The Earps had stepped over the line, and the simple fact that they were “Deputy United States Marshals sworn to protect and sustain the laws of the country” overshadowed everything else. What most saw was simply a “spirit of revenge”; the cause was immaterial. What mattered was the impact of the daily reports on public opinion. The Los Angeles Express blamed the Earps for circumstances that had existed long before the vendetta ride began:
The Earp vendetta, with its train of bloodshed, is more damaging to the Territory than would be a protracted Apache war. It has brought people to believe that there is no security whatever for life there, and that the law is utterly impotent as against the desperadoes who ride around the country killing whomsoever they please. It is not a pleasant or inviting picture to a contemplating settler in Arizona, nor will it tend to make capitalists feel safe in investing in mining enterprises in that Territory. Money will not go freely into any country where the laws are set at defiance and life is at the mercy of every ruffian who delights to pull the trigger. The impunity with which the Earp gang has carried out its programme is anything but reassuring to persons who have put their money in Arizona property. It is but a step from this kind of outlawry that destroys human life to that other kind that has no appreciation of the ownership of property, and men of means who have been entertaining propositions to invest in Arizona enterprises will refuse to risk their substance in a Territory where there is no protection outside of the strong arm.21
The Los Angeles Herald, with more awareness of the complexity of the situation in Cochise County, added its view that “[t]he law should be supreme in Arizona as elsewhere. Every man who is going about with arms in his hands, whether he belongs to the Earps or the cowboys, should be made to lay them down, and to submit his case to the arbitrament of a jury of his peers, even if it should require the whole power of the Federal government and the whole force of the people of Arizona!”22
These sentiments doubtlessly pricked the sensibilities of even the warmest allies of the Earps. The businessmen of Tombstone may have approved of Wyatt’s vendetta, even applauded or conspired to support it, but they were businessmen. They needed the lifeblood of investment, and the vendetta had stirred up such a firestorm that they worried about its economic and political consequences. The message conveyed to Wyatt on his last visit to Tombstone by the vigilantes was likely very simple: “We appreciate what you’ve done, but it is time to end it all. When things cool down, and we have a chance to show the good you’ve done, you can come back.”
The Earp party stopped at Camp Grant on their way out of the territory. Wyatt asked for a notary public. He met with Henry Morgan, who reported that Earp signed some properties over to his sister and then mailed the documents. Afterward, Wyatt and the others met with Colonel Biddle, who told them, “Wyatt, I’m going to have to hold you here. They’re looking for you and there are warrants out for your arrest. We’re going to have to hold you. But come in and have something to eat first.” Wyatt and the others sat down to eat, expecting to be arrested, but then Colonel Biddle suddenly excused himself. When they finished their meal and walked outside, they found fresh horses waiting for them by the gate.23 Wyatt, Doc, and the rest rode away, bound for New Mexico.
The departure of Wyatt Earp and his men from Arizona was part of a plan. Behind them, the next phase of the plan was already in motion. Despite the anti-Earp tone of the press, a combination of forces was at work to see that Wyatt Earp and his companions would not be brought to trial in Arizona or otherwise be called to account for what they had done. A conspiracy of sorts was afoot, involving prominent Tombstone businessmen, Arizona’s U.S. marshal, the governors of Arizona and New Mexico, officials of Wells, Fargo & Company, and even the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe railroad companies.
