Wyatt Earp Research Paper

Wyatt Earp was never wounded in any of the gunfights in which he took part, unlike his brothers Virgil and James, or his friend, Doc Holliday, which only added to his mystique after his death. Wyatt Earp was a lifelong gambler and was always looking for a quick way to make money, which is what his father did when Wyatt was growing up on the farm. However he did not once let alcohol touch his lips, he did have an unmistakable hankering for ice cream. After leaving Tombstone, Arizona, Wyatt Earp went to San Francisco where he reunited with Josephine Sarah Earp who became his common-law wife in 1882. They joined a gold rush headed to Eagle City, Idaho, where they owned mining interests. They also bought a saloon while they were in Eagle City.
Wyatt Earp and his wife left from Eagle City to race horses and open another saloon during an increase of real estate in San Diego, California. Being back in San Francisco, Wyatt yet again began to race horses (Gatto, Steve. Wyatt Earp History Page - The Story of the Real Wyatt Earp).
Wyatt Earp’s reputation began to diminish after making an “arguable” call made in a bout for the heavyweight championship of the world.
Before the day of the fight Bob Fitzsimmons and Tom Sharkey were going to face off to claim the world heavyweight title. The only problem was that J.J. Groom and John Gibbs, the promoters of the scheduled fight, did not have a referee. Fitzsimmons’ manager was afraid that a fixed fight was in order, thus he refused every referee suggested by J.J. Groom and John Gibbs the promoters of this match ("The San Francisco call). Fitzsimmons was on the verge of pulling out of the contest which is why the sponsors of the heavyweight championship found a candidate that would be perfect for the match. The referee was Wyatt Earp but when he was approached with the job offer, Earp objected Wyatt Earp told the promoters of the fight that if they could not find a suitable referee for the match then the sponsors could find him at the Goodfellow’s Restaurant eating dinner, which was across the street from where the fight is scheduled to happen. After searching for another referee, they were running out of time and had no one left to suggest for the match so they went to Wyatt again and told him they could not find another referee, so he agreed to judge the fight (Cellania, Miss. "Wyatt Earp and the ‘Fixed' Heavyweight Title Fight). The attendants were not very pleased to find out Wyatt Earp was the referee but he did in fact judge other matches before giving
him experience in this field. In the third round of the match, one of the body punches of Fitzsimmons went below the belt and Sharkey said that he was not hurt that bad and that the fight should continue (Barra, Allen). The brawl resumed and after Fitzsimmons landed a square shot to the jaw he started his huge right fist from the floor to Sharkey’s abdomen, but right before his fist connected with Sharkey’s stomach, Sharkey stumbled forward and Fitzsimmons unintentionally hit Sharkey in the groin. Wyatt declared Sharkey the winner by way of disqualification and half of the crowd, who had not seen the foul erupted (Mulvaney, Kieran. "The fight, the foul and the lawman.").
Josephine and Wyatt Earp moved to Yuma, Arizona for a brief period before joining the Nome Gold Rush in 1899.
In partnership with Charlie Hoxie, Wyatt and Josephine Earp opened a two story saloon called The Dexter and made an estimated $80 thousand which in common time is around $2 million. They then opened another saloon in Tonopah, Nevada, the site of another new gold find. In about 1911, Wyatt Earp began working several mining claims in Vidal, California, retreating back to Los Angeles in the hot summers with Josephine Earp ("Wyatt Earp."
HistoryNet).