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Biography of Wyatt Earp Essay

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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 …show more content…

A very historical event occurred soon after Wyatt took the detective job with
Wells, Fargo & Company; the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. This event is very controversial even today. According to the name of the event, the shutout occurred in the back entrance of the O.K. Corral. Yet, according to the research that I have done, the shootout actually occurred about half a block over from the O.K. Corral in the side yard of ex-mayor William A. Harwood and from there it spread out into the middle of Fremont
Street. Of course, "the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" sounds much better than "the
Gunfight in Harwood's Yard and Fremont Street" so I guess someone decided to change it. "O.K. Corral" has much more of a Western ring to it. Personally, I think "the
Gunfight in Tombstone" sounds pretty good, but there's no point trying to change it now.
Virgil, Wyatt's older brother, was Tombstone's city marshal at the time of the shootout.
He was also a deputy U.S. marshal. At the time of the gunfight, Wyatt considered himself a saloonkeeper, since he had a piece of the gambling winnings at the Oriental
Saloon. This event included four of the Old West's best known law enforcers and also some of the Old West's best known villains . The three Earp brothers; Virgil, Wyatt and
Morgan all participated in the gunfight with "Doc" Holliday at their side. John "Doc"
Holliday was a good friend of Wyatt's plus he had a

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