Wyatt Earp

[Highmiles]

I find this version a little less entertaining, than Tombstone, but they are both good for many laughs. Neither movie has much accuracy, but that is understandable, since they are based on the tales related by ol' Wyatt himself to Stuart Lake. At that time, ol' Wyatt was living in Los Angeles since he felt the heat was off enough to move back to the Country after hiding in Alaska.

The real Wyatt Earp pretty much started life as a drunk, mugger, and horse thief. He came so close to dying of alcohol poisoning, that he swore off liquor. That certainly didn't keep him out of bars, however. His main livelihood became pimping and gambling. During the time period that he told Lake, he was working as a buffalo hunter, he was actually arrested in Peoria, Illinois for running a house of prostitution. Thinking himself to be a smart man, he established a whore house on a river boat, but was caught again by the Peoria law.
Seeing his prospects to be poor in the area he moved to Kansas and went full time as a gambler and pimp, choosing a favorite whore to live with him. In order to supplement his income, he hired on as a deputy. This did two things, it gave him a certain amount of protection (common in those days), and gave him a supplemental income of $2 a head for arrests. He found that arresting drunks was the easiest means to a fat paycheck, but there weren't enough drunks available to be worth his while. He took to knocking out the drunks, with the barrel of his Colt, This did two things. He could come up behind them and avoid confrontation, and with them out cold, no one could dispute whether they were actually drunk. It was lucrative, but short lived. There were so many complaints about brutality and false arrest, that Dodge City had to fire him. (It was pretty hard to get fired in those days.)
'Ol Wyatt gathered up his brothers and talked them into going after the riches available in the mining town of Tombstone. Again, Wyatt was primarily a pimp and a gambler, and a miner by extension. He was a Deputy again, for protection, he was never a Marshall. His only claims were won in poker games, and he never really worked the claims. Some say Wyatt wasn't above robbing a stage, and his most famous fight came as a result of the Cowboys, led led by the Clantons, getting ready to submit evidence of Doc Holliday's involvement in a stage robbery. Wyatt and the Earps, couldn't let that happen, either because they were also involved, or to protect Doc, who was Wyatt's best friend. Understand that the Cowboys, and the Earps were like two families in the mafia. They were fighting for control over who got to fleece the sheep in Tombstone.
The Earps went down to the O.K. corral when the Clantons came into town, with the express purpose of shutting them up. When the Earps and Holliday decimated them, only two of the group they slaughtered were even armed.
It hit the fan, and the Earps were barely acquitted. Their profession as lawmen saved them.
Of course the Cowboys retaliated. In response, Wyatt killed twelve Cowboys in cold blooded murder, and arrest warrants were issued for him. He fled to Alaska with his then girlfriend, (who luckily came from a wealthy family, and could afford to support him)
He hid in Alaska until he was an old man.

Now, you can mix that up with some of Wyatt's tall tales to Stuart Lake and come up with some semblance of truth as to who the real Wyatt Earp was.

[y2kflhr]

cool story ...thanx

[Highmiles]

I think it is a lot more interesting, if you know both sides of the story when you watch the movies. All that I posted is backed up by arrest records, and newspaper stories, but I'm sure a lot of the myth told to Lake has a basis in reality too. Anyway you look at it, Wyatt and Doc were people to be reckoned with in the old West.

[griffin]

[stupidglide]

Hmmmmmmmmm............
Pretty interesting stuff there.
I watch the History Channel a lot, because they usually tell it as close as they can get to the truth, and tell a good bit about the legends too.
Thanks!

[why_me]

You forgot the part about the alien abduction.

[griffin]

when the legend becomes fact print the legend..............

[RoadWolf]

Pretty Cool!
Most our cultural heros owe some significant portion of their status to self promotion and literary license.
I equally enjoy knowing the "truth" and hearing the mythical stories!

[why_me]

Reminds me of how current events are being rewritten right now.