Personally following up the company’s interest in the Cochise County troubles, John J. Valentine, the general superintendent of Wells, Fargo, arrived in Arizona in April and is believed to have consulted with James Hume and John Thacker about the situation. These consultations produced the $1,000 that Lew Cooley carried to Wyatt Earp at Hooker’s ranch. Cooley, a former Wells, Fargo employee, became a go-between for Earp and the company. On April 14, Cooley reported to Valentine in his railroad car at Benson. At Willcox, after leaving Valentine, Cooley was arrested by Sheriff Behan for “aiding and abetting the Earps.” He was held only briefly, and Valentine proceeded east into New Mexico by rail following the Earp party.24
Wyatt, Doc, Warren, Sherman McMaster, Turkey Creek Jack Johnson, Texas Jack Vermillion, Dan Tipton, and Charlie Smith reached Silver City, New Mexico, on April 15, as described by the New Southwest and Grant County Herald:
Last Saturday evening at about 10 o’clock the Earp boys’ party and Doc Holliday arrived in Silver City. They went at once to the Exchange hotel to find the stage agent to make arrangements to leave the next morning on the Deming coach. They slept in some private house up town and took breakfast next morning at the Broadway restaurant, and as they had not registered at any hotel it was not known they were in town until after their departure. The party came on horseback, and put up at the Elephant corral. They were all well mounted and armed to the teeth. One of the men, when asked his name, answered John Smith, and another Bill Snooks. This excited the suspicion of Mr. White, proprietor of the corral, and the next morning when they offered to sell him their horses, he refused to buy them, fearing to get himself in trouble. They offered six of their horses for $300, but as the horses were worth much more than that, this offer was also looked up as unfavorable to them. They finally sold the six horses to Mr. [Levi] Miller, who is about to start a livery stable here. This done they spoke to Mr. White about hiring a team to take them to Fort Cummings, but he advised them to go by stage which they decided to do. The saddles and two horses they failed to sell were left here with Charley Bagsby.25
The network of support was already at work. On the afternoon of April 15, O. R. Smythe, the local stageline manager, had received a telegram from Wells, Fargo requesting a special coach to Deming for the Earp party on April 16. Wyatt went directly to the agent when he arrived. One unverified source later claimed that most of the Earp party slept that evening in the basement jail of the Grant County Courthouse as the guests of Sheriff Howard Whitehill, while Wyatt stayed at the sheriff’s home. The “private house up town” could have been the home of D. P. Neff, a relative of Earp’s mining partner from Tombstone, A. S. Neff.26
Charlie Smith said his good-byes to the rest of the vendetta posse at Silver City and returned to Arizona. Wyatt, Doc, and the others rode the stage as far as Deming and then boarded a train for Albuquerque. By then, Superintendent Valentine was already in Albuquerque, and, in fact, he dispatched Agent Frank Stevens to Deming on the morning of April 16 to replace the agent there who had been injured in an accident at Rincon but who was in a position to be a messenger to Wyatt Earp, since the Earp party changed trains at Rincon that same day.27 After one more brief stop at Socorro, the Earp posse completed the trip to Albuquerque.
Curiously, the destination of the Earps was well known before they arrived. On March 28, before the Earp party left Arizona, the Albuquerque Morning Journal reported, “Last night, at a late hour, a Journal reporter learned that the famous Earp boys were headed for Albuquerque, and that they were on the Atlantic express which arrives in this city this morning at 6:18….It is not likely they will remain in this city if they stay at all, because they are too shrewd to stay in this locality.” Perhaps a plan was already in motion after the powder house meeting in Tombstone on March 25.
