Gunfighter & Gambler:
The True Story of Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Earp is best known as the most fearless cowboy of Wichita and Dodge City, Kansas. Not to mention a genuine figure of the famous gunfight at the OK Corral. The adventures of his famous brothers, Virgil, Morgan, James, and Warren, accompanied by he and his wife Josie, led him to be one of America's famous 18th century heroes.
Born as Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp, Marshall Earp was born in Monmouth, Illinois on March 19, 1848. After moving to Colton, CA in 1864, he worked as a teamster and railroad worker. In 1870, Wyatt got married and returned east; following this, his new bride died of an accident and again started working, but as a buffalo hunter and stagecoach driver.
After arriving in Wichita, Kansas, in 1875, Earp joined the police department. Soon he was carrying the badges of Policeman, Deputy Sheriff, and Deputy U.S. Marshall.
In 1879, he and his brothers and their wives then settled in the then new silver mining town of the historic Tombstone, Arizona. Because the Marshall loved sports, he became a Faro and Monte card dealer at the local Oriental Saloon. It was here where he met his third and lifetime companion, Josephine Marcus Earp, where she worked as an actress. It was also here where the Marshall met and became very good friends of Bat Materson and Doc Holliday (other survivors of the gunfight at the OK Corral).
On that fateful day of October 26, 1881, a gunfight between the Earps and a gang led by Ike Clanton turned into the most historical and replayed western fight of all time, the gunfight at the OK Corral. Another member besides Ike survived. The Earp brothers, including Doc Holliday, survived, but Morgan and Virgil were very badly wounded.
After the fight, Wyatt and Josie spent the rest of their lives in the Mojave Desert in their elegant Vidal cottage. When summering in L.A., they befriended many early Hollywood stars and lived off mining investments and real estate.
The great Marshall died on January 13, 1929 at the age of 80. Tom Mix and William S. Hart (famous actors) were among his pallbearers. After Josie's death in 1944 (at the age of 75), they both were cremated and were buried in Colma, CA, where this true legend still lies...
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