Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend

by Casey Tefertiller

  Parsons helped find horses for John Jackson's large band, then returned to the comfort of his diary to express a little hope: "At last the national government is taking a hand in the matter of our trouble, and by private information I know that no money or trouble will be spared to cower the lawless element. Our salvation I think is near at hand. It looks like business now when the United States marshal Dake takes a hand under special orders." Dake had visited San Francisco and raised $3,000 from Wells, Fargo to fund the posse.

  The Nugget provided a different view. "The ostensible object of the movement is the capture of stage robbers and other malefactors, but there are many in this community who believe the gratification of private malice will be the first consideration with the leaders of the party."46 The Nugget and many members of the community believed that there was no place for personal revenge in law enforcement.

  Jackson's posse reached Charleston at daybreak and headed for the Occidental Hotel for breakfast, where Jackson ran into Ike Clanton. Jackson told Ike that he had come to arrest Ringo, and several cowboys muttered in the background that nobody would be arrested unless they wanted to be. The possemen saw the barrels of several rifles pointed over the adobe walls behind Clanton and his friends. Doing the talking for the cowboy band, Ike said that Ringo had always acted the gentleman toward him, and he would see what could be done. After talking to Ringo, Ike assured Jackson that Ringo would return with the posse to Tombstone. Almost immediately, attorney Ben Goodrich came on the scene and pulled Ringo aside for a little talk. Clanton then told Jackson that Ringo had slipped away, but was on his way to Tombstone. Ringo arrived within ninety minutes and turned himself in to the sheriff's office, where he would be under Behan's guard.47 After Jackson's posse returned to Tombstone, yet another posse entered the field, this one led by Charley Bartholomew, the shotgun messenger who had been held up three weeks earlier. With three posses riding the backcountry, the Nugget noted, "The large number of armed men leaving town the past few days has completely exhausted the supply of rifle scabbards usually kept by Patton, the harness-maker."48

  Mayor Carr, elected on the anti-Earp ticket, surprised his backers by issuing a statement to both papers asking citizens not to interfere with the work of the marshal's brigade and vouching for the legitimacy of the warrants Earp carried against Deal and the Clantons. Although the mayor endorsed it, the Nugget railed against Earp's posse, "The cause of the intense local feeling that exists here is that a large majority of our citizens believe that the recent killing in our streets was a murder in reality, but done under the cover of a city marshal's authority. To again place such power, in a slightly different form, in the hands of the perpetrators of the former act is an outrage upon the public that could only be committed by a stupid or vicious magistrate. If the blood of either party is again spilled within our county borders, this judicial authority . . . is forever stained and burdened with the moral guilt, if not the actual."49 The Nugget further said, "It should be stated, however, that the 30 extra deputies who left here on the night in question had been more than ordinarily successful in their quest of the 'flowing bowl,' as a consequence the majority of them were chuck full of courage, which might account for their self confidence." The paper portrayed a drunken, ragtag posse under the leadership of murderers, out for the purpose of quick killing, not law enforcement. The story ran under the provocative headline "A PESTIFEROUS POSSE."

  The Epitaph struck back, saying the posse "consisted of hard-working miners and others who have volunteered to assist in the carrying out of the law." It intimated that members included workers from the ranch of Henry Clay Hooker, who had been raided heavily by rustlers in recent months.50

  While the papers debated the issue in town, Wyatt Earp had work ahead. He planned a quiet entry into Charleston on a chilly Wednesday evening. Hoping to draw out the cowboys, he and Sherm McMasters rode across the Charleston bridge, while the rest of the band waited, sequestered in reserve. But no cowboys showed up, much to the surprise of the Earps. They could only speculate later that two passersby had seen the large posse and informed the rustlers.51 Before reaching the village, they encountered Ben Maynard, a troublemaking pal of the cowboys, and took his guns. The Earp posse forced Maynard at gunpoint to lead them through Charleston, using him as a human shield as they moved through town, knocking on doors of buildings where the cowboys might be hiding. They repeatedly told him that if shots were fired, he would "not last as long as a snowball in hell."

