Wyatt Earp


Earp remained in town, refusing to participate. While the town was practically deserted, Tobe Driskill and some hired hands trapped Earp at the Long Branch Saloon. Driskill had a grudge against Earp. Just when Earp thought the end was near, Doc Holliday saved the day and shot one of the cowboys. It was enough distraction that Wyatt was able to talk himself out of it.

After that, only a couple of other violent incidents occurred, before Dodge City settled down to a quiet little town. Earp got bored and decided to move on. He headed to Tombstone, Arizona, where rich silver strikes were making men rich. His brother James and his family went to Tombstone with Earp. Upon his arrival at Tucson, his old friend Charles Shibell appointed him deputy sheriff of Pima County. On December 1, 1879, the small party arrived at Tombstone. In January, brother Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday came to Tombstone too. The town was only a few months old, it was already full of outlaws. Most famous of the outlaws were John Ringo, Curly Bill Brocius, and the Clanton brothers. The lawmen and the outlaws were always at odds. Sometime after his arrival in Tombstone, Earp married a woman named Mattie.

The most famous incident of Wyatt Earp's career was the shootout at O. K. Corral. It occurred on October 26, 1881. The shootout was not actually in the corral but on a vacant lot near an assay office and Fly's Photographic Gallery. About two o'clock that afternoon, Sheriff John Behan told the Earp brothers about some outlaws that were in town. He said that they had been bragging about how they would take down the Earp brothers. He tells the Earp brothers he should go arrest the bad men before there can be any kind of a confrontation. Unfortunately, it appears Behan then went and warned the outlaws that the sheriff was coming.

The Earp brothers, joined by Doc Holliday sought out the bad guys, walking along Fourth Street, heading toward Fremont. The townspeople must have known something was up as they watched the determined walk stroll by. Just up the street Tom McLaury saw them coming. He warned the others, Frank, Billy, and Ike Clanton; Billy Claiborne; and his brother Frank. As the lawmen draw close to the outlaws, Sheriff Behan appears near Bauer's Meat Market and tells them that he has disarmed the outlaws so that a shootout

The copyright of the article Wyatt Earp in The Old West is owned by Elizabeth Gibson. Permission to republish Wyatt Earp in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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