Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Earp is the best known of all
the frontier lawman of the American West. Soft-spoken with nerves of
steel, he survived countless gunfights due to his extraordinary
patience and resolute manner. But, Earp wasn’t just the famous lawman
of Dodge City and Tombstone fame; he was also a buffalo hunter, a
miner, card dealer, stagecoach driver, saloon owner, and much more
throughout the years.
Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp was born to
Nicholas Earp and Virginia Earp in Monmouth, Illinois on March 19,
1848. His father was a lawyer and a farmer who had formerly
served in the Army. The would-be lawman was named for his father’s
former Army captain. Older brothers James and Virgil were ages seven
and five by the time Wyatt came along. He also had an older sister
named Martha who was three.
Just two years later, the family
moved to Iowa where Nicholas established a farm. Soon three more
siblings would join the rapidly growing family – Morgan in 1851, Warren
in 1855, and Adelia in 1861. Nicholas Earp always had a high regard for
land and for the law, instilling in his children the same respect.
In 1864 the family moved to Colton,
California near San Bernardino. Along the way, Wyatt was given his
first weapon -- a combination shotgun and rifle, to help protect the
family against attacking Indians. Young Wyatt soon acquired a six-gun
and practiced every day, becoming a deadly marksman.
When he arrived in California, he
worked as a teamster and a railroad worker for a time. But soon he
began to work his way back east as a buffalo hunter, wagon train scout,
and a railroad hand.
By 1870 Wyatt had worked his way to
Lamar, Missouri, where he fell in love and married Urilla Sutherland.
However, their time together was to be brief, when Urilla died within a
year of their marriage. Historical facts vary as to the cause of her
death – some saying she died in childbirth, while others indicated that
she died of typhoid fever.
Heartbroken, Wyatt headed to Indian
Territory (now Oklahoma,) working as a buffalo hunter and stagecoach
driver. However, he and two travel companions were soon accused of
stealing horses. Paying his bail, Wyatt fled to Kansas before the case
ever came to trial.
In 1871 Earp met Wild Bill Hickok in
Kansas City, along with other western legends including "Buffalo Bill"
Cody, Jack Gallagher, Billy Dixon and Jim Hanrahan. Wyatt would later
say of Wild Bill Hickok, “Bill Hickok was regarded as the deadliest
pistol shot alive as well as being a man of great courage. The truth of
certain stories of Bill’s achievements may have been open to debate but
he had earned the respect paid to him.” Wild Bill helped Wyatt to
become a better buffalo hunter, where Wyatt met Bat Masterson on the
open Kansas prairie.
August, 1873 found Wyatt in
Ellsworth, Kansas. It was here that the Earp legend began. Ellsworth, a
railhead where huge herds of cattle were driven north from Texas, was
wild with drunken cowboys shooting up the town. Two of these cowboys
were Billy and Ben Thompson, lethal gunmen who would rather resort to
gunplay than talk out an argument.
Wyatt had heard of the two killers
and chose not to play at the same gaming tables with the unpredictable
men. But before long he got caught up with them on August 15, 1873.
While Earp was standing across the street from Brennan’s Saloon he
heard the sounds of an argument coming from the gambling house. The
Thompsons had started a dispute with two other gamblers named John
Sterling and Jack Morco, a local lawman. The disturbance soon brought
Sheriff Chauncey B. Whitney and two deputies.
Sterling and Morco charged at the
Thompsons, guns blazing, but Ben Thompson drove them off with a volley
of shots. Then Billy Thompson, a homicidal maniac and hopeless
alcoholic, turned his gun on Sheriff Whitney, who prior to this had
been a drinking companion and friend to the two brothers. At
point-blank range, he shot the sheriff down.
Wyatt, at first, watched the events
without interfering as he saw Ellsworth Mayor, James Miller, enter the
saloon and demand that Thompson surrender his guns. When Thompson
refused, Miller went in search of Whitney’s deputies who had
inexplicably disappeared from the scene after the sheriff was shot.
Dismayed when Wyatt spotted the two
deputies cowering on the sidelines, he remarked to the passing Mayor
Miller, “It’s none of my business but if it was me I’d get me a gun and
arrest Ben Thompson or kill him.” Miller then tore the badge off of
Deputy Norton’s chest and walking back to Earp, said: “I’ll make it
your business.”
Wyatt watched, stunned, as Ben
Thompson swaggered out of the saloon and mounted his horse, as brother
Ben waved him goodbye. "What kind of a town is this?" he snapped at the
deputies and mayor, who now stood meekly across the square.
