Marshal White
He was born Frederick G. White sometime around the year
1849. Many just called him Fred and he
would go down in history as the first
“town
marshal” of Tombstone when Arizona was a territory and the town was just
new. It was on January 6, 1880 when
White was elected when Tombstone only had around 1,000 residents. He died from an accidental shooting while in
office when he was only in his early 30’s.
He was shot by “Curly” Bill Brocius in the groin area after White
grabbed the intoxicated man’s gun. Curly
Bill said it was an accident and White concurred. He was never charged with White’s death.
Virgil Earp
Born Virgil Walter Earp on July 18, 1843 and was present
with his brothers Morgan and Wyatt, along with Doc Holliday at the famous
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral on October 26, 1881. Virgil became the marshal of Tombstone after the
death of Marshal Fred White in 1880. Two
months after the well-known skirmish, Virgil was ambushed as revenge by friends
of the three men who died during the shootout.
He was shot three times and wounded in his left arm leaving eternal
damage. The following year in March of
1882, his brother Morgan was fatally shot.
Virgil left shortly afterwards for California to mend from his injuries. Virgil died on October 19, 1905 from
pneumonia.
Wyatt Earp
Born Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp on March 19, 1848, he was a
gambler, deputy sheriff and the marshal of Tombstone. Wyatt grew up in Iowa and in 1870 married his
first wife Urilla. She came down with
typhoid fever while pregnant and died just before their baby was born. Wyatt moved to many places during his
lifetime, and was marshal in some of those cities. He met John “Doc” Holliday in Texas while pursuing
a criminal. He moved to Tombstone in
1879 with his brothers James and Virgil.
He also was part of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and got through it
unscathed. Wyatt eventually left
Tombstone and traveled around with his common-law wife, Josephine. He died in 1929 at the age of 80.
Angel Baldenegro
Angel
was born on March 2, 1915 and was the marshal of Tombstone in the mid 1950’s. Along with being the marshal, he was an actor
and often performed in the Helldorado Days making Ornate, the Mexican bad man
famous. He died on January 22,
1988. To find out more on Angel, check
out his niece’s blog: http://espanarose.blogspot.com
Other
marshals of Tombstone are Paul Kostellic, Ralph Spencer, Larry Talvy, and Lance
Crosthwait.
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