Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend

by Casey Tefertiller

  The Star and the Citizen agreed that Paul should make the trip -this was Pima County business. The Citizen made the point clearly: "It would have simply been an outrage upon this county for the Governor to have issued the requisition to the Sheriff of Cochise county, upon a warrant issued in this, and have allowed that officer to have proceeded to Denver with a carte blanche against this county for expenses, a county to the people of which he owes no responsibility."

  Paul arrived in Denver on Friday, May 19, and talked with a News reporter two days later. The story said he spoke reluctantly, reticent about discussing Holliday or the Stilwell killing. When asked whether Holliday was involved with the Earp gang, Paul was quoted with a most uncharacteristic remark:

  He was, and in fact, was one of the leaders. The so-called Earpp [sic] gang, or faction if you please, was composed entirely of gamblers who preyed upon the cowboys, and at the same time in order to keep up a show of having a legitimate calling was organized into a sort of vigilance committee, and some of those including Holliday, had United States Marshal's commissions.

  Later in the interview he was asked the sentiment in Arizona. Paul reportedly responded:

  That, sir, is a difficult thing to answer. The feeling is, however, very strong, especially among the more respectable citizens who have been terrorized for years by the cowboys and the Earp gang and justice will no doubt be meted out to Holliday and his partners.23

  Those two statements have been taken by historians to indicate that Paul turned against Wyatt Earp after the Vendetta. However, Paul also spoke briefly with the Tribune, and the reporter wrote: "Sheriff Paul, while he is not willing to talk, is evidently in favor of Holliday and the Earps. The fight was a factional and political one. The cowboys, who represent the worst element of Arizona, were Democrats to a man. Holliday and the Earps represented the Republican element of Tombstone and the best class of citizens."24 The Democratic News and Republican Tribune presented very different interpretations of Paul's sentiments. Paul had been a solid Earp supporter during the Tombstone affairs, and he would defend the Earps again in 1898 with a letter to the Tucson Citizen. Most likely, the Tribune account more accurately reflects Paul's thinking, while the News either misquoted the sheriff or confused the story.

  Back in Arizona, the anti-Earp faction had grown angry with the sheriff's slow return, and the Star voiced the complaint:

  It looks as if Sheriff Paul, who was apparently so anxious to go after the Earps, will return with only one of the criminals. That is probably the reason why he was selected to go. If Behan, of Cochise county, had been commissioned for the enterprise the result might possibly have been different. The Star admitted frankly Paul's right to go after the outlaws if he desired to. The crime upon which the requisition was based was committed in this county and as an officer of this county was the proper person to execute it. But this concession is based on the presumption that Paul had the intention and the courage to perform his duty. His return with only Holliday in custody will be simply an outrage upon public decency.25

  While Arizona simmered, rumors circulated through the territories. The Albuquerque Review wrote that the cowboys had left Tombstone, apparently to prepare an ambush for Paul when he tried to return with Holliday. "They have threatened that Holliday will never again enter Tombstone alive," the paper re- ported.26

  The sheriff of Pima County settled in to wait for the extradition hearing, scheduled on May 30. Late in the evening of the 29th, Masterson arranged to meet with Colorado governor Frederick Pitkin and enlisted the aid of the Tribune's Capitol reporter, E. D. Cowen, who said Masterson came to the paper's office and asked for help. Cowen said: "He submitted proof of the criminal design upon Holliday's life. Late as the hour was, I called upon Pitkin and he agreed to order a public hearing of the requisition. The true motive of the arrest was sufficiently proved out of the mouth of [Paul] .1127 If Cowen, an eyewitness and top journalist, was accurate, Paul confirmed Masterson's story and helped prevent Holliday's return to Arizona.

  Pitkin denied extradition on two grounds. The first was faulty legal terminology in the drawing up of the extradition papers; the second was the warrant for Doc that Bat had fabricated in Pueblo, which meant that Colorado had priority on any charge against Holliday. Paul returned to Arizona empty-handed to face the political assault that would surely follow.

  A Star reporter waited with the sheriff's wife, Mary, to meet the train on the evening of Friday, June 2. Paul explained to the reporter that the proper papers had been delayed, and the judge refused to grant an extension. Paul then made an appointment for a meeting with the governor to discuss extradition.