Borrowing a pair of six shooters, he
followed Ben Thompson who, was now about a block away. When he caught
up with him he demanded that Thompson throw down his gun. Thompson, who
knew of Earp, complied and Wyatt marched him to jail. Ben Thompson was
fined $25 for disturbing the peace and a warrant for murder was issued
for his brother Bill.
So impressed was Mayor Miller that he
offered Wyatt the job of town marshal at $125.00 a month. But Earp
declined, handing Miller back the badge, and saying that he intended to
go into the cattle business with his brothers.
Ben Thompson, who would later turn
lawman himself, would say to Bat Masterson in subsequent years, that he
had a powerful hunch that Wyatt would have killed him if he hadn’t
thrown down his gun. The story of how Earp had backed down Ben Thompson
soon spread up and down the Chisholm Trail and the Wyatt Earp legend
was born.
In the spring of 1874, Wyatt moved on
to Wichita, Kansas, yet another Wild West town. In Wichita, Wyatt
worked as a part-time lawman and city maintenance man, making about
$60.00 per month. However, he was fired from the police force after
getting into a fight with William Smith, who was running for city
marshal against Mike Meagher, who was a friend of Wyatt's.
Furthermore, Wyatt was almost
arrested himself for discharging his weapon in public. Though the
incident was an accident, it didn't speak well of a lawman. When he was
sitting in a local saloon with his feet up on a table, his pistol fell
out of it's holster and hit the floor and the gun went off. The bullet
went through his coat and into the wall. Before, moving on to Dodge
City, Wyatt and his brother, James, were almost arrested for vagrancy
and some reports have it that Wyatt stole city tax money before
hightailing it to Dodge.
Dodge
City
By the spring of 1876 the cattle
trade had shifted west to Dodge City and soon Wyatt was offered the
position of Chief Deputy Marshal from Dodge City's mayor.
In the burgeoning settlement, Dodge
City had already acquired its infamous stamp of lawlessness and gun
slinging. As the many buffalo hunters, railroad workers, drifters and
soldiers streamed into the town after long excursions on the prairie,
they quickly found the many saloons, gambling houses and brothels in
the lawless town. Inevitably, gunfights were common and the people of
Dodge feared for their lives.
Marshal Larry Deger, the last of a
long line of officers who had been run out of town or shot in the back
by the lawless forces of Dodge, was overwhelmed and heartily welcomed
Wyatt. Soon, four assistant deputies were hired -- Bat Masterson,
Wyatt’s old buffalo hunting friend; Charlie Basset; Bill Tilghman; and
Neal Brown.
Intending to restore order, one of
the first things the new lawmen did was to initiate a “Deadline” north
of the railroad yards on Front Street to keep the commercial part of
the city quiet. On the north side, the city passed an ordinance that
guns could not be worn or carried. On the south side of the “deadline”,
those who supported the lawlessness continued to operate as usual, with
a host of saloons, brothels, and frequent gunfights. The gun-toting
rule was in effect around the clock and anyone wearing a gun was
immediately jailed. Soon, Dodge City’s jail was filled.
In his new role, Earp would go after
famed train robber, Dave Rudabaugh, following the outlaw’s trail for
400 miles to Fort Griffin, Texas. When he arrived Wyatt went first to
the largest saloon in town, Shanssey’s, asking about Rudabaugh. Owner
John Shanssey said that Rudabaugh had been there earlier in the week,
but didn’t know where he was bound. He directed Wyatt to Doc Holliday
who had played cards with Rudabaugh.
Wyatt was skeptical about talking to
Holliday, as it was well known that Doc hated lawmen. However, when
Wyatt found him that evening at Shanssey’s, he was surprised at
Holliday’s willingness to talk. Doc told Wyatt that he thought that
Rudabaugh had back-trailed to Kansas. Wyatt wired this information to
Bat Masterson, Sheriff in Dodge City, and the news was instrumental in
apprehending Rudabaugh. The unlikely pair formed a friendship in
Shanssey’s that would last for years.
In the fall of 1876, Wyatt and his
brother Morgan left Dodge for a while, traveling for the Black Hills
outside of Deadwood, South Dakota in search of gold. However, he
returned to Dodge in May of 1877 after James H. “Dog” Kelley, Dodge
City’s new mayor, wired him, asking him to help with the Texas cowboys
who were shooting up the town.
When he returned, Wyatt was made the
new town marshal and deputized his brother Morgan. Almost immediately
he began to plague the courts for harsher sentences, banned some men
from even entering the town, and organized a citizen committee to help
the law enforcers to watch the streets.
