Was Wyatt Earp a Cold Blooded Murderer?

by Kellen on September 21, 2012

On October 26, 1881 in Tombstone, Arizona Territory, Wyatt Earp, his two brothers, and their comrade Doc Holliday locked horns with the Clanton and McLaury brothers in what became the most famous shootout in the history of the American West. The gunfight at the OK Corral, which actually occurred on Fremont Street six blocks west of the corral, made Wyatt Earp a legend and one of the most famous lawmen to ever pin on the Silver Star. What started out as no more than a war of words escalated into the gunfight of the century that has since been the basis for copious amounts of books, films and television productions. But what is often glazed over in these accounts is the judicial hearing that followed the fight. On October 29, 1881 Ike Clanton - brother of Billy Clanton who perished in the battle - filed murder charges against the Earps and Holliday. On November 7, Wyatt and Doc Holliday were arrested and carted off to jail. Justice of the Peace, Wells Spicer presided over the preliminary hearing that saw Wyatt Earp take the witness stand in his own defense. Wyatt swore up and down that shots were not fired between the two parties until the Clanton and McLaury boys brandished their six shooters first. Ike Clanton swore otherwise. Virgil Earp, Wyatt's brother who was severely wounded in the tussle, testified from his bed in the Cosmopolitan Hotel. After gathering a month's worth of testimony, Judge Spicer issued a decision exonerating the Earp's and Holliday of any wrong doing. If you are intrigued like I am by this story, you are in luck! Contained in the archives of the Denver Public Library is a copy of the deposition and testimony in the proceedings of the Earp-Clanon Murder case. The collection number is -M956. Visit the 5th floor reference desk to look at the collection and decide for yourself!

So what do you think now. And quit using f****** names that you heard on Fox News. Libtards, really, I mean how old are you? And I'm not liberal so doesn't really matter on a personal level just curious about people who use words like that? What level of education or wisdom people have who call names like that? I'm seriously interested? It's amazing to me how easily certain people are able to be radicalized. I know that groceries are as f****** expensive as they've ever been. Which he was supposed to address in his first term. Still waiting. And for those who have something to say about the fact that politics are being brought up the whole okay corral thing was a political event. Wyatt and his brothers were supported by Rich Republican businessman. The Clantons we're supported by democrats including the Marshall that beat Wyatt in the election. Also just so you know the Republicans back then were nothing like the people that call themselves Republicans nowadays.

There are a lot of actual statistical facts that you can look up that prove otherwise. And I'm not a big fan of Biden really. But he did do quite a few good things. And my guess is you don't really know a whole lot about actual presidential history. There are some pretty shady characters mixed in. Far more than Biden. Just wondering what you're basing your opinion on? Actual facts? Or just personal feelings?

Wyatt Earp did NOT abandon his first wife, she died of typhoid fever while pregnant just as it was portrayed in the movie. He was devastated by her death and went west. Look it up like I did. He wasn't a faithful husband to the second "wife" and she did have a drug addiction and died in her 40's about 10 year after Wyatt left her. As for Pete Spence and Indian Charlie and the rest of what happened, I haven't done enough research yet on that to either validate what you say or not. It was a different time then, laws in the old west were also different then. You can't apply todays rules and laws with what it was like 150 years or so ago. If someone shot your brother in the back and maimed another brother and threatened your family, just what would you have done back then? I don't know what I'd do myself. Do You??

If you believe them to be heroes and the legends that were told about them then they were. If you don't they were just men trying to live their life the best they could. Every man is the hero of his own story and the villain of several others. Just by knowing how people play up other people's lives to make money I find it hard to believe half the things that were said about Wyatt Earp and his brothers and doc Holliday.

But you can't apply morality. You see there was a time when it was completely legal to shoot a black man in the face because he was your property. But that doesn't make it morally okay nor does it vindicate the person that did it

I don't know if my last comment went through so I'm just going to say it again. It once used to be legal to shoot a black man in the face because he was your property. So what would you have done back in the day would you have owned a black man and shot him in the face if he tried to run. Then use that weak ass argument that it's legal. Laws oftentimes have very little to do with morality. But one can be moral even if the laws are not. There's also a reason that those laws changed that you speak of. They did away with vigilante justice for a reason. Yes I would be very upset if someone killed my brother threaten my family. But then again me and my posse shot down a couple of that person's friends and family so I don't know. Some of the history I've read says that doc Holliday's straight murdered an unarmed man at the okay corral. And the families had been feuding for quite some time before that incident. There's a whole political thing going on there as well. But I do know I wouldn't murder unarmed men. I understand that no matter how many people I kill they're not going to bring my brother back and they're not going to make the pain go away. Understanding that there's really no point in hunting people down and killing them in vengeance sake. So laws may have been different but that doesn't change morality and what's actually right and wrong.

