Biografia

Fifth cousin of Wyatt Earp.

After the death of his elder brother Virgil Earp on October 19, 1905, he was the last surviving participant of the Gunfight of the O.K. Corral, which took place in Tombstone, Arizona at 3 p.m. on October 26, 1881.

Became acquainted with John Wayne, during the actor's early years in Hollywood.

In 1910, when he was 62, the Los Angeles Police Department hired Wyatt and former Los Angeles detective Arthur Moore King at $10.00 per day to carry out various tasks "outside the law" such as retrieving criminals from Mexico, which he did very capably. This led to Wyatt's final armed confrontation.

Earp was involved in the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral, during which lawmen killed three outlaw Cochise County Cowboys. While Wyatt is often depicted as the key figure in the shootout, his brother Virgil was both Deputy U.S. Marshal and Tombstone City Marshal that day and had considerably more experience in law enforcement as a sheriff, constable, and marshal than did Wyatt. Virgil made the decision to enforce a city ordinance prohibiting carrying weapons in town and to disarm the Cowboys. Wyatt was only a temporary assistant marshal to his brother.