49. Tombstone Epitaph, Dec. 30, 1881, from Kansas City Star.
50. The term "gunfight" presents some difficulty because of the imprecision of definitions. The shooting battle against Hoy in Dodge City was more an ambush and a response than a face-to-face gunfight. Lake's research notes also tell of a mysterious gun battle in Beardstown, Ill., in 1869 in which a Tom Piner referred to Earp as "California Boy," and the two drew. Earp shot Piner in the hip, and the fight ended. No further information has been discovered on this, and the story has not been confirmed from local newspapers.
51. Tombstone Epitaph, Dec. 30, 1881.
52. San Diego Union, Dec. 13, 1881.
53. San Francisco Examiner, May 11, 1882.
54. Williams said he heard Behan say to Virgil: "I heard you say, 'Boys, throw up your hands. I have come to disarm you,' when one of the McLaury boys said 'We will,' and drew his gun. The shooting then commenced." As reported in the Nov. 29, 1881, Nugget.
55. Tombstone Nugget, Dec. 1, 1881. The Nugget had good reason to not expect the grand jury to take action. When it was seated on November 22, lawyer Alexander Campbell protested because several members were advocates of the Earps. Judge William Stilwell overruled the objection and seated a grand jury consisting of lumber dealer Lewis W. Blinn, tinsmith Charles W. Harwood, bookkeeper Edmond A. Harley, harness maker D. R. M. Thompson, clerk Max Marks, druggist Taliafero F. Hudson, merchant Abraham B. Barnett, lumber dealer William A. Harwood, merchant Dave Cal- isher, stage owner John D. Kinnear, merchant Rudolph A. Cohen, newspaper editor Oscar E Thornton, speculator Sylvester B. Comstock, mining man/newspaper man Thomas R. Sorin, Wells, Fargo agent Marshall Williams, miner Frederick Restig, and trader George W. Buford. Several members-notably W. A. Harwood, Thornton, Williams, Comstock, Blinn, and Sorin -would be prominently identified with the pro-Earp business faction. Wyatt and Morgan Earp had served as shotgun messengers on Kinnear's stages. Research provided by Carl Chaffin.
56. Lae Angelev Herald, Dec. 1, 1881, from San Bernardino Times.
57. Chisholm, "Tombstone's Tale," p. 118. Chisholm quotes letter from Kate to Anton Mazzanovich.
1 HAPTER 6. TOMBSTONE IN TERROR
1. Tombstone Epitaph, Dec. 30, 1881.
2. John Clum, "It All Happened in Tombstone," Arizona Historical Review, October 1929, pp. 46-50. Further Clum quotes in this chapter from same story.
3. Gosper telegram to Arthur, Dec. 12, 1881, National Archives, Source-Chronological-President Files.
4. Clum, "It All Happened in Tombstone," p. 46.
5. Tombstone Epitaph, Dec. 16, 1881.
6. Los Angeles Times, Dec. 30, 1881.
7. John Clum, Clum scrapbooks, University of Arizona Special Collections.
8. Tombstone Epitaph, Dec. 16, 1881.
9. Tombstone Nugget, as reprinted in Arizona Weekly Star, Dec. 22, 1881.
10. Breakenridge, Hellaorado, pp. 259-60.
11. Tombstone Epitaph, Dec. 24, 1881, from San Francisco Exchange.
12. San Francisco Weekly Report, Nov. 7, 1881.
13. Tombstone Epitaph Aug. 8, 1880.
14. Tombstone Nugget, July 7, 1881.
15. Tombstone Epitaph, Dec. 9, 1881.
16. San Francisco Exchange, Dec. 16, 1881.
17. Tombstone Nugget, Dec. 21, 1881.
18. Tombstone Epitaph, Dec. 22, 1881.
19. Glenn G. Boyer, "Morgan Earp, Brother in the Shadow," Old West, Winter 1983, p. 20. Verified against copies of original letters in the Simmons Collection.
