Wyatt Earp Wate Did Him and His Family Grow Up to Be

1 of the well-nigh famous lawmen in American history, the story of Wyatt Earp has endured for over a century. He's inspired movies, songs, and countless touristy reenactments—only who was the human being behind the myth? Was he really equally bang-up as the stories make him seem? We've all heard most his legendary deeds, merely there was a chilling darkness to this heroic figure. Dive into the tearing history of Wyatt Earp, Tombstone's infamous align.

Wyatt Earp Facts

ane. His Dad Was Not a Nice Man

Wyatt Earp was born into a wild family. His parents were Nicholas Earp and Virginia Cooksey, and he was the fourth of eight siblings. His father was, to put information technology lightly, an unbearable human being. By all accounts, he hated children, and he would explode into profane rants at the smallest amount of backtalk. Information technology's little wonder that so many of his children went on to dominion the Wild West.

2. He Was a Rambling Human

Earp spent nigh his entire life on the move—even from the very start. Non long later on he was born, his foul-mouthed father packed the family up and joined a caravan of people heading w to California. The state offered vast swaths of fertile farmland, and Nicholas hoped to give his family a fresh start. However, though he had the best of intentions, this trip would stop in utter tragedy.

iii. His Family Suffered a Tragic Loss

A mere 150 miles into their massive expedition, Earp'southward sister Martha suddenly fell seriously ill. The family had made it as far as Iowa, merely Martha was too weak to go whatever further. Cutting his losses, Nicholas bought a farm well-nigh the small town of Pella and the family settled in, hoping that Martha would recover and that they could eventually proceed on their journey west. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be.

Martha never truly recovered from her affliction, and a few years after the Earps settled in Iowa, she passed. She was but 11 years onetime.

4. He Wanted to Fight

The Civil War broke out while the Earps were living in Pella, and three of Wyatt'southward brothers enlisted in the Union Army. Wyatt himself desperately wanted to join them, but he was only 13 years old. Still, he tried his best—Earp ran abroad from abode several times to attempt and enlist, but each fourth dimension, his cantankerous male parent tracked him downwardly and hauled him back home.

five. He Started Off on the Incorrect Side of the Law

As a immature Wyatt Earp grew older, he savage in with a group of roughnecks and criminals. By his mid-20s, he institute himself on the wrong side of the police mostly. Eventually, the authorities caught upward with him, and Earp was charged with horse theft. A U.Due south. Marshall apprehended him and threw him in jail to await trial, but Earp wasn't about to sit around and wait for his fate.

Not long before his sentencing, Earp escaped from his cell and headed for Peoria, Illinois. Just his troubles were far from over…

6. He Lived in a House of Ill Fame

Afterward, Earp would claim that he spent the post-obit winter out in the wild, hunting buffalo—simply in reality, he was only hiding the salacious truth. He was actually living in Peoria, in the dwelling of a adult female named Jane Haspel. Merely this wasn't your typical lodging house. In February 1872, police raided Haspel's home and apprehended Earp, his blood brother Morgan, and 4 women. The Earps' were charged with "keeping and being plant in a house of ill-fame." The women's charges were…slightly different.

That's right: Earp had been living in a brothel.

7. He May Accept Married a 16-Year-Old

Earp quickly became an infamous figure around Peoria—for all the wrong reasons. Later getting disrepair in Haspel'south brothel a second time, the cops caught him on an infamous love-boat chosen the Beardstown Gunboat. This fourth dimension, when he got hauled to jail, a 16-year-old prostitute named Emerge Heckel was brought in with him. When the police asked her who she was, she made a shocking confession: She claimed she was Earp'south wife!

viii. He Was Hated past the Locals

We can't actually say for sure whether or not Earp really did marry a 16-year-old working girl, but what'due south clear is that people effectually Peoria considered him to exist bad news. He earned the nickname "the Peoria Bummer" and the regular, law-abiding citizens of the town came to detest his guts. He was seen as the figurehead of a certain class of skeezy loafer who made an embarrassment of their otherwise respectable village.