You leave Roger and I out of this Tbone! Neither one of us know nor did we ever claim to know any this man. So I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to me. I'm not going to say this again: I am not any relation to that man, Ike Clinton. I never told anybody to lie. Not a single time. Never. These allegations are false. And I need to go back to work for the American people.

You fit right in with todays whiny, poor criminal mentality. They were sworn law officers, times were different then, and today would be much better if some of that hard ass Justice was around in 2023!

Some of that hard ass Justice that kneels on people's necks until they're dead. Is that what you mean. Or shooting unarmed men. I said this before but laws don't dictate morals doesn't matter what times you live in. Only people who can't think base their morality off what the law says. The law used to say you could own people as farm equipment. Also the cops beat the s*** out of people on a pretty regular basis so I'm not sure what you mean by hard-ass Justice. Cops are just as dirty and corrupt now as they were back then. Having power over people is a job that attracts a lot of shady type individuals. Sociopaths love being able to be cops. They get to legally exert power over others. You sound like someone who hasn't done a whole lot of research in your life. You sound like someone who has been told by others how he should think.

Actually Virgil did a whole lot of the stuff that Wyatt gets credit for. And he didn't tidy up the "Wild West". Not by himself. Also the wild west was not nearly the way it's painted in movies. It wasn't a whole bunch of drinking and cowboys and brothels horse thieves or Indians. Most folk were decent folk there are a few criminals just like nowadays. That's why the okay corral is one of the few actual gunfights that you can read about in history books. Because shootouts in the street weren't commonplace.

Submitted by Paul F Hogan (not verified) on Sat, 07/15/2017 - 22:40

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Indian Charlie was killed at the Spence homestead; but Spence was in jail at the time. However the accounts of the death of Frank Stillwell at the Tucson rail station do leave questions. Earp himself claims he shot Stillwell while the later tried to push the barrel of his shotgun away. All other witnesses claim both Ike Clinton and Stillwell were fleeing the scene when Stillwell stumbled allowing Earp to catch him. Both the Stillwell and Indian Charlie killings have the eerie similarities of men fleeing the Earp posse only to be gunned down. It was said Indian Charlie's body was riddled with bullets. Between that and the close quarters shotgun blast that killed Stillwell; it screams of vengeful/retaliatory murder. Don't forget that Earp surrounded himself with murderers and outlaws; Doc Holiday; Sherman McMaster who purportedly assisted in a jailbreak by Curly Bill Brocius while he was a Texas Ranger; and both Texas Jack Vermillion and jack Johnson (an alias used by Jack Blunt/Blount) both killed men whilst arguing over card games. Interestingly enough; Johnson petitioned Earp to write to the governor to free a man named Bud Blunt/Blount (imprisoned for a shooting) who is assumed to have been Turkey Creek Johnsons' brother. In repayment for this act, he participated in the vendetta ride.

Mr. Hogan has an educated grasp that's reinforced by all my studies of the crooked lawman and his vagrant, immoral life. John Wayne is the principal fool in this story. Raising a failed hoodlum to a Hollywood fantasy.
But John was an actor looking for a role to sell. Truth had nothing to do with acting. If John were alive, he'd play
a great trump. But it would be a lie !

And what were the shots in the back to Morgan and Virgil? Revenge and pure cowardice. Ike was a coward and he was the one who started it all, using the corrupt and flawed justice system against the Earps. No longer having the support of the inefficient justice system, Wyatt did the only thing an honorable man would do, seek justice with his own hands. I would do the same thing after having a brother shot in the back who was left disabled and another killed in the back as well.

No I wasn't the one that started at all. The Errps and Clantons had been feuding for a long time. It seems like nobody ever mentions the politics that were behind it. Clantons were ranchers who had been living there for awhile. But then somebody discovered some silver and what happened in tombstone is the same that happened in lots of boom towns. A lot of wealthy businessman from the East show up and try to start running things.

