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Wyatt Earp

Wyatt Earp Wyatt Earp, born Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp, was born on March 19, 1848 in Manmouth, Illinois to Nicholas and Virginia Earp. When Wyatt was two, his parents moved him across the Mississippi River to Pella, Iowa. He was considered a great western lawman. His first experience as a lawman was as a constable of Lamar, Missouri for four months in the year 1870. In April, 1875, he was appointed to the Wichita Kansas police force only to be released from that job on April 2, 1876 for insubordination. After that, Wyatt moved to Dodge City, Kansas where he served as a police man three separate times. The first time he served from May 17 until September 9, 1876; the second time he served was from July 6 until late November, 1877; and the last time that he served as a police man in Dodge City was from May 12, 1878 until September 8, 1879. After that on and off police work in Dodge City, Wyatt decided to move to Tombstone, Arizona. He picked up and moved to Tombstone on December 1, 1879. When he got there he took up the job that was most natural to him, law enforcement. Wyatt had several jobs while living in Tombstone. The first job that he acquired when he got to Tombstone was riding shotgun for Wells, Fargo & Company. He held this position for approximately eight months. This was a fairly dangerous job. His duties were to ride in the front of the wagon with the driver and protect it. His second job was serving as the deputy sheriff for Pima County from July 29 to November 9, 1880. The third job that Wyatt got was a little different from the first two. He was no longer the man with a gun shooting bad guys, now he was the man behind the desk trying to figure out who robbed the last truck. His third job was a detective position for the Wells, Fargo and Company. He worked at this position for an indeterminate amount of time. A very historical event occurred soon after Wyatt took the detective job with Wells, Fargo & Company; the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. This event is very controversial even today. According to the name of the event, the shutout occurred in the back entrance of the O.K. Corral. Yet, according to the research that I have done, the shootout actually occurred about half a block over from the O.K. Corral in the side yard of ex-mayor William A. Harwood and from there it spread out into the middle of Fremont Street. Of course, “the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” sounds much better than “the Gunfight in Harwood’s Yard and Fremont Street” so I guess someone decided to change it. “O.K. Corral” has much more of a Western ring to it. Personally, I think “the Gunfight in Tombstone” sounds pretty good, but there’s no point trying to change it now. Virgil, Wyatt’s older brother, was Tombstone’s city marshal at the time of the shootout. He was also a deputy U.S. marshal. At the time of the gunfight, Wyatt considered himself a saloonkeeper, since he had a piece of the gambling winnings at the Oriental Saloon. This event included four of the Old West’s best known law enforcers and also some of the Old West’s best known villains . The three Earp brothers; Virgil, Wyatt and Morgan all participated in the gunfight with “Doc” Holliday at their side. John “Doc” Holliday was a good friend of Wyatt’s plus he had a few things to finish with some of the outlaws. The “Cowboys”, what the outlaws called themselves, included names such as; the Clanton brothers, Ike and Billy, the McLaury brothers, Frank and Tom, and also William “Billy the Kid” Claiborne. The Earp brothers and Doc went to find the “Cowboys” because they heard they were causing trouble and wanted to disarm them. They encountered the outlaws in the side yard of Harwood’s house. Supposedly, the Earp’s were told before they rounded the corner that the outlaws had been disarmed, so it was to their surprise when they got in sight of the villains and saw their pistols at their side and their shotguns on their horses. This startled the Earp brothers and caused them to immediately draw their weapons. This made the outlaws think that the Earp brothers were about to murder them so they drew their weapons. No one really knows who shot first but thirty seconds and several gunshots later, Billy Clanton and both McLaurys were dead, and Virgil and Morgan were wounded. Billy Claibourne and Ike Clanton ran away when the shooting started. This event in western history is still reenacted today. Anyone can go to Tombstone, Arizona and watch the reenactments. It has turned into a large profit generator for business in the city and for the city itself. Also, there have been two movies produced about these events. One of them is called Tombstone and the other is called Wyatt Earp. Both of these movies are true to the Hollywood style of exaggeration. Both movies make the gunfight look like a ten to fifteen minute battle between good and evil when in all actuality, it lasted no more than thirty seconds. Today, when people think of Wyatt Earp, they think of the gunfight, but that episode was just the beginning. The war between the Earps and the outlaws actually lasted for several months. When the rest of the “Cowboy” clan found out about this gunfight, they thought of it as cold blooded murder and were enraged. They made up a death list that included the Earp brothers, Doc, the Mayor and even Wyatt’s lawyer. Eight weeks after the gunfight, Virgil was ambushed by men with shotguns. Fortunately, he was only hit once in the left arm, although he lost the use of that arm. Morgan on the other hand, was not so lucky. He was shot and killed one night in a billiard hall while bending over a pool table playing pool. After Morgan’s murder, Wyatt and Doc became vigilantes and set off to deal with the “Cowboys” responsible Morgan’s murder. When Virgil lost the use of his arm, he also lost his position as deputy U.S. marshal so Wyatt was appointed to the position. While Wyatt and Doc were on their rampage which was later called the Vendetta, they are credited with tracking down and killing several members of the “Cowboys” including, Frank Stilwell, Florentine Cruz, and gang member Jonny Barnes. Doc died of tuberculosis shortly after the Vendetta. Wyatt was said to have illegally taken the law into his own hands. He was charged with murder and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Wyatt was never caught and tried because he moved away to Los Angeles and retired. Bibliography: Works Cited Encyclopedia of the American West,ed. Charles Phillilps, Vol 2, (New York: Simon and Schuster Macmillian, 1996), 471. Encyclopedia of the American West,ed. Charles Phillilps, Vol 3, (New York: Simon and Schuster Macmillian, 1996), 1221. Stuart N. Lake, Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal (Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1931). Casey Tefertiller, Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.,1997).

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