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| 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? |
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.
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.
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.
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
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