While Republicans Have Most Of The Guns, Democrats Are The Crazies Pulling The Triggers

My friends, even though I'm a Republican who has a couple of guns, I want to make it clear that at no time during the Clinton, Obama, and Biden administrations did I ever want to climb on a rooftop somewhere and shoot anyone for political reasons. No, I leave that sort of lunacy to Democrat crazies who drink the Kool-Aide and have accepted every lie that comes out of the Democrat Party.

In fact, like most Republicans who have most of the guns in America, I've never wanted physical harm to come to Clinton, Obama, Biden, any of their staff, or the talking heads who constantly spewed their lies and demonstrated their loyalty in the form of spreading Leftist propaganda. Yes, like fertilizer, Democrats spread their crap just to see what will grow out of it. If nothing grows, they just keep spreading it. 

Over the years, I've disagreed with them in post after post on my blog. But, because I had always had faith in our system, I've never ever wanted them harmed. Instead, I've wanted them brought to justice. And I'll grant you that I did want their anti-American, corrupt policies exposed for the deceitful dealings that were taking place, and yes, I wanted the payoffs, the bribes, the rampant corruption in Washington exposed for the theft that it is. I also wanted the people responsible for the theft of our money, including those who were purposely giving American taxpayer dollars to people here illegally, to be exposed. The fact is that I still want that.

Though I wanted the inept, incompetent political hacks that they are to be exposed, I never once thought of shooting someone over something that I didn't agree politically. Civilized people don't do that. Democrats do, but let's not make the mistake of thinking that anyone who would climb atop a roof and shoot someone over a political debate, or someone who would shoot children because he's mad at himself for allowing someone to cut off his penis, is civilized.  

Instead, I wanted the names of Clinton, Obama, Biden, and their followers to be associated with their neglect and disdain for the American people. I wanted people to know and remember the crimes that were covered up by the Democrat-controlled Mainstream News Media, and how they were above the law because of their wealth and political connections. Unlike Democrats, I don't see political violence as being productive. 

Think about it, the political violence that we saw take place with the burning of American cities in 2020 didn't accomplish a thing for anyone. All it did was show what happens when Democrat-controlled cities refuse to apply law and order to their cities. They lived with the results, and they seem happy living in the ash heap afterwards. Of course, they showed the entire world how dumb they are -- but even that hasn't mattered to them. 

For me, I didn't want to see any harm come to the people responsible for the corruption, the Climate Change scam, and the payola going out by the Billions of dollars. And yes, I still want the system to catch up with them, even though they think they are above the law. I didn't want anyone to shoot any of them because I still want many of them in those Democrat administrations to be criminally investigated, arrested, and tried in a court of law. No, not just in the court of public opinion, which, as most know, can be swayed by a manipulating Democrat-controlled Mainstream News Media, but in a court of law. 

I wanted those presidents to stop their anti-American policies. And yes, I was tired of those administrations doing things that benefited other nations at the cost of intentionally inflicting pain and hardship on our people. But frankly, as with most Republicans, I know that bullets are the last resort. They are surely not the answer when trying to fix a corrupt authoritarian government bent on making our lives miserable. That's the job of an honest election and a ballot box, not an ammo box. 

And yes, I think it's too bad Democrat crazies with guns can't abide by the results of an honest election and simply get past their hate. Instead, they are such a vile and murderous people that they regularly turn to riots, arson, and murder when it suits them.  

As for me, I didn't want political violence to turn some of the worst people in the United States, people like Hillary Clinton, into instant heroes of the Democratic Party. No, I wanted those presidents and members of their staffs, including their followers, to be held legally and financially responsible for their criminal conduct. 

Besides, I wanted to pull back the curtain so all the world would see who was pulling the strings of the incompetent Biden administration. And yes, even more so, I wanted the world to see who was responsible for that attempted Russian Collusion Hoax that was nothing less than a Coup against a sitting elected American President, Donald Trump, during his first term. 

For me, I'm getting everything that I've wanted in the way of exposing Obama and Biden, and the Clintons. Yes, the Trump administration is also exposing all of their Deep State operatives, and the corruption in the FBI, the CIA, as well as other agencies. No, I don't need to climb onto a rooftop to shoot an innocent man. I can see that many things are coming to a head these days thanks to the Trump administration. 

So, no, not once have I ever thought about taking a rifle to a rooftop with the intent and desire to kill anyone because I disagreed with their political opinions or because I "hated" their political stance on an issue. Not once have any of my Republican gun-owning friends ever come to me and said so-and-so should be shot because of something that they may have said. Not once have any of my very passionate anti-Liberal friends ever said we need to start shooting Democrat politicians and their supporters as a solution. No, not once have any of my Republican gun-owning friends ever acted like a Democrat crazy wanting to shoot someone from ambush. 

Whether People Want To Admit It Or Not,  Democrats Actively Promote Vile And Murderous Political Violence As A Solution.

And before you write to tell me that I've restrained myself from acting out some sort of urge to shoot a Democrat because of my Christian faith, please don't make the mistake of thinking that I'm some sort of holier-than-thou Christian. I'm not and never have been that sort of Christian. I'm a sinner and I know it. 

Besides, I've never been the sort of Christian who believes in turning the other cheek or letting God deal with bad people. No, I'm the sort of Christian who believes in punching an aggressor in the face as hard as I can, and as many times as possible. And make no mistake about it, I'm the sort of Christian who has a Conceal Carry Permit for a reason. When times get really bad, I'm the kind of Christian who won't put up with dangerous Democrat crazies who want to hurt me or my family. 

And yes, that brings me to that mass shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis. So how did the Democrat-controlled media and Democrat politicians react to what took place? First, they tried to bury the story by not talking about the shooter. Second, they took their usual tact by trying to pin the blame on guns instead of the monster who took the lives of two school children and wounded 17 others, including 14 kids, as they attended a Mass on the first day of classes. 

For Democrats, it's easier to blame guns than it is to talk about personal responsibility. And really, I sort of understand why they would rather focus on an inanimate mechanical object, something that's not alive, something void of a soul or a conscience or morals, something not an animal or a human, rather than have to address how a crazy person of their creation became a mass murderer. 

Republicans like me have most of the guns in America. So to Democrats, it just makes sense to their sick way of thinking that all gun-related political violence, like school shootings, must be our fault. Of course, if we look at the sort of political violence, especially gun-related political violence, Democrats are the crazies pulling the triggers. And that's the problem that Democrats have when reporting gun-related political violence. 

For example, Democrats make a conscience effort to bypass reports where the killer has mental health problems dealing with their sexual identity. In the case of the Catholic school in Minneapolis, the Democrat-controlled media and Democrat politicians didn't want to report that the killer had "trans" identity psycho problems, or that he was angry at the world, or that he had some sort of modern-day strange "furry" girlfriend weird relationship thing going on, or that he had a need to be called a "she" when he was in fact a he. Of course, Democrats hate mentioning when one of their crazy followers is an antisemite who worships Adolf Hitler and admires Timothy McVeigh. 

That sort of crazy Democrat follower gives the Democrat-controlled news media fits. And no, they didn’t want to report that the killing of those innocent children could have had something to do with the killer reportedly regretting his gender "transition" surgery at age 17 from a male to a woman in 2019. 

Frankly, it shouldn't surprise anyone with half a brain that some nutcase who had allowed doctors to cut off his penis would go off the deep end sooner or later. I mean, imagine for a moment the shock this guy had when he realized that the weird "furry" girl that he wanted a relationship with was breaking up with him because she wanted an intact male and not some neutered critter. It must have come as a surprise to him when he realized that having his penis cut off just to be a wannabe girl was not exactly an attraction to girls.  

But then again, that's what Democrat crazies are all about. They are confused, not very bright, uneducated, gullible, easily influenced, angry, deeply depressed, and hate-filled. Most of the political violence we've seen over the last 20 years has been from Democrats is from their crazies. 

Lastly, here's something to think about. While the usual way for Democrats to address any sort of shooting is to want more gun laws, Democrat politicians don't want to talk about more gun laws in response to the Catholic school shooting in Minneapolis. So why is that? 

