Kurt Russell’s Wyatt Earp is the trigger-happy star of Tombstone, but the real Wyatt Earp only ever killed one person before the events covered in the 1993 classic. Earp was not only a well-respected agent of law and order in the Old West, he was also reportedly an expert with the typical six-shooter revolver that was carried by lawmen of the time. While the caliber of his reputation has fluctuated over the decades, Earp is largely recognized as a master gunslinger and a hero lawman by the greater public.
However, Earp’s career as a gunslinger was not without controversy. Some historians have since considered Earp a coward, a gambler, and a murderer, among other less-than-savory designations. While obviously first-hand evidence from that era is all but impossible to confirm, there are some stories that are fairly reputable, having been confirmed by multiple witnesses. One such story revolves around the first man that Wyatt Earp ever killed, and the only man that he killed prior to the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, which is the key event covered in Tombstone.
The Story Of Wyatt Earp & George Hoyt Explained
Earp Killed A Drunken Cowboy Early In His Career As A Lawman
In July 1878, when 30-year-old Wyatt Earp was acting as the Assistant Marshal in Dodge City, Kansas, a group of drunken cowboys, including a man by the name of George Hoyt, fired their guns while in the local theater. While nobody was injured, the comedian on stage dove out of the way, fearing for his life, and news of the disturbance spread quickly from the theater. Reports differ (of course), but supposedly Earp and policeman Bat Masterson responded to the threat along with several angry citizens, and the men fled from the scene on horseback.
Earp and his posse opened fire on the fleeing cowboys, and Hoyt was struck in either the arm or leg, falling from his horse. Earp fired only two shots in the pursuit, and while he later told biographer Stuart Lake that he had Hoyt in his sights and shot him dead that day, the true story of Hoyt’s death might be different. The Dodge City Times followed up on the shooting incident in the theater with the news that Hoyt developed gangrene from the wound he sustained at Earp’s hands, and died 26 days later after a long, and painful process.
Wyatt Earp Shot Many People, But Rarely Fatally
Earp Enforced The Law, But Guns Were Not As Lethal As They Are Today
By all accounts, Earp certainly had little compunction about firing his weapon in service of the law, and whether he was in the right or not, he shot plenty of people during his career as a lawman. However, Earp didn’t actually kill as many people as one might think in a decades-long career as an Old West gunslinger; per The Gaslamp Foundation, Earp can only directly be associated with the deaths of at least five men, including those who died at the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
The main reason Earp’s tally is so small is likely due to the lethality (or lack thereof) of the weapons of that era. Old West revolvers were likely far less accurate than modern handguns, meaning that even from a close distance, a gunshot may not hit the vital organs required to kill a person instantly. The quality and caliber of the cartridges also might have played a role in how deadly old-school revolvers were. Wyatt Earp may have had plenty of lethal intention, as depicted in Tombstone, but he simply didn’t have a huge body count to his name.