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The symptoms of St. Vitus Dance and meningitis are somewhat different, but both can be contracted from the same strain of bacteria through saliva. [43], Sadie, traveling as either Mrs. J. C. Earp or Mrs. Wyatt Earp, left Tombstone for her family in San Francisco via Los Angeles on March 24, 1882. Celia Ann "Mattie" Blaylock (January 1850 - July 3, 1888) was a prostitute who became the romantic companion and common-law wife of Old West lawman and gambler Wyatt Earp for about six years. Virgil married his third and last wife, Alvira "Allie" Packingham Sullivan, between 1871 and 1872. [6] They traveled via ship to Panama, went over the Isthmus of Panama, and caught a steamship to San Francisco. Emmitt. Grace recalled that Josie, who had never had many domestic skills, did very little housekeeping or cooking for Wyatt. She wasn't that upset. [43] (In the 1920 census, Sadie reported to the census taker that her family was from Hamburg, Germany, bordering Prussia. Mattie Blaylocks grave at the Pinal City Cemetery in Superior, Arizona. Enchanted by a performance of Gilbert & Sullivan's H.M.S. In the meantime, Wyatt was getting more and more involved with Josephine, who he would later marry. Even though he was very ill, she still didn't cook for him. She successfully kept both women's names out of Stuart Lake's biography of Wyatt and after he died, Josephine may have threatened litigation to keep it that way. Henry and his wife were stern parents and adhered to the principle, "spare the rod and spoil the child," and "children should be seen and not heard.". Josephine wanted to keep what she viewed as their tarnished history in Tombstone private. She approached several publishers for the book, but backed out several times due to their insistence that she be completely open and forthcoming, rather than slanting her memories to her favor. The rest struggled to get by or gambled their fortunes away while destitute women like Blaylock relied on prostitution and cowboys terrorized towns. The third of four children, Josephine Sarah (Marcus) Earp was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1861 to German-Jewish immigrants Sophie and Hyman (Henry) Marcus. Wyatt Earp After the legendary gunfight in Tombstone that lasted only 30 seconds, but would up defining Earp for the rest of his life, Earp and his new common law wife Sadie (a.k.a Josie) traveled around the west, scoring money in the gold rush and by investing in properties. She wanted him to look like a church-going saint and blow things up. [26]:11 In November 1874, a woman named Sadie Mansfield took a stagecoach from San Francisco to Prescott along with several prostitutes working for Madame Hattie Wells. Mrs. Hirsch, because of Doras part in it was as anxious as my people (family), to keep it a secret. She said that during the last years of Wyatt's life, Josephine received an allowance from her family and gambled it away, often leaving Wyatt hungry. Corral shootout and the Earp Vendetta Ride. Her father hoped to turn their farm into a profitable business and regularly brought his kids along on trips into Fairfax to procure supplies and network with the locals. It was around this time that she met Wyatt Earp. [43], While there are no records that her father sent her money, researchers have located records of money orders totaling $50 sent by Josephine to her family in San Francisco. Pinafore in San Francisco. [2] Earp was appointed assistant marshal in Dodge City under Marshal Lawrence Deger around May 1876. [36]:154, "Josephine Marcus" redirects here. [85], On August 5, 1897, Earp and Josie once again joined in a mining boom and left Yuma, Arizona for San Francisco. Byways & Historic Trails Great Drives in America, Soldiers and Officers in American History, Easy Travel Organization Tips You Will Love, Bidwell-Bartleson Party Blazing the California Trail. There they reunited with Holliday and Big Nose Kate. They rented a cabin from Rex Beach for $100 a month and spent the winter of 18981899 there. )[43], In September 1880, Behan and Sadie left Tip Top for Tombstone. [11][22][23][24]:47[24]:65, The facts about Josephine's life in the Arizona Territory and in Tombstone have been obscured by her legal and personal efforts to keep that period private. Corral is quiet, and it's had an unremarkable existence for the two years it's been standingalthough . ), you were probably thrilled when, When Josephine Marcus Earp died in Los Angeles on December 19, 1944, her small memorial attracted little attention, The Real Story of Doc Holliday and Big Nose Kate, Im Your Huckleberry: the Real Meaning of Doc Hollidays Famous Line, Tombstone vs. Wyatt Earp: 7 Differences in the Dueling Movies, 10 Fascinating Facts About Jack Swilling, the Founder of Phoenix, 8 Interesting Facts About the Arizona Rangers, 15 Native American Ruins in Arizona that Offer a Historic Glimpse into the Past, 8 Famous (and Infamous) Sheriffs of the Old West, Blood Brothers: The Unlikely Friendship of Tom Jeffords and Cochise, 8 Things You Might Not Know About Morgan Earp, Wyatts Favorite Bro, 9 Fascinating Facts About Virgil Earp, Noble Lawman of the West, Mrs. Earp: The Wives And Lovers Of The Earp Brothers, A Wyatt Earp Anthology: Long May His Story Be Told, I Married Wyatt Earp: The Recollections of Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp. [14]:101[15] At one point in their contentious relationship, Josephine described Lake's book as made up of "outright lies". On Oct. 26, the Earps were ambushed by the cowboys in broad daylight. Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp (1861-December 19, 1944) was an American part-time actress and dancer who was best known as the wife of famed Old West lawman and gambler Wyatt Earp. [11], Josephine thought Johnnys marriage proposal was a good excuse to leave home again. [21], In about 1923, Charles Welsh, a friend who Earp had known since his time in Dodge City in 1876, and a retired railroad engineer, frequently invited the Earps to visit his family in San Bernardino, Needles, and later in Los Angeles. In their later years Josephine worked hard to eliminate any mention that she had been Johnny Behan's mistress or of Wyatt's previous common law marriage to the prostitute Mattie Blaylock. She said that she had believed Behan was planning to marry her, but he kept putting it off, and she grew disillusioned. [2] Josie attended the Powell Street Primary School on Powell St. between Clay and Washington in San Francisco. The name Sadie Mansfield was also recorded in Tombstone. [26], Professor Pat Ryan stated that Josephine or Sadie may have used the stage name May Bell as a member of the Markham stage group. [19], Wyatt refereed the Fitzsimmons vs. Sharkey boxing match on December 2, 1896 and was accused of fixing the outcome. Blaylock left Colton and returned to Pinal City, but the silver boom had died out and the bulk of the town's population had moved on. The recent Wild West auction in Harrisburg, Pa., included a trunk owned by Celia Ann "Mattie" Blaylock, Wyatt Earp's second wife. [101][102] Josie's three nieces, daughters of her half-sister Rebecca and husband Aaron Wiener, would frequently visit the couple during the winter months at their desert camp. [2] The Weekly Arizona Miner of Prescott reported on February 5, 1875, that Sadie Mansfield won a prize in the "Grand New Year Gift Enterprise". Boyer, Glenn G. Wyatt Earp: Facts Volume Two, Childhood and . [5]:47[5]:65, Blaylock suffered from severe headaches and while in Tombstone, Arizona she became addicted to laudanum, a then-common opiate and pain killer. [2], As an adult, Josephine claimed her father was German and ran a prosperous mercantile business. "[25], In addition to Josephine's concealing Wyatt's past relationship with Blaylock, modern researchers think she may also have been concealing her own past as a "sporting lady" or prostitute. But Leah never left San Francisco with Josephine. [43], In early 1881, Josephine returned to Tombstone after a trip to San Francisco. [72] This was one week after Morgan Earp was assassinated and five days after Wyatt set out in pursuit of those he believed responsible. Then, take a look at 48 snapshots of life in the real Wild West. May 9, 2014. [2], Later that same month, on October 24, 1874, the Arizona Miner reported, "Al Zieber, Sergeant Stauffer and a mixed command of white and red soldiers are in the hills of Verde looking for some erring Apaches, whom they will be apt to find." Blaylock and her sister Sarah, meanwhile, rejected their prospective suitors and soon hatched a plan to escape and see the world. Wyatt didn't want that at all! Mattie Blaylock spent her entire childhood learning scripture and attending church. "[18]:79 Victoria cited liaisons with several woman, but specifically mentioned a "Sadie or Sada Mansfield", a 14-year-old "woman of prostitution and ill-fame" as co-respondent in the divorce action. Kate was a prostitute and Holliday a gambler. She and her sister-in-law Alma were concerned about the care Josie gave Wyatt. In 1998, reporters and scholars found that Boyer could not document many of the facts he wrote about Josephine's time in Tombstone. Blaylock was said to have suffered from headaches, and while in Tombstone, Arizona, she became addicted to laudanum, a then-common opiate and pain killer. They performed H.M.S. Earp would send his siblings, their wives, and Blaylock to California after the murder of his brother Morgan. In 1879, the couple relocated from Kansas to Tombstone, Arizona. In 1906 he discovered several deposits of gold and copper near the Sonoran Desert town of Vidal, California on the Colorado River and filed more than 100 mining claims[63] near the Whipple Mountains. After Wyatts notorious gunfight