Little did they know, this no-good bum would go on to be one of the most famous lawmen in the history of the Wild Westward.

ix. He Found Piece of work every bit a Bouncer

Clearly, Earp wasn't well-nigh to win any "Man of the Yr" awards in Peoria, so when he heard his brother James was running his own brothel in Wichita, he saddled up and headed for Kansas tout-suite—with his teenage "bride" in tow, of form. He made a living equally his brother's bouncer/enforcer at get-go, but it turned out that a borderland boondocks like Wichita provided ample opportunities for a human being with his unique talents.

10. He Made a Name For Himself in Wichita

Wichita was an of import railroad terminal at the time, and a key finish for rangers driving their cattle upward from Texas. The journey was long and difficult, and when they finally made it to Wichita, these men, who were almost always armed and dangerous, loved to celebrate with a drink or two…or x. Unsurprisingly, the lawmen in town needed all the help they could go—and this is where Earp got his first gustation of authority.

After helping an off-duty police officer observe a group of wagon thieves, Earp joined the marshal's office soon after. All of a sudden, he had a respectable job and a steady paycheck. But still, life as a constable was anything but elementary.

11. He Settled Arguments With His Fists

Earp inherited his father'due south wild temper, and it ended up costing him his job in Wichita. In 1876, a former align accused him of impropriety—so Earp trounce the always-loving tar out of him. This encounter, plus the allegations of improper conduct, lost Earp his gig with the marshals presently later on. And so, Earp did what he did all-time: He left town and went to bring together his blood brother somewhere else.

This time, his blood brother James had fix up yet another brothel in Dodge City, and so Earp met up with him there and started all again.

12. He Met Dr. Holliday While on the Hunt for Dirty Dave

After in 1876, an outlaw by the name of Dirty Dave Rudabaugh stole from the Sante Fe Railroad company and fled southward towards Texas. This was an important event in Earp's life for 2 reasons: Get-go, the Dodge City marshal'southward role made Earp a temporary Deputy U.S. Marshal and set him off to catch Dirty Dave. Second, while on the hunt for the outlaw, Earp came across a notorious gambler who had played cards with Dirty Dave. That gambler's proper noun was Physician Holliday, and their chat was the start of Earp's most of import and lasting friendship.

Earp never ended upwards catching Dirty Dave, but by the fourth dimension he made it back to Dodge Urban center, the town officially appointed him every bit an Assistant Marshal. He had a badge once again—simply he didn't keep this 1 much longer than the starting time.

13. He Ever Managed to Find Problem

The first coming together of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday was quite short, just the 2 were blighted to cross paths once again. Holliday found himself in Dodge Urban center non long afterward, and he happened to be playing cards a quiet saloon when a gang of violent cowboys burst in. They'd ridden into town guns blazing, and when they got tired of terrorizing the people there, they went to the saloon to drink. Earp ready off in search of the outlaws—unaware of what was waiting for him when he finally found them.

14. He Was Nearly Killed—But Doc Holliday Saved His Life

Wyatt Earp tracked the cowboys to the saloon and stepped inside, simply to find several gleaming barrels pointed straight at him. It looked similar his number was upward—but and so, out of the shadows, Doc Holliday stood and held his pistol to the lead cowboy's head, forcing all of the outlaws to drop their arms. Earp credited Holliday with saving his life that day, and the pair remained close friends for years afterward.

15. He Wasn't Cut Out for the Simple Life

When Wyatt Earp arrived in Dodge Urban center, it was the epitome of a Wild West frontier town—merely things could change very quickly back then. Inside just a few years, the town had really begun to settle downwardly, and a shoot-showtime-ask-questions-later marshal like Earp suddenly found himself extremely out of identify. Information technology was right around that fourth dimension that he received a letter of the alphabet from his brother Virgil, who had recently set-up shop in a new boomtown over in Arizona Territory.

That'southward all Earp needed to hear. In 1879, he packed up his things and set off for the almost infamous chapter in his life in the brand-new mining town of Tombstone.

16. He Made a Living Playing Cards

Earp planned to brand a living by running a stagecoach in Tombstone—but he miscalculated just how fast Tombstone was growing. Even though the boondocks was simply nine months old by the fourth dimension he arrived, information technology already hadtwo stage lines up and running. With his 1 idea gone up in flames, Earp fell dorsum on his seedier skills to make ends meet: He spent his early fourth dimension in Tombstone working as a professional gambler.

