Long time friend of the Earps and former Tombstone resident Bat Masterson wrote a first hand description of Wyatt Earp.
"Wyatt Earp is one of the few men I personally knew in the West in the early days, whom I regarded as absolutely destitute of physical fear. Wyatt Earp’s daring and apparent recklessness in time of danger is wholly characteristic; personal fear doesn’t enter into the equation."
Wyatt … "was not one of those human tigers who delighted in shedding blood just for the fun of the thing. He never, at any time in his career, resorted to the pistol excepting in cases where such a course was absolutely necessary. Wyatt could scrap with his fist, and had often taken all the fight out of bad men, as they were called, with no other weapons than those provided by Nature. There were few men in the West who could whip Wyatt in a rough and tumble fight 30 years ago, and I suspect he could give a tough youngster a hard tussle right now, even if he is sixty one years of age." (Wyatt being 60 years old at the time this was written in 1908.)
"He always arrayed himself on the side of law and order, and on a great many occasions, at the risk of his life, rendered valuable service in upholding the majesty of the law in those communities in which he lived. Wyatt’s reputation for courage and coolness was well known to many of the citizens of Dodge City—in fact it was his reputation that secured for him the appointment of Assistant City Marshall. I have known him since the early 70’s and have always found him a quiet, unassuming man, not given to brag or bluster, but at all times and under all circumstances a loyal friend and an equally dangerous enemy." (Copied from Facebook)

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That's gonna leave a mark.

Very interesting of course it did say that Bat was a friend of the Earp's. I have read a few books and also seen other people opinions on the tube of the Earp's with Wyatt in particular and there is a hell of a lot more said about him, (and its not that good!)

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

If someone was writing about me, I'm sure the account from one of my friends would look completely different than that of someone that I didn't have a favorable encounter with.

The real truth is probably somewhere in-between. For Wyatt or me!

Being a cynic, methinks Stuart Lake had
a hand in providing that lengthy quote.

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Ubi Est Mea

Wyatt's reputation as a gun handler overshadows other aspects of his life to the point that some of the biographies overlook his spiritual side!

In Dodge, he was a Deacon in his church. In Tombstone, he was dealing Pharo one day, when the Episcopal Priest came around looking for donations to build the first church in town. Wyatt made a pile of $50,000 and turned to the 5 players and said, "Match it!" That $100,000 built a nice church that still stood in the 1970's. I believe the name is St. John's or St. Mark's.

Later in life an interviewer ask why he hung around saloons all the time? The answer was, That was the only place that had entertainment. Most western towns had no Opera House or Theater. Movies were still a number of decades away!

As to gambling? In those days, the social environment treated Gambling, about like "Day Trading Stocks" now (Socially acceptable!)

In modern times, Peace officers are often leaders in their Church! (My F-I-L was a church elder for 30+ years and has been a member of the same congregation for 84 years (since age 5).

Ivan

All men are sinners and the degree of such is only of interest to our fellow mortals; the Creator considers any too much and I'll leave it at that.
Having said that, it is the fashion of lesser men to go out of their way to tear down greater men, especially after their death when they can't be confronted by such. I seen such come lately comments about everyone from Earp to Patton, to Elmer Keith and Col. 'Jeff' Cooper, as well as almost any man of historical note that is remembered by more than just his relatives. No doubt some were more virtuous than others as men judge men, but the first observations hold true. My personal view is that to honestly evaluate and pass judgement on such men one must have first considered the time and conditions in which their lives were lived and have had at least a minimum of life experience serving in comparable capacities. A rabbit judging a fox will never be fair or impartial.

And it's a well known saying that some folks will complain if ya hang 'em with a new rope. The best advice on the subject I was ever given was to consider your detractors with the same weight as those who praise you - take them both with a grain of salt.


.

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Qui plantavit curabit

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

$100,000 in 1880 is equivalent to over $3,000,000 in 2023. Must have built a very nice church. And one hell of a poker game to have three million dollars on the table and players willing to surrender it for a church.

Not saying this could not have happened. As an Old West historian, I find many stories and legends very difficult to verify but some easy to debunk. The museum were I volunteer has a Colt Single Action Army with a detailed story about how it once belonged to Tom Horn, the range detective and serial killer. Serial number shows it was shipped three years after Horn was hanged.

At the request of a museum patron, I looked at old Belgian folding trigger revolver allegedly associated with John Wesley Hardin according to family legend. Proof marks verify it was made at least 20 years after Hardin was killed by John Selman in 1875.

Did Earp and the gamblers give the priest the equivalent three million dollars? I'm a cynic and would need some verifiable evidence before I believed this story.

"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

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Pack light and cinch tight.

"Bat Masterson?...He always was full of sheep dip!"...JB Books

Later in life when a sports writer in NYC...Masterson was aware of his notoriety. He was known to buy handguns from pawn stores and give or sell them to people as they were "owned by Bat Masterson". This makes it very difficult to authenticate the occasional handgun on the market as having true Masterson provenance. Outside of a Colt archives letter verifying one of the Colts he personally ordered there's little way of proving provenance.

That's like handguns allegedly owned by Pancho Villa...after his death his wife would buy and sell guns saying they belonged to Pancho himself. From what I understand the rarest gun in Mexico is the one not owned by Pancho Villa.

The biography I read it in is lost to time, but they did mention the Anglican Priest's name and said the church had a plaque listing the six doners. The current congregation would have the records if it's important to you.

Ivan

Wyatt's words are wise. "It is better to be a bit more accurate than a bit too quick."

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No baby we aint

That's what she said.

I meant no offense. It's not important to me. Written records are also notoriously unreliable.

When I was a lot younger, it seemed that every little museum in the Southwest had the Colt that Garrett used on Billy the Kid. He must have shot the kid to doll rags toting all those Colts.

As to Earp and church I don't know. Supposedly he and his brothers were referred to as "The Fighting Pimps" in Tombstone. None were married to the women they lived with and the women supposedly were at least at one time or the other "working girls" . IIRC even when Wyatt took up with Josephine they were common-law and never went through a marriage ceremony though they were together for many years. Quien sabe?

crazy coincidence. I'm watching a youtube documentary on Doc right now.

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NRA RSO