Biographical Notes
Wyatt Earp
Spicer's decision freed the Earps of legal charges but did not clear the air of rumor and innuendo. Many in town felt that the Earps were now a danger to Tombstone because of the fear of cowboy retribution. This in turn was bad for business. Combined with growing suspicion that the Earps and Holiday might have been involved in plots to rob stages public opinion continued to turn ever more strongly against the entire Earp family. On December 28, 1881, Virgil was ambushed and seriously wounded by men firing shotguns from ambush. The next day Wyatt was appointed Deputy U.S. Marshall by U.S. Marshal Crawley Dake in Phoenix. Early in January 1882 a local election in Tombstone went against Earp supporters. The evening of March 18, 1882, Morgan Earp was shot and killed by unknown assailants while playing pool in a saloon in Tombstone. It was decided that Virgil should continue his convalescence in California. On his way out of Tucson, Virgil's train was ambushed by Frank Stilwell and Ike Clanton. Wyatt believed that Stilwell had killed Morgan and Clanton had been part of the ambush that wounded Virgil. Wyatt caught Silwell in the rail yard and killed him, but Clanton got away. The Tucson citizenry were alarmed that the violence that had plagued Tombstone had been brought to their community and many were critical of Wyatt's "cold blooded" killing of Stilwell. Warrants were issued for the arrest of Wyatt, his youngest brother Warren, Doc Holiday, Sherman McMasters, and Jack Johnson for the murder of Frank Stilwell.
In Tombstone, Behan attempted to apprehend Wyatt, but Wyatt was able to leave town before being arrested. Behan assembled a posse of men known to dislike the Earps and unenthusiastically pursued Wyatt. Wyatt was riding with the men who had been with him in the Tucson affair. On March 22 Wyatt caught up with and killed Florentino Cruz (AKA Indian Charlie) who was believed to have been involved in Morgan's assasination. At this point even Wyatt's supporters recognized that he was acting as a vigilante outside the law. On March 24 Wyatt's party was ambushed by a group of cowboys led by known outlaw Curley Bill. In the firefight that followed, Wyatt shot and killed Curley Bill. On April 15 Wyatt's party rode into Silver City, New Mexico, before going on to Albuqueque and eventually to Trinidad, Colorado, where Bat Masterson was serving as city marshall. Wyatt eventually moved on to Gunnison where he ran a faro game in a local saloon. Holiday had left the party in Albuqueque and gone on to Denver. On May 15 he was arrested by the local sheriff and held on charges relating to the killing of Frank Stilwell in Tucson. Wyatt asked Bat Masterson to intercede on Holiday's behalf in order to avoid having Holiday returned to Arizona where he faced certain death at the hands of cowboy friends of Stilwell. Masterson engineered a legal maneuver that led to Holiday's release. Later that year Virgil moved to San Francisco and Wyatt and Warren joined him there. While living in San Francisco, Wyatt abandoned Mattie and once again took up with Sadie. Early in 1883 Wyatt and Sadie returned to Gunnison where the former lawman became a full time gambler.
In May 1883 Wyatt played an important part in Bat Masterson's campaign to restore Luke Short to his position in Dodge City's Long Branch Saloon. After that, Wyatt and Sadie moved from one mining town to another dealing faro and hoping to strike it rich on one or another mining claim. At one point he served as Deputy U.S. marshall of Kootenai County, Idaho. In April 1885 he and Sadie were in El Paso, Texas, and in May 1885 Wyatt was a partner in the Fashion Saloon in Aspen, Colorado. From 1886 until 1890 they lived in San Diego, California, where he gambled, raced horses and referred a series of important regional prize fights. In December 1896 he was asked to referee the Fitzsimmons - Sharkey fight. In the eighth round Wyatt called the fight for Sharkey saying that Fitzsimmons had landed a low blow. It was a highly controversial decision and resulted in Earp being widely accused of having participated in a fraudulent scheme to rob Fitzsimmons of his victory. Wyatt's detractors dug up all of the old stories criticizing his actions in Tombstone and his reputation was severely tarnished. In 1897 Wyatt and Sadie were in Nome, Alaska, where he was a partner in the Dexter Saloon. While in Nome, Wyatt helped Lucky Baldwin sell off his equipment when he was unable to establish his saloon there. Sadie and Wyatt left Alaska in 1901 to follow the silver booms in Nevada. In 1902 Wyatt was a partner in The Northern Saloon and Deputy U.S. Marshall in Tonopah, Nevada. in the early years of the new century he did bounty work chasing fugitives into Mexico and at one point hired out to protect corporate property in San Bernardino County, California.
In 1911 Wyatt was arrested, but not convicted of having been engaged in a confidence scheme in Los Angeles. His reputation was badly tarnished, but he was still highly regarded by some as the quintessential "Western Lawman." While living in Los Angeles in his later years he became personal friends with William S. Hart, one of Hollywood's earliest western actors. Other acquaintances included Director John Ford, Actor Tom Mix, and extra Marion Morrison, who, as John Wayne, said that he based his image of the Western Lawman on his conversations with Wyatt Earp. Wyatt Earp's life stimulated a plethora of short stories and full length books. Combined with the mountain of newspaper articles written about him and Hollywood's efforts in the multitude of movies that have been made around his exploits there is a great body of intertwined fact and myth about the man. The gun fight near the O.K. Corral in Tombstone in 1881 has become one of the benchmarks of popular history in the American West. Lawman, vigilante, gambler - Wyatt Earp died on January 13, 1929, in Los Angeles, California.