  After awakening the entire town, the posse determined that there were no cowboys in Charleston that night.52 There were no Clantons, no Ringo, no Pony Deal. The only find, apparently, was a Mexican stockherder who carried a rifle that belonged to Pete Spence, which the posse confiscated. They set Maynard free and continued the search.

  Deputy Sheriff S. H. Sperry also ran into the posse, according to the Nugget. Sperry was stopped on the road to Charleston and encircled by the members, who began berating him with such epithets as "cattle thieving son-of-a-bitch" before asking his business and allowing him to depart.

  Sheriff Behan remained in Tombstone while the posses rode through the county he was charged to protect. According to the Nugget, he received a telegram on Thursday saying, "Doc Holliday, the Earps and about forty or fifty more of the filth of Tombstone, are here armed with Winchester rifles and revolvers, and patrolling our streets, as we believe for no good purpose. Last night and to-day they have been stopping good peaceable citizens on all the roads leading to our town, nearly paralyzing the business of our place. We know of no authority under which they are acting. Some of them, we have reason to believe, are thieves, robbers and murderers. Please come here and take them where they belong." At least that's what the Nugget reported. Telegrams were charged by the word, and a missive that wordy would have been costly. Whether a true dispatch from Charleston or a hoax by either Behan or Harry Woods, the message helped fan the outrage against the Earps.

  The Nugget also ran an interview with Mayor Carr saying he thought the marshal's actions in sending the posse were uncalled for. "He has no doubt that the Sheriff of the county is abundantly able and willing to deal with the lawless element.... He is most emphatic in the statement that in 30 years experience on the Pacific coast, he has never known a more quiet and law-abiding community than are Tombstone and Cochise county." According to the story, Carr further suggested that the reason for the posse might just be to cover the use of the several thousand dollars used to fund it. This was the same mayor who only days earlier had endorsed the posse.

  The war of editorials between the Nugget and the Epitaph grew more intense as the posses were in the field. With Clum still absent, Reppy and the Epitaph leveled their most vicious attacks on Behan and the Nugget, filled with phrases in bold capital letters. Reppy assailed the Nugget for editorializing against the Earp and Jackson posses, with remarks that were "surely calculated to arouse a sympathy with the STUPIDLY VICIOUS element of this community. . . . And whence comes the authority for the doctrine that persons charged with crime shall have the extreme courtesy extended to them of selecting those mild ministers of the law who shall approach them gently as a sucking dove, and fairly coo them into jail?"53 Against Behan, the Epitaph said the sheriff held "bench warrants, unexecuted, in his hands against men charged with crime, who frequently parade our streets in the most unconcerned manner."54

  The Nugget responded by denying the charges against Behan and writing, "Is it such a monstrous dogma that 'every man is to be believed innocent until proven guilty?' If this doctrine ... is true, is it not then better to 'fairly coo them into jail' than to go forth red-handed and shoot down men with up-thrown arms? ... The Earps have had their examination and were acquitted of criminal intent, and we say, let the matter drop. So, too, let the cowboys accused of crime have their trial, and let all abide by the result."55

  As Tombstone awaited the posse with excitement, Charleston continued under siege. The Earps spent Thursday patrolling the hills outside town and di
d not return that night. Charley Bartholomew remained in town with fifteen men. In town that night between 10 and 11 P.M. a "perfect pandemonium" broke out, according to a writer to the Epitaph, when a bonfire was lit in the middle of the main street and rifle and pistol shots were fired incessantly. It seems the cowboy sympathizers were trying to intimidate Bartholomew's posse into leaving town, a move that worked when the posse slipped away in the night undetected. Wyatt Earp returned the next morning and took his posse to breakfast before departing for a trip down the river to chase the Clantons.

  Earp's posse spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday Clanton-hunting through the back country of Cochise County. Jackson again mysteriously left Tombstone and joined up with Bartholomew. The combined posse somehow picked up Pete Spence as a trail guide and found the quarry that had eluded the Earps. At about 2:30 Monday morning, Fin and Ike Clanton gave themselves up to the Jackson-Bartholomew posse. According to the Nugget, they had repeatedly offered to surrender to anyone who would provide them protection from the Earps, and the offer came from Bartholomew and Jackson.

