Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend

by Casey Tefertiller

  A day later, the Epitaph said its Citizen's Party ticket "did not fare so badly after all, securing as it did the election of five good men." This was a rather remarkable statement, since the ticket's only important win was Judge Albert 0. Wallace for city recorder.

  The Earps could not have paid more than passing attention to the campaign. Up in their rooms at the Cosmopolitan, the family held a vigil around Virgil. While Virgil battled for life, business continued in the streets outside. Saloons ran day and night, faro tables remained in perpetual motion, and the election kept just about everyone's attention.

  Harry Woods and his Nugget seemed to have had everything their way. By all appearances they were rid of the Earps in town politics, and their candidates had just emerged with a grand victory. The paper editorialized: "After the People's Independent candidates shall have assumed the offices ... it is quite possible that there will not be so many walking arsenals perambulating our streets." A day after the election, the Nugget made a promise to the people:

  There need be no fears of turbulence or violence on the part of the lawless elements of Tombstone in the future. Our Mayor-elect is a man of considerable adipose tissue and he will suppress 'em. He will set down on 'em, as he did on one Mr. Blinn yesterday.

  The Nugget's promise would be unrealistic. The turbulence in Tombstone had only just begun.

  HAD JIM HUME NEVER LIVED IN THE WEST, the Westerns would have had to create him. Hume perfectly fit the image of a frontier hero: smart, brave, canny, and building a glorious reputation. As Wells, Fargo's chief special officer he had spent more than a decade running down stage robbers in California and Nevada, and usually received the proper degree of respect from the press for his achievements. Wells, Fargo was not amused when its No.1 hero was held up to ridicule.

  Hume was two weeks shy of his 55th birthday on January 7, 1882, when he settled down for a pleasant little Sunday-night stage ride from Benson to Tombstone along with eight other passengers and the driver, Jack Sheldon. Stage robberies had become commonplace in Cochise County, and only a few hours earlier $6,500 had been stolen from another stagecoach. But this stage carried no Wells, Fargo box, and no shotgun messenger sat next to the driver.

  As the stage rolled on between Contention and Tombstone at about one o'clock Sunday morning, two men stepped out of the shadows and ordered the driver to halt and get off the stage. The robbers passed among the passengers, taking about $1,500. Most notably, they took two fancy pistols and $75 from Hume, a serious humiliation for the man in charge of keeping stage robbers away from Wells, Fargo treasure.

  Hume visited the Epitaph office to detail the holdup and said he and most of the other passengers had fallen asleep when the stage pulled to a stop. "Before he was sufficiently awakened to take in the situation the driver was holding the leaders and the outside passenger was standing near the wheelers," the Epitaph story said. The shapes of the driver and passenger in the moonlight made it appear they belonged to the robber party, leading to the conclusion that there were four in on the heist instead of two, according to Hume's story in the Epitaph. "One of the robbers held a shotgun at the window on the inside passengers and forbade any one of them to stir on pain of instant death. Mr. Hume says that to attempt to use his revolvers under the circumstances-and being under the impression there were four robbers-would inevitably involve a sacrifice of the lives of several of the passengers, and as there was none of his employers' treasure on board, he considered he would be acting the part of wisdom to refrain from violent measures."

  The bandits, disguised with black cloth masks, were disappointed at the absence of a treasure box, then proceeded to quickly fleece the passengers, missing a good deal of the money. The Epitaph said the robbers "though firm in their demands, were polite in their language and were evidently no novices at the busi- ness."33

  Wells, Fargo took the unusual measure of offering a $300 reward, although none of its funds had been stolen. The mighty express company did not like the idea of having its top star disgraced, and it could not have enjoyed the situation the next morning when the San Francisco Exchange ran the story under the headline, "An Inefficient Officer," then lampooned Hume in another item:

  Tombstone must be a delightful place to live. The decent citizen if he remains in town is almost certain to be shot down in the streets by cowboys, and if he attempts to leave he is sure to be robbed in the stage. Between the two the life of the average Tombstoner must be a burden. By the way, it does not occur to us that Detective Hume, of Wells, Fargo & Co., distinguished himself greatly last night when he allowed a brace of highwaymen to relieve him of a pair of big revolvers. A man of Hume's reputation and supposed 'sand,' armed to the teeth as he was, should have been able to take care of two highwaymen.34