This sounds crazy, but we can't overstate just how much money was crossing tables in the Wild West. For instance, when Doc Holliday joined Earp in Tombstone non long after, he brought with him the equivalent of over amillion dollars in gambling winnings.

17. He Got a Bluecoat Thanks To…Mules?

Earp didn't take to live off of gambling winnings for long. Soon after he arrived in Tombstone, his blood brother Virgil, who was still a U.South. Marshal, hired him to aid track down a group of cowboys who had stolen 6 mules from the Army. The outlaws had created a special make that turned the "U.Southward." markings on the mules into a "D.eight." (pretty clever if you ask me). The Earps didn't manage to get the mules back, but the job did end upwards starting a brutal feud that would eventually meet many men dead.

xviii. The Cochise County Cowboys Were His Mortal Enemies

The gang that stole the mules was known as the Cochise County Cowboys. This was their first real run-in with the Earps, just the 2 factions would stop up inextricably linked. Afterward some searching, the Earps found the mules at a ranch owned by 1 of the Cowboys, equally well every bit the "D.viii." brand. The head of the gang, a man named Frank Patterson, agreed to bring the mules back to boondocks the following day—but in reality, he had something very different in mind.

The side by side day, the Cowboys showed up in town completely empty-handed, just then they could laugh in the faces of Virgil and Wyatt Earp. They didn't know it at the time, but they'd but made a fatal mistake.

xix. He Saw a Cowboy Kill the Town Marshall

Not long afterward the mule fiasco, a group of Cowboys got up to no good once again. In the middle of the dark, five of the gang, led by the infamous Curly Bill Brocius, stumbled out of a saloon and started firing their revolvers at the moon. The town marshal, Fred White, came out of the woodwork to attempt and disarm the men—and it was the last thing he e'er did.

White grabbed the butt of Brocius'southward revolver, simply it went off, hit him in the groin. That's when Wyatt Earp, who had heard the shooting and come running, arrived on the scene.

20. He Knew How to Take Control of a Situation

Earp took a more direct approach when it came to acumen Brocius—he only smashed him over the head with the butt of his pistol. Allegedly, equally Brocius vicious to the basis, he mournfully cried, "What have I washed?"—but it was too late. Fred White succumbed to his wounds not long after. Even so, in a strange twist, White and Brocius had been somewhat friendly, and in his last moments, White said that Brocius was innocent and should not exist held accountable.

But whatever White said, the people of Tombstone loved their marshal—and they were out for claret.

21. He Technically Saved a Cowboy's Life

Curly Bill Brocius was ane of the worst Cochise Canton Cowboys, but strangely enough, he had Wyatt Earp to thank for his life…for a fourth dimension at least. As he sabbatum in a Tombstone jail cell, the townsfolk cried for revenge, and he undoubtedly would accept been lynched had he stayed at that place long. But, thanks to White's call for mercy, Earp chop-chop had Brocius spirited abroad to nearby Tuscon.

22. He Let His Enemy Go Free…For Now

One time in Tuscon, Brocius was put on trial for White's death and found to be not responsible. Now, if yous ask me, I'd say he wasvery responsible, but this was the Wild West, and Brocius was set costless. Nonetheless, though he didn't know information technology, the outlaw's days were numbered. He and Earp would meet once more, and next time, their encounter wouldn't be so friendly.

23. He Lost His Job as Sheriff Almost as Soon every bit He Got It

Earp eventually rose to the rank of Deputy Sheriff in Tombstone, but it didn't last long. Wyatt Earp was many things, but a politician wasn't 1 of them, and he ended up getting squeezed out for a homo named Johnny Behan. Earp and Behan had already crossed paths in Tombstone and held no fond feelings for 1 some other—only in one case Behan took over as sheriff, their bad claret got a whole lot worse.

24. The Feud Was Spring to Boil Over

Tensions in Tombstone were reaching a fever pitch. They came to a head one night in 1881. Around midnight, Doc Holliday and Ike Clanton got into a wild statement in 1 of Tombstone's many saloons. Holliday chosen Ike a dirty liar—Ike took opposition to that. Eventually, Morgan Earp intervened and broke the two apart, pulling Holliday out into the street.