  "After examining the papers he said another charge had been made against Holliday at Pueblo, that of swindling a man in a confidence game out of $150," Paul said. "He also said that he had been informed by prominent citizens of Denver that if Holliday was placed in my custody he would be murdered by cowboys before reaching Tucson."

  Paul said he assured Governor Pitkin that he had made every attempt to make the trip safe, with men stationed at Willcox, Bowie, and Deming to telegraph any indication of a possible cowboy attack. Paul said he even offered to take Holliday back by way of San Francisco to throw the cowboys off the trail. Pitkin then examined the papers. Finding they were signed only by the court clerk, not by Governor Tritle, Pitkin declared the paperwork defective and allowed Holliday to be arrested by the Pueblo authorities. Paul followed the dentist to Pueblo and sat in on the preliminary hearing, where Doc was freed on $300 bail. Paul said that he was unable to pursue the Earps because he had to stay in Denver to watch over Holliday.

  "When I arrived in Denver I received a telegram that Wyatt Earp was there [in Gunnison] sick, and that the rest of the gang could be had any time. I at once bought a ticket for that town but was influenced to remain in Denver and look out for Holliday. I however wrote to the Sheriff at Gunnison asking further particulars and he telegraphed that Wyatt and Warren Earp had just left in a wagon but could be captured if I had the necessary papers ready. I hadn't the requisition and hence could do nothing."

  Paul said he had heard that McMasters and Turkey Creek Jack had taken off for the Texas Panhandle. He also reported that Holliday had said he intended to return to Pima County for trial when court opened. "He does not deny or acknowledge the killing of Stilwell," Paul said. "He however states that when his party were at the depot in this city some of them were standing on the rear platform of the train. Two men approached. One he was sure was Stilwell, and the other it was presumed was Ike Clanton. The latter leveled their guns at the Earp party, when he and his friends dodged into the cars, procured guns and jumping from the train started down the track after the other two. At this point Holliday stopped the story and would not say what occurred afterwards."

  The great Earp extradition debacle had ended, with Doc Holliday on perpetual parole in Colorado. Bob Paul never made the trip to Gunnison to meet with Wyatt and Warren, and Tritle did not pursue any further attempt to bring the marshals back to face the courts. The Earp affair had ended in reality, but would live on as a political issue in Arizona, with the Star constantly digging at the Republicans for their inaction:

  Sheriff Paul's return to Arizona without the prisoners he ostensibly went to secure really creates no surprise. It was not expected he would bring them. It was not believed that those who commissioned him to do so intended that he should discharge his duty. The Republican officials could not afford to have the Earps or any of their crowd returned for trial; and of course the papers were defective. It was the easiest way out of the difficulty. Of course the Governor would not intentionally sign defective papers. Of course not. But being a lawyer he might have detected the defect if he had scrutinized them closely. So he omitted to scrutinize them.... We only know that the law has been cheated, and the Republican party of this Territory saved from a very embarrassing predicament. That is the length and breadth of the whole trans- action.28

  While the Tucson Citizen defe
nded the Earps' actions, the Star continued to insinuate that the Earps had indeed been party to the crime wave in Cochise County by saying:

  The Star has contended that the lawlessness in this Territory was the outgrowth of the Earp dynasty; that it began with their advent in the Territory and ended with their departure. This is so self evident a truth that even the Citizen has not had the hardihood to deny it. The Star has only treated the political aspect of the Earp difficulty and has not sought to prejudge their personal responsibility for individual crimes.29

  In San Francisco, Virgil Earp would bemoan that his family had become a political issue. "The press dispatches that have been sent here have been very unfair to us and have been made to conform to a plan to carry these fights into politics this season.... I am sorry to see the thing taken into politics as a personal measure, because the true aspect of the trouble will be lost and new enmities are likely to be created."30