  According to Fred Dodge, secret agent for Wells, Fargo, Hume did more than just turn over his guns while the robbers were doing their deed-he kept up a string of banter while they were fleecing the passengers, doing a good enough job to keep them entertained while he got a read on their speech and physical characteristics. When Hume reached Tombstone, he saw Dodge and asked him to summon Wyatt Earp. Dodge recalled: "I sent for Wyatt at once, and Jim Hume called me into the back room where Wyatt soon joined us, and Hume gave such an accurate description of the robbers ... such as height, build and voice and other details, that I could almost have named the men.... And they always held out at Charleston."

  The rustlers kept a hangout at Jeptha B. Ayers's saloon in Charleston, and Dodge would reveal years later that Ayers was one of his paid informants. Dodge and Earp told Hume of the likelihood of finding the robbers there, then cautioned him to stay away. Wyatt and Morgan left Virgil's bedside to make the chase, along with Fred Dodge and another deputy. They first checked an area in the foothills of the Huachucas where the suspects kept cabins, then moved on to Charleston.

  Much to Dodge's surprise, he saw a familiar form when the posse reached Charleston: "As we dismounted, we saw Hume in the saloon leaning with his back against the bar, and as we entered I saw two of the men who were in the robbery, one on each side of Hume. Hume gave us no salutation, only to say, 'we were just about to have a drink when you speeding gentlemen rode up. Will you join us?' Which we did. This was not the safest place in the world for us to be in, and we took our places at the bar that were the most advantageous to us in case anything started. I took a schooner of beer and when Ayers was waiting on me, he was joking me about drinking slop etc.-and in the meantime managed to indicate to me with his eyes the two men that were in the robbery."35

  When Dodge had a chance to talk with Hume, he learned that Hume had come to Charleston on his own. While he was convinced that two men standing nearby had been guilty of the robbery, he said that there was not sufficient evidence to arrest them. Dodge did not name the robbers, although he knew who they were. The Epitaph would later identify the prime suspect as Alex Arnold, a lesser light among the cowboy crowd. The robbers had taken more than cash; they stole Hume's dignity.

  Another robbery, 34 hours earlier, hit Wells, Fargo in an equally sensitive area, because the company had to make up any losses caused by the bandits. On the night of January 6 at about three o'clock in the morning, three men stepped onto the deserted road from Hereford to Bisbee, near the Clanton ranch, and fired a volley of shots at the moving coach. Shotgun messenger Charley Bartholomew and a passenger jumped off, and the stage circled onto a back road toward Hereford, Bartholomew told the Nugget. After an exchange of shots, Bartholomew and the passenger ran back and again mounted the coach, which raced on with Bartholomew firing shots at the pursuers. The robbers finally maneuvered around the stage and stopped it from the front; they then ordered that the strongbox be thrown down. They broke the box open, took the $6,500 and Bartholomew's shotgun, then threatened driver W. S. Waite, saying that if he ever leaked their identity he would be killed. He kept their secret, but the Lod Angeles Tinned would later identify the prime candidate as "a desperate character named Ringo, who is suspected of
being one of the party who lately robbed the stage near Bisbee. He is one of the ringleaders of the cowboys." No other record has been found linking Ringo to the robbery.36

  The two weekend robberies gave further evidence that the Earps' shootout on Fremont Street had done nothing to end the crime wave in Cochise County. In fact, the situation had only grown worse. More and more no-accounts seemed to be drifting into Cochise County at a time when traditional crime had become less profitable. The Mexican army had built three outposts and increased border patrols, limiting the cowboys' access to all that good Sonoran beef. In addition, the Clanton-McLaury fencing operation was in disarray after the gunfight. It is likely that smuggling diminished because of the obvious outlaw dangers and the Mexican patrols. The cowboy-criminals needed new targets, and everyone in Cochise County became a potential victim. Crime problems were only getting worse, and many of the residents blamed the Earps for stirring up the cowboys and setting off the crime wave. Rumors became rampant that the family had played some obscure role in the robberies.

