In February 1860, while living in Pella, Iowa, 16-year-old Virgil eloped with 17-year-old Dutch immigrant Magdalena C. Virgil Earp was born in Hartford, Kentucky, the second son of Nicholas Earp and Virginia Ann Cooksey. After suffering from pneumonia for six months, Virgil died on October 19, 1905. Lake's fictionalized 1931 biography Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal and later portrayals of him in movies and fiction as Old West's 'toughest and deadliest gunmen of his day.' In 1898, Virgil learned that his first wife Ellen Rysdam and their daughter were living in Oregon and reestablished contact with them. His younger brother Wyatt, who spent most of his life as a gambler, became better known as a lawman because of writer Stuart N. He held a variety of other jobs throughout his life, though he primarily worked in law enforcement. When he returned, his wife and child had left. Virgil married before he left to serve in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Virgil left Tombstone to recuperate from his wounds in Colton, California where his parents lived. Wyatt assembled a federal posse that included their brother Warren Earp and set out on a vendetta to kill those they felt were responsible. Marshal to replace Virgil, concluded he could not rely on civil justice and decided to take matters into his own hands.

Charges against those suspected were dismissed on a technicality. : 242 His brother Morgan Earp was assassinated in March 1882. The Cowboys suspected were let off for lack of evidence. They shot him in the back, hitting him with three shotgun rounds, shattering his left arm and leaving him permanently maimed. During a month-long preliminary hearing, Judge Wells Spicer exonerated the men, concluding they had been performing their duty.īut two months later on December 28, friends of the slain outlaws retaliated, ambushing Virgil.

All four lawmen were charged with murder by Ike Clanton, who had run from the gunfight. All three Earp brothers had been the target of repeated death threats made by the Cowboys who were upset by the Earps' interference in their illegal activities. They killed brothers Tom and Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton. Marshal and Tombstone, Arizona City Marshal when he led his younger brothers Wyatt and Morgan, and Doc Holliday, in a confrontation with outlaw Cowboys at the Gunfight at the O.K. Virgil Walter Earp (J– October 19, 1905) was both deputy U.S.

The Secret Diary by Martha Kirkland