PROFILES OF THE EARPS
AND "DOC" HOLLIDAY
IMMEDIATELY BEFORE THE FIGHT...
When the Earps and "Doc" Holliday showed up in Tombstone,
a large local gang of men called the "Cowboys" pretty much
had the run of the place. The Earps had gained themselves
a name as lawmen from Prescott, Dodge City, and other
parts of the West, and "Doc" Holliday was a well renowned
gunfighter. It was easy to see how these two groups would
be at such odds with each other. In the two and one half
years that the Earps were in Tombstone they managed to
eliminate the following Cowboy outlaws: "Old Man" Clanton,
Billy Clanton, Frank McLaury, Tom McLaury, Frank Stilwell,
Indian Charlie, Dixie Gray, Curly Bill Brocius, Johnny
Barnes, Jim Crane, Harry Head, Bill Leonard, Joe Hill,
Luther King, Charley Snow, Billy Lang, Zwing Hunt, Billy
Grounds, and Hank Swilling. Pete Spencer was thrown in the
Yuma Territorial Prison.
 Wyatt
Earp is best known as the fearless frontier lawman of
Wichita and Dodge City, Kansas, and as principal survivor
of the Gunfight at the OK Corral. But the Marshall Earp of
legend accounted for only about 5 years of Wyatt's long
and eventful life.
Wyatt spent most of his years traveling and living in the
deserts of the Southwest with his four brothers Virgil,
Morgan, James and Warren, as well as his wife Josie. His
lifelong passion for mining, gambling and sports led him
from one boomtown to another across the span of the
western frontier and into the 20th century.
Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp was born in Monmouth, Illinois on
March 19, 1848. In 1864 he moved with his parents to
Colton, California near San Bernardino, where he was
employed as a teamster and railroad worker. Wyatt returned
east and married in 1870, but after the sudden death of
his new bride, he drifted the Indian Territory working as
a buffalo hunter and stagecoach driver.
In 1875 he arrived in Wichita, Kansas where he joined the
police force. In 1876, he moved to Dodge City, Kansas
where he became a faro dealer at the at the famous Long
Branch Saloon and assistant marshal. It was here he met
and became lifelong friends with Bat Masterson and Doc
Holliday, as well as establishing his reputation as a
notable lawman and gambler.
 The photo at left comes from the National Archives of the
United States. Taken around 1890, the picture posed past
and present "Peace Commissioners" of Dodge City (Kansas).
Left to right: Charles Bassett, W.H. Harris, Wyatt Earp,
Luke Short, L. McLean, Bat Masterson, and Neal Brown.
Masterson was a close friend of Wyatt and spent much time
in Tombstone before returning to Kansas in 1882. Luke
Short, another friend, and part-time lawman and part-time
gambler, spent time in Tombstone and left a victim in
Boothill.
 Leaving Dodge City with his second wife, Mattie Blaylock,
in 1878, Wyatt traveled to New Mexico and California,
working for a time as a Wells Fargo agent. In 1879 he
assembled with his brothers and their wives in the new
silver mining town of Tombstone, Arizona.
 Wyatt planned to establish a stage line here, but upon
discovering that there were already two in town, he
acquired the gambling concession at the Oriental Saloon.
His brother Virgil (photo left) became town
marshal, while Morgan took a job with the police
department. It was here that Wyatt met his third wife
Josie (Josephine Marcus Earp), who remained with him until
his death.
On October 26, 1881, a feud that had developed between the
Earp brothers and a gang led by Ike Clanton culminated in
the most celebrated gunfight in western folklore -- the
Gunfight at the OK Corral. Three of the Clanton gang were
killed, while Ike and another wounded member escaped. The
three Earp brothers -- Virgil, Wyatt and Morgan -- along
with Doc Holliday survived. Both Morgan and Virgil were
wounded, and Virgil was later terminated as marshal for
his role in the homicides.
 In March, 1882 Morgan Earp (photo
right) was gunned down by
unknown assassins. Wyatt, along with his brother Warren
and some friends, embarked on a vendetta during which all
four suspects were eventually killed.
After being accused of these murders, Wyatt and Josie fled
Arizona to Colorado. then made the rounds of western
mining camps over the next few years. They turned up in
Coeur d' Alene, Idaho and in 1886, settled briefly in
booming San Diego, where Wyatt gambled and invested in
real estate and saloons.
In 1897 Wyatt and Josie headed for Nome Alaska where they
operated a saloon during the height of the Alaska Gold
Rush. They returned to the states in 1901 with an
estimated $80,000 and immediately headed for the gold
strike in Tonopah, Nevada, where his saloon, gambling and
mining interests once again proved profitable.
 Thereafter, Wyatt took up prospecting in earnest, staking
claims just outside Death Valley and elsewhere in the
Mojave Desert. In 1906 he discovered several veins that
contained gold and copper near Vidal, California on the
Colorado River and filed numerous claims there at the base
of the Whipple Mountains.
Wyatt spent the winters of his final years working these
claims in the Mojave Desert and living with Josie in their
Vidal cottage. He and Josie summered in Los Angeles, where
they befriended early Hollywood actors and lived off real
estate and mining investments.
On Jan. 13, 1929 Wyatt Earp died in Los Angeles at the age
of 80. Cowboy actors Tom Mix and William S. Hart were
among his pallbearers. Wyatt's cremated ashes were buried
in Josie's family plot in Colma, California, just south of
San Francisco. When Josie died in 1944 at the age of 75,
she was buried there beside him.
"The Life of Doc Holliday"
Dr. John Henry Holliday began his career as a Dentist in
the south in the 1870’s. After discovering he had
tuberculosis and no one would visit his practice in fear
that he might break into a horrific cough, “Doc” decided
to come west. The Doctors had told John that the drier air
of the west would be good for his disease. He was only
given one year to live.
After discovering his natural instincts for the game of
poker, he had found a new way to live. However, gambling
in the west was nothing to mess with. Doc carried a six
gun on his hip and one on his shoulder along with a knife
and used them at will. Running from the law, Doc found
himself in towns all over the west. His reputation was
growing. Many believed that Doc liked to kill but this was
not true.
Doc ran into a Lady friend who he had on and off affairs
with throughout his life. “Big Nose” Kate, broke him out
of jail and he felt he owed her for all of her help. So,
he married her.
He ventured from Dodge City to Tombstone and through
Colorado on several occasions. Many times running into
people that wanted to prove themselves by taking him down.
The price on his head was large and carried a big
reputation. He had a strong relationship with Wyatt Earp.
Wyatt and Doc would become friends after Doc shot down the
two men who had planned to hang him. They later would
become most famous for their showdown at the O.K. Corral.
Wyatt said of Doc, “He was the most skillful gambler and
the nerviest, fastest, deadliest man with a six-gun I ever
saw.”
No one succeeded to kill Doc in all his years including
the law. Although he claimed that he almost lost his life
nine times, four attempts to hang and ambushed five
others.
After a long battle with Tuberculosis, Doc decided to go
to Glenwood Springs, CO, to try the sulfur vapors. He
spent his last fifty-seven days in bed. On November 8,
1887, he awoke and asked for a glass of whiskey. It was
given to him and he drank it down with enjoyment. Then he
said, “This is funny”, and died.
He was buried in Glenwood Springs, Colorado at Pioneer
Cemetery.
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