Well, the reason is this: it was a maniac of their creation who killed those children. Yes, just as it was a crazy of their creation who climbed on a roof to shoot someone who he had been indoctrinated to hate, Charlie Kirk. So no, Democrats don't want to talk about restricting gun ownership this time around because we're talking about restricting gun sales to mentally ill transgender people who live in a made-up, delusional world where they can't even identify what a woman is. 

Such a move would limit the Democratic Party's crazies from having guns. That would mean a part of their voter base would be unable to carry out political violence. And really, while you may disagree with me, I believe political violence, whether it's in the form of the KKK in the 1860s, the White Shirts in the 1870s, or the Occupy Wall Street groups of the 1990s, and BLM or ANTIFA, and other political violent groups today, are something that Democrats have historically used as a militant arm of their party. 

With that, and the fact that large Democratic Party donors support such politically violent groups, I don't see any reason for Democrat politicians to stop supporting political violence. So yes, I truly believe that while Republicans own most of the guns in America, it's Democrats who are the crazies pulling the triggers.    

Tom Correa

Shooting Affray At Panamint City 1875

From what I've been told, the Panamint City silver mine claim took place in late 1872. But for some reason, the town of Panamint City didn't get going for another year. As most of us know, reading about the way such things worked back in the day, once the word leaked out that gold or silver, or even copper, was discovered, a rush took place to get in on the early findings. And no, I can't find out exactly why, once silver was discovered that a boom didn't take place in this instance. 

Of course, there are a couple of stories about how silver was discovered by three prospectors, William L. Kennedy, Robert P. Stewart, and Richard C. Jacobs, and how an outlaw gang kept them from filing their claims for months. One story goes, the outlaw gang followed the three men for months whenever any of the outlaws saw any of the three return to work their claim. The men were so busy evading being followed that they didn't work their claim. Another story says that the outlaws overheard the three miners talking about their big strike and followed them to their claim. Once there, the outlaws demanded to be partners, and they all became rich. 

I don't know if I believe either tale. But the latter of the three miners being forced into a partnership with the outlaws sounds a little too tall a tale to believe. After all, claim-jumpers didn't share their victims' wealth once they had it. They normally showed them the door or buried them in some shallow grave.

As for the area taking off and the town being founded between 1873 and 1874, most sources note how a prominent mining investor, although some say he was a "sidewalk barker," by the name of E.P. Raines convinced Los Angeles businessmen to build a wagon road to a suitable staging site for supplies. Soon afterwards, Nevada Senators John P. Jones and William M. Stewart created the Panamint Mining Company with $2,000,000 of capital. Jones and Stewart then arranged for the importation of hundreds Chinese laborers. It was their interest in Panamint that started the boom. From their efforts, the town of Panamint City grew to a population of about 3,000 people of the usual sorts that flocked to boom towns. 

The town is located in the Panamint Range, near Death Valley, in Inyo County, California, about three miles northwest of Sentinel Peak. The town included stamp mills, saloons, stores, a very unhealthy red light district, and a cemetery. 

On April 20, 1875, the Daily Alta California newspaper reported the following story: 

Shooting Affray At Panamint City

On Friday evening last, at Panamint City, two men, named James Bruce and Robert McKinley, got into a dispute about the ownership of a gun, and finally hard words passed between them. Both men attacked each other, and the latter, drawing a pistol, fired at his opponent. The ball took effect in the left arm above the wrist, shattering the bone. 

Bruce on being shot fell to the ground, and McKinley fired three or four times more, hitting the prostrate man with one of the bullets in the back. Bruce succeeded in getting on his feet, and drawing a revolver, he fired six shots at his opponent in rapid succession, nearly all of which took effect. 

McKinley ran a short distance, when he fell, and is undoubtedly mortally wounded. Bruce walked to his house, but soon became unable to move and complained a great deal of the wound in his back. 

The stage left before any further facts could be obtained.

-- end of the newspaper report. 

While fistfights were the common way of settling problems in saloons and in gambling halls in the Old West, and someone pulling a knife on someone came in second, shootouts did take place. And as for shootouts, when we look at records, one of the things that may surprise folks is that shootouts taking place in saloons and gambling halls accounted for where most shootouts typically took place in the Old West. Not in the street with two men facing each other like in the movies, but in the places where booze and tempers came into play on a regular basis.

As for Panamint City, it's said to have had its share of bushwhackers and killers who would jump a miner and kill him on the trail, then roll their victim's body into a ravine. That, and knowing what was going on in the saloons, gambling, and the red light district, Panamint City was regarded as a "Bad and Wicked Town" because of its lawless reputation. Yes indeed, the town was like a lot of other mining boomtowns. 

As for the town, luck ran out for Panamint City when, on July 24, 1876, a flash flood washed out most of the town. After that, the big money pulled out to save themselves. When their bosses pulled out, the Chinese laborers who were brought in by Jones and Stewart were abandoned to fend for themselves. They, like the miners, started leaving, and once that happened, it was just a matter of time before the town closed up shop.

Some say some of the Chinese laborers headed to Los Angeles, while most of the miners headed East over the Panamint Range into Death Valley, where Borax claims were discovered. Others say the miners did what miners did back in the day and simply drifted away, still searching for that elusive strike that would make them rich. 

As for Panamint City, the town died out completely by the 1890s. And today, well, Panamint City is just a ghost town that sits on BLM land. 

Tom Correa

San Diego City Marshal and Chief of Police Joseph Coyne 1885 - 1891

CITY MARSHAL JOSEPH COYNE 

12/1885 - 05/08/1889

SDPD CHIEF OF POLICE 

05/09/1889 - 05/28/1891

12/18/1837 - 02/05/1916

Joseph Coyne was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on December 18, 1837. He was only three years old when his father Patrick, died, leaving his mother, Ann, as the head of the family.

At age fifteen, Coyne came west and found work as a miner in Northern California. It would be his career for a number of years until after the Civil War. Coyne was apparently a fairly lucky miner as he made a number of fortunes, but that’s as far as his luck went. He also enjoyed a good card game and wasn’t so lucky there. Consequently, most of the money he made he also lost.

In 1870, Coyne arrived in San Diego County, where he found work in the gold mines of the mountain town of Julian.

It was there that he probably had his first encounter with some of the lawlessness in the area. Several pieces of gold came up missing from the camp. When Coyne and several other miners went to look for it, they found themselves shot at by the thieves who had made camp in the hills nearby. One shot came so close to Coyne that it actually took his hat right off his head. He wasn’t hurt, but one of his fellow miners took a gunshot to the face.

The man later recovered. The men never found the missing gold.

The bandits were just a small negative part of Coyne’s mining experiences in Julian. After enjoying several good years in the small mountain community, he sold his share of the operation for $50,000 and moved 60 miles west to San Diego, where he was elected sheriff in 1876. His election made him the first Republican to ever serve as county sheriff in the then-partisan office, and he served three two-year terms.

Coyne took the role of lawman very seriously and led many hunts into the backcountry to seek out fugitives with his deputy, Ned Bushyhead, who would also later serve as both Sheriff and Chief of Police. 

In 1885, Coyne was appointed City Marshal for San Diego. He was allotted 24 deputies and an assistant. In 1887, he was re-elected, this time under the title of Chief of Police. This, despite the City Marshal's office was not a municipal police agency.

Coyne’s hiring was on May 14, 1889, with his certificate of election filed on May 16th, officially making him the first member of the SDPD. As chief, his first official act would be to sit in on the hiring of the men who would become the new police force. Even though budgetary issues would only allow 12 men to be hired as San Diego police officers, more than 100 outsiders and all the soon-to-be former deputy marshals applied for the jobs. The competition was fierce.

Officially, political affiliation made little difference in getting hired. However, out of the 12 officers hired, 8 were Republicans and 4 were Democrats. As with lawmen previously, these new officers had no formal training.

As the hands-on manager of a small department, Coyne was able to monitor firsthand the work his officers were doing. His only real trouble came when he attended a council meeting and became involved in a fistfight with a citizen who stood up and criticized the police department.

Coyne served as chief until May 27, 1891, when, on a 3-1 vote, the police commission elected William H. Crawford as his replacement. (One vote was cast for someone else) Now out of a job, Coyne was forced to hand over the department he helped create to someone else.