20. Hooker, "An Arizona Vendetta," pp. 47-48.
21. San Francisco Examiner, May 28, 1882.
22. Tombstone Epitaph, Dec. 29, 1881.
23. Ibid.
24. Will McLaury to Robert McLaury, Apr. 13, 1884. (McLaury MSS, William, New-York Historical Society). Will McLaury says in the letter that McMasters was one of the victims, probably because there were many erroneous newspaper reports of Mc- Masters's death. Wyatt Earp said in the 1925 Lotta Crabtree deposition (Harvard Law Library) that McMasters died in the Philippines during the Spanish-American War.
25. Earp to Lake, undated, Lake Collection, Huntington Library.
26. Phoenix Herald, Dec. 30, 1881. There are semantic questions on the use of "deputy U.S. marshal" in this instance. Technically, only the territorial marshal had the authority to appoint deputies, while the deputies could appoint "possemen," who served as deputies to the deputy marshal. Newspapers in Arizona refer to Wyatt as a deputy marshal in earlier stories and later refer to his appointees as deputy marshals.
27. Tombstone Nugget, Jan. 1, 1882.
28. Los Angeles Herald, Jan. 3, 1882, from Tucson Star.
29. San Francisco Stock Report, from Arizona Sentinel Yuma, Jan. 14, 1882.
30. Tombstone Epitaph, Dec. 25, 1881.
31. Tombstone Nugget, Jan. 1, 1882.
32. Tucson Daily Star, Jan. 14, 1882, exchange from Prescott Democrat.
33. Tombstone Epitaph, Jan. 10, 1882.
34. San Francisco Exchange, Jan. 9, 1882.
35. Lake, Undercover for Wells, Fargo, pp. 18-19. There is some confusion in the story. Fred Dodge says a double-barreled shotgun was taken from Hume. Earp would tell the San Francisco Examiner that the short shotgun had been taken from Charles Bartholomew, the driver of the other stage robbed. Contemporary newspaper accounts would tell of the two pistols taken from Hume without mentioning the shotgun. It seems more likely the shotgun would have been taken from the stage driver.
36. Ringo's arrest presents some problems, since numerous issues of both Tombstone papers for the key dates are missing and no actual record of his arrest could be located. He was identified by the L.A. Tomes as the prime suspect in a stage robbery, then identified in Tombstone papers as being on bail for robbery and jailed for more than a week in early February. He carried an $8,000 bail and was tried in territorial court on two charges. This indicates that the crime in question was probably more serious than robbing a poker game.
37. Tombstone Weekly Epitaph, Feb. 13, 1882.
38. John Boessenecker, interview by author, May 27, 1995. At time of publication Boessenecker was researching Wells, Fargo for a future book. Wells, Fargo had taken such action in January of 1881 by removing service from several California towns because the local citizenry had failed to halt stage robbery in the area. San Francisco Report, Jan. 14, 1881.
39. Los Angeles Tunes, Jan. 16, 1882.
40. Arizona Daily Star, Jan. 14, 1882, from Prescott Democrat.
41. Wyatt Earp's involvement in the Tombstone saloons has always been subject to some question. He certainly helped run the gambling concessions at the Oriental, and family members constantly identified him as a saloon owner. He said during the Spicer hearing that he held an interest in a faro game at the Golden Eagle as well.
42. San Francisco Examiner, May 28, 1882.
43. As usually happens with such events, a good story was blown up into a masterpiece. By the time John Pleasant Gray related it in his memoirs nearly sixty years later, the story came off as another confrontation for the ages, with Ringo riding into town, pulling off his red bandanna, and throwing it in the air. Ringo then told Wyatt Earp to take the other end and say when. Parsons's eyewitness report from the scene provides a more authentic version. Details on charges dropped from Marks, And Die in the West, p. 328; also, Tucson Weekly Citizen, Jan. 22, 1882.