  Their return drew attention in Tombstone. "It is hoped that this inauguration of the war of extirpation will be attended with success, and that the ball will be kept vigorously rolling until the bane of the county is satisfactorily disposed of," Clara Brown wrote.56

  While the Clantons were being brought back to Tombstone, another arrest warrant went out, this time for a member of the Earp party. Dave Neagle, serving as both city marshal and deputy sheriff, rode out and arrested Sherm McMasters on charges of horse stealing. McMasters was still wanted on charges of stealing two horses from the Contention Mining Company after he had eluded Virgil Earp, and before McMasters had made public his affiliation as an Earp ally and informant. Neagle located the entire Earp party near the camp of Pick 'Em Up a couple of miles from Tombstone and, with no resistance, marched McMasters back to town as the Earps, Doc Holliday, and the rest of the party followed closely behind.

  George Parsons packed up his outfit Monday morning and rode off to inspect mining claims. He passed by the Earp party outside Charleston, then rode into the little town. "Charleston looked almost like a deserted village, and as though having undergone a state of siege," he recorded in his diary.

  The courts were busy that Monday. McMasters was booked and released on $1,000 bail. The case would be continued but never tried. The Clantons' hearing proved far more dramatic. Defense attorneys Goodrich and Alexander Campbell went into Judge William Stilwell's court fuming. They had been lied to, and they didn't like it. A few days earlier Goodrich had approached the judge and told him the Clantons did not want to surrender to the Earps for fear they would be killed. Stilwell responded with a most unexpected decision: he appointed Jackson-just back from catching Ringo-to form another posse and chase the Clantons. This was a direct repudiation of Johnny Behan, who as sheriff should have had the legal authority to lead the chase. When Goodrich protested that Behan should lead the posse because Jackson did not hold an official law enforcement position, Stilwell intimated that Jackson carried an appointment as a U.S. deputy marshal, satisfying Goodrich that Jackson held at least a comparable position to Wyatt Earp and would have the right to hold prisoners. After the Clantons returned to town, Goodrich learned that Stilwell had misled him-Jackson held no federal appointment. When the case reached court that Monday, Goodrich assailed the judge for giving Jackson the right to carry warrants with no legal authority. Goodrich argued mightily against Stilwell's judgment, saying that the Earps could have taken the Clantons from the Jackson party at any time because Wyatt did have a badge. Stilwell's decision, Goodrich said, could have led to murder.

  Judge Stilwell disagreed vehemently. He said that Jackson's posse had been an attempt to prevent any such murder. It was, in fact, a remarkable undertaking for the court to assemble and assure the fees for such a second posse. "I endeavored if the accused desired to come in and have a hearing, to take such steps that would conduct them into town in such security and safety that no one would doubt; that I have done so no one need any proof. As to the legality of the party deputized to do so, I will not pass on until I have considered it somewhat." Goodrich had asked that all charges be dropped because of the uncertain legal status of Jackson's posse, but withdrew the request after the long confrontation with the judge. He would have the Clantons ready to answer charges.

  By then, Ike and Fin had already had a surprise of their own. They had come to town believing they were facing a hearing for robbery of the mails. When they arrived, they learned the accusation was for something quite different-the attempted assassination of Marshal Virgil Earp.

  "The offense is a grave one," prosecutor William Herring told the court. "The party alleged to have been assailed by these parties is lying dangerously ill-so dangerous that death may ensue. It may become necessary for a process of a higher nature than this to be issued against them."

  Herring asked for a bail of $5,000 each. Stilwell instead accepted a bail of $1,500 each, and the bonds were met immediately. The Clanton boys could only wait and wonder if their preliminary hearing would be on a murder charge.

