots also came from the Earp party. Behan's views turned public opinion against the Earps. His testimony portrayed a far different gunfight than had been first reported in the local papers.

Because of Allen's and Behan's testimony and the testimony of several other prosecution witnesses, Wyatt and Holliday's lawyers were presented with a writ of habeas corpus from the probate court and appeared before Judge John Henry Lucas. After arguments were given, the Judge ordered them to be put in jail. By the time Ike Clanton took the stand on November 9, the prosecution had built an impressive case. Several prosecution witnesses had testified that Tom McLaury was unarmed, that Billy Clanton had his hands in the air and that neither of the McLaurys were troublemakers. They portrayed Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury as being unjustly bullied and beaten by the vengeful Earps on the day of the gunfight. The Earps and Holliday looked certain to be convicted until Ike Clanton inadvertently came to their rescue.

Clanton's testimony repeated the story of abuse that he had suffered at the hands of the Earps and Holliday the night before the gunfight. He reiterated that Holliday and Morgan Earp had fired the first two shots and that the next several shots also came from the Earp party. Then under cross-examination, Clanton told a story of the lead-up to the gunfight which did not make sense. It told of the Benson stage robbery conducted to cover up stolen money that was actually not missing. Ike also claimed that Doc Holliday and Morgan, Wyatt, and Virgil Earp had all separately confessed to him their role in either the pre-robbery of Benson stage money, the Benson stage holdup, or else the cover-up of the robbery by allowing the robbers' escape. By the time Ike finished his testimony, the entire prosecution case had become suspect.

The first witness for the defense was Wyatt Earp. He read a prepared statement detailing the Earps previous troubles with the Clantons and McLaurys, and explaining why they were going to disarm the Cowboys, and claiming that they fired on them in self defense. Because of Arizona's territorial laws allowing a defendant in a preliminary hearing to make a statement in his behalf without facing cross-examination, the prosecution never got a chance to question Earp. After the defense had clearly established serious doubts about the prosecution's case, the judge allowed Holliday and Earp to return to their homes in time for Thanksgiving.

Justice Spicer eventually ruled that the evidence indicated that the Earps and Holliday acted within the law (with Holliday and Wyatt effectively having been deputized temporarily by Virgil) and he invited the Cochise County grand jury to reevaluate his decision. Spicer did not condone all of the Earps' actions and he criticized Virgil Earp's choice of deputies Wyatt and Holliday, but he concluded that no laws were broken. He made special point of the fact that Ike Clanton, known to be unarmed, had been allowed to pass through the center of the fight without being shot.

Even though the Earps and Holliday were free, their reputation was tarnished. Supporters of the Cowboys (a very small minority) in Tombstone looked upon the Earps as robbers and murderers. However, on December 16, the grand jury decided not to reverse Spicer's decision.

[edit] Cowboy revenge

In December, Clanton went before the Justice of the Peace J. B. Smith in Contention and again filed charges against the Earps and Holliday for the murder of Billy Clanton and the McLaurys. A large posse escorted the Earps to Contention, fearing that the cowboys would try to ambush the Earps on the unprotected roadway, with just Behan serving as guard. The charges were dismissed by Judge Lucas because of Smith's judicial ineptness. The prosecution immediately filed a new warrant for murder charges, issued by Justice Smith, but Judge Lucas quickly dismissed it writing in his decision that new evidence would have to be submitted before a second hearing would be called. Because the November hearing before Spicer was not a trial, Clanton had the right to continue pushing for prosecution, but the prosecution would have to come up with new evidence of murder before the case could be considered. At this point the Clantons and McLaurys were out of legal options. Very shortly, illegal options would be tried.

