Rosser's Ramblings: Wyatt Earp - Lawman or Outlaw?

The following article was first published in The Pioneer on June 7, 2019

By Trent Rosser

We also know that Wyatt Earp was a famous lawman. He is most popular with the shoot out at the OK Corral. But was he really a good guy? I have always said that there are 3 sides to every story. What one person says, what the other person says and what really happened. Let's take a look at some of the things that could point to these either of these two men being the “Bad Guy”.

In 1870, Wyatt Earp married, but his wife died shortly before their first child was to be born. For the next 2 years, Wyatt had become less than a respected man. He was arrested for stealing a horse, he escaped jail, and he was sued on 2 different occasions. He finally straightened up and became a lawman in Wichita, Kansas, but, he was fined and dismissed for getting into a fistfight with a political opponent of his boss. He was constantly moving from one town to another. He finally ended up in Tombstone with his brothers. Virgil Earp was the city marshal and was having issues with a group called the Cochise County Cowboys. We all know how that ended, but how did it begin?

Some say that the Earps, along with “Doc” Holiday did what they were supposed to do and enforced the law. Others say it goes much deeper. There were rumors that there were actually 2 factions of outlaws. The cowboys and the Earps. Some say they all robbed stagecoaches, along with murdering and extorting across the county and within the city of Tombstone. They were at peace with one another but when Virgil became the city marshal, they believed that the cowboys were not splitting the profits correctly. This is how the feud started.

After the gunfight at the OK corral, 3 of the cowboys were dead. Shortly after on December 28, Virgil was shot and maimed by a shotgun blast, and on March 18, Morgan Earp (younger brother of Virgil and Wyatt and participated in the shootout at the OK corral) was playing billiards and was shot in the back. He died 40 minutes later. Wyatt believed that he could not rely on civil justice and with a posse, he took matters into his own hands to kill the murderers himself. This is known as the Earp Vendetta Ride. Many of the Cochise County Cowboys were murdered by Wyatt Earp. Including Curly Bill Brocius, Frank Stilwell, Indian Charlie and Johnny Barnes within a 2 week period. Wyatt and 5 others were indicted for murdering Frank Stilwell. Again, Wyatt Earp was on the wrong side of the law.

Even later on in life, his character was again called into question. After the vendetta ride, Earp, with his brother Warren Earp, and 2 others were on the outskirts of Gunnison, Colorado where they reportedly pulled a “gold brick scam” by trying to sell a German visitor gold painted rocks for $2000. Later in life, Wyatt was a last minute referee in a boxing match between Bob Fitzsimmons and Tom Sharkey in San Francisco. Earp had already refereed 30 plus matches in the past. Fitzsimmons was favored to win and he dominated the fight. When suddenly Sharkey dropped to the ground, clutched his groin and rolled around on the canvas. Wyatt stopped the fight and awarded Sharkey the fight due to foul. The crowd replied with boos and hisses. It is believed that Wyatt Earp had a huge sum of money on Sharkey to win. The smear on his character from the fight stayed with Wyatt until the day he died. Years later, Dr. Brookes Lee was accused of treating Sharkey to make it look like he was hit in the groin. He confessed saying ” I fixed Sharkey up to look as if he had been fouled. I got $1000 for my part in the affair”.

Wyatt made his way to Alaska for the gold rush. While in Nome, he was arrested twice for minor offenses including being drunk and disorderly. In July, 1911 Wyatt was arrested and charged with attempting to scam a realty broker in a fake faro game, but since money had not changed hands, the charge was reduced to vagrancy and he was released on $500 bail.

Lawman, or outlaw? Times were very different all those years ago. Today, he would be considered an outlaw. With all the things that he had allegedly done, from scamming to murder, he would not look favorably in the world today. Either way, Wyatt Earp was a bona fide lawman. We all make mistakes, and just because he was a great lawman, doesn't mean he was perfect. He once protected a prisoner from a lynch mob with just a shotgun. Good guy, I believe so. Like I said, there are always 3 sides to every story. We all know his side, now we know another side, but we may never know the real story. Either way, he will always be the good guy in white.