Biography of Wyatt Earp

Biography of Wyatt Earp

Wyatt Earp, born Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp, was born on March 19, 1848 in

Manmouth, Illinois to Nicholas and Virginia Earp. When Wyatt was two, his parents

moved him across the Mississippi River to Pella, Iowa. He was considered a great

western lawman. His first experience as a lawman was as a constable of Lamar, Missouri

for four months in the year 1870. In April, 1875, he was appointed to the Wichita Kansas

police force only to be released from that job on April 2, 1876 for insubordination. After

that, Wyatt moved to Dodge City, Kansas where he served as a police man three separate

times. The first time he served from May 17 until September 9, 1876; the second time he

served was from July 6 until late November, 1877; and the last time that he served as a

police man in Dodge City was from May 12, 1878 until September 8, 1879. After that on

and off police work in Dodge City, Wyatt decided to move to Tombstone, Arizona. He

picked up and moved to Tombstone on December 1, 1879. When he got there he took up

the job that was most natural to him, law enforcement.

Wyatt had several jobs while living in Tombstone. The first job that he acquired

when he got to Tombstone was riding shotgun for Wells, Fargo & Company. He held

this position for approximately eight months. This was a fairly dangerous job. His duties

were to ride in the front of the wagon with the driver and protect it. His second job was

serving as the deputy sheriff for Pima County from July 29 to November 9, 1880. The

third job that Wyatt got was a little different from the first two. He was no longer the

man with a gun shooting bad guys, now he was the man behind the desk trying to figure

out who robbed th...

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...veral members of the "Cowboys" including, Frank Stilwell, Florentine Cruz, and

gang member Jonny Barnes. Doc died of tuberculosis shortly after the Vendetta. Wyatt

was said to have illegally taken the law into his own hands. He was charged with murder

and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Wyatt was never caught and tried because he

moved away to Los Angeles and retired.

Bibliography:

Works Cited

Encyclopedia of the American West,ed. Charles Phillilps, Vol 2, (New York:

Simon and Schuster Macmillian, 1996), 471.

Encyclopedia of the American West,ed. Charles Phillilps, Vol 3, (New York:

Simon and Schuster Macmillian, 1996), 1221.

Stuart N. Lake, Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal (Cambridge: The Riverside Press,

1931).

Casey Tefertiller, Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend (New York: John

Wiley and Sons, Inc.,1997).