Wyatt Earp's Vendetta Ride

VENDETTA RIDE

Based mostly on a fairly true story.

Wyatt Earp’s

March 18, 1882, at 11 p.m. MORGAN EARP was shot in the back playing pool at Campbell and Hatch’s Saloon in TOMBSTONE, his posse watched on as the glass double door behind him shattered. Bullets ripped through Morgan’s back, killing him within the hour. That was the last straw for deputy marshal, and older brother, WYATT EARP.

After months of looking over his shoulder after the gunfight at the OK CORRAL with the rival ARIZONA COWBOYS, tonight they crossed the line. March 19, 1882, at 12 a.m.

WYATT EARP was going to become the justice that he deserved, and the Cowboys were going to be sorry they were on the wrong end of his furious VENDETTA RIDE.

TOMBSTONE

TUCSON

Word travels fast when the one asking was one of the most famous names in United States law enforcement. Wyatt waited for the cowards, now identified as FRANK STILWELL and PETE SPENCE to come up for air. Finally, he was met with an answer. An ambush in TUCSON, for his other brother Virgil. FRANK STILWELL and IKE CLANTON, another Cowboy, would ambush him at the train station as he made for his brother’s funeral. Word would never reach him in time, so it was a race against the clock.

Wyatt and Warren Earp, Doc Holliday, “Turkey Creek” Jack Johnson, and Sherman McMaster set their sights on TUCSON. Arriving at the train station the men, known as “THE POSSE,” spotted Clanton and Stilwell lying in wait, hidden in a cargo car.

SHOOT FIRST, ask questions later.

TUCSON

FRANK STILWELL didn’t have time even to hear the shots before he met God. IKE

CLANTON, on the other hand, ran like the COWARD he was known to be. And with that, The Posse became wanted men as the sheriff of Tucson sent word to JOHN BEHAN in Tombstone to arrest WYATT EARP and The Posse.

One coward has tasted Wyatt’s wrath, but that wasn’t enough. PETE SPENCE was still free and breathing. THE POSSE had stayed at the Cosmopolitan Hotel and left in the morning for SOUTH PASS on word that Spence was staying in a cabin there. Sheriff JOHNNY BEHAN, a Cowboy sympathizer, met The Posse as they stepped out of the lobby into the street. Five men to one, Behan proclaimed, “Wyatt, I need to see you,” to which the FORMER LAWMAN responded without so much as a nod, “You may see me once too often” before mounting his horse and riding for his next target.

South pass

SOUTH PASS

Arriving at SOUTH PASS, The Posse was not greeted by Spence. He had heard of Stilwell, and made for TOMBSTONE, missing The Posse on their way to claim his life. He met his friend, Sheriff JOHNNY BEHAN, and admitted to the murder of MORGAN EARP because he knew that he’d live a much more decent life in his friend’s jail cell than standing at the wrong end of an Earp’s barrel. However, The Posse did find FLORENTO CRUZ, another Cowboy, who was faced the same fate as Spence would have, should he have not run.

Behan had started his own posse now. He already had a bad taste in his mouth about the Earps, namely his competitor for Cochise County sheriff, WYATT EARP. Riding with over a dozen men on the tail of The Posse made it hard to stop in one place for very long. Fortunately, they had received word, from trusted contacts, that another of their posse men from the incident at the OK CORRAL, CHARLIE SMITH, could meet them at IRON SPRINGS, and they would have time to bathe and rest. Unfortunately, the message was overheard by one CURLY BILL BROCIUS, a fierce gunfighter and Cowboy, leading a leg of Behan’s posse.

Arriving at the ambush at IRON SPRINGS, The Posse Turned and tailed. All except for Wyatt, who dismounted to fight. Seeing his comrades run, he cursed them while dodging the hail of gunfire in a desperate attempt to remount his horse and escape. In typical WYATT EARP fashion, luck smiled upon him, allowing him to escape with his life. And one better, neither he nor his horse had been hit by a single shot, but his BOOT HEEL was blasted clean off his foot.