In 1893, Coyne took a job as a deputy under Sheriff Ben Hill and was soon thereafter appointed a night watchman in the county courthouse. The job only lasted a year before he retired and moved his family to San Francisco. After a three-year illness, Coyne died of a heart attack in San Francisco on February 5, 1916, at the age of 78.

In 1989, one hundred years after Coyne took office, his granddaughter, Laura McGowan-Minto, became a San Diego police officer.

-- end of article from the San Diego Police Department

As for his ornate badge? Here's what the newspapers reported at the time.

Wyatt Earp Just Wasn't A Cowboy

Below is an article published in the Desert Sun on May 11, 1957. The article was written by actor Hugh O'Brian, who played Wyatt Earp on television. His article in the Desert Sun was a publicity piece to generate viewership for his television show The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955–1961). In his article, Hugh O'Brian talks about the clothing that his television character Wyatt Earp supposedly wore as a deputy.

Wyatt Earp Just Wasn't A Cowboy

Editor’s Note: Aline Mosby is on vacation; in her absence, Hugh "Wyatt Earp” O'Brian answered a recent United Press column in which former cowboy star Guinn "Big Boy” Williams blasted Hugh’s fancy western attire for television. 

Story by HUGH O'BRIAN (Written for The United Press) 

HOLLYWOOD — It was interesting to read Guinn "Big Boy'' Williams' comments on the clothes I wear as TV's Wyatt Earp. He said if any real cowboys saw me in my usual Wyatt Earp get-up, they would split their sides laughing. It wouldn't concern me, because on my Wyatt Earp show, 1 don't play a cowboy. 

By definition, a cowboy or "cowman,” as he was called, was a man who traveled the trail driving a herd of cattle to a particular destination. These men would have indeed looked silly dressed as Wyatt Earp. Even the cows would have had to laugh at this one. 

Wyatt Earp was not a cowboy. 

He lived in town and was more like the city policeman of today. He wore the typical garb of a marshal of that time —the vest, black coat, and matching hat, and striped pants. If he did happen to be out on the trail doing a job, he would dress like the typical cowboy we know. 

In fact, when Wyatt first accepted his job as marshal, he had only his "trail'' clothes. The townspeople offered to chip in and buy him his first "town” wardrobe so that he could dress in keeping with the new job. 

If Mr. Williams would care to check the authenticity of the styles depicted on our show, he has but to check any public library or costume corporation. Our technical adviser on the show is Stuart N. Lake, who spent four years with Earp before he died. He is considered a supreme authority on this period and works on all phases of our show. His is the only authorized biography of Earp ever published. 

Our script supervisor is Frederick Hazlitt Brennan, the father of all westerns. He did the first 10 scripts of our shows and supervises all of them to make sure the writers conform to the character of Earp, as well as his manner and dress.

-- end of article. 

Actor Hugh O'Brian was born Hugh Charles Krampe on April 19, 1925. He died at the age of 91 on September 5, 2016. He was best known for his starring roles in the ABC Western television series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955–1961). 

The Taming of Wyatt Earp, Bad Man of Other Days 1903

Could the picture above of Wyatt Earp be from 1911, when he was arrested in Los Angeles for being a con artist attempting to cheat an unsuspecting sucker out of $250,000?

Below is an interesting news article published in the Los Angeles Herald on September 6, 1903. It talks about an encounter that Wyatt Earp had with a Canadian Mounted Police Officer. Contrary to the belief of some that Wyatt Earp was a teetotaler, there are newspaper stories from that time that contradict this notion. 

 
Published in the Los Angeles Herald on September 6, 1903:

The Taming of Wyatt Earp, Bad Man of Other Days

SINCE Wyatt Earp, once famous as a gun fighter in Arizona and California, went up into the Klondike, very little has been heard of him by the outside world. The last exploit that brought him into prominence was his decision in the Sharkey-Fitzsimmons prizefight in San Francisco, when he gave the fight to Sharkey on an alleged foul. 

For a few years before that, he had been quite an orderly citizen for someone of his reputation as a gun fighter. From the stories that have drifted down from the Klondike in the last few weeks, it appears that Earp has resumed a favorite trick of his known in the west as shooting up the town. He was much addicted to it in the old lawless days of Arizona and California. Earp was never a man who could easily be tamed. Consequently, a story told of his suppression a few weeks ago by a diminutive cockney member of the Canadian Mounted Police will be interesting to some of his friends here. 

"Earp drifted into Dawson several months ago full of a determination to get action," said a San Francisco man to some of Earp's old western friends the other night. "Civilization, policemen and progress generally knocked out Earp's gun fighting game in the States some years ago, and, like Bat Masterson and a few other relics of the old days, he had been quite orderly and well behaved for some years. 

"But when he got to Dawson he found a settlement like the places in which he made his reputation as a bad man many years ago. He found men carrying guns around in their belts and getting drunk and shooting people who happened to displease them, and it gave him the fever to get back Into the game in which he was an adept in the days gone by. 

"So Earp discarded his store clothes, got himself a flannel shirt, a pair of leather trousers, and a sombrero, stuck a gun in his belt, loaded up on bad whisky, and went around the saloons and faro bank? bullyragging everybody who would stand for his game and taking a few shots at some men who resented it. There were a number of bad men in Dawson who were sufficiently awed by Earp's reputation to stand for him, and for a week he had things pretty much his own way. 

"Well, the fact that Earp was hitting it up got to the ears of a little five-foot cockney member of the Canadian Mounted Police, one of whose duties was to see that Dawson behaved itself. Now, Earp didn't know much about the Canadian Mounted Police and the manner of men who compose it. 

"Therefore when he was interrupted In the gentle amusement of cleaning out a faro bank in Dawson one night by this little chap's coming up to him with a request that he give him his gun, he opened his mouth and his eyes very wide, swore a mighty round of oaths and asked the little fellow in riding boots and cap if he wanted to visit hades at once or wait a few hours. 

"Earp was somewhat surprised when the little fellow simply smiled politely and said: 'You must give me that gun or bury it, sir,' and extended his hand for the weapon. 

"Earp swore some more, but not quite so eloquently, for all the while the little man was smiling calmly in his face. Finally, Earp, clean flustered by the situation, pulled his gun from his belt and fired it three times into the ceiling, whereupon the little man, still smiling, said: 'Now, you'll have to bury it, or I'll have to take it away from you, sir.'" 

"'Take my gun away from me,' roared Earp." 

"Exactly,' said the little man. 'Maybe you doubt I'll do it, sir?" 

"The witnesses of this colloquy didn't know what to expect from Earp, but they knew what would happen pretty soon if Earp became defiant, because in Dawson people know what to expect from the Canadian Mounted Police. They knew, too, that this little cockney had squelched every bad man who had ever come into Dawson, and they didn't doubt that he would attend to Earp. 

"However, a crisis was averted by Earp's putting his gun back into his belt and starting to leave the place. Just as he got to the door, the policeman walked over and tapped him on the shoulder. "'I beg your pardon, sir," he said, "but if you come out with a gun in sight tomorrow, I shall have to take it away from you." 

"Earp turned purple with rage, but he had no nerve left when he confronted that politely smiling face. He roared a few oaths back at the amused crowd in the gambling house and then went to the Golden Lion Saloon, where he took a few drinks and proceeded to tell what he would do the next day when the cockney tried to take his gun. 

"Why, I'll blow him full of holes," he said. 

"Yes," said a listener, "but when you put a hole in him, you cut a hole in the British Empire, which it will fill with two men. If you kill them, four will take their places. In the end, Earp, you will have the whole British Army here if necessary, just to put you out. Better let him alone." 

"The next day, Earp, very sober and very thoughtful, appeared on the streets of Dawson in the store clothes he came to town with. Almost the first person he struck was the cockney officer, who had evidently been waiting for him, prepared to take his gun away if he showed it. 

"As soon as he saw Earp, he stepped up very politely and said: "Thank you, sir," and then turned on his heel. 

"Earp hasn't been deuce high as a bad man in Dawson since that incident. Incidentally, I might say, if he had elected to mix it with the cockney, he'd be sleeping under an epitaph tonight, for of all of the real tough men I ever saw, either for or against law and order, those Canada Mounted Police are the limit."

-- end of article September 1903.