  Wells, Fargo never believed any such misinformation. Back in San Francisco, Wells, Fargo management was flat-out mad. Their shipments would have to be delivered or they would be required to replace the losses. Wells, Fargo did not like losing shipments, and it did not like paying rewards. Shortly after the robberies, rumors began circulating that Wells, Fargo planned to remove operations from Tombstone, a move that would have crippled commerce in southern Arizona. The company carried virtually all shipments of bullion and cash to and from southern Arizona and insured against loss or theft. If Wells, Fargo pulled out, the mine operators would have been left to try and transport their own payrolls through dangerous backroads or hope that another company would assume the risk.37

  While Hume denied the rumor of a pullout from Tombstone, he did say the company planned to remove routes through Bisbee and Benson, "the risks being greater than the profits." That was troubling news in itself. Wells, Fargo had in the past employed the tactic of starting rumors of withdrawing offices to spur the local citizenry to demand better law enforcement.38 In this case, rumors and the reality of a Bisbee pullout were enough for some Tombstoners to join the call for action. A correspondent to the Lod Angeles Timed bemoaned the impending loss of Wells, Fargo and called for the federal government to use troops to scour the country for criminals and protect the roads.39 However, such martial law tactics were not unanimously desired. Other factions in Tombstone believed that the whole notion was overblown and civilian authorities could do just fine at guarding the county.

  Dake's appointment of Wyatt Earp as his new deputy did not meet with acclamation in the territory. The Prescott Democrat denounced the decision: "We join with other Territorial papers in calling the attention of Marshal Dake to the impropriety, to say the least, of appointing one of the Earps to the position of Deputy United States Marshal. If he knew the facts, we are satisfied that a decent regard for public opinion would restrain him from placing such character in so responsible an office."40

  The Earp controversy had already spread through Arizona and would continue to build. The Democratic press had accepted Harry Woods's analysis of the situation and would print exchanges from the Nugget, probably unaware of the odd machinations in Tombstone, where the undersheriff served as editor amid intense political and personal rivalry. Troubled Tombstone grew even more confused. Many prominent townspeople lived in fear of every step, with any shadow in a dark alley providing the imagined potential for instant death.

  Billy Breakenridge, Behan's deputy, recounted a rainy night when he patrolled the streets and walked into a gun barrel, which was placed against his breast. Frank Stilwell carried the gun and told the deputy he had heard that a "certain party" had been boasting that he would kill Stilwell that night, but Stilwell would do the killing if he spotted the other party first. Breakenridge told Stilwell that he was already in too much trouble and should head home immediately. As Stilwell left, Breakenridge saw Doc Holliday on his way home, the possible target of another assassination plan. "It flashed through my mind that I had inadvertently saved Doc Holliday's life that night," Breakenridge said.

  Back in the Cosmopolitan, Virgil gradually grew stronger, although reports of his impending death kept appearing into mid-January. Deputy Marshal Wyatt Earp found himself out of the saloon business when Milt Joyce, head of the board of supervisors and the Earps' adversary, resumed control of the Oriental Saloon from Lou Rickabaugh. Wyatt sold off his gambling concession 41 A new advertisement for the Oriental appeared in the Nugget, proclaiming: "Again in the field-M. E. Joyce. Having again assumed the proprietorship of this well known and popular establishment, will in the future as the past, keep only the finest brands of Wines, Liquors and Cigars to be obtained.... All games conducted in an honest and gentlemanly way."

  Wyatt Earp's primary focus became serving as deputy U.S. marshal. His priorities would be to find the men who shot his brother and to make certain they did not pull their triggers again against Earps or Clum or any of the other townspeople who had supported them. Breakenridge said that after the shooting of Virgil, "the Earp party consisted of five to eight men, and they were always together heavily armed. Wyatt Earp as deputy United States marshal, asserted that they were a posse under him, and that they were looking for mail robbers." This would be typical of Wyatt Earp, the same strategy he had used in Kansas. He would not avoid a fight, but he sure wanted the odds in his favor if it came.

