San Diego TelevisionWyatt Earp: A San Diegan For a While
The History Channel's new retelling of the saga of Wyatt Earp leaves out the legendary lawman and gunslinger’s years as a San Diego real estate speculator, saloon keeper and boxing referee, but we should be used to such slights by now. Compared to the gunfight at the OK Corral and Earp's exploits as a Kansas deputy, I guess his five or six peaceful years in San Diego during the booming 1880s seem like pretty mundane stuff. On the positive side, "The Real Wyatt Earp" does offer a detailed discussion of the pros and cons of whacking a man over the head with the butt of a six-gun, compared to smacking him with the barrel. And you never know when information like that will come in handy. (Kicking off the six-part documentary series "Cowboys and Outlaws," "The Real Wyatt Earp" begins at 9 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22, on History. "The Real McCoy," recalling early Texas cattle man Joe McCoy, follows at 10 p.m.) Earp and two of his brothers are first seen in 1874, arriving at Wichita, Kan. He was 26 years old and, as the narration points out, "on the prowl for opportunity." With a steady stream of cowboys driving cattle from Texas to the Wichita railhead, there was plenty of action in the little town, and Earp fell into a job as deputy marshall. Not that wearing a badge was his long-term goal. "I don't believe he pursued the occupation of peace officer as a career choice," says B. Byron Brice, one of a passel of historians of the Old West rounded up to share their expertise. But Earp did earn $60 a month in the job, double the wages of the average cowboy at the time. Telling Earp's story through narration, interviews, and re-enactments, the documentary focuses on his years as a lawman in Wichita and Dodge City (where a main thoroughfare is named for him) and at Tombstone, Ariz., in the early 1880s. Inevitably, entire decades of his long, tumultuous and wide-roaming life are left out in a mere one-hour documentary. But a few fascinating tidbits are scattered here and there. Tombstone, I was surprised to learn, was considered quite cosmopolitan at the time, a silver mining town complete with coffee shops, wine bars and a stock exchange. Beginning as a lawman in Wichita, Earp established a reputation for courage and an ability to resolve peacefully situations that could have exploded into violence. But the thread running through the narrative concerns his sudden turn to violence after the OK Corral fracas: "How does Wyatt Earp become a ruthless killer, and what does his life tell us about law and order in the Wild West?" He left Wichita after his brothers got involved in some shady business deals, and all three headed west to Dodge City, where Earp again wore a badge. A couple of cases where moneyed defendants seemed to escape prosecution soured Earp's view of the law but his own ethics weren't the purest. Brothels helped pay his wages, and he made more money as a saloon faro dealer than as a lawman. After five years in Dodge, the Earps were off to Tombstone and, eventually, the storied 30-second gunfight between them and the Clanton gang. Shortly after, Earp's brother Morgan was killed and Wyatt set off seeking revenge. No one is yet sure who slew Morgan, but Wyatt Earp killed three likely suspects, just to make sure he got the right one. It was in the late 1880s that Earp headed for San Diego, along with Josie Marcus, his long-time companion. As told by the Gaslamp Quarter Historical Foundation, it happened like this: "Earp opened three gambling halls in what is now called the Gaslamp Quarter on Fourth Avenue between Broadway and E Street, on Sixth Avenue between E and F and on the north side of E near Sixth. He offered 21 games of faro, blackjack, poker and keno and could count on profits of as much as $1,000 per night. He also played cards at the Oyster Bar which was located in the Louis Bank of Commerce Building on Fifth Avenue. "When Wyatt won his first racehorse, Otto Rex, in a card game he began investing in racehorses. He sometimes raced himself at a track in Pacific Beach north of Mission Bay and judged the first races held at the Del Mar Race Track. "Regarded as a good ally in a brawl, Earp occasionally refereed prizefights. During Wyatt and Josie's time in San Diego, they invested in speculative mining ventures and, along with most San Diegans, lost a bundle when the boom went bust in 1888-1889." They left soon after, and in the 1920s, Earp, as now seems preordained, found his way to Hollywood. A writer named Stuart Lake found him and set down his story in a book, "Wyatt Earp, Frontier Marshall." Earp died in 1929 at age 80, before the book was published. It mattered little. He was already a star, thanks to Lake’s vivid prose, and he remains one forevermore.  Robert P. Laurence About the author: Robert P. Laurence was television critic at the San Diego Union-Tribune for 21 years. He previously wrote about politics, jazz, rock 'n' roll and all manner of news. He graduated in journalism from San Francisco State University, and earned an M.A. in political science at San Jose State. He's lived in San Diego since 1971. More by this author Subscribe to Television:
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