Editing Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (section)

=== The Earps as lawmen ===
Among the lawmen involved in the O.K. Corral shooting, only Virgil had any real experience in combat. Virgil had been [[Constables in the United States|constable]] in Prescott and was the [[United States Marshals Service|deputy United States Marshal]] in Tombstone. He was appointed Deputy U.S. Marshal for eastern Pima County by U.S. Marshal [[Crawley P. Dake|Crawley Dake]], on November 27, 1879, before the Earps arrived in Tombstone on December 1. He was appointed as Tombstone's acting town marshal on September 30, 1880, after popular Tombstone town marshal [[Fred White (marshal)|Fred White]] was accidentally shot and killed by Brocius. Wyatt had been a deputy city marshal in Kansas, as well as deputy sheriff in Tombstone.<ref name=ashford/><ref name=adams>{{cite book|last1=Adams|first1=Ramon F. Jr.|title=Burs Under the saddle: A Second Look at Books and Histories of the West|date=1989|publisher=[[University of Oklahoma Press]]|location=Norman, OK|isbn=978-0-8061-2170-3|page=330|edition=First}}</ref>

Only six weeks later, Virgil ran for the office on November 12, 1880, but lost to [[Ben Sippy]]. However, on June 6, 1881, Sippy asked for a two-week [[leave of absence]]. The city soon discovered $3,000 ({{Inflation|US|3000|1881|fmt=eq|r=-3}}) in financial improprieties in Sippy's records. A few days later Virgil was appointed as town marshal in his place.<ref>{{cite web|title=Virgil Earp – Upholding the Law of the West|url=http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-virgilearp.html|access-date=March 24, 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150324191501/http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-virgilearp.html|archive-date=March 24, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Wyatt Earp |url=http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-wyattearp5.html |publisher=Legends of America |access-date=March 24, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150316165430/http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-wyattearp5.html |archive-date=March 16, 2015 }}</ref><ref name=guinn>{{cite book|last=Guinn|first=Jeff|title=The Last Gunfight: The Real Story of the Shootout at the O.K. Corral and How it Changed the American West|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York|isbn=978-1-4391-5424-3|edition=First hardcover|page=168|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6yOCfoJu6a0C|year=2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109162703/https://books.google.com/books?id=6yOCfoJu6a0C|archive-date=November 9, 2017}}</ref> At the time of the gunfight, Virgil was both Deputy U.S. Marshal and town marshal. The city suspended him as town marshal after Ike Clanton filed murder charges.<ref name=roberts>{{Cite book |last1 = Roberts | first1 = Gary L. | title = Doc Holliday: The Life and Legend | year = 2007 | publisher = Wiley, J | location = New York | isbn = 978-0-470-12822-0}}</ref>{{rp|238}}

After Wyatt first arrived in Tombstone, his business efforts yielded little profit, and he took a job as a stagecoach [[shotgun messenger]] for [[Wells Fargo]], guarding shipments of silver bullion. On July 28, 1880, Wyatt was appointed Pima County [[Deputy Sheriff]]. He held this position for only three months, until after the election of November 9, 1880, when he resigned.<ref name=wgbh>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/transcript/wyatt-transcript/ |title=WGBH American Experience: Wyatt Earp, Complete Program Transcript |date=January 25, 2010 |series=22 |number=2 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170130081133/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/transcript/wyatt-transcript/ |archive-date=January 30, 2017 }}</ref> When Virgil was maimed by an assassination attempt, Wyatt was appointed Deputy U.S. Marshal in his place. He held that position until he left Cochise County in April 1882.

Wyatt was an imposing, handsome man: blond, {{convert|6|ft|m}} tall, weighing {{convert|165|to|170|lb}}, broad-shouldered, long-armed, and muscular. He had been a boxer and was reputed to be an expert with a [[pistol]]. According to author Leo Silva, Earp showed no fear of any man.<ref name="silva">{{cite journal |author=Leo Silva |title=Was Wyatt Earp a good guy who was both a gambler and a lawman by profession? Or was he a bad guy who wore a badge merely to protect his crooked gambling interests? |journal=American Cowboy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cuoCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA83 |date=Jan–Feb 2003 |page=106 |volume=9 |issn=1079-3690 |publisher=Active Interest Media, Inc. |issue=5 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425062335/https://books.google.com/books?id=cuoCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA83&lpg=PA83 |archive-date=April 25, 2016 }}</ref>{{rp|83|date=November 2012}} Wyatt had been an assistant marshal when he and policeman [[James Masterson]], along with a few other citizens, fired their pistols at several cowboys who were fleeing town after shooting up a theater. A member of the group, George Hoyt (sometimes spelled Hoy), was shot in the arm and died of his wound a month later. Wyatt always claimed to have been the one to shoot Hoyt, although it could have been anyone among the lawmen.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Miller|first1=Nyle H.|last2=Snell|first2=Joseph W.|title=Why the West Was Wild: A Contemporary Look at the Antics of Some Highly Publicized Kansas Cowtown Personalities|date=2003|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|location=Norman|isbn=978-0806135267|page=666|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s9jm6-5LvckC&pg=PA666|access-date=August 12, 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505201058/https://books.google.com/books?id=s9jm6-5LvckC&pg=PA666|archive-date=May 5, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Adams|first1=Ramon F.|title=Burs Under the Saddle: A Second Look at Books and Histories of the West|date=1989|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|location=Norman|isbn=978-0806121703|page=329|edition=First paperback|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qCTBZt_WyScC&pg=PA329|access-date=August 12, 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603072131/https://books.google.com/books?id=qCTBZt_WyScC&pg=PA329|archive-date=June 3, 2016}}</ref> Wyatt had developed a reputation as a no-nonsense, hard-nosed lawman, but prior to the gunfight he had been involved in only one other shooting, in Dodge City, Kansas, during the summer of 1878.<ref name=ashford/>