  By mid-January, the threat of further trouble forced the entire Earp family into quarters at the Cosmopolitan, with the cowboys keeping rooms across the street in the Grand. Nugget editor Richard Rule said: "Their apartments were perfect armories, and it was impossible to tell when shooting would begin. Miners and other workmen were very cautious about going into saloons at night, fearing that any moment would bring a fight and they were as likely as not to be shot."42

  With most of Tombstone already alarmed, on January 17 Doc Holliday made matters worse. Holliday engaged in something of a face-off with Ringo on the streets of town. As with many of the Tombstone stories, this one has been retold and reinvented to the point of uncertainty. It is likely that Ringo and Holliday met and began snarling at each other, then placed their hands on their guns, both ready to draw. Parsons saw most of the rest and wrote: "Ringo and Doc Holliday came nearly having it with pistols.... Bad time expected with the cowboy leader and DH. I passed both not knowing what was up. One with hand in breast pocket and the other probably ready. Earps just beyond. Crowded street and looked like another battle. Police vigilant for once, and both disarmed."

  Officer Jim Flynn grabbed Ringo from behind while Wyatt came over and hustled Doc away before either could act on their impulses. Police court records show that Ringo, Holliday, and Earp were all charged with carrying concealed weapons on January 17. The charge against Wyatt was dismissed because he was a U.S. marshal, while Holliday and Ringo were fined $32 each.43 Whether the incident was prompted by Big-Nose Kate's friendship with Ringo can only be surmised. This face-off between two of the most feared shootists in town could only serve to exacerbate the already tense situation.

  Clara Brown wrote: "While there is much to encourage the settlers in this new country, there is also an element of lawlessness, an insecurity of life and property, an open disregard of the proper authorities, which has greatly retarded the advancement of the place. It has occasioned much annoyance and loss among men who have invested their little all in Arizona's resources, not to speak of the lives that have fallen a sacrifice to a set of unprincipled beings who are above working for an honest living. Worse and worse the evil has grown, until now the state of affairs in this camp is far worse than in the early days of its settlement."44

  The situation would grow even more unsettled in the weeks after the HollidayRingo confrontation, with Tombstone's factions angrily debating the issues. The safety-first citizens screamed for action against the cowboys, while the Nugget and the Behan supporters insisted the situation was exa
ggerated; that due process and the frontier version of civil liberties mattered far more than sinking to the depths of vigilantism.

  Amid the confusion, Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp went on the offensive. Riding out of Tombstone with Morgan, Doc Holliday, and five others on January 23, a Monday, he carried warrants for the two surviving Clantons, Ike and Fin, and Pony Deal. Townsfolk lined the sidewalks, speculating on their intentions. Each of the horsemen carried a shotgun, a Winchester rifle, and two pistols, plus at least a hundred rounds of ammunition. A boy rode into Tombstone that evening with a worrisome story, according to the Nugget: "He met the Earp party fifteen miles from town, riding hard in the direction of the [Helms] ranch. About one and one half miles behind the Earps was a company of from fifteen to twenty cowboys, all heavily armed, riding furiously in pursuit, with every probability in favor of their soon coming up with the foremost party. If the boy's statements are true, and there seems no reason to doubt them, a bloody combat will surely be the result. The cowboys, in addition to their well-known fighting proclivities, are in this instance animated by a thirst for revenge, and the Earp party is composed of desperate men who will fight each to the death."45 The prediction never came true, and there was no January battle. But the dramatic story served to further shake up the town.

  Meanwhile, John Ringo was in town for a review of his bond on two separate counts of robbery. Judge Stilwell determined that the bond was insufficient, and that Ringo should be jailed. After the Earp party left town on Monday, Ringo rode out, too. Breakenridge would later say that Ringo's lawyer had reported the bond had been approved, and Ringo believed he was free to leave. Apparently the bond had been posted, but not accepted or verified by the court. Jim Earp stepped in and arranged for the warrant for Ringo's arrest. The Earp party had no warrants for Ringo, and another posse, twenty-one men under the command of John Henry Jackson, rode out before sunrise Wednesday to join the pursuit for Ringo. "There's something the matter now, sure," a bystander remarked to Clara Brown.