It would be an understatement to say Wyatt Earp was not happy after reading the above news story. It's said that he was so angry that he decided to compose a letter to the editor in defense of himself. He took special offense at being referred to again as a "Bad Man" in the newspapers -- something that was regularly done when talking about him even since he was involved in that fixed championship boxing match.  

While his fans today might not like it, it is a fact that ever since he was the key figure in the Fitzsimmons-Sharkey fixed fight in San Francisco in 1896, newspapers commonly referred to him as a "Bad Man," "Infamous," "Notorious," and so on, no differently than when describing any other criminal or someone of low character. I've read one news article from that period that referred to Wyatt Earp as "Malodorous" when talking about Earp's character.

Calling Wyatt Earp's character, his moral and ethical qualities, those beliefs and moral principles that can guide his behavior as a "Malodorous character," says a lot about how people felt about Earp back in the day. The idea that he was referred to as someone unpleasant or an offensive smell, as someone described as having behavior deeply offensive or dreadful, says a great deal. 

Among the newspapers to pick up his rebuttal to being called a "Bad Man" was the Ventura Daily Post, which published Earp's rebuttal on September 17, 1903:

Not a “Bad Man.”

Wyatt Earp, of the fighting Earp family, of which Wyatt is the sole survivor, objects to the title “bad man,” which many newspapers are determined to force him to accept. He recently addressed the following communication to the Los Angeles Herald: 

Editor Herald: 

An article published in your Sunday edition entitled “The Taming of Wyatt Earp, Bad Man of Other Days,” does me an injustice. It relates an experience I was reported to have had, in Dawson City, in which I was said to have attempted to “shoot up the town” and to been subdued by one of Canadian Mounted Police. The falsity of the article is shown by the fact that I never was within 1000 miles of Dawson City. I wish to say that neither I nor my brothers were ever “bad men" in the sense that term is used, nor did we ever indulge in the practice of “shooting up” towns. We have been officers of the law and have our experiences in the law, but we are not and never were professional bad men. In justice to me and my friends and relatives, I would like to have you make this.

Wyatt Earp.

-- end of article. 

First, I found it interesting that Wyatt Earp said that he "never was within 1000 miles of Dawson City." The reason I found it interesting is that Dawson City was a key player during the Klondike Gold Rush. And yes, there was a newspaper report in August of 1897 saying that he left Yuma headed for Dawson City. 

The San Francisco Call published the following report on August 6, 1897:

WYATT EARP DEPARTS.

Backed by a Syndicate to Start a Big Gambling-House at Dawson City.

YUMA, Arizona, Aug. 5.— Wyatt Earp, whose career as a fighting man in the palmy and riotous days of Tombstone, Ariz., gained him a national reputation, the luster of which has been dimmed only by his later achievement in the Sharkey-Fitzsimmons fight, today left Yuma, where he has been for several months past, for Dawson City, where it is supposed by the famous gambler-fighter and friends who are backing him that there will be millions to be made this winter if the cards are properly handled. 

Earp is backed by a syndicate of San Francisco sports who have unlimited means at their command, and the garner in the house he proposes to start will have no limit to hamper fortunate miners who may be possessed of a desire to "break the bank." Earp will embark at San Francisco for the goldfieids and will pursue the Yukon route.

-- end of report.

We know that Wyatt Earp traveled to the Klondike Gold Rush area and was in the general region of Dawson City. Let's remember that Dawson City was the main hub for the Klondike Gold Rush. That's the reason Earp was headed there in the first place. And really, while Earp's documented travels focus more on Nome, Alaska, it's a fact that Wyatt Earp and Josie set out for Dawson City by way of the Yukon River. They made it halfway there when they reached the town of Rampart and stopped there because of the bad weather. We know the Earps wintered in Rampart in 1898 and 1899. 

As for making it to Dawson City? The only proof we have that he did make it there is the Los Angeles Herald's, September 6, 1903, news article The Taming of Wyatt Earp, Bad Man of Other Days, which says he was there. To my knowledge, there's nothing else to document that he was there. Of course, we don't know if, while he was there, his business made the newspapers.

So, as for his claim that he "never was within 1000 miles of Dawson City"? Well, that may just be another Wyatt Earp lie. And as for Earp's contention that he was never a "Bad Man," as in an "Outlaw," because he never shot up a town? Well, let's take a look at that.

Let's remember that Wyatt Earp was a pimp, a horse thief, someone with an arrest record as long as your arm, a man who was seen in several places as part of the lowest and most worthless element within a community, a crooked constable who stole funds meant for locals schools, a card sharp, a crooked referee who was the key player of a fixed Championship prize fight, the person responsible for the biggest sports scandal of the 1800s, a man known as a claim-jumper, a cold-blooded murderer who evaded the law and fled Arizona when charged with multiple homicides. Yes, there were reasons people saw him as a notorious individual, a "Bad Man" who fit in with the shady element.  

One writer called Wyatt Earp "a low-rent con artist who tried to sell people painted rocks he claimed were gold nuggets." 

Was he a career criminal into his old age? We know he was arrested several times in his younger years as well as later, when he was in his 60s, when in 1911 he was again arrested for trying to swindle someone in a fixed card game, a con game that could have put him in prison if the police hadn't botched the case by mishandling the case evidence. 

As a lawman in Wichita and Dodge City, he used the heavy-handed tactic of buffaloing cowboys from behind during arrests. He was known to make a lot of arrests, which subsequently made those towns lots of money with every arrest -- legitimate or not. All, while at the same time, he made money for himself by earning a few extra dollars above and beyond his salary for every extra arrest he made. It was a lucrative affair for any lawman back in the day who wanted to roll drunks for extra cash. 

As for the OK Corral gunfight? While it's painted as lawmen walking down Allen Street to take on five armed Cowboys who were gathered in violation of the city ordinance against wearing firearms within city limits, it was really a situation of a feud coming to a boil. 

On one side, the four armed lawmen were Vigil and Morgan, who were the law in Tombstone. Virgil deputized Wyatt and Doc Holliday that day. On the other side were two armed cowboys. They were Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury. Remember, Ike Clanton was not armed. And as for Billy Clayborne, who was supposedly armed, he ran away from the fight when the Earps and Holliday arrived. Tom McLaury was not armed.  

In the end, Vigil, Wyatt, and Morgan Earp shot and killed Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury, while Doc Holliday killed an unarmed Tom McLaury with a shotgun blast.

Many believe the Earps and Holliday were there to kill the Clantons and McLaurys, no matter if they surrendered their weapons or not. Some believe that once Ike Clanton and Billy Clayborne ran away from the fight, things would have changed. But it didn't. It was a feud. And yes, many believe the Earps and Holliday hid behind their badges when they killed Billy Clanton and both McLaury brothers. 

As for how the public saw things? The allegations that the Earps used the law as a shield in pursuit of a feud were helped by Earp's friend Judge Spicer, who dismissed the fact that the Earps and Holliday had murdered an unarmed Tom McLaury. And more so, a once divided Tombstone public became almost unanimously appalled at how Wyatt Earp and his posse used their badges to carry out the executions of the cowboys who Wyatt Earp merely suspected of being involved in the killing of his brother Morgan. 

It was the public's disdain for how the Earp posse had ceremoniously executed Frank Stillwell in Tucson. Let's remember that Wyatt Earp and each posse member took their turn shooting the mangled, bullet-riddled dead body of Frank Stillwell. It was a gruesome act that Wyatt Earp and his posse would repeat when they murdered Indian Charlie. It was the public's disdain that put pressure on the judicial system to charge Wyatt Earp and his posse with homicide -- something that neither Wyatt Earp nor even one of his posse was ever brought to justice for. 

So yes, there are reasons why people saw him as a "Bad Man," as an "Outlaw," as someone notorious who was in reality a shady character. And while it's said Wyatt Earp didn't like it, he knew the people saw him for who he was -- a low-character, unscrupulous individual who was not on the right side of the law. 

Tom Correa

 

Wyatt Earp Knocked Out In 1900 And Knocked Down In 1903

In 1907, Bat Masterson wrote a series of articles for Human Life magazine, including one titled "My Friend Wyatt Earp". This was an attempt by Masterson to depict his close friend Wyatt Earp in a positive light. In his article, "My Friend Wyatt Earp," Masterson tried to emphasize how Earp had a unique sort of courage and fearlessness. 

