Wyatt Erp - Death

Death

The last surviving Earp brother and the last surviving participant of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Wyatt Earp died at home in the Earps' small apartment at 4004 W 17th Street, in Los Angeles, of chronic cystitis (some sources cite prostate cancer) on January 13, 1929 at the age of 80. His Associated Press obituary described him as a "gun-fighter, whose blazing six-shooters, were for most of his life allied with the side of law and order". It gave prominent attention to his officiating of the Fitzsimmons-Sharkey fight. His pallbearers were W. J. Hunsaker, (Earp’s attorney in Tombstone and noted L.A. attorney); William S. Hart, (Wyatt's friend. Silent film western actor); Jim Mitchell (Los Angeles Examiner reporter and Hollywood screenwriter); George W. Parsons (founding member of Tombstone’s “Committee of Vigilance”); Wilson Mizner (a friend of Wyatt's during the Klondike Gold Rush); John Clum (a food friend from his days in Tombstone, former Tombstone mayor, and editor of The Tombstone Epitaph); William S. Hart (good friend and western actor and silent film star); and Tom Mix (friend and western film star). Mitchell wrote Wyatt's local obituary. The newspapers reported that Tom Mix cried during his friend's service. His wife Josie was too grief-stricken to attend. Josie, who was of Jewish heritage, had Earp's body cremated and buried Earp his ashes in the Marcus family plot at the Hills of Eternity, a Jewish cemetery in Colma, California.

Although it never was incorporated as a town, the settlement formerly known as Drennan located near the site of some of his mining claims was renamed Earp, California in his honor when the post office was established there in 1930. At the time of his death, he was more famous for his decision ending the Fitzimmons-Sharkey fight than for the Tombstone shootout.

When she died in 1944, Josie's ashes were buried next to Earp's. The original gravemarker was stolen on July 8, 1957 but was later recovered. Their gravesite is the most visited resting place in the Jewish cemetery.