It wasn’t long after Wyatt returned
to Dodge that Doc Holliday turned up with “Big Nose” Kate. Doc, after
having killed a man in Fort Griffin, Texas, was running from a lynching
party. At first Doc hung out his doctor’s shingle but soon went back to
gambling, frequenting the Alhambra and dealing cards at the Long Branch
Saloon. Though Dodge City citizens thought the friendship between Wyatt
and Doc was strange, Wyatt ignored them and Doc kept the law while in
Dodge City.
One night, while Doc was dealing Faro
in the Long Branch Saloon a number of Texas cowboys arrived with a herd
of cattle. After many weeks on the trail, the rowdy cowboys were ready
to “let loose.”
Leading the cowboy mob was a man
named Ed Morrison, whom Wyatt had humiliated in Wichita, Kansas, and a
man named Tobe Driskill. The cowboys rushed the town, galloping down
Front Street with guns blazing, and blowing out shop windows. Entering
the Long Branch Saloon, they began harassing the customers.
When Wyatt came through the front
door, he came face to face with several awaiting gun barrels. Stepping
forward, Morrison sneered “Pray and jerk your gun! Your time has come
Earp!”
Suddenly, a voice sounded behind
Morrison. “No, friend, you draw – or throw your hands up!” It was Doc,
his revolver to Morrison’s temple. Doc had been in the back room, his
card game interrupted by the havoc out front.
“Any of you bastards pulls a gun and
your leader here loses what’s left of his brains!" The cowboys dropped
their arms. Wyatt rapped Morrison over the head with his long barrel
Colt, then relieving Driskill and Morrison of their arms, he ushered
them to the Dodge City Jail. Wyatt never forgot the fact that Doc
Holliday saved his life that night in Dodge City. Responding later,
Wyatt said. "The only way anyone could have appreciated the feeling I
had for Doc after the Driskill-Morrison business would have been to
have stood in my boots at the time Doc came through the Long Branch
doorway."
While in Dodge City, Wyatt met a
saloon girl named Celia Anne Blalock, whom he affectionately called
"Mattie.” Though the two never married, they lived as husband and wife.
At first, the couple was happy, but Mattie had acquired a laudanum
dependency due to a prior illness, and this would soon put a strain on
their relationship.
Later, Big Nose Kate and Doc
Holliday, in their constant love-hate relationship, had one of their
frequent, violent quarrels. Holliday soon saddled his horse and headed
out to Colorado, leaving Big Nose Kate behind.
An often written about event was the
1878 "showdown" between Wyatt Earp and Clay Allison, the
self-proclaimed "shootist" from New Mexico. According to the stories,
Allison planned to protest the treatment of his men by the Dodge City
marshals and was willing to back his arguments with gun smoke. The
Dodge City lawmen had gained a reputation for being hard on visiting
cattle herders, with stories circulating that cattlemen had been
robbed, shot, and beaten over the head with revolvers. George Hoyt, who
had, at one time, worked for Clay Allison, had been shot to death while
shooting a pistol in the air in the streets of Dodge City.
There are several versions of the
story of the showdown. Some say that Allison and his men terrorized
Dodge City, while Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson fled in fear. Others say
that Wyatt Earp pressured Allison into leaving. And yet others say that
Allison was talked into leaving by a saloon keeper and another
cattleman, with little or no contact with Wyatt Earp at all. In any
case, there is no evidence of any serious altercation ever having
happened. Historians basically surmise that Allison might have come to
Dodge City looking for trouble, but nothing really happened. While
Allison and his men went from saloon to saloon fortifying themselves
with whiskey, Earp and his marshals began to assemble their forces. But
in the end, Dick McNulty, owner of a large cattle outfit and Chalk
Beeson, co-owner of the Long Branch Saloon, intervened on behalf of the
town, talking the gang into giving up their guns.
By 1879, Dodge City had been tamed
and Wyatt was spending more time at the gaming tables than he was
marshalling. So, when brother Virgil wrote him about the new city of
Tombstone, Arizona, Wyatt, along with brothers James and Morgan, and
common-law wife, Mattie headed West. Big Nose Kate would follow and
when Doc Holliday returned to Dodge City and found everyone gone, he
too headed to Arizona.