On December 28, while walking between saloons on Allen Street in Tombstone, Virgil was shot by three men using double-barreled shotguns. His left arm and shoulder took the brunt of the damage. Ike Clanton's hat was found in the back of the building across Allen street, from where the shots were fired. Wyatt wired U.S. Marshal Crawley Dake asking to be appointed deputy U.S. Marshal with authority to select his own deputies. Dake responded by granting the request. In mid-January, Wyatt sold his gambling concessions at the Oriental when Rickabaugh sold the saloon to Milt Joyce, an Earp adversary. On February 2, 1882, Wyatt and Virgil, tired of the criticism leveled against them, submitted their resignations to Dake, who refused to accept them. On the same day, Wyatt sent a message to Ike Clanton that said he wanted to reconcile their differences. Clanton refused. Also on the same day, Clanton was acquitted of the charges against him in the shooting of Virgil Earp, when the defense brought in seven witnesses that testified that Clanton was in Charleston at the time of the shooting.

After attending a theater show on March 18, Morgan Earp was assassinated by gunmen firing from a dark alley, through the door window into the lighted pool hall (see Morgan Earp for details). Morgan was hit in the lower back while a second shot hit the wall just over Wyatt's head. The assassins escaped in the dark and Morgan died less than an hour later.

[edit] Earp vendetta ride

Main article: Earp vendetta ride

Based on the testimony of Pete Spence's wife, Marietta, at the coroner’s inquest on the killing of Morgan, the coroners jury concluded that Spence, Stilwell, Frederick Bode, and Florentino "Indian Charlie" Cruz were the prime suspects in the assassination of Morgan Earp. Spence immediately turned himself in so that he would be protected in Behan's jail.

Meanwhile, Wyatt had a brother to bury, and another to protect. On Sunday, March 19, the day after Morgan's murder, Wyatt, his brother James, and a group of friends took Morgan's body to the railhead in Benson. There, they put Morgan's body on the train with James, to accompany it to the family home in Colton, California. There, Morgan's wife waited to bury him.

The next day (Monday), it was Virgil and his wife Allie's turn to be escorted safely out of Tombstone. Wyatt had gotten word that trains leaving from Benson were being watched in Tucson, and getting the still-invalid Virgil through Tucson to safety would be more difficult. Wyatt, Warren Earp, Holliday, Turkey Creek Jack Johnson and Sherman McMasters took Virgil and Allie in a wagon to the train in Benson, leaving their own horses this time in Contention City, and boarding the train with Virgil. As the train pulled away from the Tucson station in the dark, gunfire was heard. Frank Stilwell's body was found on the tracks the next morning.

What Stilwell was doing on the tracks near the Earps' train, if not ill-intended, has never been explained. Ike Clanton made his case worse by giving a newspaper interview claiming that he and Stilwell had been in Tucson for Stilwell's legal problems, and heard that the Earps were coming in on a train to kill Stilwell. According to Ike, Stilwell then disappeared from the hotel and was found later, blocks away, on the tracks. Wyatt, many years later, in the Flood biography, said that he and his party had seen Ike and Stilwell on the tracks with weapons, and had shot Stilwell.

After killing Stilwell in Tucson and sending their train on its way to California with Virgil, the Earp party was afoot. They hopped a freight train back to Benson and hired a wagon back to Contention, riding back into Tombstone by the middle of the next day (Tues, March 21). They were now wanted men, for once Stilwell's killing had been connected to the Earp party on the train, warrants had been issued for five of the Earp party. Ignoring Johnny Behan and now joined by Texas Jack Vermillion, the Earp posse road out of town the same evening.

The next morning, on Wednesday March 22, the Earps rode to the woodcamp of Pete Spence at South Pass in the Dragoon Mountains, looking for Spence. By now, they knew of the Morgan Earp inquest testimony. Spence was in jail, but at the woodcamp, the Earp posse found Florentino "Indian Charlie" Cruz. Earp said to his biographer Lake that he got Cruz to confess to being the lookout, while Stilwell, Hank Swilling, Curly Bill and Ringo killed Morgan. After the "confession," Wyatt and the others shot Cruz dead.