IRON SPRINGS

SIERRA BONITA

After so long on the run, THE POSSE was running low on funds. They made for a ranch belonging to a friend, HENRY CLAY HOOKER. Hooker was an influential cattle rancher in Graham County, nearby to Cochise County and TOMBSTONE. Hooker allowed them to use his ranch as a friend and out of respect for their mission. This was a comfortable stop on the way to Benson, where they would meet Dan Tipton to acquire $1000. With themselves rested and washed and horses fed, they left the SIERRA BONITA RANCH.

SIERRA BONITA

Shortly after the departure of The Posse, JOHNNY BEHAN arrived at Hooker’s doorstep asking questions. He knew that Earp had been there and that HENRY CLAY HOOKER was a friend of WYATT EARP and the company that he kept, but he had no way to prove it. So, when Hooker denied any of Behan’s questions and refused to host his posse, he was forced to turn around for a long, dejected ride back to TOMBSTONE.

Succumbing to the feeling that they were coming to an unwanted end should they keep pursuing Wyatt’s quest for vengeance, THE POSSE decided to cut their losses and ride for saftey in Silver City, NEW MEXICO. With plans to trade their horses and go their separate ways to escape Behan and the Cowboys, The Posse was stunned to see CURLY BILL BROCIUS waiting for them again, an ambush, just like at Iron Springs. IKE CLANTON had managed to keep a tail on them, meeting with Behan as he left the Sierra Bonita Ranch to tell the sheriff of their plan. Behan and his posse of Cowboys rode hard to pass THE POSSE and set up to put an end to Wyatt’s rage-fueled quest once and for all. This time, however, Earp didn’t run. The ARIZONA COWBOYS once again stood between them and a good life. With no more than an exchange of steeled glares, the men drew.

THE BORDER

It was early in the morning, just shy of THE BORDER of Arizona, and in the less than 30 seconds of the firefight, the whole state was awake. Despite the quick duration, there was no shortage of blood spilled. CURLY BILL killed Jack Johnson and Sherman McMaster, Charlie Smith killed IKE CLANTON, Johnny Ringo killed Warren Earp, JOHN BEHAN killed Charlie Smith. Doc Holliday and WYATT EARP killed John Behan and Curly Bill, though records are unsure who killed which, but an undeniable fact is that WYATT EARP killed JOHNNY RINGO. One bullet followed by one quote that will be his legend forever...

THE BORDER

“ “

ARIZONA COWBOYS TAKE MY BROTHERS, AND FOR THAT, I GIVE THEM THE GIFT OF HATE.

A HATE THAT WILL TORMENT YOU THROUGH THE DEPTHS OF HELL, BURNING HOTTER THAN THE FIRES OF THE DEVIL. I HAVE KILLED YOU, AND YOU SHALL CONTINUE TO DIE UNTIL MY NAME IS FORGOTTEN BY THIS WORLD, AND THEN I WILL KNOW THAT THE DEVIL HIMSELF HAS SUCCUMBED TO PITY.

In this dramatic telling of Wyatt Earp’s great Vendetta Ride for vengeance against the Arizona Cowboys, some liberties were taken.

In the original tale, Wyatt Earp and “The Posse” came up short on their original mission to bring vigilante justice to the killers of Wyatt’s younger brother Morgan before they were on the run and outgunned. This resulted in them fleeing to New Mexico, where they sold their horses and went their separate ways. However, in my telling of the tale, I fabricated the ending that everyone really wanted, resulting in a more dramatic, exciting story coming to an extremely climactic end.

Join Wyatt Earp and others such as Warren Earp and Doc Holliday in a fairly historical account of their quest for revenge against John Behan, Bill Brocius, Frank Stilwell, Johnny Ringo and other Cowboys. See the gunslinging, bravery, love, hate, and luck that makes any story from the American West so amazing through original illustrations and well researched accounts with some creative modifications.