Virgil Earp Bio
Virgil
Walter Earp
July 18, 1843- October 19, 1905
During his lifetime, Virgil farmed, drove a stagecoach, drove a mail route,
was a prospector and always involved with marshals, sheriffs and constables
in one capacity or another. When he and Allie lived in Prescott, AZ, prior
to moving to Tombstone, he worked occasionally in law enforcement. Then they
moved to Tombstone. When the Marshal was killed, the city council appointed
him as City Marshal on Oct. 30, 1880 until the next election took place. Then
he was the Marshal from June 18, 1881 until Oct. 29, 1881, three days after
the OK Corral gunfight when he and his deputy, Wyatt, resigned. During the
gunfight, Virg was shot in the leg. Then on Dec. 28, 1881, he was ambushed,
shot at by a shotgun and hit, leaving his left arm permanently crippled.
That didn't stop Virgil. He and Allie moved to Colton, CA, where he became
the first Marshal there. In 1900 he was nominated to run for Sheriff of Yavapai
County in AZ on the Republican ticket but due to poor health, he dropped out
of the race. Virgil Walter Earp was working as a Deputy Sheriff in Esmaralda
County, Nevada, when he died of pneumonia on Oct. 19, 1905.
He was buried at Riverview
Cemetery, 8421 S.W. Macadam Ave., Portland Oregon.
