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  • WYATT EARP


    Born
    March 19, 1848(1848-03-19)
    Monmouth, Illinois, U.S.A.


    Died
    January 13, 1929 (aged 80)
    Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.


    Years active
    1865–1897


    Spouse(s)
    Urilla Sutherland(Wife)
    Celia Ann Blaylock(Companion)
    Josephine Sarah Marcus(Wife)


    Children
    none


    Occupation
    Gambler, Lawman, Saloon Keeper, Gold/Copper Miner


    Mini Biography
    Full Biography- Wyatt Earp- wikipedia


    Wyatt Earp was born in Montmouth, Illinois, on 19th March, 1848.
    His father moved the family, to San Bernardino, California
    and joined his older brother, Virgil Earp, as a freighter-teamster
    between Wilmington to Prescott, Arizona (1866-68).




    Front of the Wyatt Earp House, located at
    507 E. Franklin Street in Pella, Iowa, United States.


    In 1870 Earp was elected constable of Lamar, Missouri.
    Later that year he married Urilla Sutherland
    but she died soon afterwards of typhoid.
    His job as constable came to an end when Earp was arrested for horse theft.
    He managed to escape and became a buffalo hunter in Kansas.
    Earp then moved to Wichita where he married a local prostitute.
    He also joined the Wichita police force.
    However, he was discharged in April 1876 after a fight with a fellow officer.


    A few months later Earp joined the police force in Dodge City .
    In 1878 he was appointed assistant city marshal under Charles Bassett.
    While in the city he became friends with the former dentist
    and now a professional gambler, Doc Holliday.


    Earp's record as a marshal was unimpressive and in September 1879
    he left Dodge City and three months later reached Tombstone
    where he became a farmer. Earp's brothers, Virgil Earp, Morgan Earp and James Earp
    also lived in Tombstone. Earp's best friend, Doc Holliday,
    was also based in this fast-growing town.


    Virgil Earp eventually became city marshal of Tombstone.
    Soon afterwards he recruited Wyatt Earp and Morgan Earp as "special deputy policemen".
    In 1880 the Earp family came into conflict with two families, the Clantons and the McLaurys.
    Ike Clanton, Phineas Clanton, Billy Clanton, Tom McLaury and Frank McLaury
    sold livestock to Tombstone.
    Virgil Earp brothers believed that some of these animals
    had been stolen from farmers in Mexico.
    Wyatt Earp was also convinced that the Clanton brothers
    had stolen one of his horses.


    Wyatt Earp also came into conflict with John Behan, the sheriff of Cochise County.
    At first this started as a quarrel over a woman, Josephine Sarah Marcus.
    She had lived with Behan before becoming Earp's third wife.
    Earp also wanted Behan's job and planned to run against him in the next election.
    The two men also clashed over the decision by Behan to arrest
    Doc Holliday on suspicion of killing a stage driver during
    an attempted hold-up outside of town.
    Holliday protested his innocence and he was eventually released.
    In September 1881, Virgil Earp retaliated by arresting one of Behan's deputies,
    Frank Stilwell, for holding up a stagecoach.




    On 25th October, Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury arrived in Tombstone.
    Later that day Doc Holliday got into a fight with Ike Clanton in the Alhambra Saloon.
    Holliday wanted a gunfight with Clanton, but he declined the offer and walked off.


    The following day Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury were arrested by Virgil Earp
    and charged with carrying firearms within the city limits.
    After they were disarmed and released, the two men joined Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury,
    who had just arrived in town.
    The men gathered at a place called the OK Corral in Fremont Street.


    Virgil Earp now decided to disarm Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury
    and recruited Wyatt Earp, Morgan Earp, James Earp and Doc Holliday
    to help him in this dangerous task.
    Sheriff John Behan was in town and when he heard what was happening
    he raced to Fremont Street and urged Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury
    to hand over their guns to him.
    They replied: "Not unless you first disarm the Earps".


    Behan now headed towards the advancing group of men.
    He pleaded for Virgil Earp not to get involved in a shoot-out
    but he was brushed aside as the four men carried on walking towards the OK Corral.
    Virgil Earp said: "I want your guns". Billy Clanton responded by firing at Wyatt Earp.
    He missed and Morgan Earp successfully fired two bullets at Billy Clanton
    and he fell back against a wall. Meanwhile Wyatt Earp fired at Frank McLaury.
    The bullet hit him in the stomach and he fell to the ground.


    Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury were both unarmed and tried to run away.
    Clanton was successful but Doc Holliday shot McLaury in the back.
    Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury, although seriously wounded, continued
    to fire their guns and in the next couple of seconds Virgil Earp, Morgan Earp
    and Doc Holliday were all wounded.
    Wyatt Earp was unscathed and he managed to finish off
    Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury.


    Sheriff John Behan arrested Virgil Earp, Wyatt Earp, Morgan Earp
    and Doc Holliday for murder of Billy Clanton, Tom McLaury and Frank McLaury.
    However, after a 30 day trial Judge Wells Spicer,
    who was related to the Earps, decided that the defendants
    had been justified in their actions.


    Over the next few months the Earp brothers struggled
    to retain hold control over Tombstone.
    Virgil Earp was seriously wounded by an attempted assassination
    and Morgan Earp was killed when he was playing billiards
    with Wyatt Earp on 18th March, 1882.
    Eyewitnesses claimed that Frank Stilwell was seen running from the scene of the crime.
    Three days later Stilwell's was found dead.
    A Mexican who was also implicated in the crime was also found murdered in a lumber camp.
    It is believed that Wyatt Earp was responsible for killing both men.


    Earp was now forced to flee from Tombstone and eventually reached Colorado.
    Later he moved to Arkansas where he was jailed for theft in 1883.


    In February, 1883, Luke Short moved to Dodge City and purchased
    the Long Branch Saloon with W. H. Harris.
    A power struggle now took place between Short and Nicholas B. Klaine,
    the editor of the Dodge City Times. In the election for mayor of the city
    later that year Klaine supported Larry Deger against Short's partner, W. H. Harris.
    Deger defeated Harris 214 to 143.


    Soon after gaining power Deger published Ordinance No 70,
    an attempt to ban prostitution in Dodge City.
    Two days later the local police arrested female singers being employed in
    Short's Long Branch Saloon and accused of being prostitutes.
    That night Short and L.C. Hartman, the city clerk, exchanged gunfire in the street.
    Short was now arrested and forced to leave town.




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


    Short had some powerful friends and in June 1883
    he returned to Dodge City with Earp, Bat Masterson, Charlie Bassett,
    Doc Holliday and other well-known gunfighters such as, M. F. McLain,
    Neil Brown and W. F. Petillion.
    However, Deger and Klaine refused to be intimidated
    and when they refused to back down, Short and his friends had to accept defeat.
    In November 1883, Short and Harris sold the Long Branch Saloon
    and moved to Fort Worth.




    Wyatt Earp at about age 39,
    photo in San Diego about 1887


    In 1885 Earp was once again imprisoned for theft.
    After his release he opened a saloon in San Diego. He also attempted to breed racehorses in San Francisco.




    Wyatt Earp's pistol, left behind in Juneau,
    Alaska while traveling to Nome




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


    In 1896 Earp agreed to referee the Bob Fitzsimmons-Tom Sharkey
    heavyweight fight in Oakland, California.
    Earp insisted that he should be allowed to carry a gun.
    This was needed when he controversially declared Tom Sharkey the winner,
    after he had taken a terrible beating and appeared
    on the verge of being knocked out.
    Earp also owned a saloon in Tonopah and Goldfield in Nevada
    before settling in Los Angeles in 1906.




    This photograph was taken just two weeks
    before he died on January 13, 1929. He was 80 years old.


    In old age Earp was befriended by Stuart N. Lake who agreed to become his biographer.
    Wyatt Earp died on 13th January, 1929 and the book,
    Wyatt Earp, Frontier Marshall, was published two years later.
    The book was quickly denounced by people who knew
    Earp as being a very inaccurate account of his life. Allie Earp,
    the widow of Virgil Earp, described it as "a pack of lies"



    Edited and Compiled by ethanedwards
    With Information and Photographs from
    Spartucus Educational and wikipedia

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Edited 10 times, last by ethanedwards ().

  • When I was in the US Navy stationed at Pensacola Naval Air Station in the early 70's, one of the sand-crabs (civil service employee) who worked in the Photo Lab with me used to tell me how when he was a kid growing up in Los Angelas he met Wyatt Earp.
    He said the biggest thing he remembered to that day was his eyes.

    He said Wyatt Earp had the coldest eyes he had ever seen.

    Ben Cartwright SASS
    a good motto to live by
    "WWJWD"
    What would John Wayne Do"

  • I did some reading about Wyatt. The book written by his wife was very interesting. He sure had an interesting life.
    Often all it took to stop a fight was to tell people he was Wyatt Earp. He did have quite a reputation.

    "A people that values their Privileges above it's Principles. Soon looses both." Dwight Eisenhower