Masterson also talked about how his close friend Wyatt Earp was a real terror when it came to fighting with his fists. He famously stated, "Few men in the West could defeat Earp in a hand-to-hand fight." And yes, Earp's reputation for being a formidable fighter was supposedly well-known in Arizona. 

Bat Masterson said, "There were few men in the West who could whip Wyatt in a rough and tumble fight 30 years ago, and I suspect he could give a tough youngster a hard tussle right now, even if he is sixty-one years of age."

Well, Bat Masterson said that in 1907. But Masterson was wrong. He wasn't only wrong about Wyatt Earp's age, he was also wrong about Earp's skill with his fists as the years passed. Since Wyatt Earp was born on March 19, 1848, he was only 59 in 1907 and not 61 as Masterson had thought. Of course, as for him being wrong about his friend Wyatt's ability to whip younger men, Masterson probably didn't hear about what happened to Earp a few years earlier in November of 1899. 

Wyatt Earp would have been 52 years old when, according to a Seattle newspaper report from November 25, 1899, the famous gunfighter Wyatt Earp was knocked out by horse trainer, racetrack regular, Tom Mulqueen after Earp started mouthing off when both men were in the same saloon drinking.

The San Francisco Call published the following report on April 30, 1900:

GUN FIGHTER IS KNOCKED OUT BY BOLD HORSEMAN

Wyatt Earp Floored by a Single Blow From Tom Mulqueen.

Engaged in a Saloon Row Over the Recent Turf Scandal and the Gambler Gets the Worst of It. 

Wyatt Earp, gun-fighter and all-around bad man, was knocked down and out late Saturday night by Tom Mulqueen, the well-known racehorse man. The trouble occurred in a Market Street resort, near Stockton, and was precipitated by Earp. Both men had been drinking at the bar when Earp brought up the subject of the recent scandal at the Tanforan track. He made several disparaging remarks about a jockey who is on very friendly terms with Mulqueen. 

When called down, Earp became belligerently indignant and threatened to wipe the floor with the horse owner. Instantly, Mulqueen grabbed him and, after throwing him against the bar, landed a blow on the gun-fighter's face, knocking him out. 

John Farley, the proprietor of the saloon, fearing serious trouble between the two men, managed to induce Mulqueen to leave the place. Earp, after recovering from the effects of the blow, was also led from the saloon and placed aboard a passing streetcar. Earp was not armed at the time, having left his trusted "gun" with a friend shortly before the occurrence. 

Mulqueen was around as usual yesterday but refused to discuss the affair. He gained considerable notoriety several years ago by calling down Bob Fitzsiminons, the prize-fighter. They were in a saloon drinking when the ex-champion referred to Jim Corbett as a looking-glass fighter. Mulqueen promptly resented the remark and threatened to break Fitzsimmons' head if he repeated it. 

Fitzsimmons, scenting trouble, left the place, not caring to mix it with the plucky horseman. Earp first came into prominence in this city when he officiated as referee in the fight between Fitzsimmons and Sharkey several years ago and gave the decision to the sailor on an alleged foul after he had been knocked out, a decision that created general dissatisfaction.

-- end of article. 

Of course, Bat Masterson might not have heard what also happened to Wyatt Earp in 1903. His old friend was 55 years old when The Press Democrat published the following news story on September 22, 1903:

Wyatt Earp Meets His Match

San Francisco, Sept. 21. — Wyatt Earp, the alleged gun fighter and all-around “bad man,” is said to have met his match at Tonopah a few days ago, where he has been operating for some time. According to the stories that have reached here, Earp was drinking and stayed out very late, when his wife came to the saloon in which he had been carousing and implored him to come home. 

He knocked her down, whereupon a “tenderfoot” by the name of Warren promptly knocked him down, at the same time calling him a coward. Wyatt afterwards wanted to fight, but when Warren agreed to the proposition, Earp took to the woods.

-- end of article.

The same story with a few more details was published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel on September 25, 1903: 

WYATT EARP MEETS HIS MASTER 

YOUNG MAN DEALS THE NOTED GUNFIGHTER A TERRIFIC BLOW.

Earp Wants to Fight Youngster With Revolvers, But Takes To The Woods.

Don Golzman, a prospector and mining man of Tonopah, Nev., is en route East to purchase operating machinery for some claims in which he holds an Interest. They are located lu the Lone Mountain district, a few miles from Tonopah. Mr. Golzman, in discussing the happenings of the camp, mentioned one incident of interest about the well-known gun-fighter, Wyatt Earp.

"This fellow Earp," he said, "came into Tonopah some time ago and immediately commenced to get himself unpopular. A great many of the boys knew him by reputation and didn't want to get mixed up in any fracas, as Earp was said to be a gun man.

"There is one young fellow in the camp named Warren. He's a tenderfoot, not to speak, but a man not afraid of anybody. One night Earp was drinking pretty heavily and commenced to get ugly. None of the men had much use for him, but he was tolerated until a chance would come so that a stand might be taken.

This night, Earp began playing faro in one of the biggest saloons on Main Street, just below the Bank. he won a few bets, had more drinks, and became so ugly that the other players left the table.

"Finally, luck went against him and he was soon broke. He went to his rooms and made his wife lend him $100 more. It was not long before he went broke again, all but $5. With tills $5, he went to the crap table and began to win. It was about half-past 3 Sunday morning when his wife came to the saloon door and called for him to go home. He paid no attention to her. She stayed out there for a few minutes more and then came inside.

Earp was standing at the bar, and she walked up to him. He turned away and wouldn't pay any attention to her. She kept on begging him to come. There were ten or fifteen boys standing around watching the outcome of the affair. 

Earp suddenly turned and struck the woman full in the face. She fell to the floor unconscious. This young fellow, Warren, was standing near Earp, and he walked over and said: "Earp, you're a coward!"

Earp reached for his revolver, but before he got it, Warren shot out his right and knocked Earp spinning across the room. Friends of the two men jumped between them and took Earp's weapon away.

Warren was taken out of the place by several friends and made to go to his hotel a little further up the street. When Earp heard that Warren was gone, he got very brave and wanted satisfaction. He went over to his room and got two pistols. When he came back to the saloon, he held a weapon in each hand and wanted to fight. Someone told Warren, and he, too, got a weapon and started out for Earp.

They didn't meet that night, for friends kept Warren in the hotel. The next day, when the mail came in, they met in Booth's store, Warren saw Earp first. He was unarmed, but Earp had a weapon. 

Warren walked right over to Earp, the latter put out his hand to shake, but Warren wouldn't take it. Earp got out of town a few days later.

-- end of article. 

I've found this news story in more than one newspaper archive. The same story was picked off the telegraph wire and published in The Evening Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 97, 25 September 1903.

While being knocked out once and being knocked down once didn't prove that he didn't have what it took to fight the good fight in his 50s. But it did prove that Wyatt Earp shouldn't have acted up when he was drinking. And yes, one would be correct to say that Wyatt Earp's abilities to "wipe the floor" with anyone were not there by that age -- especially when he was drinking. 

And by the way, that's the other part of this story. Old West Myth has it that Wyatt Earp was a non-drinker. If that was indeed the case, why are there newspaper reports, at least three that I know of, which state Wyatt Earp had been drinking? 

Tom Correa

The Time Los Angeles Detectives Trapped Wyatt Earp Perpetrating A Swindle 1911

During his last years, it's said that Wyatt Earp tried hard to counteract the newspaper accounts that rightly painted him as a notorious bad man and con artist. I'm sure it wasn't easy since he was in the news a lot after he was found to be the linchpin in the swindle that was the fixed fight in 1896. It was his role as the crooked referee, as someone who could be bought, that made him the key ingredient to carrying out what turned out to be the biggest sports scandal of the 1800s -- the fixed Fitzsimmons-Sharkey Championship Boxing Match in San Francisco. 

When he was found out to be the key player in that swindle, the press researched his past and went after his lack of credibility. The big city newspapers were not like the small-town Tombstone Epitaph, which supported him while running biased articles to cover for his crimes. The syndicated press out of San Francisco went after him because they found him to be a fraud with a criminal past. And yes, as you can see below, even at the age of 63, every time Wyatt Earp did something newsworthy, he was in the newspapers.