Two days later, in Iron Springs, Arizona, the Earp party, seeking a rendezvous with a messenger for them, instead stumbled upon a group of cowboys led by "Curley Bill" William B. Brocious. In Wyatt's account, he had jumped from his horse to fight, when he noticed the rest of his posse retreating, leaving him alone. Curley Bill was surprised in the act of cooking dinner at the edge of the spring, and he and Wyatt now traded shotgun blasts. Curley Bill was hit in the chest by Wyatt's shotgun fire, and died. Wyatt survived several near misses from Curley Bill's companions before he could remount his horse, but was not hit. During the fight, another Cowboy named Johnny Barnes received wounds which would ultimately be fatal. The Earp party survived unharmed and spent the next several weeks riding though the rough country near Tombstone. Ultimately, when it became clear to the Earps that Behan's posse would not fight them, nor could they return to town, they decided to ride out of the territory for good.

[edit] Life after Tombstone

The "Dodge City Peace Commission" June 1883. From left to right, standing: W.H. Harris, Luke Short, Bat Masterson, W.F. Petillon. Seated: Charlie Bassett, Wyatt Earp, Frank McLain and Neal Brown
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The "Dodge City Peace Commission" June 1883. From left to right, standing: W.H. Harris, Luke Short, Bat Masterson, W.F. Petillon. Seated: Charlie Bassett, Wyatt Earp, Frank McLain and Neal Brown

After the killing of Curley Bill, the Earps left Arizona and headed to Colorado. In a stop over in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Wyatt and Holliday had a falling out but remained on fairly good terms. The group split up after that with Holliday heading to Pueblo and then Denver. The Earps and Texas Jack set up camp on the outskirts of Gunnison, Colorado, where they remained quiet at first, rarely going into town for supplies. Eventually, Wyatt took over a faro game at a local saloon.

Slowly all of the Earp assets in Tombstone were sold to pay for taxes, and the stake the family had amassed eroded. Wyatt and Warren joined Virgil in San Francisco in late 1882. While there, Wyatt rekindled a romance with Josie Marcus, Behan's one-time fiancée. His common-law wife, Mattie waited for him in Colton but eventually realized Wyatt was not coming back (Wyatt had left Mattie the house when he left Tombstone). Earp left San Francisco with Josie in 1883 and she became his companion for the next forty-six years (no marriage certificate has been found). Earp and Marcus returned to Gunnison where they settled down and Earp continued to run a faro bank.

In 1883, Earp returned, along with Bat Masterson, to Dodge City to help a friend deal with the corrupt mayor. What became known as the Dodge City War was started with the mayor of Dodge City tried to run Luke Short first out of business and then out of town. Short appealed to Masterson who contacted Earp. While Short was discussing the matter with Governor George Washington Glick in Kansas City, Earp showed up with Johnny Millsap, Shotgun Collins, Texas Jack Vermillion, and Johnny Green. They marched up Front Street into Short's saloon where they were sworn in as deputies by constable "Prairie Dog" Dave Marrow. The town council offered a compromise to allow Short to return for ten days to get his affairs in order, but Earp refused compromise. When Short returned, there was no force ready to turn him away. Short's Saloon reopened and The Dodge City War ended without a shot being fired.

Earp spent the next decade running saloons and gambling concessions and investing in mines in Colorado and Idaho, with stops in various boom towns. In 1886 Earp and Josie moved to San Diego and stayed there about four years.

On July 3, 1888, Mattie Earp committed suicide in Pinal, Arizona Territory by taking an overdose of laudanum.

The Earps moved back to San Francisco during the 1890s so Josie could be closer to her family and Wyatt closer to his new job, managing a horse stable in Santa Rosa. During the summer of 1896, Earp wrote his memoirs with the help of a ghost writer (Flood). On December 3, 1896, Earp was the referee for the boxing match to determine the heavyweight championship of the world. During the fight Bob Fitzsimmons, clearly in control, landed a low blow against Tom Sharkey. Earp awarded the victory to Sharkey and was accused of committing fraud. Fitzsimmons had an injunction put on the prize money until the courts could determine who the rightful winner was. The judge in the case decided that because fighting, and therefore prize fighting, was illegal in San Francisco, that the courts wouldn't determine who the real winner was. The decision provided no vindication for Earp.