Submitted by Sir Kevin Parr Bt (not verified) on Fri, 04/03/2020 - 02:58

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My need is to see Wyatt Earp as a hero. After much research I conclude he was a man of his times and guilty of murder

Wyatt was a totally bad dude. He was a pimp, card cheat, murder, to just a few. Josie was one of his "girls he pimped"
Been there to Tomestone, read the records. He and Josie left Tomestone after the silver minds close down, and moved to L.A. and lived a peaceful life.

No they didn't move straight to LA and live peacefully the rest of their lives. They never really had a place it was a steady home. They moved around all the time working in saloons where Wyatt would deal cards. They made it up to Alaska at some point and had a saloon there. And he died in a motel room in Los Angeles.

Prior to the Tombstone shoot out, Earp had shot 197 criminals and only one resulted in death. He was a crack shot and famous for winging criminals. Even more so was his disdain for shooting people. Hundreds of occasions where he would just knock someone out before a shooting could come into play. He cleaned up Wichita and Dodge city with gun ordinances which today would be seen as 2nd ammendment violations. Again people trying to demonize anyone in our history. These haters of history are nothing more than people who know nothing about nor understand anything about life in that era yet want us to believe their lies.

Exactly. These trumpeters who talk shit now, wouldn't have lasted ten minutes around law-abiding men back then. Trump old have ben scalped and killed early in the game. You trumpsterscdont know how truth even works. Yll think it's some abstract thing ha ha. Your worthless

Great comment. I hate that all history either good or bad is being erased! Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. It seems some people just never learn.

Submitted by john cowden (not verified) on Fri, 04/17/2020 - 14:53

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On what planet do you ppl live, it was a bad situation populated by bad men who were in the process of Manifest Destiny, which was a nice name for the Genocide of the aboriginal populations. And you’re all upset because a few countrified city dudes start offing each other over mostly nonsense. Where our love affair with fire arms began. Most of what we know of the “old west” comes from Buffalo Bill and his Wild West show reproductions. The lone fast draw contests and only shooting ppl standing up facing you was more of an accident, if it ever happened, usually it was in the back in ambush. So demonizing or glamorizing the death trap that was the “old west” is futile. No one that moved west after the conquest were in line for halos or sainthood. Our history was colored by European arrogance and the colonial logic of “The White Man’s” burden but our track record isn’t one to brag about, as we dropped that burden and just wrapped it in the flag and short memory span. We need better history teachers but I suggest Howard Zinn’s books. One thing said for Earp was he knew fire arms and liquor were a dangerous combination one thing our gun obsessed right wing but jobs have yet to learn.

Interesting use of words to describe the west as just a bunch of white dudes shooting each other. How you ignor true history of many Cowboys being black is amazing. Your lack of true historical knowledge is very appearent.

White man? You don't know almost a third of the Cowboys and criminals were black because you're ignorant about the subject. Please feel free to educate yourself.
https://owlcation.com/humanities/Black-Outlaws-Cowboys-And-Lawmen-Of-The-Old-West

Submitted by Roy Bean (not verified) on Tue, 07/07/2020 - 18:58

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Murder is a strong word and sometimes misused. Would if make you a murderer if you bombed Iran to stop others planning to murder people in your country? Would you be a murderer if in Rome you killed your captures who enslave and tortured you? How about the Old West when you track down criminals that rob, rape steal and murdered others and you killed them? I guess it could be in the eye of the beholders. Or if you killed an innocent person of any serious crimes whatsoever. Also situations are most important. Such as the time period you are in and to what extent. Also the laws of the land and or territories. If you were a judge that had a criminal hanged that another Judge might give lighter sentence. Murderer? Lawful? Everyone trying to make others from the 1880's and other eras what they wish them to be. I'd say Earp was not an exceptionally nice guy, that is for sure. Judging from the characters of The Old West he did what it took to rid the area of its worst criminals. He done killed em that is for sure. What he could have done differently is beside the point. It's History.

Amen
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See my response above:...here it is:
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I disagree with you generalization of Erp. No one is perfect and Erp himself admitted on numerous occasions that he was not. There were activities in his early life those bore that out...but he was also a man who became committed to law and order individuals being innocent until proven guilty, the establishment of towns with law and order, and the importance of family ties.

