Wyatt Earp’s History

by john1234512345 in History, June 14, 2010

Some information about Wyatt Earp.

	Morgan Earp was shot through the shoulders in the gunfight near the O.K. Corral. Though he recovered from this, the outlaws murdered him a few months later. It was his death that prompted Wyatt to launch his vendetta against the outlaws. It was actually the Vendetta, not the gunfight, that made Wyatt famous.
	Virgil Earp was Tombstone’s marshal and deputy U.S. marshal for the area. He was shot through the calf in the gunfight. Two months later he was severely wounded in an attempt by the outlaws to murder him. Six inches of bone had to be removed from his left arm, crippling him for life.
	James Earp owned the Sampling Room Saloon in Tombstone. While he was in Tombstone at the time of the shootout, he played little role in it. Wyatt’s older half-brother Newton didn’t move to Tombstone with the rest, but his youngest brother, Warren, did. Warren was away at the time of the gunfight, but he was involved in the Vendetta.

Wyatt’s Friends

	This photograph of Doc was taken in Prescott, A.T. in 1879. It’s thought that Doc sent this picture to his aunt, Ella McKey.
	Doc in 1881. This picture was taken by Tombstone photographer, C. S. Fly, whose shop was at the site of the famous gunfight.
	Some have suggested this is Doc’s last photograph, saying it was taken in 1887, but Doc was extremely ill by that time and was bedridden for much of that year. Doc himself testified in 1884 that by then he weighed only 122 pounds. While he was good looking in his younger days, by this point he was probably more of a walking skeleton. In his obituary the Ute Chief of November 12, 1887 reported, “From the effects of the disease, from which he suffered probably half his life, Holliday, at the time of his death, looked like a man well advanced in years, for his hair was silver and his form emaciated and bent, but he was only thirty-six years old.” Also, this could not be a younger picture of Doc because of the receding hairline. In addition, this man doesn’t look like Doc any of the known photographs of him.
	This is another suspect photograph. While it’s often published in books as being Doc, it doesn’t look like any of the known pictures of him.
	Bat Masterson remained Wyatt’s friend for most of his life. They initially met as buffalo hunters and later worked together in law enforcement in Dodge City, Kansas. For a short time, Bat also dealt cards for Wyatt when Wyatt had the gambling concession at the Oriental Saloon in Tombstone. He eventually became friends with President Theodore Roosevelt, who arranged for him to be appointed deputy U.S. marshal for the southern district of New York state.
	Gunfighter/gambler Luke Short was a good friend of both Wyatt and Bat. He, too, dealt cards for Wyatt at the Oriental. Wyatt came to Luke assistance when he was run out of Dodge City in an incident that became known as the Dodge City War.

The Opposition

	Ike Clanton was the main instigator of the gunfight near the O.K. Corral. He was unarmed when the fight took place and quickly fled the scene. This is a detail from a photograph taken by C. S. Fly in his gallery at the site of the gunfight. Ike was involved in rustling and stagerobbing.
	Frank McLaury in 1879 before coming to Tombstone. As the Earps tried to disarm the cowboys, Frank and Ike’s brother, Billy, drew their weapons. Even though Billy fired at Wyatt, Wyatt knew Frank was the most dangerous shot of the bunch so that’s who he fired at. Billy’s shot missed, but Wyatt’s struck Frank in the stomach.
	Tom McLaury in 1879 before coming to Tombstone. He was killed by a shotgun blast fired by Doc Holliday. Frank and Tom had been involved in selling stolen cattle.
	Tom McLaury, Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton shortly after the gunfight. They and their fancy caskets were place on display in the window of a hardware store by their relatives to rile up indignation against the Earps and Holliday. This is the only known photograph of Billy Clanton.
	Rustler Johnny Ringo was an expert shot and on at least one occasion he almost had it out with Doc Holliday. Ringo was probably involved in the ambush of Virgil Earp and the murder of Morgan Earp. He was later found dead under mysterious circumstances. Though some later claimed he was killed by Wyatt and Doc, they were actually in Colorado at the time.
	Johnny Behan was the first sheriff of Cochise County. Behan was Wyatt’s primary rival and was Wyatt’s replacement as deputy sheriff for the area when Tombstone was still part of Pima County. Behan was friends with the outlaws and later did everything he could to get Wyatt tried for murder. For a picture wrongly said to be of Behan, look here.
	Milt Joyce was the chairman of the county board of supervisors. He also leased the bar and restaurant concessions at the Oriental Saloon, while Wyatt and his partners had the gambling concession. Joyce became one of the leaders of the anti-Earp faction and a strong supporter of the outlaws. At one point he got into an argument with Doc and Doc shot him through the hand. Joyce’s partner was also wounded in the conflagration. Both Joyce and Sheriff Behan were later found to be involved in government corruption.

Tombstone

	Tombstone in 1879. The population of the town was 900 when the Earps arrived on December 1, 1879 and it doubled over the next two months.
	Tombstone in 1881 looking to the northwest.
	This street map of Tombstone on October 26, 1881 (the date of the gunfight) gives the locations of some of the important businesses and events. A much more detailed map can be found in Wyatt Earp Speaks!
	The fire of May 25, 1882 destroyed most of the western half of Tombstone’s business district, including the O.K. Corral. The previous year on June 22, 1881 a fire had destroyed most of the eastern half of the business district. Since they didn’t have water to put fires out with, they had to try to contain fires by dynamiting buildings in the fire’s path.
	Allen Street at Fifth Street in 1880. The large building on the left is the Grand Hotel, where many of the outlaws stayed when in town. The one on the right is the Golden Eagle Brewery. Virgil Earp was right in front of where the man is sitting when he was ambushed and severely wounded.
	The Cosmopolitan Hotel on Allen Street. The Earps moved here after the gunfight. Fearing attempts to assassinate them, they felt they would be safer living here than in their houses.

Charleston

The outlaws came to dominate the town of Charleston and made it and Galeyville their headquarters. Charleston is about ten miles southwest of Tombstone.

	The famous gunfight was not at the O.K. Corral. It actually took place in Harwood’s lumberyard down the street from the rear entrance to the corral. William Harwood sold lumber from his house after he was forced from office as Tombstone’s second mayor (its first elected mayor). The gunfight began in the side yard between his house and Fly’s Lodging House. Normally he stored his lumber there, but since there was so much construction going on, he was often sold out–as he was on the day of the gunfight. The end of the gunfight took place out in Fremont Street.
	George Parsons was a friend of Wyatt’s who kept a journal recording every day of his seven years in Tombstone. His journal is one of the most reliable sources available for this period of Tombstone’s history.
	When Ed Schieffelin went into Apache country to search for silver, his friends told him he was crazy and that all he’d find was his tombstone. When he discovered the first of several of the area’s most successful mines, he named that mine Tombstone. The town that quickly sprang up was named after that mine. The mines made him a very rich man.
	Billy Breakenridge was deputy sheriff under Sheriff Johnny Behan and was involved in many significant events in Tombstone’s early history. Later his story was ghostwriten by novelist William MacLeod Raine in the book Helldorado (1928).
	Buckskin Frank Leslie killed several people, including Billy the Kid Claiborne, who was one of the survivors of the gunfight near the O.K. Corral.

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