If Ike Clanton had but left information technology at that, possibly things would have gone differently. Just he was three sheets to the wind, and apparently, he wasn't quite finished with Holliday just yet…

25. The Cowboys Warned Him That a Fight was Coming

Ike Clanton followed the Earps and Holliday out into the street. Finally, Virgil Earp threatened to throw both of them in jail, and they finally went their separate means—but the night was still young. Clanton followed Wyatt Earp into even so some other saloon, and the outlaw gave the constable a dire warning: He wasn't well-nigh to forget his beefiness with Holliday. Rather, the next forenoon, he planned to end it once and for all.

26. The Earps and Cowboys Played Cards The Night Earlier the Gunfight

Information technology had been a tense night, but things in the Wild West were a petty…foreign. After running around the streets of Tombstone in a stupor, arguing and threatening people, Ike Clanton went back to the saloon and met upwardly with Tom McLaury, i of his swain outlaws. The pair of them then played poker until dawn….with the Sheriff, Johnny Behan, and even weirder, with Virgil Earp himself!

However, playing cards with two of the boondocks's biggest lawmen didn't calm Clanton down. When the lord's day rose, he was still out for blood.

27. Things Were Unlike in the Wild Westward

Ike Clanton was still wandering the streets of Tombstone, armed and uttering threats confronting Dr. Holliday, at 1 pm the adjacent twenty-four hours. That's when Virgil was finally fed up with the antics. He ambushed Clanton and bashed him over the head with his pistol—the trademarked Earp move. He took away Clanton's revolver and hauled him down to the courthouse for…a $25 fine.

Ok, that doesn't sound like a lot, only there was more at play hither than money. The Earps had crossed one of the most important Cochise County Cowboys—and the notorious gang wasn't near to let that slide.

28. He Managed to Brand a Bad Situation Worse

While Ike was inside the courthouse getting his fine, correct out front end, Wyatt Earp almost walked straight into Tom McLaury, 1 of the other Cochise County Cowboys. The two men ended up nose-to-nose, and Earp asked the Cowboy if he was armed. McLaury sneered that he was not, just Earp could clearly see a revolver in the man'due south waistband. Patently, that was not the respond that Earp was looking for.

Earp suddenly drew his own sidearm and, every bit he was wont to practice, striking McLaury over the head with it twice.

29. The Cowboys Were Armed and Out For Blood

Presently afterward, three more Cowboys—Ike'due south brother Baton, Tom's brother Frank, and Billy Claiborne—finally showed up in town. As presently every bit they arrived, they heard that the Earp brothers had spent the morning time beating up their brothers. Furious, they set off in search of their comrades. Since they'd come in from the country, they were armed to the teeth, and they didn't bother to eolith their arms at the hotel, every bit was required by law.

30. The Earps Didn't Back Down

Having five angry Cowboys wandering the streets, at least iii of whom were armed and dangerous, fabricated Virgil Earp nervous. He decided to take it upon himself to remove their arms by force. He called upon his brothers Wyatt and Morgan, every bit well as Medico Holliday, and headed across the streets of Tombstone—towards the blighted O.Yard. Corral.

31. The Sheriff Tried to Stop the Gunfight

As the Earps strutted across Tombstone, they came beyond a frantic Sheriff Johnny Behan. Behan desperately pleaded for them to plow around, crying out, "For God'southward sake, don't become down there or they will murder you lot!" According to 1 eyewitness, Virgil Earp coldly looked Behan in the eye and replied, "Those men accept made their threats and I will not arrest them…merely I will kill them on sight."

Co-ordinate to Wyatt, Behan so claimed that he had already disarmed the Cowboys (a lie). Still, the Earps decided that they would get and bank check for themselves.

32. The Most Infamous Day in the Wild West

Despite its proper noun, the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral didn't actually take place at the O.K. Corral. Rather, it took place in an empty lot a few doors downwards. The Earps finally confronted the cowboys, and information technology wasn't long before the shooting started. Nobody really knows who shot commencement, merely most witnesses generally agreed that the first two shots happened at almost the verbal aforementioned time. Clearly, both sides were itching for a fight.