  With remarkable clarity, Virgil Earp predicted a debate that would continue for years to come. The facts had already become secondary to the political storm that blew through the territory. Arizona would never agree on Wyatt Earp. To some, he would stand as the noble hero who made the Territory safe for commerce, enforcing the law when the courts could not. To others, he would be the ultimate vision of evil, perhaps even the mastermind of stage robberies. These conflicting legacies would haunt Wyatt Earp through the rest of his life. Even in his later years, Earp never really understood why he remained so controversial. In his eyes, he had just done what needed to be done. The courts could not convict a cowboy; Morgan's murderers could not be allowed to roam free, not just for vengeance but because they could return to kill Clum, Spicer, E. B. Gage, or the legion of others who still spoke out for the Earps. Wyatt Earp never recognized that in five months in Tombstone his actions had ingnited an issue that would continue to be debated for years to come-law versus order, the right of self-preservation over adherence to legal structure. It is one of the most basic elements of any system of laws, and a debate that reemerges when the Curley Bills, Capones, and Crips of the world persevere beyond control of the court system.

  THE EARPS WERE DONE IN TOMBSTONE. Their friends knew it, Behan knew it. Everyone seemed to know it except the Earps.

  The family had amassed large land holdings; one section of land had even taken on the name "the Earp addition." They had mining claims they hoped would turn into silver strikes and real estate that would grow in value as the town expanded, bringing them the riches that were sure to follow. Gunnison was simply a way station, a stopping point before returning to Arizona.

  "I shall stay here for a while," Earp told a reporter for the Gunnison News- Deinocrat in early June. "My lawyers will have a petition for a pardon drawn up. Everybody in Tombstone knows that we did nothing but our duty. Anyway, I'd do it over again under like circumstances, and all the best people there will sign the petition. Governor Pitkin knows the facts pretty well and will sign it too. We look for a pardon in a few weeks, and when it comes I'll go back; but if no pardon is made I'll go back in the fall anyway and stand trial. I'd go now, but I know we would have no show; they'd shoot us in the back as they did my brother...

  "I'm going to run for sheriff this fall. Behan knows he can't get it again, and that's what makes him so hot towards me. I heard the gang is breaking up and a good many are going to other parts of the country. I hold out my place, but we have some mining property back there yet. Doc Holliday is in Pueblo now, and he may come over here. 1131

  Doc joined Wyatt in Gunnison in mid-June, after Pitkin refused extradition, and remained at the camp for a couple of weeks. The rift between Earp and Holliday was minor enough not to have impaired their friendship. Gunnison police officer Judd Riley recalled the camp as quiet and prepared for conflict: "The bunch was well heeled and went armed. Earp was a fine looking man, tall with drooping mustache that curled at the ends. He was quiet in manner and never created a bit of trouble here, in fact, he told us boys on the police force we could call on him if we needed help at any time. He was a dead shot, I guess. [He] always wore two guns high up under his arms, but he never used them here. Doc Holliday was the only one of the gang that seemed to drink much, and the minute he got hilarious, the others promptly took him in charge and he just disappeared. "32

  Back in Los Angeles, Jim Earp told the Times he and his brothers had too much property in Tombstone to leave; they would fight it to the bitter end.33

  While Wyatt and Warren waited in Gunnison, Virgil made the trip to San Francisco to have top surgeons examine his battered left arm. An Examiner reporter met him near Oakland for the first of two extensive interviews detailing Arizona affairs. He described the former marshal:

  Virgil Earp is not a ruffian in appearance. He was found in the sleeping car smoking a cigar. His face, voice and manner were prepossessing. He is close to six feet in height, of medium build, chestnut hair, sandy mustache, light eyebrows, quiet, blue eyes and frank expression. He wore a wide-brimmed slate-colored slouch hat, pants of a brown and white stripe, and a blue diagonal coat and vest, both the latter with bullet holes in them, bearing testimony of a recent fight when he was shot in the back, the bullet coming out at the front of the vest. His left arm was carried in a sling, also a memento of his last fight, when he received a bullet in his arm, since causing the loss of about six inches of bone which crippled him for life.34

  Virgil acknowledged that his brother's band had been responsible for the Stilwell killing and said that Stilwell had confessed before his death and named his co-conspirators. More likely it was Indian Charlie who did the talking. Virgil said Wyatt would return to Tucson in the fall. "The Court in Tombstone does not sit again for six months yet, and they didn't want to lie in jail all that time waiting for trial, but when the Court sits again they will give themselves up, and, with fair play, will be acquitted."

