Wyatt Earp facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Wyatt Earp
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Earp at about age 42.
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| Born |
Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp
March 19, 1848 |
| Died | January 13, 1929 (aged 80) |
| Occupation | Old West lawman, buffalo hunter, saloon owner, bouncer, gold and copper mine owner, boxing referee |
| Years active | 1865–1898 |
| Known for | Gunfight at the O.K. Corral; Fitzsimmons-Sharkey boxing match decision upheld |
| Opponent(s) | William Brocius; Tom and Frank McLaury; Ike and Billy Clanton |
| Spouse(s) | Urilla Sutherland (wife) Sally Heckell (common-law wife?) Celia Ann "Mattie" Blaylock (common-law wife) Josephine Sarah Marcus (common-law wife) |
| Children | None |
| Relatives | Virgil, James, Morgan, Warren (brothers), Newton (half brother), Adelia Earp|Adelia]] sister. |
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Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (March 19, 1848 – January 13, 1929) was a Deputy U.S. Marshal, Deputy Sheriff, and Deputy Town Marshal in the Old West. In Tombstone, Arizona Territory, Earp took part in the Gunfight at (near) the O.K. Corral, during which lawmen killed three outlaws.
He is often regarded as the central figure in the shootout in Tombstone, but his brother Virgil was Tombstone City Marshal and Deputy U.S. Marshal that day. His brother had more experience as a sheriff, constable, marshal, and soldier in combat.
Contents
Biography
Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp was born on March 19, 1848, the fourth child of Nicholas Porter Earp and his second wife, Virginia Ann Cooksey. He was named after his father's commanding officer in the Mexican–American War, Captain Wyatt Berry Stapp, of the 2nd Company Illinois Mounted Volunteers. Some evidence supports Wyatt Earp's birthplace as 406 S. 3rd St. in Monmouth, Illinois, though the street address is disputed by Monmouth College professor and historian William Urban. The Wyatt Earp Birthplace, Inc., 1986, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places 1999. The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency visited the home at 406 So. 3rd St. and submitted the nomination. Wyatt had seven full siblings – James, Virgil, Martha, Morgan, Warren, Virginia, and Adelia – and an elder half-brother, Newton, from his father's first marriage.
In March 1849, or in early 1850, Nicholas Earp joined about a hundred other people in a plan to relocate to San Bernardino County, California, where he intended to buy farmland. Just 150 miles (240 km) west of Monmouth on the journey, their daughter Martha became ill. The family stopped and Nicholas bought a new 160-acre (65 ha) farm 7 miles (11 km) northeast of Pella, Iowa. Martha died there on May 26, 1856.
Nicholas and Virginia Earp's last child, Adelia, was born in June 1861 in Pella. Newton, James, and Virgil joined the Union Army on November 11, 1861. Their father was busy recruiting and drilling local companies, so Wyatt and his two younger brothers, Morgan and Warren, were left in charge of tending 80 acres (32 ha) of corn. Wyatt was only 13 years old, too young to enlist, but he tried on several occasions to run away and join the army. Each time, his father found him and brought him home. James was severely wounded in Fredericktown, Missouri, and returned home in summer 1863. Newton and Virgil fought several battles in Missouri, Mississippi, and Tennessee, and later followed the family to California.
Earp lived a restless life. He was at different times in his life a constable, city policeman, county sheriff, Deputy U.S. Marshal, Deputy Sheriff, teamster, buffalo hunter, saloon-owner, gambler, mine owner, bouncer and boxing referee.
In early 1874 Earp moved to the growing cow town of Wichita, Kansas, where he became a deputy city marshal for one year and developed a solid reputation as a lawman. In 1876, he followed his brother James to Dodge City, Kansas, where he became an assistant city marshal. In winter 1878, he went to Texas to gamble, where he met John Henry "Doc" Holliday, whom Earp said saved his life.
Earp moved constantly throughout his life from one boomtown to another. He left Dodge City in 1879 and moved to Tombstone with his brothers James and Virgil, where a silver boom was underway. The Earps bought an interest in the Vizina mine and some water rights. Wyatt, Virgil, and their younger brother Morgan held various law enforcement positions that put them in conflict with Tom and Frank McLaury, and Ike and Billy Clanton, who threatened to kill the Earps.
The conflict escalated over the next year, culminating on October 26, 1881 in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, in which the Earps and Holliday killed three of the "Cowboys" (the Clanton/ McLaury group). In the next five months, Virgil was ambushed and maimed, and Morgan was assassinated. Pursuing a vendetta, Wyatt, his brother Warren, Holliday, and others formed a federal posse that killed three of the Cowboys whom they thought responsible. Wyatt was never wounded in any of the gunfights, unlike his brothers Virgil and James or Doc Holliday, which only added to his mystique after his death.
After Earp died in 1929, a flattering, largely fictionalized biography was published in 1931. It became a bestseller, and made his reputation as a fearless lawman. Since then, Wyatt Earp has been the subject of and model for numerous films, TV shows, biographies, and works of fiction that have increased his mystique. Earp's modern-day reputation is that of the Old West's "toughest and deadliest gunman of his day". Wyatt Earp has become synonymous with the image of the Western lawman, and is a symbol of American frontier justice.
