Virgil Earp

Virgil Walter Earp (Hartford, Kentucky, July 18, 1843 - Goldfield, Nevada, October 19, 1905) was a sheriff of the American Old West, brother of Wyatt and Morgan Earp, with who participated in the famous shooting at the O.K. Corral.

Biography

Virgil Earp was born on July 18, 1843 in Hartford, Kentucky, the firstborn of Nicholas Porter Earp and Virginia Ann Cooksey, his brothers being Wyatt Earp and Morgan Earp.

In February 1860, Virgil married Ellen Sysdem before joining the Unionist army, and they both had a daughter. During the Civil War, Virgil is presumed dead and his wife and daughter move from the family home in Illinois.

After the war, Virgil joins his younger brother Wyatt working between Wilmington and Prescott (Arizona) (1866-68). The brothers work in railroad construction in Wyoming. In March 1870, Virgil remarried Rozilla Draggoo in Lamar, Missouri. In 1873 he leaves his wife and meets Alice Sullivan in Council Bluffs (Iowa), moving back with her to Prescott, where he manages a sawmill, in addition to working as a gold prospector and farmer. On November 5, 1878 he was appointed commissioner of the Prescott District.

Alice and Virgil move to Tucson (Arizona), where Virgil is appointed deputy U.S. marshall on November 27, 1879 (assistant to the marshall ), before leaving for Tombstone (Arizona) with his brothers. In that city he is appointed marshal in October 1880, and recruits his brothers Wyatt and Morgan as special agents of the law.

After the shooting at the O.K. Corral, Virgil is tried with his brothers and exonerated in 1881. After the death of his brother Morgan, Virgil and Wyatt move his body to bury it near his parents' house in Colton (California). After trying to make a living through gambling, Virgil is named Colton's marshall. He later ran a gambling house in the now-defunct mining town of Vanderbilt (California).

Virgil Earp murió de neumonía en Goldfield (Nevada) el 19 de octubre de 1905, a los 62 años.