44. San Diego Union, Feb. 4, 1882.
45. Arizona Weekly Star, Jan. 26, 1882, from Nugget.
46. Tombstone Nugget, Jan. 26, 1882.
47. Tombstone Epitaph, Jan. 26, 1882.
48. Tombstone Nugget, Jan. 26, 1882.
49. Tombstone Nugget, Jan. 26, 1882.
50. Tombstone Epitaph, Jan. 28, 1882.
51. Hooker, "An Arizona Vendetta," p. 47.
52. Tombstone Nugget, Feb. 16, 1882. According to entries in Parsons's diary, Maynard had a reputation as a local troublemaker. On the day of the Holliday-Ringo confrontation, Maynard and Earp ally Lou Rickabaugh "tried to kick
each other's lungs out," Parsons wrote. Maynard got in a scrape with Dan Tipton on February 15, 1882, leaving Tipton with a cut over his eye. Maynard also started a saloon ruckus in November.
53. Tombstone Epitaph, Jan. 26, 1882.
54. Ibid., Jan. 27, 1882.
55. Tombstone Nugget, Jan. 28, 1882.
56. San Diego Union, Feb. 4, 1882.
57. Tombstone Epitaph, Feb. 2, 1882.
58. Ibid., Feb. 3, 1882.
59. Tombstone Weekly Epitaph, Jan. 29, 1882.
60. Tombstone Nugget, Jan. 31, 1882.
61. Tombstone Epitaph, Jan. 31, 1882.
62. National Police Gazette, Mar. 11, 1882.
63. San Diego Union, Feb. 4, 1882.
64. Arizona Daily Star, Feb. 5, 1882, from Tombstone Nugget.
65. Virtually the same comment is quoted in Hooker's "An Arizona Vendetta" and Lake's Sept. 10, 1928, letter to Judge Stilwell (Lake Collection, Huntington Library). The judge died without responding to confirm the remark.
66. Statements in Hooker's "An Arizona Vendetta" and in various writings of John Clum confirm the belief among Earp supporters that conviction of criminals had become impossible.
67. Tucson Weekly Citizen, Feb. 19, 1882.
68. Hayhurst, "Spicer Hearing Documents," Doc. 94, p. 5, Arizona Historical Foundation/Tempe.
69. Tombstone Epitaph, Feb. 11, 1882.
70. Byers File, Arizona Historical Society/Tucson.
71. Copy of mortgage papers from the Lee Simmons Collection. The papers show that Earp mortgaged property to James G. Howard.
72. Hooker, "An Arizona Vendetta," pp. 42-46.
73. Ibid.
74. Tombstone Epitaph, Dec. 10, 1881; Tombstone Weekly Epitaph, Feb. 13, 1882; "Lawlessness in Parts of Arizona, Message from the President of the United States," Congressional publication, Feb. 2, 1882, Gary L. Roberts Collection, Tifton, Ga.
75. Tombstone Nugget, Feb. 19, 1882.
76. Arizona Daily Star, Feb. 9, 1882. The term "sport" was used for both prostitutes and gamblers, and only the context leads to the conclusion that Williams left with a prostitute.
77. Boyer, "Morgan Earp, Brother in the Shadow," p. 20.
78. Arizona Daily Star, Mar. 10, 1882.
79. Tombstone Nugget, Feb. 28, 1882.
80. San Diego Union, Mar. 13, 1882.
81. Morgan Earp Inquest record, Arizona Historical Foundation; Tombstone Nugget, Tombstone Epitaph, Mar. 23, 1882.
82. Hooker, "An Arizona Vendetta," p. 48. Hooker tells details of Wyatt Earp's activities.
83. San Diego Union, Mar. 31, 1882.
84. Morgan's last words almost immediately became a subject of curiosity, and Wyatt refused to tell the onlookers. This led to several versions, the most interesting ap pearing in Lake's Frontier Marshal in a quote attributed to Earp. By this account, Earp says that Morgan had been interested in the afterlife, that he and Wyatt had previously discussed the subject and pondered whether a dying person had a vision of heaven, and that Morgan's last words were: "I guess you were right, Wyatt-I can't see a damn' thing." There is no confirmation, and Lake's notes do not report the conversation. More likely is the version quoted in the text, from Hooker's "An Arizona Vendetta." Sadie Earp recounted the final words as, "They got me, Wyatt, you be careful, don't let them get you," followed by "father, mother." Earp's comments to the Gunnison Newe-Democrat, June 4, 1882, as quoted in the text, indicate the Hooker version as the most likely.