at the O.K. Historians have stated that earlier in her life, Mattie began consuming laudanum for headaches and was known to abuse alcohol. Blaylocks early childhood consisted of little more than Sunday school and strict adherence to contemporary household rules, and her parents subscribed to the notion that sparing the rod would spoil the child. "[20] While Blaylock was living with Earp, she suffered from severe headaches and became addicted to laudanum, an opiate-based pain reliever widely available at the time. This family lived only a few blocks from where Josephine lived with her family. [17] Although the biography became a bestseller, it was later strongly criticized for fictionalizing Earp's life and was found to be markedly inaccurate. There were few employment possibilities for young girls. Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp (1860 - December 19, 1944) was the common-law wife of Wyatt Earp, a famed Old West lawman and gambler. [70] He held onto his San Diego properties but their value fell, but he could not pay the taxes and was forced to sell the lots. "[2], In her Cason manuscript, Josephine or Sadie wrote that she and Dora were homesick and returned to San Francisco with Sieber's help. [26]:53 Josephine and Wyatt traveled through various western states hunting for gold and silver mining they could invest in. [2], Josephine's father Henry was a baker. Blaylock's relationship with Earp was rediscovered by Earp researcher John Gilchriese and author Frank Waters in the 1950s, when they uncovered a coroner's report for "Mattie Earp", and a deathbed conversation in which she told someone, "Wyatt Earp had ruined my life. Wyatt Earp wasn't always on the right side of the law. [67] During their stay in Albuquerque, the two men ate at The Retreat Restaurant owned by "Fat Charlie". According to the 1860 census, Celia attended local schools. After Wyatt died, Josephine spent her last years in Los Angeles. [106] During an investigation of the boxing match by a panel appointed by San Francisco Mayor Washington Bartlett, they learned Josephine Earp was a "degenerate horseplayer" and that she frequently took loans out against her jewelry. "[19], As late as 1936, Josephine took legal action to suppress certain details of her and Wyatt's life in Tombstone. [31], Other researchers have questioned what she did prior to 1883. [2], Prescott had 668 residents in 1870. She met Wyatt in 1881 in the frontier boom town of Tombstone in Arizona Territory, when she was living with Johnny Behan, sheriff of Cochise County, Arizona. With his more violent years behind. "[2] She added, "The fear and the excitement, the weeks of exhausting travel, chagrin over my own foolishness, all together proved too much for my strength. Blaylocks teenage years featured community picnics and barn dances that she and her sisters enjoyed. She may have arrived in Prescott, Arizona as early as 1874. [19] The Yuma Arizona Sentinel reported on October 25, 1879, "Tuesday arrived a Pinafore Company for Tucson, composed of Misses Pauline Markham, Mary Bell, Belle Howard, and Mrs. Pring, and Messrs. Borabeck and McMahon. The book I Married Wyatt Earp (1967), based on a manuscript allegedly written in part by her, describes events she witnessed in Arizona that occurred before 1879, the year she claimed at other times to have first arrived in Tombstone. Whether it was intentional or not, Mattie killed herself by overdosing on laudanum and alcohol. [48] The couple moved back to Prescott, Arizona Territory, where John had been working, and four months later, on June 15, 1869, she had her first child, Henrietta. Josephine was born in New York to a Prussian Jewish family. From 1891 to 1896, the Earps lived in at least four different locations in San Francisco: 145 Ellis St., 720 McAllister St., 514A Seventh Ave. and 1004 Golden Gate Ave.[70] After moving to southern California in about 1903, they also lived in several different locations. [42]:275298 In December 1883, they visited Galveston, Texas, and in March 1884 they were in Salt Lake City. However, Waters' book has been criticized as biased for its negative portrayal of Wyatt Earp and for including details not mentioned in the original manuscript by Allie Earp (the common-law wife of Wyatt Earp's brother Virgil).