Tombstone
When Wyatt arrived in Tombstone in
December of 1879, he planned to establish a stage line but soon
discovered there were already two in the town. Instead, he acquired the
gambling concession at the Oriental Saloon for a quarter percentage of
the proceeds. He also took a side job as a shotgun rider on the stage
lines for Wells Fargo shipments. James established a saloon on Allen
Street. Virgil was already deputy marshal of Tombstone and Morgan went
to with work with his brother as a lawman. Doc Holliday met up with Big
Nose Kate in Prescott, Arizona, and the pair soon joined the Earps in
Tombstone.
Tombstone was the last of the
wide-open hellholes, teaming with rustlers, thieves, gunmen, gamblers
and prostitutes. The outlaw Clanton Gang had been running roughshod
over the territory and immediately resented the Earps arrival. "Old
man" Clanton, his sons, Ike, Phin, and Billy; the McLaury brothers,
Frank and Tom; Curly Bill Brocius, John Ringo and their followers lost
no time in expressing their displeasure.
The Clantons had long been involved
in rustling cattle from Old Mexico, moving their plunder northward to
their ranch on the San Pedro River. Keeping Cochise County Sheriff John
Behan on their payroll, their operation was extremely successful until
the arrival of the Earps.
Wyatt wasn’t spending all of his time
working, as he met Josephine “Josie” Sarah Marcus while in Tombstone.
The small 18-year old woman had arrived in Tombstone with a traveling
theatre troupe in 1879 prior to Wyatt’s arrival. She hooked up with
Sheriff John Behan and stayed in Tombstone.
However, shortly after Wyatt appeared
on the scene, Sheriff Behan made the mistake of introducing Josie to
Wyatt and the two instantly hit it off. The relationship between Wyatt
and Mattie had continued to deteriorate as Mattie’s laudanum dependency
grew worse. Josie thought that Wyatt was the best-looking man in
Tombstone and she began to be seen with him almost every night at his
faro table while Mattie lingered at home.
Behan refused to accept Josie’s
apologies and fell in deeper with the Clantons to thwart the Earps at
every turn. Now holding a personal grudge, he vowed to help the
rustlers rid Tombstone of the bothersome Earp brothers as soon as
possible.
So, when in July, 1880, John Behan
offered him a job as deputy sheriff under Chief Marshal Fred White, he
was suspicious. Wyatt finally came to the conclusion that the offer was
designed to keep him to busy too guard the Wells Fargo stage, allowing
the Clantons access once again to this lucrative plunder. Wyatt
accepted the job, but Behan’s plan failed when Wyatt convinced Wells
Fargo to hire brother Morgan as the new guard in his place. Their plan
having been a “bust”, the Clantons were furious.
It was Curly Bill Brocius, who first
tangled with Wyatt Earp in October, 1880. One day Brocius, along with
Billy Clanton, and Frank and Tom McLaury were riding up and down Allen
Street firing their weapons and harassing anyone walking along the
board walks. When Sheriff White tried to stop the cowboys, Brocius drew
his gun, White grabbed it, and in the fracas the gun went off, hitting
White in the groin. Just then Earp arrived on the scene and brought his
six gun down on Curly Bill’s head, knocking him unconscious. White was
taken to the doctor and Brocius was taken to jail.
In the doctor’s office White made a
death bed statement that he had been shot by his own carelessness.
After White’s death, Wyatt confronted the gunmen, stating he would kill
any one of them who reached for a weapon, and ordered them out of town.
Soon, Curly Bill was released, thanks to White’s dying statement.
Meanwhile, one night while Doc
Holliday was gambling at the Oriental Saloon, John Behan accused Doc of
manipulating a faro game. Doc, never one to back down, quickly
challenged Behan, who retreated in haste. Behan’s public embarrassment
added more to fuel to the fire.
Through the early months of 1881, the
Clantons continued to rustle cattle from Mexico, a crime that the Earp
lawmen could do nothing about. Their hands were tied since cattle
rustling was officially a county matter and John Behan was the county.
The gap between the law and the outlaw faction grew wider and the town
divided into two camps. While most of Tombstone’s citizens supported
the Earps, the politically strong outlaw element, with Behan in
control, supported the Clantons.
In the meantime Doc and “Big Nose”
Kate continued to live together, but when Kate got drunk, they had
serious arguments. Often, her drunkenness would escalate to abuse, and
finally Doc had had enough and threw her out. The Clantons used this
separation to their advantage.