  The Star picked up these comments, leading to a scoffing response from the very Democratic Epitaph. "Without any desire to irritate Mr. Earp, we nevertheless cannot help expressing astonishment that a man with two pounds of buckshot in his stomach, four bullets in his heart and his head mutilated by lead beyond recognition, could have had either time or inclination to make any statement whatever." And for the Earp's planned return to Tombstone: "Extremely doubtful."

  Wyatt Earp's national fame had begun the day Frank Stilwell died at the depot, and grew with every killing of the Vendetta. In wire releases and exchanges he was both glorified and vilified, and much of the nation had closely followed his every move through the local papers. Papers in Silver City and Albuquerque reported his advance toward Colorado. In Gunnison, it was big news when a reporter cornered Wyatt and Warren for an extensive interview.

  A Gunnison local pointed out the brothers and called Warren by his nickname, the Tiger." Warren walked with a limp, the aftereffects of a gunshot wound, the paper said. A local businessman told the paper: "The Tiger is a good one. He's a square man, but he will fight when necessary, and you just ought to see him turn himself loose. He'll just grab his two six-shooters and shut his eyes and wade in. He's a holy terror when he gets started. Wyatt is the general of the party, but the Tiger is generally on hand when there's any fighting to be done.... The boys are not outlaws by any means and they have lots of good, influential friends. Why, the Governor of Arizona would do anything he could for them, and the best people of Tombstone are on their side. The other crowd are a gang of cattle and horse thieves, stage robbers and cut-throats generally. They call them the 'Rustlers,' and the only people in Tombstone who stand in with them are the butchers and livery men, who buy cattle and horses cheap, and a few of the whisky men. Sheriff Behan sides with them, too. On the Earps' side are the Governor, Sheriff Paul ... all the court officers, mining men, and nine out of ten of the respectable people of Tombstone."

  Warren Earp told the basic story of the Vendetta to the reporter. He then added perspective by saying the family regretted having returned to law enforcement: "If we had left the off
ices alone we could have made a barrel of money. Wyatt had the finest saloon and gambling house in Tombstone. The bar alone cost him three thousand dollars, and he was doing a rattling business. But the citizens prevailed upon him to take the office of deputy sheriff and United States marshal. He used to be [assistant] marshal of Dodge City, Kansas, and anybody from there will tell you what kind of a marshal he made."35

  Virgil also clearly stated the demands of law enforcement in Tombstone: "An officer doing his duty must rely almost entirely upon his own conscience for encouragement. The sympathy of the respectable parties of the community may be with him, but it is not openly expressed. 1136

  Wyatt may have best explained the frustrations of law enforcement some fourteen years later when he told the Examiner of the life of a shotgun messenger for Wells, Fargo. His frustration riding shotgun mirrors his life as a lawman in Tombstone: "That is part of the cursedness of a shotgun messenger's life-the loneliness of it. He is like a sheep dog, feared by the flock and hated by the wolves. On the stage, he is a necessary evil. Passengers and driver alike regard him with aversion. Without him and his pestilential box their lives would be 90 per cent safer and they know it. The bad men, the rustlers-the stage robbers actual and potential-hate him. They hate him because he is a guardian of property, because he stands between them and their desires, because they will have to kill him before they can get their hands into the coveted box."

  The statement refers to strongbox guards, not lawmen, and the ambitious ghostwriter probably juiced up the wording. But the statement well represents Wyatt and Virgil's role in Tombstone-sheep dogs feared by the flock and hated by the wolves.

  Wyatt and Warren waited for several months, quietly camped outside Gunnison, but the expected pardon never came-the Earps were too hot a political issue. It grew evident that Wyatt and Warren would not return to Tombstone. Their interests in mining property were sold off for taxes, and the stake the family had amassed eroded. Three cowboys had lost their lives in the Vendetta, and Johnny Barnes would later die of his wounds, but Wyatt Earp emerged a big loser, too-in the death of Morgan and the crippling of Virgil, and financially as well.