New Book Portrays Wyatt Earp As Villain
By Wyatt Earp | February 22, 2009
Well, it’s good to know that some people hated the cops back then as much as they hate us now. At least they’re consistent.
TOMBSTONE -Guns drawn, Wyatt Earp, his two brothers and Doc Holliday stride toward Ike Clanton and his gang of drunken outlaws. Each side shouts threats.
Long after the 30-second shootout on Oct. 26, 1881, the legend of Wyatt Earp looms over this former silver-mining town. The lawman’s exploits live on in movies and books and draw people here from around the world.
The only time it rained during my trip to Arizona a few years ago? When we went to Tombstone. Never saw the re-enactment. Lousy nature.
A recent book and one that’s soon to be published contend that the gunfight actually was a murderous ambush led by Earp, continuing a debate that has echoed since the incident.
“In Defense of the Outlaws,” published by Joyce Aros, a writer with the monthly magazine Tombstone Times, portrays Earp as a thief and pimp who acted out of personal animosity.
Hey, pimpin’ ain’t easy! Sometimes you gotta choke a bitch.
Steve Gatto, who has published several books about Tombstone, characterizes the gunfight as “cold-blooded murder” on Earp’s part. He makes that case in “Hurled Into Eternity: The Story of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral,” scheduled for release in July.
“People look at him through rose-colored glasses,” Gatto said in a telephone interview from Michigan. “But it’s not actually correct.” (H/T – Code Monkey)
Look, no one is ever going to say that Wyatt Earp was a saint. He wasn’t. That being said, there is a reason it is called “the wild west.” Lawlessness ruled the land, and sometimes people like the Earps had to fracture an occasional law or two to protect the citizens. When that happens, there will always by lily-livered wimps who will cry foul. I think that is the case here.
The people who decry Wyatt Earp as the instigator of the Gunfight at the OK Corral are the same people complain when a police officer uses his nightstick on a guy who just shot a kid.
Topics: All About Wyatt | 12 Comments »
February 22nd, 2009 at 7:32 am
Sounds like this was written by an ACLU lovin’, latte lapping Liberal.
Feh.
February 22nd, 2009 at 7:44 am
There is going to be a time when all the good guys are going to get to be the bad guys.
Products of our new and enlightened school systems?
February 22nd, 2009 at 8:25 am
You would dare use a nightstick on someone who just shot and killed another person? Don’t you know the shooter has issues and just needs a hug? You need to show compassion for ruthless criminals and give them Wiis ans lollipops so they can become all nice and warm and fuzzy people who love everyone!
February 22nd, 2009 at 8:26 am
For the one or two who might not get it, that last comment was dripping with sarcasm.
February 22nd, 2009 at 11:05 am
If you revise history long enough, The Daltons were ambushed as they made simultaneous deposits in two banks in Coffeyville. Jimma Carter will become a saint and Bill Clinton will practice law again. In a town where your brothers are ambushed, it is more correct to shoot first and take a shotgun to a gun fight. Even the death of Butch and Sundance was made in a manner that made you smile. Remember the line, “You take the ones on the left and I’ll take the one’s on the right”. Instead of the death of two violent killers and robbers, it was the hero scene that elevated Robert Redford to stardom. You can write anything you desire but I won’t always believe what you say. MUD
February 22nd, 2009 at 11:34 am
GroovyVic – My thoughts exactly.
Admiral – I don’t have a problem with people explaining Wyatt Earp was not 100% pure and chaste, but a villain? I don’t think so.
Kim – Hugs, not drugs! Yeah, that’ll work. /sarc
MUD – Well said.
February 22nd, 2009 at 11:36 am
It makes me mad when Libtards tey to destory people they do not agree with. Wyatt,his brothers and Doc Holiday did what needed to be done. It is time for the Libtards to stop rewriting history.
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:13 pm
There’s a quote attributed to George Orwell about men willing to do the dirty work, and when you think about it, these men, like the Earp brothers, Doc Holliday and many others through the centuries; we should be grateful to them for the fact that we can sleep safely in our beds as Orwell said because these men were willing then and are willing now to do the dirty work that lily-livered wimps like myself couldn’t do.
February 22nd, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Robert M. Wright, a founder and leading citizen of Dodge City, didn’t care for Wyatt Earp either. If you have time, his book is available online. He refers to Earp as Wyatt Burp and continually misspells his name.
However, he never claims the Earp brothers were murderers. He just didn’t like Wyatt.
February 22nd, 2009 at 1:31 pm
From most of the historical stuff I’ve read,they were ridding the land or useless vermin,and I’m sure if they had waited around,like is common place now,their families would have been ambushed or murdered in their sleep.
February 22nd, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Don’t you just love it how the libs try to destory America’s heroes?
I recently wrote an article on an Army Lt. Colonel who spend six years researching Alvin York, and one of the reasons he started researching was because another team of scholars were trying to disprove both York’s heroic actions and his Christian testimony!
Fortunately, my guy won out.
February 23rd, 2009 at 4:35 am
I’ve read quite a bit about Wyatt Earp. He wasn’t a saint in shining armor, but he wasn’t a villain either. He was like all of us, a mix of good and bad but I think he was trying to do the right thing at Tombstone.
He ended his days living in Hollywood.