[7]. Heartbroken and addicted, Blaylock tried her best to prevail. As an unmarried woman in frontier Tombstone, vastly outnumbered by men, she was likely regarded by some as a prostitute, regardless of her true status. After learning about Mattie Blaylock, read about Wyatt Earps other wife Josephine Earp. Also coming to Tombstone is Wyatt's good friend, Doc Holliday. Josephine and Wyatt moved throughout their life, from one boomtown to another, until they finally bought a cottage in the Sonoran Desert town of Vidal, California on the Colorado River, where they spent the cooler seasons. Meets Wyatt Earp. In the 1880 United States Census Blaylock is listed as Wyatt's wife though there is no record of a legal marriage. The San Diego Union printed a report from the San Francisco Call on July 9, 1882 that Virgil Earp was in San Francisco (receiving treatment for his shattered arm) and that Wyatt was expected to arrive there that day. In the summer they retreated to Los Angeles, where Wyatt struck up relationships with some of the early cowboy actors, including William S. Hart and Tom Mix. . To feed her gambling habit, Josephine would pawn the jewelry to millionaire Lucky Baldwin, but Wyatt would later buy the jewelry back. She described the harsh discipline meted out, including the "sting of rattan" and "being slapped for tardiness". [6][38] Author Sherry Monahan questions why an 18-year-old woman would be carrying books to school and find it necessary to "run away. The feud escalated, and on October 26, 1881, it finally exploded into violence in a gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone. No contemporary accounts place her at the scene of the gunfight afterward. In early April, Wyatt left Arizona for New Mexico and then Colorado. It is difficult to say exactly who Mattie Blaylock Earp was, given the complicated nature of the lack of documentation pertaining to her life. [41][42] On October 21, 1879, the Los Angeles Herald reported that May Bell was among members of the Markham troupe. [27], Based on the story she told the Earp cousins, when correlated with other sources, Josephine may have left her parents home in San Francisco for Prescott, Arizona, as early as October 1874,[2] when she was 13 or 14 years old,[25] not 1879 as she told everyone later on. [35] Married women of the era were expected to avoid working outside the home, or risk being considered "public women," a euphemism for prostitute. They stayed for about four years, living most of the time in the Brooklyn Hotel. Following the Earp Vendetta Ride, the Earp posse went to Albuquerque, New Mexico for two weeks. While the gunsmoke of the Civil War had settled, life in the American frontier was no picnic. San Francisco's population had boomed to 149,473, and housing was in short supply. Marshal under Marshal J.F. [8] She had been using laudanum and alcohol to excess for some time. [9] The coroner's report of her death was brief. "[38] She said that at the age of 18, she ran away with two friends, Dora Hirsch, daughter of her music teacher, and a girl named Agnes, who had a role in Pauline Markham troupe's production of H.M.S. Pinafore more than a dozen times from December 24, 1879 through February 20, 1880. [5]:65 It is not known exactly when Earp and Blaylock ended their relationship. "[26] Prostitution wasn't illegal in the territory as long as the women paid their licensing fees. In the book I Married Wyatt Earp (1967), based on a manuscript which she purportedly wrote, author Glenn Boyer quotes her as saying, "I liked the traveling sort of man better than the kind that sat back in one town all his life and wrote down little rows of figures all day or hustled dry goods or groceries and that sort of thing My blood demanded excitement, variety and change. For the fictional character, see. [113] She died penniless. [46][47] She was the step-daughter of Yavapai County Sheriff John P. It is supposedly the definitive read about Wyatt Earp. Charlie Welsh, Grace Spolidora's father, was a good friend of Earp's. She was laid to rest in the cemetery about one mile from the old townsite. Born in Wisconsin in 1850, Mattie was raised in Fairfax, Iowa until she ran away from home at the age of 16. [29]:78[96], After Tonopah's gold strike waned, Wyatt staked mining claims just outside Death Valley and elsewhere in the Mojave Desert. In 1879 the Pauline Markham Theater Company came to town, and Josephine slipped away with the troupe. [63] One version of the story is that she had taken Behan's son Albert, who was hearing impaired, to San Francisco for treatment. Her parents, Henry Blaylock and Elizabeth Vance, had left Indiana in 1846 and built a quiet life for themselves and their kids. The group spent 10 days sleeping on the floor. She asked Wyatt for a divorce, but Wyatt didn't believe in divorce and refused. When Wyatt died in 1929, Josephine Earp had his body cremated and secretly buried him in the Marcus family plot in the Jewish Hills of Eternity Memorial Park in Colma, California. They traveled West, thinking they would find some work. She continued to work as a prostitute during their early years together. [65], In his book, The Tombstone Travesty (later republished as The Earp Brothers of Tombstone), Frank Waters quotes Virgil Earp's wife, Allie, as saying that "Sadie's charms were undeniable. [17], Josephine finally changed her mind and asked Wyatt's cousins to burn their work, but Cason held back a copy, to which Glenn Boyer eventually acquired the rights,[116][117] and