 
The Los Angeles Herald published July 22, 1911:

DETECTIVES TRAP WYATT EARP

Attempted Swindle of Realty Dealer in Faro Game Leads to Arrest 

THREE HELD WITHOUT BAIL 

J. Y. Peterson Tells Police of Plan to Get His Money at New Auditorium Hotel

Wyatt Earp, noted western "gun man" and survivor of the famous Earp-Clanton feud of early Arizona days, who acted as referee at the Sharkey-Fitzsimmons prize fight and is well known locally as a follower of sporting events, was Jailed last night, with Walter Scott and E. Dunn, on a charge of attempting to "bunco” J. Y. Peterson, a real estate dealer. 

In a "fake” faro bank game, Peterson, who has offices at the 407 Stimson building. Instead of proving an easy victim, notified the police when the supposed "sure thing” was first broached to him by Earp and Scott last Thursday, with the result that the trio of alleged sharpers last night walked into a well-laid trap.

Detectives Browning, Burgess, and LaNeice making the arrests. 

Earp, who, since race track gambling became a dead letter in California, is alleged to have devoted his time to fleecing the unwary in card games here, conceived the plot. It is declared, and with Scott and Dunn decided on Peterson as a likely victim. 

Earp and Scott are alleged to have approached Peterson last Thursday morning and informed him of a scheme whereby it was represented the realty broker could reap benefits calculated to arouse his cupidity. 

The old story of the hard-working and downtrodden "underdog” was told to Peterson, he said. Scott and Earp told him that they were working for the proprietor of the San Francisco club, which is supposed to be conducting faro games in Los Angeles and San Francisco. They said, according to Peterson, that they were receiving only $l0 a day apiece and felt they were being discriminated against by their employer. 

They said they had been referred to Peterson as a sensible man by a man named Jack Roberts of Madera. According to Peterson, the two men proposed that Peterson be taught the tricks in the game of faro and various marked card systems, and that he enter a game to "break the bank.” It was agreed that Peterson was to bring $2,500 in currency to the rendezvous to exchange for chips with which to enter the faro game. In return, Peterson was to be allowed to win $4,000 from the bank, which he was to divide with the three dealers later. 

When the two men departed, Peterson started for the office of Chief of Police Sebastian, to whom he related the story of the intended swindling game. As had been earlier agreed, Peterson called at 11 o'clock Thursday morning at rooms 425 and 426, New Auditorium Hotel, to go through a rehearsal so he would be able to carry out his part in the game of "breaking the bank.” 

It was explained that all cards to come from the faro box would be marked with a pin punch through the center spot. In this way, the dealer would be able to tell the denomination of the card beneath the one exposed. If the card beneath was odd, it would show red or black through the pin hole. If even, it would show white. 

All this was rehearsed on Thursday and again at 11 o'clock yesterday morning. In the meantime, the police were preparing for a raid. To make doubly sure. It was agreed that the dealer would put two fingers on the table if the coming card would be odd and one if it would be even. 

Peterson was told that the faro bank had $40,000 in it, and that any time he wanted to gather in some "easy money,” he could beat the game and divide with the dealers. It was to be a continuous performance. 

Peterson was asked if he could meet Scott at the Alexandria hotel at 7 o'clock last night. He replied he was going to a beach for the day and would not be back until 8 o'clock, so it was agreed that they would meet at that hour. 

The engagement was kept, and Scott and Peterson left the Alexandria hotel shortly after 8 o'clock. All the while, Scott looked apprehensively over his shoulder and urged Peterson to go through the Hayward hotel on a detour to make sure no one followed. After several roundabout walks, the two came to Central Park and, passing in plain sight of the three waiting detectives, walked through the park and toward the hotel. 

"Where are all the boys?” asked Peterson. "Oh, this is Friday, and most of the players are not here yet,” replied Earp. 

On the pretense of waiting for the other players to arrive and, showing a reluctance to play without them, Peterson delayed action for about twenty minutes to give the detectives time to arrive. Then, with the remark that he would rather stake his roll when more were in the game, he walked to the door. Earp unlocked the door, and the detectives walked in, seized the three alleged sharpers, and confiscated the paraphernalia. The three were then taken to the central police station and held without bail. Complaints will be filed against them today.

The Enterprise (Riverside) published July 23, 1911:

__________________________

Try Tinhorn 

As Plain Vag Faro Crook Gets Off Easy In Angel City Because Sucker Didn’t Dig 

Story by Associated Press to The Enterprise.

LOS ANGELES, July 22. — Wyatt Earp, the sporting man who was arrested last night for an alleged attempt to fleece J. Y. Peterson, a realty broker, in a fake faro game, will be prosecuted on the charge of vagrancy. The charge was reduced because no money had passed hands when he was arrested. Earp has been released on $500 bail.

__________________________

The Los Angeles Herald published on July 26, 1911:

WYATT EARP GIVES BAIL IN ‘BUNKO GAME' CASES

Wyatt Earp, notorious Arizona “Gun man” and once a follower of the racing game in this city, was arraigned yesterday on a second charge originating in the alleged bunko game in which he, Walter Scott, and W. Dean are alleged to have tried to fleece J. Y. Peterson, a real estate man, out of $2500. 

Dean and Scott were also arraigned. The second complaint issued against the men charges conspiracy to defraud on the part of the three alleged bunko men. Earp was released on both charges on $500 bonds. 

Shortly after he gained his liberty, Scott and Dean managed to raise the $1,000 bonds each and were also allowed to go. The cases of vagrancy probably will be dismissed, but it is likely that the conspiracy charge will he prosecuted. This charge, however, does not take the cases out of police court jurisdiction. 

Police Judge Hose is hearing the conspiracy cases, and Judge Chambers the vagrancy cases. Attorneys Karl Rogers and Frank Dominguez will defend Earp. The conspiracy cases were set for trial on July 27, while the vagrancy charges were put over until October.

__________________________

The Los Angeles Herald published on July 27, 1911:

EARP FILES DEMURRER TO CONSPIRACY CHARGE

After all the facts to be true in a demurrer filed yesterday in Police Judge Rose's court in the conspiracy cases against Wyatt Earp, Ed Dean and Walter Scott, in which they are charged with conspiracy to defraud J. Y. Peterson, a real estate man, out of $2,500, It is held by attorneys for the defendants that the complaint does not charge an offense against the public morals. The cases will come up for hearing on July 27, at which time the arguments on the demurrer will be heard.

__________________________

San Diego Union and Daily Bee published on July 28, 1911:

ARRAIGN WYATT EARP ON SWINDLE CHARGE

Story by The Associated Press

I,os Angeles, —Wyatt Earp was arraigned today on a second charge originating in the alleged bunco game in which he, Waller Scott, and W. Dean arc alleged to have tried to fleece J. Y. Peterson, a real estate man, out of $2,500. 

Dean and Scott were also. arraigned the second complaint issued against the men charged with conspiracy to detain on the part of the three alleged bunco men. All were released from Jail on bail. The cases of vagrancy probably will be dismissed but it is likely that the conspiracy to defraud charge will be prosecuted. 

__________________________

Los Angeles Herald published on September 28, 1911:

COURT DISMISSES CASES OF GAMBLING ‘CONSPIRACY’ 

Wyatt Earp and Companions, Arrested in Hotel, Discharged

After several months in the justice court, the case of Wyatt Earp, a racing man, and Walter Scott, charged with conspiracy to conduct a gambling game, was dismissed yesterday by Police Judge Ross, and the two men were released. 

The cause of the dismissal was that the city prosecutor felt there was not sufficient evidence to have the men taken before a jury for trial. W. Dean, the third man caught in the raid, pleaded guilty several weeks ago and was given a suspended sentence. Scott had agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy but demanded a jury trial. The three were charged with conspiring to conduct a fake gambling game to fleece J.Y. Peterson, a real estate broker, of $2,500.

_________________________________________

Even at the age of 63, he was a con artist. Of course, this all took place 30 years after the 1881 shootout that took place in that alley near the rear of the O.K. Corral. That brief 30-second shooting was what most in Tombstone saw as the boiling point between two feuding factions. From everything that I've read on this, most of the support in Tombstone was divided before the shootout. Some were with the Earp faction while others were with the Clanton faction. 