I HAPTER 7. VENDETTA
1. Denver Republican, May 14, 1893.
2. Hooker, "An Arizona Vendetta," p. 57.
3. Denver Republican, May 14, 1893.
4. The "One for Morgan" comment comes from several sources, most notably Hooker's "An Arizona Vendetta." Its first known appearance came in Alfred Henry Lewis's 1905 book Sunset Trail, based on stories from Bat Masterson. Allie's carrying the pistol is described by Hildreth Halliwell. Halliwell, interview by Al Turner and Bill Oster, tape recording, University of Arizona Special Collections.
5. George Hand and Neil Carmony, ed., Whiskey, Six-Guns & Red-Light Ladies (Silver City, N.M.: High Lonesome, 1994), p. 228.
6. Arizona Daily Star, Mar. 21, 1882.
7. Tucson Weekly Citizen, Apr. 12, 1882. Includes details of Stilwell coroner's report.
8. San Francisco Examiner, May 28, 1882.
9. Arizona Daily Star, Mar. 21, 1882.
10. Tombstone Nugget, Epitaph, Mar. 23, 1882.
11. Ibid.
12. Arizona Weekly Star, Mar. 30, 1882.
13. While Earp generally avoided discussions of motives and emotions in later interviews, material in Hooker's "An Arizona Vendetta" indicates that Earp believed convictions against the cowboys were not possible. The letters of Judge B. L. Peel and other writers from the area show a similar consistency of thinking in the belief that no court could convict a cowboy.
14. Breakenridge, Helldorado, pp. 287-88.
15. Arizona Daily Star, Mar. 22, 1882, from Tombstone Nugget.
16. Arizona Daily Star, Mar. 25, 1882.
17. Alice Earp Wells, interview by Jack Burrows, 1956.
18. Wyatt Earp deposition, Lotta Crabtree estate trial, Harvard Law Library.
19. Ibid.
20. Breakenridge, Helldorado, pp. 297-98.
21. Tombstone Nugget, Mar. 31, 1882.
22. Tucson Citizen, Mar. 1, 1898.
23. This story grows with each telling. The Flood version says Indian Charlie turned and went for his guns; Hooker tells of a gunfight; and Lake makes it sound as if Earp and Charlie engaged in a fast-draw contest. Further information from Earp to Burns, Mar. 15, 1927, Burns Collection, University of Arizona Special Collections.
24. Tombstone Weekly Epitaph, Mar. 27, 1882.
25. Arizona Daily Star, Mar. 24, 1882.
26. Ibid., Mar. 31, 1882.
27. San Francesco Weekly Exchange, Mar. 23, 1882.
28. San Francisco Examiner, Mar. 23, 1882.
29. George Hand and Carl Chafin, ed., "One Hundred Days on the San Pedro: George Hand's Contention Diary," Chafin Collection, Culver City, Calif., 1989, p. 12.
30. Hooker, "An Arizona Vendetta," p. 60.
31. Various quotes from Field and Farm, Denver, Aug. 17, 1893, and San Francisco Examiner, Aug. 2, 1896, combine to tell Earp's story of the battle. The story is complicated because in 1893 and again in the initial Examiner story, Earp refers to Curley Bill using a Winchester rifle. In the Examiner story that followed a week later, Earp makes the correction and says Curley Bill used the shotgun stolen from Charley Bartholomew during the January Bisbee stage robbery.