is now in the custody of the Ford County Historical Society in Dodge City. [26] He was furious about her gambling habit, during which she lost considerable sums of money. He reneged but persuaded her to stay. "[26]:43 From Yuma, the troupe took a stagecoach to Tucson, not Prescott. Money flowed from Nevada through San Francisco, and for a while the Marcus family prospered. After a time however I very much improved in health so that within two years after my experience I was once more a normal healthy girl." He wrote (in her voice), "Hattie and I attended the McCarthy Dancing Academy for children on Howard Street (Polk and Pacific). The Tragic Story Of Henry Duke Of Cornwall, Henry VIII's Son Who Died At Just Seven Weeks Old, 32 Disturbing Photos Of Life Inside Soviet Gulag Prisons, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. It is unclear when she began going by the name Mattie, but it is reasonable to assume she may have adopted the alias when she began working as a prostitute. [2] In November 1879, Johnny Behan opened his new saloon for business. On the inside were the German Jews and on the outside were the Polish Jews. [55] The paper also reported on April 9, 1875, that a letter was waiting for her in the post office. [45], Behan married 17-year-old Victoria Zaff in March 1869 in San Francisco, her step-father's home town. This is the story of that life together after Wyatt's famous. Mattie was considered Earps common-law wife and in the 1880 census, the 30-year-old was listed as Mattie Earp, wife of Wyatt Earp. It was immensely popular for many years, becoming the university's fourth all-time best selling book with over 35,000 copies sold. Wyatt Earp, one of the most famous figures to emerge from the colorful 19th-century history of the American West, is best remembered known for his participation in a notorious 1881 gunfight at. Celia Ann Mattie Blaylock was involved with Wyatt Earp after the death of his first wife, and is often termed as Wyatts common law wife. [34], The type of work available to unmarried women without means in that era was as waitresses, laundresses, seamstresses, or other dull work which Josephine avoided. [43][57] The only difference noted in the 1880 census is their occupation: Sadie in San Francisco is listed as "At home", while Sadie in Tip Top is recorded as a "Courtesan". [10], As a girl, Josephine loved going to the theater. In June 1881, Sadie sent a postal money order to her mother using the name Josephine Behan,[43] and Wyatt Earp was still living with his common-law wife Mattie Blaylock. Previous Post: Is Indecent Proposal On Netflix? Earp's former wife, Mattie Blaylock traveled with other Earp family members in April 1882, to Colton, California, waiting for Wyatt to telegraph her and invite her to join him. Rudolph Stauffer found the Apaches that had escaped the reservation at Cave Creek and fought them. [71] Director John Ford said that whenever Josephine left town for religious conventions, Earp would come into town, play poker, and get drunk with the cowboy actors. 8. Nov 13, 2021 57:50. [66], A letter written by former New Mexico Territory Governor Miguel Otero appears to indicate that Earp had strong feelings for Josephine shortly after leaving Tombstone in April 1882. Legend states she never heard from Wyatt again. Earp moved to Wichita, Kansas, and worked as a shotgun guard for Wells Fargo. The first known record of Mattie's presence is a picture taken in Fort Scott in 1871. Before moving to Tombstone, he faced a series of lawsuits alleging that he stole money and falsified court documents. "[32] Honkytonk bars in that era often had a reputation as places for prostitution[33] and his choice of language ("three hundred or so of her kind") may have referred to Josephine's work as a prostitute. [112] Josephine died at age 83 on December 19, 1944, in the same bungalow she and Wyatt shared at 4004 W. 17th Street in the West Adams district of Los Angeles. [42]:p275-198[77], After the Coeur d'Alene mining venture died out, Earp and Josie briefly went to El Paso, Texas before moving in 1887 to San Diego where the railroad was about to arrive and a real estate boom was underway. [43], Josephine's life after Tombstone and with Wyatt Earp is not well known, although it isn't as obscured by stories of her life in Tombstone that she told to hide facts. It was cited by scholars and relied upon as factual by filmmakers. [38][58][59], Josephine wrote much later that her family wanted to keep her "escapades from the public." [19] Wyatt had a mischievous sense of humor. [63] At some point during August and September, Sadie and Wyatt may have become friends and perhaps more seriously involved. But, no other corroborating evidence has been found supporting the thesis that Josephine used May Bell as a stage name, and she never claimed so.

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