Some point out how after the Earps and Holliday killed Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury, who were armed, and the also killed Tom McLaury who wasn't armed, the public opinion of the Earps shifted in favor of the Clanton faction. For evidence of that support, some point to how reports in the Tombstone Nugget and Tombstone Epitaph indicate that hundreds of people attended the funerals of Billy Clanton and Frank and Tom McLaury. 

Specifically, there were approximately 300 people who took part and participated in the procession on foot. There were 22 carriages and buggies carrying mourners. There was one four-horse stagecoach. Also in the procession were horsemen who accompanied the procession, which extended for blocks. And yes, around 2,000 people turned out to watch the funeral procession from the sidewalks. 

While people only paint the Clantons and McLaurys as outlaws, it is important to note that the Clantons and McLaurys were well-known and prosperous cattle ranchers, and their deaths in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral had a significant impact on the community. That is part of what led to such a large turnout at their funerals. The event has been described by some as being the largest funeral in Tombstone's history. 

Folks today forget that the sentiment against the Earps increased after the Earps killed Frank Stillwell and Indian Charlie, also known as Florentino Cruz. The reason was simple. The public was appalled to learn that the mangled, bullet-riddled bodies of Frank Stillwell and Indian Charlie were murdered by the Earp posse in the same way. Coroner's examinations found that both men were shot with several different caliber weapons, which indicated that each of the members of Earp's posse took turns shooting the men -- even after they were dead. Since that wasn't how lawmen were expected to act, even back in the day, many at the time saw the Earps as nothing more than outlaws who acted out personal vengeance and murdered their enemies while wearing badges.

By 1896, Wyatt Earp's key role in the fixed Fitzsimmons vs. Sharkey fight was in the newspapers. It was a fixed fight that could not have been carried out without Wyatt Earp's direct involvement as the fight's referee. Along with Earp's association with gambling sharpies, members of the underworld, and con artists, this led to a significant amount of press and public scrutiny of Earp's morally questionable character. 

For his remaining years, Wyatt Earp's public persona was far from the heroic figure often portrayed in popular culture today.  While he tried to counteract newspaper accounts of his more illicit activities, it was items such as his attempt to fleece J. Y. Peterson out of $2,500 that made the public see him for the con artist that he was. 

Wyatt Earp passed away in 1929 at age 80. After his death, an extremely flattering, overwhelmingly fictional biography, one written with Wyatt Earp’s cooperation, by author Stuart Lake, created the exaggerated myth of Wyatt Earp. It would take several decades after his death, and the help of Hollywood, to rewrite his history, for his image to become that of a "valiant lawman." 

Tom Correa

Justice In 1850s California Was A Mix Of Law And Vigilantes -- Part One

EXECUTION OF JOSEPH BRADLEY.

Joseph Bradley killed Jacob Bateman 

In 1856, Joseph Bradley killed Jacob Bateman at the latter's cabin near Auburn, California. Both parties were negroes. Bradley was arrested, and in July 1857, was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged on the 18th of September following. Upon the day appointed, the execution took place. 

The gallows was erected about a mile and a quarter above town, near the junction of the Nevada, Illinoistown, and Yankee Jim's road. A procession was formed at the jail, the escort being the [local militia] Placer Rifles Military Company, under the command of Capt. James Anderson. 

A coffin was placed in a light wagon, and Sheriff King, Under Sheriff Bullock, and Deputy Sheriff Sherman, having Bradley in charge, seated themselves upon it. Mr. Zentmyer, the driver, and a gentleman who conducted the religious ceremonies, occupied the front seat. A body of horsemen and many citizens brought up the rear of the procession. 

Upon arriving at the place of execution at half-past two o'clock. Captain Anderson formed his men in a square around the gallows. Sheriff King assisted Bradley from the wagon and walked with him upon the scaffold, followed by his assistant officers. The coffin was placed upon the platform. And Bradley, seating himself upon it, listened with composure to the reading of the death warrant by Mr. Bullock. 

This over, at request, he rose, took off his hat and neck-handkerchief. On being asked if he desired to say anything, he made some remarks. He thanked the officers for their kindness to him while in prison and so on. 

Having finished speaking, he was placed upon the trap, his hands and feet were tied, a black robe put over his person, the noose adjusted around his neck, and a black cap drawn over his head by the Sheriff 

This done, a prayer was offered by the gentleman officiating, and as the solemn Amen announced its conclusion, the Sheriff drew the lever, the trap fell, and the spirit of Joseph Bradley winged its way to the realms of eternity. After remaining until life was extinct, the body was taken down and buried near the foot of the gallows. Bradley conducted himself with firmness throughout the whole scene. About 500 persons witnessed the execution.

Bradley was born in Maryland, near the District of Columbia. He was thirty-nine years of age and had a wife and three children living in Washington City. He made a short confession in which he acknowledged killing Bateman, but that the killing was not premeditated.

_________________________________________

MURDER AND LYNCHING IN AUBURN

The town of Auburn, says The Herald of February 18, 1858, was thrown into a state of excitement by the report that one of its oldest citizens had been killed. Investigation proved that Mr. James Murphy had been killed by a negro, named Aaron Bracey. 

The men owned adjoining lands, and Murphy had recently purchased some of the negro's land. They met near their boundary line, and Bracey struck his victim with a pickaxe, driving the steel into his brain. 

He (the negro) then came to Auburn and gave himself up, telling the officers that he had accidentally struck Murphy, and feared he had hurt him bad. The negro was placed in jail, and a posse of citizens went to attend to Murphy. He was found with a fearful hole in the back of his head, from which the blood and brains were oozing. He lived quite a while and told the circumstances of his murder. 

In the early part of the evening following the deed, a rumor was current on the streets that an attempt would be made to lynch the murderer. Everything was quiet, however, until about half past two o'clock the next morning, Constable Boggs informed the Sheriff that a body of men were approaching the jail. 

As the Sheriff and deputies came out, they were seized and held, and the keys were demanded. While this was going on, a posse busted the doors in with a sledgehammer, and taking the murderer to the outskirts of the town, they proceeded to hang him. 

After Bracey had been taken from the jail, Father Quinn, who had come up from Sacramento to see Mr. Murphy, interceded for the prisoner and tried to quell the citizens. There were about sixty-five or seventy concerned in the lynching, though probably fully one hundred witnessed the hanging. 

The negro was the same one who killed a Chinaman in Auburn, in the spring of 1856, for which crime he was acquitted. Murphy died on the 25th, leaving a wife and two children. Bracey had a wife and family in Camden, New Jersey. He had been in California for several years.

_________________________________________

ROBBERY AND BATTLE.

The store of Otto Thiele & Co. of Danville, California, was entered by robbers, five in number, at a late hour in the night, on March 19, 1859, after the proprietors had retired. They secured the key to the safe, but unable to open it, they awakened the men, and with threats of death if resistance was offered, compelled one of them to open the safe. 

The robbers then obtained about $l350 in gold dust and amalgam, and in coin. They then proceeded to feast themselves on whatever the store offered for a good lunch, and each one of the party provided himself with a new suit of clothes, leaving the old ones in their stead.

The alarm was given next morning, and Sheriff King and Constable Boggs repaired to Danville, where they discovered the trail of the robbers, which led to a point on Bear River. Swimming the river, they made their way to the Nevada Road beyond Bear River, and took the stage running through Auburn to Nevada City, and went as far as Grass Valley.

The harbor of the thieves was ascertained to be in a cabin some two miles from Grass Valley, and a party consisting of Under Sheriff Van Hagan, Deputies Burrell, Johnson, and Lockwood, of Nevada County, and Constable Boggs, of Auburn, proceeded to the cabin for the purpose of effecting a capture. 

Upon arriving, they found the cabin to contain eight desperadoes, who started the fight by firing upon the officers. Shooting on both sides continued until the ammunition of the officers gave out, and they were forced to retire.

Early the next morning, they again returned to the cabin and found one of the robbers had been killed outright, and another wounded in the leg. The balance of the gang had fled. The name of the man killed was Ned Whitney, the murderer of Constable Leary at Columbia, Tuolumne County. Bill Riley was the wounded one. 