In the fall of 1897, Earp and Josie chased another gold rush, this time to Alaska. Earp ran several saloons and gambling concessions in Nome.

"Wyatt Earp in Nome, Alaska" with former Tombstone mayor and editor John Clum
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"Wyatt Earp in Nome, Alaska" with former Tombstone mayor and editor John Clum

While living in Alaska, Earp met and became friends with Jack London. Controversy continued to follow Earp and he was arrested several times for different minor offenses.

Earp eventually moved to Hollywood, where he met several famous and soon to be famous actors on the sets of various movies. On the set of one movie, he met a young extra and prop man who would eventually become John Wayne. Wayne would later tell Hugh O'Brian that he based his image of the Western lawman on his conversations with Earp. And one of Earp's friends in Hollywood was William S. Hart, a well-known cowboy star of his time. In the early 1920s, Earp served as deputy sheriff in a mostly ceremonial position in San Bernardino County.

Wyatt Earp's tombstone
Wyatt Earp's tombstone

When Wyatt died of chronic cystitis in 1929 at age 80 [4], William S. Hart and Tom Mix were pallbearers at his funeral. Tom Mix wept. Josie had Wyatt's body cremated and buried Wyatt's ashes in the Marcus family plot at the Hills of Eternity, a Jewish cemetery (Josie was Jewish) in Colma, California. When she died in 1944, Josie's ashes were buried next to Wyatt's. The original gravemarker was stolen in 1957, but has since been replaced by a flat marker.

[edit] Movies and television

Wyatt Earp has been portrayed many different times in the movies and on television. Movies portraying the Earp legend include:

Films depicting Earp as a character or with the legend as inspiration:

[edit] Wyatt Earp in poetry

In the long narrative poem Wyatt Earp in Dallas, 1963 (ISBN 0-9699639-0-4) by Steve McCabe, Earp received a prophecy from a prisoner who foretold the invention of television and the death of President Kennedy. Earp, motivated by this prophecy, time-traveled to Dallas to prevent JFK's assassination.

[edit] Other references

  • A character in the popular roguelike game Ancient Domains of Mystery, Tywat Pare, is named for an anagram of Wyatt Earp.
  • A high level pistol in the mmo Neocron 2 is named after Wyatt Earp.
  • A quote from the movie Boondock Saints: "Wyatt-f***ing-Earp!"

[edit] Quotes about Earp

"No man can have a more loyal friend than Wyatt Earp, nor a more dangerous enemy." -Bat Masterson

[edit] Sources

  • Allen Barra (1998). Inventing Wyatt Earp: His Life and Many Legends. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers. ISBN 0-7867-0685-6. Barra takes a look at the Earp legend and does the most thorough analysis of its evolution over time, and its place in American mythology, fiction, and film.
  • Casey Tefertiller (1997). Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend. New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-18967-7. A careful biography with unusual attention to Wyatt's post-Tombstone life.
  • Paula Mitchell Marks (1989). And Die in the West: the story of the O.K. Corral gunfight. New York: Morrow. ISBN 0-671-70614-4. Extensive examination not only of the gunfight and vendettas, but also of the myth-making that took place surrounding the OK Corral incident. Marks writes from a socioeconomic perspective.
  • Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp (1976). I Married Wyatt Earp: The Recollections of Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp. University of Arizona Pr. ISBN 0-8165-0583-7. This book has come under criticism for supposedly having mostly come out of the imagination of the editor, nevertheless, it remains a invaluable Earp resource.
  • Stuart Lake (1994). Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal. Pocket. ISBN 0-671-88537-5.This book was originally published in 1931, and is responsible for starting quite a lot of Wyatt's mythical reputation. Despite problems with perfect history accuracy, Lake had access to Wyatt himself in life, and also the earlier Flood manuscript (a Wyatt biographical collaborative attempt that was never published, due to poor writing). Lake also did his homework, talking to Tombstone old-timers and being the first to find and carefully examine the Tombstone court transcripts regarding the O.K. Corral fight. And Lake knew how to tell a story. This all makes an invaluable combination, despite the book's defects.

[edit] External links

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