On March 15, 1881, four masked men
attempted a hold up on a stagecoach near Contention and in the attempt,
killed the stage driver and a passenger. The Cowboy faction immediately
seized upon the opportunity and accused Doc Holliday of being one of
the holdup men. Sheriff Behan, who was investigating the hold-up, found
Kate on one of her drunken binges, still berating Doc for throwing her
out. Feeding her yet even more whiskey, the Behan persuaded her
to sign an affidavit that Doc had been one of the masked highwaymen and
had killed the stage driver.
While Kate was sobering up, the Earps
were rounding up witnesses who could verify Doc's whereabouts on the
night in question. When Kate realized what she had done, she repudiated
her statement and the charges were thrown out. But, for Doc, this
was the “last straw” for Kate, and giving her some money, he put her on
a stage out of town.
Wyatt and his deputies had gone after
the robbers, for that matter, and had arrested a Clanton hanger-on
named Luther King who, under pressure, had confessed to taking part in
the crime. But, after the arrest, John Behan argued that King was his
prisoner, since the crime was territorial, not city. Suspiciously, King
escaped from Behan’s jail. And it was then apparent to Wyatt that Doc
had been shanghaied as an intended sacrificial lamb, and that King was
released as to not implicate the real perpetrators of the holdup.
Events, a piece at a time, now moved
rapidly toward a final showdown. Old Man Clanton was shot and killed by
a band of vaqueros during a rustling attempt below the border; his
eldest son Ike, whose rushed judgments would prove fatal, took the
family reins. Also, in the heat of summer, 1881, a fire swept the
business district of Tombstone and the citizens blamed Marshall Ben
Sippy for not controlling the looting that followed; Virgil Earp, the
senior deputy, was appointed marshal, a move that antagonized the
already-hostile Clantons.
And, of course, there was Josie who
continued to see Wyatt. While she made all effort to remain apart from
the bad blood churning between the factions, the sight of her riled
Behan all over again. Throughout the lazy summer season of 1881,
threats against the Earp Brothers increased. Ike Clanton, Johnny Ringo,
"Curly Bill" Brocius and others of their ilk would often be heard
telling a barroom-full how they were going to send Wyatt Earp to Boot
Hill.
Gunfight
at the OK Corral
On Tuesday, October 25th, Ike Clanton
spent the day getting drunk, moving from one saloon to the next, and
making threats against the Earps and Holliday to any who would listen.
That night, he made his way to the Occidental Saloon for a card game
with Tom McLaury.
An angry Doc Holliday, who had heard
of the boasts, confronted him. "I heard you’re going to kill me, Ike,"
he said. "Get out your gun and commence." Virgil, a U.S. Deputy
Marshal, Wyatt, and an appointed an acting city marshal by Virgil, and
Morgan, also a sworn officer, were present during this confrontation.
Virgil told Doc and Ike that he would arrest both of them if they
continued the argument. Though boasting violence throughout the day,
Clanton was unarmed and finally, Virgil drew Holliday away. But Clanton
followed, promising "to kill you tomorrow when the others come to
town."
Spotting Wyatt on the streets, the
fired-up Clanton continued. "Tell your consumptive friend, your Arizona
nightin’gale, he’s a dead man tomorrow!" To which, Wyatt just
turned and replied "Don’t you tangle with Doc Holliday -- he’ll kill
you before you’ve begun."
Ike's parting shot was "Get ready for
a showdown!"
Wednesday, October 26, 1881 was an
overcast windy day. The Earps, in anticipation of trouble, woke early.
As Virgil watched from his hotel window, he saw Billy Clanton ride into
town, accompanied by friend Billy Claiborne. They met the McLaury
brothers and Ike Clanton on Allen Street. Ike was looking for Holliday
but before he could find him, Virgil and Morgan confronted him. Ike,
bracing a shotgun, exchanged words with the two but when Clanton raised
his rifle. Virgil subdued him, impounded his rifle, and dragged him
before Justice of the Peace Wallace, who fined Ike $27.50 for carrying
firearms in the city.
Wyatt and Tom McLaury, both hearing
what had happened, met at the judge’s door at the same time, literally
bumping into each other. Though Wyatt apologized, McLaury insulted him
and, in return, Wyatt brought his gun down on McLaury's head.
Later that morning, the cowboys met
at Spangenbergs, a gunsmith shop. Then Frank McLaury rode his horse
onto the boardwalk, frightening pedestrians off its path outside the
gunsmith shop. Wyatt grabbed the reins of the horse, leading it to the
streets as McLaury yelled profanities. After this latest confrontation,
the outlaws retreated in a group around the corner off Allen Street.
With all of the tension, there was bound to be a fight. Several members
of the town’s Citizens’ Committee offered their assistance to the Earp
brothers, but thanking them, Wyatt said it was his and his brothers’
responsibility as law officers.