  The previous week had been difficult for the Earps, with Wyatt and Morgan leading their assault on Charleston and Virgil lying close to death back in Tombstone. While Wyatt rode on patrol, Marshal Dake called a meeting in Tombstone to select a new deputy for Cochise County, as it had become apparent Virgil could not continue with his duties. Mayor Carr held a meeting of Tombstone Republicans to discuss the issue. City Councilman Jim Nash spoke out. A moderate who was not affiliated with either side, Nash said that the U.S. deputy marshals should not be men with private wrongs to avenge, and the appointee should not be a member of either faction.

  Carr appointed a five-man committee to recommend the new candidate for marshal, and an open citizens' meeting was held the next night for further discussion. According to the Epitaph, the discussion ended with a big joke -troublemaker Ben Maynard, the cowboys' friend, received the endorsement for the marshal's job.

  "The nomination was seconded by the Hon. Judge Murphy, who in the light of twenty years' acquaintance, eulogized Mr. Maynard as a whole-souled, noble, courageous man, equally as good as the president, and a gentleman who would represent the solid views of the solid men of the camp," the Epitaph wrote of the tongue-in-cheek statements, a pointed barb at the Nugget's laudatory report from Maynard a week earlier after he served as a human shield for the Earps. The citizens voted to endorse Maynard as the next marshal and left laughing.

  The next morning, the joking ended. Wyatt Earp, a man who rarely laughed in the best of times, had taken all the public criticism very seriously, and he did not like the idea of his town turning against him when he perceived that he was serving as its protector. All he received for his efforts was constant harping and criticism. Enough was enough. If the citizenry wanted him out, he would leave. On the morning of February 2, the Epitaph ran a startling letter signed by Wyatt S. Earp and Virgil W. Earp under the headline: "DRAW YOUR OWN INFERENCE/ Resignation of Virgil W. Earp and Wyatt S. Earp as Deputy Marshals":

  Major C. P. Dake, United States Marshal, Grand Hotel, Tombstone-Dear Sir: In exercising our official functions as deputy United States marshals in this territory, we have endeavored always unflinchingly to perform the duties intrusted to us. These duties have been exacting and perilous in their character, having to be performed in a community where turbulence and violence could almost any moment be organized to thwart and resist the enforcement of the processes of the court issued to bring criminals to justice. And while we have a deep sense of obligation to many of the citizens for their hearty cooperation in aiding us to suppress lawlessness, and their faith in our honesty of purpose, we realize that notwithstanding our best efforts and judgment in everything which we have been required to perform, there has arisen so much harsh criticism in relation to our operations, and such a persistent effort having been made to misrepresent and misinterpret our acts, we are led to the conclusion that,
in order to convince the public that it is our sincere purpose to promote the public welfare, independent of any personal emolument or advantages to ourselves, it is our duty to place our resignations as deputy United States marshals in your hands, which we now do, thanking you for your continued courtesy and confidence in our integrity, and shall remain subject to your orders in the performance of any duties which may be assigned to us, only until our successors are appointed.

  The Epitaph commented, "The document is a manly and generous one, and should meet with impartial criticism from the public. The position of deputy marshal on the frontier is no sinecure. An officer who honestly tries to do his duty encounters many perils that the public know not of, and raises within the breasts of criminals that desire for their death that comes from fear of the gallows and imprisonment. It would be much out of place for a public journal, under the attendant circumstances, to endeavor to create public opinion upon these resignations, as to prejudge a case at court. It is sufficient that the matter is before the United States Marshal, who has had ample opportunity to investigate the condition of affairs, and who will give the subject that deliberate and careful consideration that comes of experience in official life."57

  Dake refused Wyatt Earp's resignation and also gave John Henry Jackson an appointment as U.S. deputy marshal, a move that met with high praise from the Epitaph.58 Wyatt Earp kept his badge, a decision that did not meet with unanimous glee in a Tombstone weary of conflict. Democratic newspapers in the territory began calling for Dake to accept Wyatt's resignation and wondering why he had not. Dake never made his reasons clear, but he remained a supporter of Wyatt Earp. Whether Wyatt had vengeance in his heart or public protection as his goal, he was the man Dake wanted serving as a U.S. marshal in Tombstone.