How Wyatt Earp Died After The Events In Tombstone

Though he survived the shootout at Tombstone’s O.K. Corral unscathed, as shown in Netflix’s docu-drama Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War, Wyatt Earp was not invincible and eventually did die after the events of that day, albeit decades later. Wyatt Earp, played by Kurt Russell in Tombstone, is a towering figure in American history, both in life and after his death. Along with his brothers and best friend, Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer), Earp cleaned up the lawless Wild West town of Tombstone, Arizona, of the outlaw Clanton and McLaury brothers and their cohorts, culminating in the shootout at the O.K. Corral.

However, just because his time in Tombstone and the O.K. Corral gunfight are the most well-known parts of Wyatt Earp’s life, it doesn’t mean the rest of his life wasn’t just as interesting. It wasn’t the last shootout Earp was in, as he faced down many of the same men after the revenge murder of his brother, Morgan. After leaving Tombstone, Earp was involved in the Alaskan gold rush, owned a mine, bought a saloon, refereed a famous boxing match, moved to California, and got involved in the nascent Hollywood movie industry. Even legends pass, though, including Wyatt Earp.

Wyatt Earp Died From Chronic Cystitis When He Was 80 Years Old

It Was Unclear If He Had Some Other Underlying Condition That Exacerbated The Disease

Wyatt Earp was hale and hearty for a very long time, finally passing away on January 13, 1929 at the ripe old age of 80. His cause of death was ruled as complications from chronic cystitis, which is inflammation of the bladder. It’s hard to think of a legendary gunfighter and gambler being taken out by what is essentially a UTI; however, 1920s or today, cystitis can be a deadly condition if it goes untreated and spreads to the kidneys.

As it can also happen due to complications from other illnesses, it’s not entirely clear if Wyatt Earp was also suffering from another disease that exacerbated the cystitis. At the time of his death, the Los Angeles Times reported in his obituary that he’d been suffering from liver disease for a few years (via Archive.org). Considering his death happened almost 100 years ago, it would not be a surprise to learn he had been living with another chronic condition that was either undiagnosed or untreatable at the time.

Wyatt Earp passed in his small bungalow in Los Angeles, California, and his pallbearers were a strange mix of Old West figures and figures in the new Hollywood motion picture industry springing up in the area. On the Tombstone and Old West side were William J. Hunsaker, Earp’s lawyer in Tombstone, George W. Parsons, a founding member of Tombstone’s “Committee of Vigilance,” Wilson Minzer, an old friend of Earp’s from the Klondike Gold Rush days, and former mayor of Tombstone John Clum. On the Hollywood side were screenwriter Jim Mitchell, and silent film stars and Western actors William S. Hart and Tom Mix. He was cremated and buried in a cemetery in Colma, California.

Wyatt Earp Was The Last Surviving Earp Brother & Participant In The O.K. Corral Gunfight

Their Lives After The Shootout At The O.K. Corral Were Just As Interesting

With Wyatt Earp’s death, the last of the great gunslingers and last great icon of the Old American West passed from life into legend. While he was survived by his sister, Adelia Earp Edwards, his last surviving brother, Newton, had passed just a month before Wyatt’s own passing, dying on December 18, 1928. Thus, at the time of his death, Wyatt was the last surviving Earp brother, as well as the last surviving member of the legendary shootout at the O.K. Corral.

Morgan Earp was the first Earp brother to go, ambushed and assassinated in 1882 a few months after the O.K. Corral gunfight after a conspiracy by Pete Spence and other members of the Clanton and McLaury clan of outlaws. He was buried in a suit belonging to Doc Holliday. In 1887, Doc himself was the next to go, finally succumbing, of course, to the tuberculosis that had ravaged his body for years. Doc Holliday’s last words were reportedly “This is funny,” with Doc being wryly amused by the fact he was not dying with his boots on, after all, but barefoot in a bed.

Warren Earp’s brothers had always worried that their baby brother’s temper would get him killed and eventually, in the next century, it did. The youngest of the Earp brothers, Warren was killed in 1900 after being shot by his longtime enemy, Johnny Boyett, during an altercation. Virgil Earp, who led his brothers and Doc Holliday during the O.K. Corral shootout, died five years later in 1905 from acute pneumonia after decades of dealing with the physical effects of being shot during the infamous Tombstone gunfight. James Earp, who was not present at the shootout, died in 1926 of a stroke. Newton and Wyatt were the last two Earp brothers to go. While the gunfight at the O.K. Corral defined not just Wyatt Earp’s life, but all of their lives, their experiences after the events depicted in Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War were just as interesting and worthy of a movie.