I have read number numerous autobiographies, historical accounts, and other books abort out Wyat Erp. As a representative of the law he far, far more often than not did everything in his power to avoid gun played saving scores of lives by doing so. When acctually engaging in gun play, he was so fast either right or left handed, and such a good shot that he avoided killing criminals who pressed him into gun fights by either ambushing him or pressing to meet. them in the street, usually shooting for and hittin their shoulders. Their elbow, or their wrist. In this way he turned those who were cold blooded killers into much less capable shooters and killers with hand guns than they had been.

There were a relative small number of instances like the OK Corral where shooting to kill could not be avoided. But again, in the vast majority of "showdowns" he either avoided shooting, or wounded those he came up against.

Undoubtedly, if he was a cold blooded killer, or someone seeking a high body count he could have obtained it..but he is quoted on numerous occasions why he did not:

1. The relatives of those killed would almost invariably in those days seek revenge killings therby defeating his goal of making the towns he worked in safer and more peaceful and up holding of law and order.

2. Making a huge name for himself with scores of killings would have also invariable invited every outlaw who themselves sought such accounts for themselves to come wherever Erp worked to try and say they had "knocked him off" once again, thereby defeating his own goal for law and order.

These things are simply the truth for his career in Whichita, Dodge City, and Tombstone.

For several years after he quit his law career, he did, himself become a vigilante chasing down and killing several of the plannning members of the two families of those involved in the OK Corral and its following feud. In those accounts as far as I have been able to research, he only killed those involved with planning and carry out the murders who had escaped justice and mostly fled to far flung hide outs and places where local law enforcement was not interested in risking their personnel rooting out and finding those involved in those crime which lay far outside of their area of Jurisdiction.

But once he had completed that effort he retired peacefully for several decades with his wife (who was by far his most long standing, Josephine Sarah Marcus married 1882-1929, married 47 years) in California, him dying at a ripe old age of 80 years old in Los Angeles.

Submitted by Me (not verified) on Fri, 02/21/2025 - 14:35

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Funny he did exactly what he talked about in number one. Someone killed someone in his family and then he went on a murder spree. And he openly admitted that at the train station he killed an unarmed man. He may not have been a straight-up villain but he's not a hero either.

Submitted by Bee (not verified) on Fri, 02/19/2021 - 21:55

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While unique a vendetta ride is not outrageous for those times. So we must take it in context. Of course Wyatt Earp committed murder. Its really not that debatable if you look at the facts. What is debatable is if he played judge and executioner. To me he did. Though I don't think that made him evil. As said above, he was a man of his times who happened to occasionally have a badge and was phenomenal with his weapons and fists. He clearly lived on both sides of law and extracted everything he could out of each.

That sounds to me to be the most reasonable. He was a guy who wandered here and there never laying down any kind of roots trying to strike it rich. But he ended up dying in a Los Angeles motel almost broke

Submitted by jimney joe (not verified) on Wed, 06/02/2021 - 09:53

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You cannot think of the earps as 21st century persons. Things were so different and brutal that if we lived in that era, we would have a different mind set. Not enough law to go around in the first place and second lawlessness was rampant. wyatt earp and other officers did what they could....That doesn,t mean they never broke the law, that just means that the old west was a damn hard place to live.

Submitted by Daniel Webster (not verified) on Tue, 07/06/2021 - 17:30

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The on thing that no earps fan thinks of is it is not against the law to be armed saddling up to leave town. One other bit of 100% PROOF they were not expecting a fight if they were the rifles on the horses could have wiped the earps out before ever in pistol range. Tom's pistol was found in the saloon proving he was unarmed. A lot of people claim they were Outlaws they were no different than all the other ranchers in the area that had dealings with rustlers to keep their stop from being stolen they were not Rustler's they were ranchers there was never a warrant against any Clanton or any mclaury. They were fancy dressersAnd made thousands in their large ranches legally.

Submitted by Manly Man (not verified) on Tue, 02/08/2022 - 19:13

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The fact is, Earp and his buddies were no better than the dirtbags they killed. The only difference was who happened to be wearing badges or have "law enforcement powers" at the time. In today's society, Earp and some of his pals would be doing life without parole--or getting the death penalty.

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