Past the time the street fell quiet again, the men had fired their weapons xxx times in just 30 seconds.

33. The Man Who Started It All Was the Beginning to Run

In a way, Ike Clanton started all of this past stumbling around and threatening the Earps' lives to anyone who would listen. How ironic, then, that as soon every bit the shooting started, Clanton ran frontward, grabbed Wyatt Earp past the shoulders, and cried out that he was unarmed and didn't want to fight. Earp spitefully responded, "Go to fighting or go abroad," and Clanton chose the latter.

He sprinted through the doors of a nearby boarding house, leaving his friends—and his own blood brother—to their grim fate.

34. The Earps Made Out Better Than the Cowboys

When the shooting stopped, Md Holliday had a horrible bruise from a bullet that grazed his holster. Virgil Earp had been hitting in the dogie, and Morgan Earp had a wound in each of his shoulders. But Wyatt remained hale. But while the Earps were injured, the Cowboys fared much, much worse. Tom McLaury, Frank McLaury, and Billy Clanton all lay dead in the dust. Billy was merely nineteen years former.

35. He Gave a Legendary Comeback

As the wounded Earps stumbled abroad from the empty lot, they came across Johnny Behan once again. The flustered sheriff shouted, "I volition have to arrest you!" Wyatt Earp slowed for a moment, turned, looked him in the eye, and simply stated: "I won't exist arrested today. I am right here and am not going away. You have deceived me. You told me these men were disarmed; I went to disarm them." Mic. Drop.

36. Tombstone Wasn't Exactly Subtle

Merely to give you an idea of what kind of town Tombstone was, the local funeral parlor displayed the bodies of the three Cowboys, including 19-year-old Billy, in their store window, with a sign that read: "Murdered in the Streets of Tombstone."

37. The Sheriff Lied to Have the Earps Tossed in Prison

Ike Clanton did everything in his ability to have the Earps and Holliday thrown in jail. In his defense, theydid impale three men. The guess in the thing took sworn statements from over 30 witnesses. One of them was Wyatt's mortal enemy, Sheriff Behan, who, the weasel he was, claimed that the Cowboys had been completely innocent. He said they had all thrown upwards their arms and turned out their coats to evidence that they were unarmed, only that the vicious Earps had opened fire anyway.

It was a complete lie, simply lucky for the Earps, there were plenty of other witnesses poking their heads through windows to meet what happened that twenty-four hour period.

38. They Got Of Scot-Free…At Offset

The judge eventually ruled that there wasn't enough prove to indict the Earps and Doc Holliday, but that doesn't mean in that location weren't consequences for their deportment. Not only had they gained the reputation of cold-blooded killers, just the residue of the Cowboys weren't going to have the deaths of their friends sitting down. The gang started plotting their revenge—and they would accept it before long.

39. Their Actions had Consequences

A couple months later on the O.K. Corral, Virgil Earp was suddenly ambushed on the streets of Tombstone. A shotgun blast hit him in the arm and shoulder, seriously maiming him. He didn't see his attackers, simply Ike Clanton's hat was found on the scene. Wyatt Earp was absolutely livid. He sent a telegram to the U.Due south. Marshals, asking to be deputized so that he could go and merits revenge.

I'chiliad not certain why, just the Marshals granted his request—they even permit him pick his ain deputies and gave him as much as $three,000. Just still, it wouldn't be plenty to save his other brother, Morgan.

xl. The Cowboys Made a Fatal Mistake

The feud between the Earps and the Clantons continued bubbling for months. Wyatt didn't manage to bring anyone in, and finally, in March, the Cowboys got their ultimate revenge. While Morgan Earp was playing billiards in a saloon, a group of gunmen shot him through the windows from the nighttime street. One of the bullets struck him in the spine, and he passed 40 minutes later. That's when Wyatt Earp finally snapped.

41. Wyatt Earp was Out for Blood

On the day his brother Morgan drew his final breath, Wyatt Earp left police force and order backside. He lost all religion in civil justice and set about avenging his brother himself. He gathered together a posse of 8 men and swore that he would accept his revenge on the Cochise County Cowboys. Information technology was the offset of the infamous Earp Vendetta Ride, which would claim the lives of several more men before it was finished.