Then John Behan, the County Sheriff,
appeared pronouncing, "Ike Clanton and his crew are on Fremont Street
talking gun-talk." Evidently, Ike Clanton, the two McLaurys, Billy
Clanton and Billy Claiborne were meeting in a vacant lot planning to
bushwhack Doc Holliday, who passed that way every morning.
Virgil, as Chief Marshal, agreed to
go down there to break them up, but contended that Behan should
accompany him. Behan only laughed. "Hell, this is your fight, not
mine."
However, the cowboys were surprised
when the Earps showed up and Doc was with them. As they made their way
to the OK Corral, witnesses said that the three Earp brothers were all
dressed in black with firm, mean grimaces on their faces while Doc was
nattily clad in grey and was whistling. Where the two forces finally
met was actually 90 yards down an alley from the OK Corral. The actual
gunfight took place off Fremont Street between Fly’s Photo Gallery and
Jersey’s Livery Stable. The Earps passed by the OK Corral, but cut
through the alley where they found the troublemakers waiting at the
other end.
"You are under arrest for attempting
to disturb the peace," Virgil announced. As senior officer, he
displayed only a non-threatening walking stick, having given his
shotgun to Doc to carry. The rustlers tightened and Morgan and Doc
simultaneously braced for action. "Hold on, I don’t want that!" cried
Virgil.
What happened next was a blur,
occurring in about 30 seconds. The shooting started when Billy Clanton
and Frank McLaury cocked their pistols. It is not really known who
fired the first shot, but Doc’s bullet was the first to hit home,
tearing through Frank McLaury's belly and sending McLaury’s own shot
wild through Wyatt’s coat-tail. Billy Clanton fired at Virgil, but his
shot also went astray when he was hit with Morgan's shot through his
rib cage.
Billy Claiborne ran as soon as shots
were fired and was already out of sight. Ike Clanton, too, panicked and
threw his gun down, pleading for his life. "Fight or get out like
Claiborne!" Wyatt yelled and watched Ike desert his brother Billy, as
he ran towards the door of the photography shop. But, Ike then withdrew
a hidden gun firing one more round towards Wyatt before disappearing.
The sound distracted Morgan, enough so that Tom McLaury sent a bullet
into Morgan's shoulder. Doc instantly countered, blowing Tom away with
blasts from both barrels of his shotgun. Desperately, wounded and
dying, Billy Clanton fired blindly into the gun smoke encircling him,
striking Virgil's leg. Wyatt responded by sending several rounds into
Billy.
Then it was silent and the
townspeople ran from their homes and shops, wagons were to convey
wounded Morgan and Virgil to their respective homes, and doctors
followed.
The 30-second shootout left Billy
Clanton, Frank McLaury and Tom McLaury dead. Virgil Earp took a shot to
the leg and Morgan suffered a shoulder wound. As Wyatt stood, still
stunned, Sheriff Behan appeared advising him he was under arrest. The
Earps and Doc Holliday were tried for murder but it was determined that
the Earps acted within the law. Virgil was later terminated as marshal
for his role in the homicides.
On March 18, 1882, the cowboy gang
struck again while Morgan Earp was playing pool at Campbell and Hatch's
Saloon. A shot was fired from the darkness of the alley striking Morgan
in the back. Morgan's body was dressed in one of Doc Holliday's suits
and shipped to the parents in Colton, California for burial. The entire
Earp party, including Mattie, accompanied Morgan's body. However, in
Tucson, Wyatt, Warren and Doc Holliday hopped off the train in search
of Frank Stillwell, who supposedly worked in the railroad yards. The
train went on to California without them.
Spotting Stillwell, Wyatt chased him
down the track, filling him full of bullet holes. A Coroner's Jury
named Wyatt and Warren Earp, Doc Holliday, and two other men named
"Texas Jack" Johnson and Sherman McMasters, as those men who had killed
Stillwell and warrants were issued for their arrest.
Earp sought vengeance on the men who
shot Virgil and killed Morgan. Killing Stillwell was just his first
step. Along with Doc Holliday, and others, Wyatt began what is known as
the Earp Vendetta Ride. Wyatt heard that Pete Spence was at his wood
camp in the Dragoons and on March 11, 1882, he and his men quickly
headed out, finding not Pete Spence, but Florentino Cruz. The
frightened Cruz named all the men who had murdered Morgan, himself
included. Earp and his men filled Cruz with bullet holes. The Earp
“posse” rode out once again and on March 24, 1882, they ran into Curly
Bill Brocius and eight of his men near Iron Springs. A gunfight
ensued where Curly Bill was killed and Johnny Barnes received a wound
from which he eventually died.