32. Denver Republican, Mar. 22, 1882.
33. Hooker, "An Arizona Vendetta," p. 66; Tombstone Weekly Epitaph, Apr. 3, 1882.
34. Tombstone Nugget, Mar. 26, 1882. While the source is unidentified, the story is consistent with that told in Hooker's "An Arizona Vendetta" and identifies Wright and Kraker as delivering funds to Earp. This story becomes complex because Wright and Kraker later gave an interview to the Epitaph telling the cowboy version in which the Earp party's bullets did not connect with Curley Bill. The most likely scenario is that Wright and Kraker gave the story to the Epitaph to end suspicion that they were working with the Earps and avoid retribution.
35. Tombstone Weekly Epitaph, Mar. 27, 1882.
36. San Francisco Exchange, Mar. 27, 1882.
37. Lake, Undercover for Wells, Fargo, p. 239.
38. New Southwest and Grant County Herald Apr. 29, 1882.
39. Tucson Weekly Citizen, Apr. 9, 1882.
40. Sacramento Union, Mar. 28, 1882.
41. Tombstone Weekly Epitaph, Apr. 10, 1882; Hooker, "An Arizona Vendetta," p. 74.
42. Tombstone Weekly Epitaph, Apr. 3, 1882.
43. Los Angeles Herald, Mar. 31, 1882, from Tombstone Epitaph.
44. Tombstone Nugget, Mar. 31, 1882.
45. Hooker, "An Arizona Vendetta," pp. 74-76; Tombstone Epitaph, Apr. 14, 1882. These two reports combine to tell the Hooker version of events a
t the ranch. Forrestine Hooker most likely took some detail from conversations with Henry Hooker, her fatherin-law.
46. Hooker, "An Arizona Vendetta," p. 77.
47. Tombstone Nugget, Apr. 6, 1882; Epitaph, Apr. 5, 1882. The "lost Charlie Ross" was a child who was snatched from his Philadelphia home in 1874 and was falsely reported to have shown up all over the United States. This became a major news story through the 1880s as false leads constantly appeared. For details on Charlie Ross, see the Cincinnati Enquirer, July 9, 1884.
48. Arizona Daily Star, Apr. 6, 1882, from Tombstone Nugget.
49. Reminiscences of Henry Morgan, Arizona Historical Society/Tucson. Morgan says the Earps left a few minutes after mailing the documents. This presents a slight conflict with Halliwell's story of the dinner with Biddle; however, Morgan's imprecise "few minutes" could have been long enough for a quick dinner.
50. Halliwell interview.
51. Tombstone Weekly Epitaph, Apr. 24, 1882, from San Francisco Exchange.
52. Tombstone Epitaph, Apr. 14, 1882.
53. New Southwest and Grant County Herald, Apr. 22, 1882. Located by Robin Gilliam.
54. Albuquerque Evening Review, May 13, 1882.
41 HAPTER 8. LAW VERSUS ORDER
1. Lod Angeles Herald, Mar. 28, 1882.
2. Arizona Weekly Star, Mar. 30, 1882. The Earp questions also confront another constitutional law principle: that law and government exist to prevent crime and punish wrongdoers vs. another that certain formal requirements must be followed in this process. Adherents of the first concept argue that society becomes unjust when the second concept becomes of paramount importance.
3. Denver Republican, May 22, 1882.
4. Tucson Weekly Citizen, May 21, 1882.
5. Dodge to Clum, Sept. 24, 1930, Dodge Collection, Huntington Library.
6. Angus Cameron, a retired editor at Knopf, tabulated Behan's bankbooks, which were in a private collection in the early 1960s. Cameron added the figures and says Behan's total earnings for a year were $40,000, a remarkable figure for a county sheriff in the 1880s. The original bankbooks were not available.
7. Behan v. Goodfellow, Arizona Historical Society, MS 180, box 17, folder 250. Located by Mario M. Einaudi of the AHS.
Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend Page 59