42. They Wanted To Bring Their Brother'due south Torso to California

Before he could set about getting vengeance, Wyatt had to mournfully bargain with his brother Morgan'southward remains. Their parents, as well equally Morgan'south wife, were in Colton, California, and they wanted to run into him one more time before his burial. Wyatt and his posse accompanied Morgan's remains past train, heading due west—just they had no idea what awaited them.

43. The Cowboys Ambushed Them, and Paid a Terrible Cost

When the Earps' grim train arrived in Tuscon, they found several Cochise County Cowboys waiting for them. The outlaws planned to ambush the Earps—but they severely underestimated their opponents. Piddling record of their encounter exists, but there's one affair we know for sure: All of Earps' posse left Tuscon unharmed, while Cowboy Frank Stilwell was found along the railroad train tracks, riddled with holes.

This was the Wild West, sure, but too many bodies were piling upwardly around the Earps. The Tuscon Justice of the Peace indicted Earp and his men, and issued warrants to apprehend them.

44. He Embarrassed Behan Yet Again

The Earps' warrants made information technology back to Tombstone before they did. As they walked into town, they came across Johnny Behan with a pocket-size posse of his ain. Behan had come to take them to jail, but he was no match for the fearsome Earps. Quaking, Behan cried out, "Wyatt I want to see you." Earp didn't even end—and his respond was absolutely legendary.

45. If He'd Had a Mic, He Would Have Dropped It

When Johnny Behan came upwards to him in front of Tombstone'south Cosmopolitan Hotel, Wyatt Earp didn't fifty-fifty intermission stride. He simply turned his head and said, "Johnny, if you're non careful, you'll encounter me in one case besides often." No one was going to stop Earp from getting vengeance, simply especially not Johnny Behan.

46. He Was Cold-Blooded

The Earps chased the remaining Cowboys out into the wilderness. Ironically, ane of the men they chased was Curly Bill Brocius, the man whom Wyatt had saved from a lynching little over a year before. When the Earps finally caught upwardly with them, yet another gunfight ensued. Curly Nib himself shot directly at Wyatt, but missed by a hair. Wyatt Earp, at-home and cool as always, didn't even blanch.

He returned fire, hitting Curly Nib in the breast from fifty feet away. The infamous Cowboy vicious back into a jump that went through the campsite…and never came out.

47. Now the Constabulary was After Them

Afterwards the gunfight that claimed the lives of Curly Neb and several other Cowboys, the Earps were satisfied—but they had another problem on their hands. Call up, the Earp Vendetta Ride was completely outside of the law, and you can't merely get around shooting people for the purposes of vengeance. Johnny Behan had assembled his ain crew, and he was hot on their trail.

48. They Escaped by the Peel of Their Teeth

Behan's posse got inside eyeshot of the Earps, but never managed to close the gap. Though the Earps had been prepared to stand and fight if it had come to that, Behan's men never actually institute them. The Earps gave them the slip and managed to sneak out of Arizona into New Mexico. Eventually, Behan was forced to requite upwardly, and Wyatt Earp got abroad with his grim justice scot-free.

49. The Feud Was Rather One-Sided

For anyone keeping score, the infamous feud between the Earps and the Cowboys ended with one Earp and seven Cowboys deceased. I'k not great at math, merely I'm pretty certain I can figure out who came out on top.

l. His Friendship With Holliday Went up in Flames

The end of the Earp Vendetta Ride was the terminate of an era—in more ways than i. Not long after leaving Arizona, Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday had a falling out that led to the finish of their friendship. They parted ways, and only saw each other twice for the residuum of their lives. The terminal time, just five years later, Earp'due south wife Josephine noticed that Holliday was a shell of his former cocky. He was a hollow, skeleton of a man who coughed constantly and could barely hold himself upright.

51. He Stole His Rival's Woman

Johnny Behan and Wyatt Earp had at least one thing in common—they shared the same gustatory modality in women. When Behan arrived in Tombstone, he brought his married woman with him, a working daughter named Sadie Mansfield. About people, however, would know her by a different name: Josephine Earp. It turns out, Sadie plant Behan in bed with another adult female shortly after she arrived in Tombstone, so she kicked him out.

