Wyatt After Tombstone

When Wyatt Earp left Tombstone in March of 1882, he was 34 years old.  Only two years of his life was spent in Tombstone.  Contrary to popular belief, this is NOT Wyatt, but he certainly played a good Wyatt Earp in the movie.

This is the real Wyatt at age 21 ... give or take.

He was born Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp in Illinois on March 19, 1848.  The family headed west to find their fortune in 1864.  Along the way, he was given a rifle to help the family fight off Indians.  He also acquired a handgun and became quite the expert shot. 

By 1870, Wyatt, James and Virgil headed to Texas looking for cattle driving and maybe some gold.  Wyatt and James had a knack for making friends and enemies, getting in trouble along the way.  In 1874 they landed in Wichita Kansas where Wyatt was appointed to the Police Force.  After a physical altercation with a political opponent, he was not rehired.  

From there, he followed his brother James to Dodge City where he was hired as Assistant City Marshall due to his fearlessness.  That's where he met Doc Holiday and Big Nose Kate.  In 1878, he went to Texas to track down an outlaw and while there credited Doc with saving his life.  From then on, they were close friends.

In 1879 Wyatt, Virgil and James left Dodge City and ended up in Tombstone where the latest silver mining operations were fast becoming moneymakers.  All the brothers held various law enforcement positions there.

We all know the story of the 30 second shootout.  After killing Frank Stilwell on the Tucson train station platform, Wyatt heard Pete Spencer was at his wood camp in the Dragoon mountains.  Instead of Spencer, Wyatt found Florentino Cruz, who immediately spilled the beans, naming everyone who was involved in brother Morgan's killing.  Cruz ended up full of bullet holes.  

On March 24, 1882, the posse ran into Curly Bill Brocius, near Iron Springs.  A gunfight broke out and Bill was no longer.  In just over a year, Wyatt, Doc Holiday and their friends, killed Indian Charlie, Dixie Gray, Florentino Cruz, Curly Bill, Johnny Barnes, Jim Crane, Joe Hill, Luther King, Charley Snow, Billy Lang, Zwing Hunt, Billy Grounds and Hank Swilling.  Pete Spencer turned himself in to the law so he could hide out in the penitentiary.

In May of 1882, with things heating up, Wyatt and his crew left Tombstone and rode to Silver City New Mexico to evade the law.  There they sold their horses, rode the stage to Deming and took a train to Albuquerque where they met up with Bat Masterson.  Being a Deputy U. S. Marshal at the time, Bat escorted them to Trinidad Colorado where Bat owned a saloon.  Wyatt dealt faro there for several weeks before moving on to Gunnison.

So what happened to Wyatt's wife Mattie Blaylock who was still in Colton with his family?  She sent him a letter saying she wanted a divorce from her common law husband.  She had fallen in love with a gambler from Arizona who had asked for her hand.  Wyatt refused to give her the divorce .... weird since he obviously hadn't been around her in so long.

It's actually pretty hard nowadays to come up with REAL photos.  There are a lot of fake ones out there floating around making it difficult to determine who is really who, but I'm pretty sure this is Mattie.

Mattie ran away with the gambler anyway, who later abandoned her in Arizona.  That began her love affair with drugs and alcohol, ending in her death in 1887.  Mattie is buried not too terribly far from here.  One of these days I'll go visit her.  In the same year, brother Virgil became the first Marshall of Colton California where he stayed after the gunfight.

Late in 1882, Wyatt and Doc went their separate ways, Doc to Pueblo Colorado and Wyatt to San Francisco to find Josephine Sarah Marcus whom he left in Tombstone when the vendetta ride began.  Contrary to popular belief, this is NOT Josie.  This is a theatrical cabinet card made in the early 1900's.

This is Josie.  Many books have been written, including hers, most of which have been "adjusted" shall we say, to present herself and their life in a better light.  In fact most think you can't believe anything Josie says in her book.

In 1883, they both took off to Silverton Colorado.  Spoiled, selfish and willful, the wealthy Josie (thanks to her parents) was the exact opposite of Wyatt.  She had zero domestic skills, so they never settled down, never had children and never did anything they didn't want to do.

Josie refused to marry Wyatt until the late 1890's.  According to who you believe, it was either aboard a yacht off the California coast or in Denver.  There's much more to tell.  Wyatt's story continues .......