In just over a year, the Earp “posse”
along with Doc Holliday eliminated "Old Man" Clanton, Billy Clanton,
Frank McLaury, Tom McLaury, Frank Stilwell, Indian Charlie, Dixie Gray,
Florentino Cruz, Johnny Barnes, Jim Crane, Harry Head, Bill Leonard,
Joe Hill, Luther King, Charley Snow, Billy Lang, Zwing Hunt, Billy
Grounds and Hank Swilling. Pete Spence turned himself in to the
authorities where he could “hide” in the penitentiary.
In May, 1882, Wyatt and Doc left
Tombstone, swearing they would never return, but still vowing vengeance
on Ringo, Clanton, Spence and Swilling if they could ever find them.
Riding their horses to Silver City, New Mexico, they sold them, rode a
stage to Deming, and boarded a train for Colorado. Josie soon joined
Wyatt in Denver where they were married.
Though Mattie had traveled with the
Earps to California where they joined up with Wyatt's parents, at some
point she left them and ended up in Globe, Arizona where she lived a
life of prostitution. She told her friends that her husband had
destroyed her life when he deserted her. Tragically, she died of a
laudanum overdose on July 3, 1888 in Pinal City, Arizona.
While in Colorado, Wyatt initially
worked as a private investigator and as a driver for Wells Fargo. He
and Josie also occasionally prospected in the mountains. Sometimes Bat
Masterson would visit the couple and the pair would see Doc Holliday
who had settled down in Leadville, Colorado, when they could.
Then it was silent and the
townspeople ran from their homes and shops, wagons were to convey
wounded Morgan and Virgil to their respective homes, and doctors
followed.
The 30-second shootout left Billy
Clanton, Frank McLaury and Tom McLaury dead. Virgil Earp took a shot to
the leg and Morgan suffered a shoulder wound. As Wyatt stood, still
stunned, Sheriff Behan appeared advising him he was under arrest. The
Earps and Doc Holliday were tried for murder but it was determined that
the Earps acted within the law. Virgil was later terminated as marshal
for his role in the homicides.
On March 18, 1882, the cowboy gang
struck again while Morgan Earp was playing pool at Campbell and Hatch's
Saloon. A shot was fired from the darkness of the alley striking Morgan
in the back. Morgan's body was dressed in one of Doc Holliday's suits
and shipped to the parents in Colton, California for burial. The entire
Earp party, including Mattie, accompanied Morgan's body. However, in
Tucson, Wyatt, Warren and Doc Holliday hopped off the train in search
of Frank Stillwell, who supposedly worked in the railroad yards. The
train went on to California without them.
Spotting Stillwell, Wyatt chased him
down the track, filling him full of bullet holes. A Coroner's Jury
named Wyatt and Warren Earp, Doc Holliday, and two other men named
"Texas Jack" Johnson and Sherman McMasters, as those men who had killed
Stillwell and warrants were issued for their arrest.
Earp sought vengeance on the men who
shot Virgil and killed Morgan. Killing Stillwell was just his first
step. Along with Doc Holliday, and others, Wyatt began what is known as
the Earp Vendetta Ride. Wyatt heard that Pete Spence was at his wood
camp in the Dragoons and on March 11, 1882, he and his men quickly
headed out, finding not Pete Spence, but Florentino Cruz. The
frightened Cruz named all the men who had murdered Morgan, himself
included. Earp and his men filled Cruz with bullet holes. The Earp
“posse” rode out once again and on March 24, 1882, they ran into Curly
Bill Brocius and eight of his men near Iron Springs. A gunfight
ensued where Curly Bill was killed and Johnny Barnes received a wound
from which he eventually died.
In just over a year, the Earp “posse”
along with Doc Holliday eliminated "Old Man" Clanton, Billy Clanton,
Frank McLaury, Tom McLaury, Frank Stilwell, Indian Charlie, Dixie Gray,
Florentino Cruz, Johnny Barnes, Jim Crane, Harry Head, Bill Leonard,
Joe Hill, Luther King, Charley Snow, Billy Lang, Zwing Hunt, Billy
Grounds and Hank Swilling. Pete Spence turned himself in to the
authorities where he could “hide” in the penitentiary.