Not long subsequently, townsfolk began to see Sadie spending a lot of time with one Wyatt Earp, who everyone already knew was Behan's biggest rival. Hey, if Earp couldn't have Behan's chore, at least he could have Behan's adult female.

52. He Stayed With His Partner for 4 Decades

Post-obit his adventures in the Wild W, Earp ended upward in San Francisco with Sadie Marcus, who now went by Josephine Earp. They stayed mutual-law partners for over 4 decades until Earp's decease. Simply while they seemingly got their happily always after, there was simply one teensy little trouble…

53. He Abased His Wife

The matter well-nigh Earp's relationship with Josephine was that he was already married! He wed a working girl named Mattie Blaylock not long later he moved to Tombstone. Granted, the 2 spent almost no time together, merely they were withal legally man and wife. In fact, Mattie Blaylock has ane of the most tragic tales of all…

54. His Third Wife's Life Was Heartbreaking

For whatever reason (he wasn't particularly religious), Wyatt Earp didn't believe in divorce, so even when Mattie begged him to brand their divide official, he refused. Furious, she ran off with her new lover anyway, but her problems were simply outset. Afterwards her human being, a degenerate gambler, abased her, Mattie took to working once more to make ends meet. Around this time, she too adult a crippling addiction to laudanum, a pop opioid.

Her story ended in 1888, when she took her own life. For his part, information technology seems as though Wyatt Earp couldn't have cared less.

55. He Didn't Exactly Get Along With Josephine

Wyatt Earp spent the rest of his life with Josephine—but they weren't exactly happy together. Like her partner, Josephine was a gambler and a smoker, something that Earp and his family detested (double standard much?). In Earp's defense, Josephine received a monthly allowance from a wealthy half-sis, yet she managed to gamble it away almost every month, leaving the couple struggling to put food on the table.

56. He Struggled To Go Straight and Narrow

Wyatt Earp was never really a respectable human, only he struggled more than ever to find honest work in the years following O.K. Corral. It finally seemed like he'd plant something in 1896, when he got the nod to referee a highly anticipated battle match between Bob Fitzsimmons and Tom Sharkey in San Francisco. Only of grade, nothing Earp ever did could be without controversy…

57. He Was a Crooked Referee

Fitzsimmons completely dominated Sharkey though the entire fight. Then, simply before he could land the final punch, Sharkey suddenly dropped the ground, clutching at his groin and calling a foul. Earp immediately called the fight and disqualified Fitzsimmons for an illegal punch—despite the fact that no one in the arena had seen the offending blow. The crowd was absolutely furious, and a wave of boos flooded the stage, but Earp stuck to his conclusion.

Most people believed that Earp had secretly bet on Sharkey to win and rigged the fight, but no 1 was able to prove it.

58. His Life Concluded in Tinsel Town

Wyatt Earp spent his terminal days in Los Angeles, working equally an unpaid film consultant in Hollywood and trying to become a moving picture about his life made. After a wild existence of gunfights and barroom brawls, he passed quietly of cystitis at 80 years erstwhile. He had outlived every single one of his siblings, and left no children. By that time, he was one of the concluding relics of the Wild West, and the days of outlaws and gunslingers felt like a afar memory.

59. His Life Could Take Been So Different

Wyatt Earp almost never had the insane life that he lived. By the time he was 21, his family unit had moved to Lamar, Missouri, and while eking out an beingness at that place, he met a beautiful young woman named Urilla Sutherland. The ii barbarous for each other instantly, and they married within a year of their first meeting. Earp then bought a pocket-size plot of state, built a house for his new married woman, and she soon became significant.

This young family settled into what appeared to be a rather uneventful, domestic life—but of course, as you know, that's non how Wyatt Earp's story goes…

lx. Tragedy Inverse Him Forever

Urilla was about to give nascence to the couple's first child when tragedy truck Earp'southward life one time again. She contracted the deadly Typhoid fever and passed within a thing of days. Suddenly, Wyatt Earp had everything he loved ripped away from him—and it changed him forever. Later on that day, he became cold and ruthless. Had his wife lived, the entire history of the Wild Westward would have been completely unlike, but obviously, fate had other plans.

Sources: ane, 2, iii, 4, 5, six

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