When the Earp posse did reach Albuquerque on the Atlantic & Pacific train on April 16, Wyatt found Frank McLain (also known variously as McLean, McLane, and McClain), an acquaintance from Dodge City, waiting for him at the station. McLain took the Earp party under his wing in Albuquerque, later giving Earp $2,000, which suggests that McLain was acting as an agent for forces in collusion with Wyatt, most likely the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe Railroad, which had a
lways had strong ties with the old Dodge City crowd. In John H. Flood Jr.’s manuscript written with Earp’s collaboration in the 1920s, the author cryptically noted, “At Albuquerque, Earp visited a friend.” Doubtless, this was McLain.28
The Earp party remained in Albuquerque for close to two weeks and managed to keep a surprisingly low profile that was possible only with help. During that time, Wyatt conferred with Valentine and possibly C. C. Wheeler, the general manager of the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe Railroad, who was also in town. He may have been involved in the discussions of these men with Governor Lionel A. Sheldon about the Earps remaining in New Mexico at least for a time. Sheldon shared concerns about the Cow-Boy problem and had asked the territorial legislature for assistance in January 1882. In fact, Major Albert Jennings Fountain was even then in the field with the First Battalion of Volunteer Cavalry of the New Mexico Territorial Militia searching for Cow-Boys in Soccoro, Grant, and Sierra counties.29
Also most likely drawn into the discussions was Don Miguel Antonio Otero. Otero was a leading Democrat in New Mexico, with strong connections in Washington, but he was also a banker and railroad man, with interests in both the Southern Pacific and the Santa Fe. As vice president of the Santa Fe, he had overseen the building of the road into New Mexico, and he was eventually responsible for the connection with the Southern Pacific at Deming. He also knew of both Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday through his mercantile operations in New Mexico and Kansas and had knowledge of both men through the firsthand accounts of his son Miguel A. “Gillie” Otero Jr., who had befriended Doc in Las Vegas in 1880.30
Interestingly, Otero had arrived in Albuquerque early in April for a brief period while Governor Sheldon was in town, before returning to Las Vegas for festivities at the dedication of Montezuma’s Castle at the hot springs near Las Vegas. Shortly thereafter, both Otero and his son departed for Denver, where the elder was “taken in” by a con man named Charles “Doc” Baggs at about the same time the Earps arrived in Albuquerque.31 Still, Otero may well have been the person who made the accommodations for Wyatt, Doc, and company with the local establishment before the Denver trip. After securing Baggs’s arrest, Gillie apparently returned to Las Vegas and proceeded to Albuquerque, where he acted as a go-between for the Earps.
In 2001, the historian Chuck Hornung discovered a letter apparently written by Gillie Otero in 1940, which, while still controversial, appears to throw new light on the Earp party’s Albuquerque sojourn. In it, Gillie recalled that “[f]ather sent me to see to the comfort of the Earp posse because his railroad supported the boys.” Specifically, he said that “Blonger and Armijo kept watch over the boys.” Sam Blonger was the marshal of New Town. He was out of town during most of the Earps’ time in Albuquerque—in Denver, interestingly enough—but his brother and chief deputy, Lou Blonger, was acting as marshal in his stead. Perfecto Armijo was sheriff of Bernalillo County. He had appointed Blonger marshal, subject to the approval of the New Albuquerque Board of Trade.32
Another of Don Miguel Otero’s friends and associates in Albuquerque was Henry N. Jaffa, a prominent Jewish merchant with operations in Trinidad, Colorado, and Las Vegas, New Mexico, as well as in Albuquerque. Jaffa competed with the Otero family in the mercantile business, but he was also their political ally. He likely was also familiar with Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday because of their Trinidad and Las Vegas connections. He was exactly the kind of man the elder Otero would have called on for help.
While in Albuquerque, Gillie said, “Earp stayed at Jaffa’s home and the other boys were around town.” The weather was very cold that spring, and Otero recalled that “Jaffa gave Earp an overcoat from his store, Earp’s had been ruined in a fight with the Cow-boys. I remember that cold wind even today. I do not remember that the boys had much money.” He also claimed to have driven Jaffa and Earp to the river to see the work being done on the new bridge, noting that “Earp remarked how it reminded him of the big bridge at Wichita.”33
Eventually, Wells, Fargo “arranged safety in Colorado,” and the Santa Fe provided passage from Albuquerque to Trinidad. Before that happened, however, Doc and Wyatt quarreled, and Doc left ahead of the rest of the posse in company with Dan Tipton. According to the Albuquerque Evening Review, Doc “became intoxicated and indiscreet in his remarks, which offended Wyatt and caused the party to break up.”34 Doc later downplayed the incident, saying, “We had a little misunderstanding, but it didn’t amount to much.”35 Still, over time, the incident did precipitate speculation.
Kate Elder would claim years later that the split had to do with a steel vest allegedly worn by Wyatt Earp, which prompted Doc to say, “You should take the same chances I take. I’m out.”36 How Kate knew that, she did not explain, nor did she clarify why the falling out would take place after they were well out of harm’s way.