In May, 1882, Wyatt and Doc left
Tombstone, swearing they would never return, but still vowing vengeance
on Ringo, Clanton, Spence and Swilling if they could ever find them.
Riding their horses to Silver City, New Mexico, they sold them, rode a
stage to Deming, and boarded a train for Colorado. Josie soon joined
Wyatt in Denver where they were married.
Though Mattie had traveled with the
Earps to California where they joined up with Wyatt's parents, at some
point she left them and ended up in Globe, Arizona where she lived a
life of prostitution. She told her friends that her husband had
destroyed her life when he deserted her. Tragically, she died of a
laudanum overdose on July 3, 1888 in Pinal City, Arizona.
While in Colorado, Wyatt initially
worked as a private investigator and as a driver for Wells Fargo. He
and Josie also occasionally prospected in the mountains. Sometimes Bat
Masterson would visit the couple and the pair would see Doc Holliday
who had settled down in Leadville, Colorado, when they could.
Wyatt and Josie returned to Dodge
City, Kansas in 1883 for a time then he took his new bride on a tour of
Texas and northern Mexico, before they made their way to California
In the meantime, Doc Holliday’s
health was badly deteriorating and he soon migrated from Leadville to
Denver in the winter of 1885. Though he did not improve in Denver, he
was able to see his old friend, Wyatt Earp in the late winter of 1886,
where they met in the lobby of the Windsor Hotel. Sadie Marcus
described the skeletal Holliday as having a continuous cough and
standing on “unsteady legs.”
Holliday’s health continued to get
worse. As a realist, Doc was not one to believe in miraculous cures,
but hoping that the Yampah hot springs and sulfur vapors might improve
his health, he headed for Glenwood Springs, Colorado in May, 1887.
Registering at the fashionable Hotel Glenwood, he grew steadily worse,
spending his last fifty-seven days in bed at the hotel and was
delirious fourteen of them.
On November 8, 1887, Doc awoke
clear-eyed and asked for a glass of whiskey. It was given to him and he
drank it down with enjoyment. Then, looking down at his bare feet he
said, "This is funny", and died. He always figured he would be killed
with his boots on.
Spending several years in California,
Wyatt and Josie spent time with the Earps in San Bernardino, and
Josie’s family in San Francisco. While in California, Wyatt acted as a
referee in boxing matches, continued to gamble, and invested in real
estate, saloons and a race horse.
In 1897 the gold fever broke in
Alaska and the couple headed to Nome where they opened a Saloon during
the height of the gold rush. The pair also panned for their own gold
throughout the Yukon, and did very well. They returned to California
1901 with an estimated $80,000. However, their stay was short lived
when they heard about the gold strike in Tonopah, Nevada.
Taking up prospecting in earnest,
Wyatt staked several claims in the Mojave Desert, where he discovered
several veins of gold. Near Vidal, California he discovered copper,
where the spent winters in a small cottage.
Spending summers in Los Angeles, he
befriended several early Hollywood actors and became an advisor for
several Hollywood westerns during the silent movie days.
On Jan. 13, 1929 Wyatt Earp died in
Los Angeles at the age of 80 of prostate cancer. Cowboy actors Tom Mix
and William S. Hart were among his pallbearers. Wyatt's cremated ashes
were buried in Josie's family plot in Colma, California, just south of
San Francisco. When Josie died in 1944, she was buried there beside him.
As to the other Earp brothers, Virgil
was taken to the family homestead in Colton, California where he
recovered from his wounds suffered at the O.K. Corral. Later he
prospected with his wife and, still later, was elected city marshal of
Colton. He then returned to prospecting with his wife Allie and died of
pneumonia in Goldfield, Nevada in 1905. Virgil is buried in the
Riverview Cemetery in Portland, Oregon.
After helping Wyatt in tracking down
the Morgan's killers, Warren served as a stage driver and did some
prospecting in Globe, Arizona. He then moved to Wilcox, Arizona and in
1900 got into a drunken fight with a cowboy named Johnny Boyet. Boyet
shot and killed Warren, who was unarmed at the time. Boyet was
acquitted on grounds of self-defense, the jury believing that even an
Earp without a gun was more dangerous than most men with a gun in their
hand. He is buried in the Wilcox Pioneer Cemetery in Wilcox, Arizona.
When Morgan was killed, James
traveled with Virgil and the Earp women to Colton, California for
Morgan's burial. Later he lived in Shoshone County, Idaho before
settling in permanently in California in 1890. James Earp died on
January, 25th 1926 and is buried in Mountain View Cemetery, in San
Bernardino, California.