Deputy Sheriff Lockwood was shot through the arm; none of the other officers were injured. The result of this fight was the breaking up of one of the most successful gangs that ever operated in that locality.

_________________________________________

The 1850s in California, the years immediately following the Gold Rush, witnessed a period of instability and a rise in "citizen justice" or vigilantism. This was mainly in response to failures of formal law enforcement and the huge influx of people from all over the world. The gold rush resulted in a chaotic society of fortune-seekers, which led to a dramatic population increase and a society lacking established legal structures in many areas.

High crime rates, claim jumping, violence, and violence became commonplace in many areas. Formal law enforcement was in its infancy. Because the people struggled to cope with the huge volume of crime and land disputes, vigilante groups, also known as citizens committees and committees of vigilance, were formed to address the breakdown of law and order. 

As strange as it might sound to folks today, because Hollywood has given people the impression that all Vigilante Groups were drunken mobs, it might surprise folks to learn that such "Citizens Committees" engaged in policing and investigations while maintaining the peace when organized law enforcement was not around. 

In mining camps, which were the majority of the places with the largest populations because that's where thousands of people flocked in search of riches, miners often established their own rules and procedures for resolving disputes, relying on informal gatherings and local customs. In most cases, there were public trials. In most cases, a person being accused did not have legal representation. In some capital cases, the accused were hanged. In other cases, they may have been tarred and feathered, whipped, or maybe banished.  

So, while the 1850s California justice system was a complex mix of law enforcement and vigilante groups, it was evolving and definitely in transition from Mexican rule. This led to both formal legal proceedings and informal justice systems, which resulted in citizens having to create a justice system that worked for them to address crime and maintain order when formal law enforcement was either inadequate or non-existent. This mix of formal legal proceedings and informal justice systems was something that would take place throughout the Old West for years to come.

Tom Correa

Documents Prove Hillary Clinton OK’d Fabricated Plan To "Smear" President Trump With Russia Collusion

According to Declassified Documents, Hillary Clinton Approved a Plan to “Smear” President Trump with Russia Collusion.

Story by Josh Christenson

The New York Post
Published July 31, 2025

WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton signed off on a plan hatched by a top campaign adviser to “smear” then-candidate Donald Trump with false claims of Russian collusion and distract from her own mounting email scandal during the 2016 campaign, according to explosive intelligence files declassified Thursday.

The 24-page intelligence annex was compiled from memos and emails obtained by the Obama administration in the lead-up to Election Day that laid out “confidential conversations” between leaders of the Democratic National Committee — including then-Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz — and liberal billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundations.

The plot, the brainchild of the Clinton campaign’s then-foreign policy adviser, Julianne Smith, included “raising the theme of ‘Putin’s support for Trump’” and “subsequently steering public opinion toward the notion that it needs to equate” the Russian leader’s political influence campaign with actual hacking of election infrastructure.

Smith would go on to serve as former President Joe Biden’s ambassador to NATO. “I don’t have any comment,” she told The New York Post when reached by phone Thursday.

Open Society senior vice president Leonard Benardo was looped in on the scheme and laid out its intended effect in a series of emails in late July 2016.

“Julie [sic] says it will be a long-term affair to demonize Putin and Trump,” Benardo was quoted as writing July 25. “Now it is good for a post-convention bounce. Later the FBI will put more oil into the fire.”

Two days later, Benardo wrote: “HRC approved Julia’s idea about Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections. That should distract people from her own missing email, especially if the affair goes to the Olympic level,” an apparent reference to revelations of a massive state-sponsored doping campaign by Russia following the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.

“The point is making the Russian play a U.S. domestic issue,” Benardo also stated. “In absence of direct evidence, Crowdstrike and ThreatConnect will supply the media, and GRU [Russia’s foreign intelligence arm] will hopefully carry on to give more facts.”

Special counsel John Durham uncovered the files during a multi-year probe into intelligence activities during the 2016 election.

January 2016 memorandum provided by intelligence source Chairman Grassley

March 2016 memorandum provided by an intelligence source, Chairman Grassley

July 25, 2016, email from Leonard Benardo, Open Society Foundations 

July 27, 2016, email from Leonard Benardo, Open Society Foundations Chairman.

Durham consulted the FBI, which assessed that the information was “likely authentic” but couldn’t corroborate exact copies of the Benardo emails with Open Society Foundations. The CIA also determined that the intelligence was not “the product of Russian fabrications.”

“Smith was, at minimum, playing a role in the Clinton campaign’s efforts to tie Trump to Russia,” Durham concluded.

The Trump-Russia investigation was part of what a March 2016 memo included in the annex described as a “two-prong DP [Democratic Party] opposition [that] is focused on discrediting Trump…. [a]mong other things, the Clinton staff, with support from special services, is preparing scandalous revelations of business relations between Trump and the ‘Russian Mafia.’”

The “special services” cited in one of the memos referred to intelligence activities of Obama’s CIA and FBI, which may have included the work of “Trump dossier author Christopher Steele.”

The memos also claim then-President Barack Obama was “put[ing] pressure on FBI Director James Comey through Attorney General [Loretta] Lynch” to wrap up the probe of Clinton’s use of a private email server to receive highly classified information while secretary of state.

“Obama,” a January 2016 memo read, “has no intention to darken the final part of his presidency and ‘legacy’ by the scandal surrounding the main contender from the [Democratic Party].”

The March 2016 memo claimed the 44th president had “sanctioned the use of all administrative levers to remove possibly negative effects from the FBI investigation of cases related to the Clinton Foundation and the email correspondence in the State Department.”

In December 2016, Obama ordered a post-election intelligence assessment of nefarious Russian activity surrounding that year’s election.

That assessment, published in January 2017 included — over the objections of senior CIA officials — details from the Steele dossier, an opposition research project funded in part by Clinton’s campaign and the DNC.

In March 2016, then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe shared the memos with senior officials at the Department of Justice, suggesting a plot to launch an investigation based on the Democratic campaign document.

“During the first stage of the campaign, due to lack of direct evidence, it was decided to disseminate the necessary information through the FBI-affiliated … technical structures … in particular, the Crowdstrike and ThreatConnect companies, from where the information would then be disseminated through leading U.S. publications,” one Benardo email read.

Durham concluded: “The Office’s best assessment is that the … emails that purport to be from Benardo were ultimately a composite of several emails that were obtained through Russian intelligence hacking of the U.S.-based Think Tanks, including the Open Society Foundations, the Carnegie Endowment, and others.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and other members of the US Intelligence Community declassified the Durham annex at the request of Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).

“Based on the Durham annex, the Obama FBI failed to adequately review and investigate intelligence reports showing the Clinton campaign may have been ginning up the fake Trump-Russia narrative for Clinton’s political gain, which was ultimately done through the Steele Dossier and other means,” Grassley said in a statement.

“These intelligence reports and related records, whether true or false, were buried for years. History will show that the Obama and Biden administration’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies were weaponized against President Trump,” he added.

“This political weaponization has caused critical damage to our institutions and is one of the biggest political scandals and cover-ups in American history. The new Trump administration has a tremendous responsibility to the American people to fix the damage done and do so with maximum speed and transparency.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and other members of the US Intelligence Community declassified the files from Durham’s probe at the request of Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).

Ratcliffe said in a statement that the files — some of which came from the CIA — showed “a coordinated plan to prevent and destroy Donald Trump’s presidency.”

Bondi and Patel insisted that the public disclosures would restore Americans’ trust in the government and provide accountability.

“This Department of Justice, alongside the CIA, is committed to truth and transparency and will continue to support good-faith efforts by Congress to hold our government accountable,” Bondi said. “Chairman Grassley is leading by example and shining light on critical issues of great interest to the American people.”

“The American people deserve the full, unfiltered truth about the Russia collusion hoax and the political abuse of our justice system, it exposed,” added Patel. “Today’s declassification and release of documents tied to the Durham report is another step toward that accountability.”

“I’m grateful to Chairman Grassley for his steadfast leadership on this issue, and I look forward to our continued partnership in exposing one of the most shameful frauds ever perpetrated on the American public.”

The New York Post reached out to Benardo and reps for Clinton for comment.