Two years before his death, Earp defended his decisions before the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and his actions afterward in an interview with Stuart Lake, author of the 1931 largely fictionalized biography, Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal:
For my handling of the situation at Tombstone, I have no regrets. Were it to be done over again, I would do exactly as I did at that time. If the outlaws and their friends and allies imagined that they could intimidate or exterminate the Earps by a process of murder, and then hide behind alibis and the technicalities of the law, they simply missed their guess. I want to call your particular attention again to one fact, which writers of Tombstone incidents and history apparently have overlooked: with the deaths of the McLowerys, the Clantons, Stillwell, Florentino Cruz, Curly Bill, and the rest, organized, politically protected crime and depredations in Cochise County ceased.
Life in Los Angeles
In 1910, when he was 62, the Los Angeles Police Department hired Wyatt and former Los Angeles detective Arthur Moore King at $10.00 per day to carry out various tasks "outside the law" such as retrieving criminals from Mexico, which he did very capably.
The Earps bought a small cottage in Vidal, the only home they ever owned.
While living in Los Angeles, Earp became an unpaid film consultant for several silent cowboy movies.
Death
Wyatt Earp died at home in the Earps' small rented bungalow at 4004 W 17th Street, in Los Angeles on January 13, 1929, at the age of 80. The Los Angeles Times reported that he had been ill with liver disease for three years. His brother Newton had died almost a month prior on December 18, 1928. Wyatt was survived by Josephine and sister Adelia Earp Edwards. He had no children.
Personal life
Earp married Josephine Sarah Marcus in 1892. Their relationship was tempestuous at times. Earp distrusted her ability to manage her finances and made an arrangement with her sister Henrietta Lenhardt. He put oil leases in Henrietta's name with the agreement that the proceeds would benefit Josephine after his death. In February 1926, the oil well was completed and producing 150 barrels a day, but Henrietta's three children refused to keep the agreement after their mother's death and kept the royalties to themselves. Josephine sued her sister's estate in an attempt to collect the royalties.
Physical description
Tall like his brothers, Wyatt Earp was 6 feet (1.8 m) when the average height was about 5 feet 6 inches (1.68 m). He was described in 1887 by the Los Angeles Herald as "quiet, unassuming, broad-shouldered, with a large blonde mustache. He is dignified, self-contained, game and fearless, and no man commands greater respect." He weighed about 165 to 170 pounds (75 to 77 kg), was long-armed, and muscular, and was very capable of using his fists instead of his weapon to control those resisting his authority.
At about the same time, The Mirror, a newspaper in Monroe, Iowa, printed a wire story originating in Denver. The anonymous reporter described Wyatt in detail:
Wyatt Earp, a man whose trigger finger had considerable to do in making the border history of the West, was in Denver for several days last week. He is tall and athletic. His eyes are blue and fringed with light lashes and set beneath blonde eyebrows. His hair, which was once as yellow as gold, is beginning to be stranded with white. A heavy, tawny mustache shades his firm mouth and sweeps below his strong, square chin. He wore ... a neat gray tailor-made suit, immaculate linen and fashionable neckwear. With a Derby hat and a pair of tan shoes, he was a figure to catch a lady's eye ...
Images for kids
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Wyatt Earp w. mother Virginia Ann Cooksey Earp c. 1856.
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Earp's boyhood home in Pella, Iowa.
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Looking east from D St. toward 3rd St. in downtown San Bernardino in 1864.
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Wyatt Earp, age 21 in 1869 or '70, while married to Urilla Sutherland; taken in Lamar, Missouri.
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Urilla Sutherland, who married Earp on January 10, 1870.
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Lamar, Missouri, subpoena signed by Constable Wyatt Earp, February 28, 1870.
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Wyatt dealt faro at the Long Branch Saloon in Dodge City, Kansas.
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Wyatt's second wife, Mattie Blaylock
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Tombstone in 1881
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A possible image of Josephine Sarah Marcus, who left a relationship with Johnny Behan and took up with Wyatt Earp
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Business card for Tombstone's Oriental Saloon with the names of "W. Erp", "R. B. Clark", and "L. Rickenbaugh"
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A caricature of Wyatt Earp after the Sharkey-Fitzimmons fight: The public was outraged by his decision as referee and newspapers pilloried him for many weeks afterward.
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The Earps rented this cabin in Rampart, Alaska, from Rex Beach and spent the winter of 1898–1899 there.
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Nome, Alaska, in 1900: The Dexter Saloon at left was owned by Wyatt Earp and his partner Charles E. Hoxie. It was the city's first two-story wooden building and its largest and most luxurious saloon.
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Wyatt Earp billed his Dexter Saloon in Nome, seen here in 1901, as, "The only second class saloon in Alaska."
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Wyatt Earp (left) in Nome, Alaska, with long-time friend and former Tombstone mayor and newspaper editor John Clum (right), 1900
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The Earps stayed at the Hollenback Hotel in Los Angeles in December 1901 after returning from Alaska.
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Wyatt and Josephine Earp in their mining camp near Vidal, California: This is the only confirmed picture of the two of them together.
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The Earps' replacement headstone at the Jewish Hills of Eternity Cemetery in Colma, California
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See also
In Spanish: Wyatt Earp para niños