The “steel shirt” story first appeared in print in William Breakenridge’s Helldorado. According to him, two Cow-Boys named Pink Truly and Alex Arnold claimed to have been at Iron Springs when the Earp party approached and that they, not Curly Bill, fired on the Earp party. They said that one of their shots struck Wyatt, and that he was saved by a steel vest. Other old-timer accounts, including Kate’s, appear to have derived from Breakenridge’s story.37 Wyatt Earp was infuriated when the story appeared in Helldorado, insisting, “I never wore a steel vest, and I never had such a thing in my possession[,] another one of his dam [sic] lies.”38 Perhaps more to the point, such contraptions, although available, were hardly practical by 1882, and as an explanation for the dispute between Wyatt and Doc, it never had credibility.
Gillie Otero provided a completely different explanation in his 1940 letter:
Earp and Holliday had a falling out at Fat Charlie’s one night. They were eating when Holliday said something about Earp being a Jew boy. Something like Wyatt are you becoming a damn Jew boy. Earp became angry and left. Charlie said that Holliday knew he had said it wrong, he never saw them together again. Jaffa told me later that Earp’s woman was a Jewess; Earp did mu——[illegible, apparently a misspelling of mezuzah] when entering his house.39
What makes Otero’s comment even more interesting, if his letter is authentic, is that in 1940 when he wrote it, Wyatt’s early connection to Sadie was not well known. Even Allie Earp, Virgil’s wife, did not remember her being in Tombstone. In March 1882, following Morgan Earp’s murder, Wyatt’s wife, Mattie, had gone to Colton, California, with other members of the Earp family, but by then Earp was clearly interested in, if not involved in an affair with, Sadie Marcus. That would explain his interest in Jewish custom. Holliday’s remark, if indeed he did make it, was more likely based on Wyatt’s staying in better quarters and spending extended periods of time with Jaffa than on some deep-seated anti-Semitism. Doc may also have disapproved of Sadie, either because of her earlier connection to John Behan or because he disapproved of Wyatt’s disloyalty to Mattie. Most likely, the comment was an unguarded remark fueled by too much alcohol, but it was exactly the sort of indiscretion that would best explain Wyatt’s reaction and the subsequent split between him and Doc.40
The split was serious enough that news of it spread rather quickly. Within a short time the Tombstone Epitaph reported, “It is pretty well understood that a row has taken place in the Earp camp.”41 About the first of May, Doc left Albuquerque ahead of the others in company with Dan Tipton, but the circumstances were not clear. Doc may have left angry, and Tipton decided to join him. Wyatt may have feared that Doc would cause trouble for the negotiations under way, so he sent him on to Trinidad with Tipton, either to make preparations for the posse there or simply to get him out of town to where he could do less harm.
The Albuquerque hiatus of Wyatt, Doc, and friends, far from bringing an end to the debate over the Cow-Boy war, merely exacerbated it. Speculation and diatribe reached new levels in waves of justification and condemnation that pushed the names of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday beyond “the news” and into the realm of legend. It was then, in late April and May
1882, with Earp and Holliday out of public view, that the vendetta began to transcend the narrow confines of history.
Even before the Earp posse left Arizona, the reputation of the Earps was undergoing a reconstruction. In an article portraying Frank Stilwell as an honest citizen, the Tucson Star acknowledged that the Earp brothers had “some warm friends who are good citizens,” but added, “If one-twentieth part of what is said of their record is true, they are certainly no desirable acquisition to any community. They are a roving band; their path is strewn with blood. Strange as it may seem, wherever they halt in a settlement stage robberies follow and human life ceases to be sacred. Their late escapades at Tombstone are only their records repeated in other frontier towns.”42
Such a gratuitous misrepresentation of the record transformed the Earps into the cause of Cochise County lawlessness and minimized the Cow-Boy problem that had been the subject of public outrage and editorial commentary for more than two years. Even the ambush attack on Virgil and the murder of Morgan were lost in the coverage or rationalized as the fruit of their own misconduct. The reversal of roles for the Earps in the press did not pass unchallenged. On April 24, a Tombstone correspondent replied to a strongly worded editorial of the Los Angeles Express blaming the Earps for the troubles:
Doc Holliday Page 33