Wyatt Earp

Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (March 19, 1848 - January 13, 1929), was an officer of the law, gambler and saloon keeper in the Wild West. He is most known for his participation in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral along with Doc Holliday, Virgil Earp, and Morgan Earp.

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

On October 25, Clanton, very drunk, started telling everybody that he was going to kill Doc Holliday, or the first Earp that he saw. Holliday walked into the bar and tried to provoke Clanton into drawing his gun, but Clanton was unarmed. When Clanton threatened Holliday, Holliday replied with the now famous line, "You're a daisy if you do." Morgan Earp tried to break up the fight, but it only continued in the street. Ike ran into Wyatt that night and told him that he'd have him "man for man" the next day. The next morning, Clanton had acquired a rifle and was looking for an Earp to shoot, when Virgil came up behind Clanton, grabbed the rifle and pistol whipped Clanton. The Earps took Clanton to court for violating the town's ordinance against carrying firearms. Clanton was fined $25 and left unarmed. When Wyatt left court he ran into Tom McLaury and got into an argument with him. Wyatt ended up pistol whipping the unarmed McLaury and left him bleeding in the street. The cowboys regrouped at the O.K. Corral while the Earps and Holliday marched down the street to disarm them. Behan informed Virgil that he had already disarmed the cowboys and that no trouble was necessary. The 28 second gunfight that ensued came to be known as the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and has been the subject of many books and movies.

Related Topics:
October 25 - Pistol whipped - Tom McLaury - Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

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Wyatt came out of the gunfight completely unscathed, while Virgil was shot through the calf, Morgan was shot though the shoulder and Holliday was just grazed in the hip. Billy Clanton, Frank McLaury and Tom McLaury died from their wounds and Ike Clanton escaped, uninjured. Wyatt shot Frank McLaury in the stomach during the opening volley of the fight, although it was probably Morgan's shot in the head or Holliday's shot in the stomach that actually killed McLaury.

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The Earps and Holliday were considered heroes for about forty-eight hours. The funerals for Clanton and the McLaurys were the largest ever seen in Tombstone. The huge turnout caused many Tombstone residents and businesses to reconsider their calling for the mass murder of cowboys. Also, the fear of cowboy retribution and the potential loss of investors because of the negative publicity in large cities like San Francisco started to turn the opinion against the Earps and Holliday. Then stories that Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury were unarmed and that Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury threw up their hands before the shooting started made it look like the Earps and Holliday had committed murder instead of enforce justice.

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