The 1931 book ''[[Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal]]'' was a best-selling biography by [[Stuart N. Lake]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Lake|first=Stuart N.|title=Wyatt Earp, Frontier Marshal|year=1994|publisher=Pocket Books|location=New York|isbn=9780671885373}}</ref> It established Wyatt Earp's role as a fearless lawman in the [[American Old West]] and the legend of the "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" in the public consciousness.<ref name=miller1988>{{cite book|first=Paul I.|last=Wellman|others=illustrated by F. Miller|title=The Trampling Herd: The Story of the Cattle Range in America|year=1988|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|location=Lincoln|isbn=978-0-8032-9723-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uICOZkfaoZcC|edition=reprint. Philadelphia 1939.|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617104155/https://books.google.com/books?id=uICOZkfaoZcC|archive-date=June 17, 2016}}</ref>{{rp|36}} But Lake and many others in the popular media wildly exaggerated Wyatt's role as the central figure in the gunfight.<ref name=miller1988/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/photo-gallery/wyatt/ |title=Wyatt Earp in Popular Culture |publisher=American Experience |access-date=April 11, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101017134111/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/photo-gallery/wyatt/ |archive-date=October 17, 2010 }}</ref> It was only discovered much later that ''Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal'', based on eight interviews with Earp, was largely fictional.<ref name=miller1988/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/trial/reels/films/list/0_34_9 |title=Wyatt Earp (1994) |access-date=April 16, 2013 |first=Dan |last=Gibbs |date=November 1999 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224100336/http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/trial/reels/films/list/0_34_9 |archive-date=December 24, 2013 }}</ref> The book and later Hollywood portrayals embellished Wyatt's reputation and magnified his mystique as a western lawman.<ref name=ashford>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/film—first-action-hero-wyatt-earp-was-an-elderly-movie-groupie-who-failed-to-make-it-as-an-extra-then-stuart-n-lake-wrote-his-spurious-biography-and-the-starspangled-hero-of-the-o-k-corral-was-born-as-two-new-films-strip-the-myth-to-its-bones-david-ashford-charts-the-making-of-a-hollywood-cowboy-1446479.html |title=First action hero: Wyatt Earp was an elderly movie groupie who failed to make it as an extra ...|access-date=January 10, 2011 |first=David |last=Ashford|date=September 3, 1994 |location=London |work=The Independent}}{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

Morgan Earp had been a police officer in [[Montana]], but had no known experience with gunfighting prior to their arrival in Tombstone. While Wyatt was Pima County Deputy Sheriff on July 27, 1880, Morgan Earp took over his job as shotgun messenger for Wells Fargo. Morgan also occasionally assisted Virgil and at the time of the gunfight was a special deputy policeman and drawing pay.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://spartacus-educational.com/WWearpM.htm|title=Morgan Earp|website=Spartacus Educational}}</ref>

[[Doc Holliday]] had a reputation as a gunman and had reportedly been in nine shootouts during his life, although it has only been verified that he killed three men.<ref name="LegendsofAmerica">{{cite web|url=http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-docholliday.html|title=Legends of America: Doc Holliday|access-date=November 7, 2011|publisher=Legends of America|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111024013210/http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-docholliday.html|archive-date=October 24, 2011}}</ref> One well-documented episode occurred on July 19, 1879, when Holliday and his business partner, former deputy marshal [[John Joshua Webb]], were seated in their saloon in [[Las Vegas, New Mexico]]. Former [[U.S. Army]] [[Reconnaissance|scout]] Mike Gordon got into a loud argument with one of the saloon girls whom he wanted to take with him. Gordon stormed from the saloon and began firing his revolver into the building. Before Gordon could get off his second shot, Holliday killed him. Holliday was tried for murder but acquitted, mostly based on the testimony of Webb.<ref name="webb">{{cite web |url=http://www.legendsofamerica.com/WE-JJWebb.html |publisher=Legends of America |title=John Joshua Webb |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060325232427/http://www.legendsofamerica.com/WE-JJWebb.html |archive-date=March 25, 2006 |access-date=February 7, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/doc-holliday-kills-for-the-first-time|title=Doc Holliday Kills for the First Time|access-date=February 7, 2011|author=History.com|work=This Day in History|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100308032639/http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/doc-holliday-kills-for-the-first-time|archive-date=March 8, 2010}}</ref>

Holliday had saved Wyatt Earp's life at one time and had become a close friend. He had been living in Prescott, Arizona Territory and making a living as a gambler since late 1879. There, he first met future Tombstone sheriff [[Johnny Behan]], a sometime gambler and saloon owner. In late September 1880, Holliday followed the Earps to Tombstone.<ref name="historynetgambler">{{cite web |url=http://www.historynet.com/the-gamblers-war-in-tombstone.htm |title=The Gamblers' War in Tombstone |access-date=February 7, 2011 |work=June 12, 2006 |date=June 12, 2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110406012619/http://www.historynet.com/the-gamblers-war-in-tombstone.htm |archive-date=April 6, 2011 }}</ref>