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Wyatt Earp died in Los Angeles, California, on January 13, 1929, at age 80. He had left Tombstone decades earlier and spent much of the intervening time moving through the West, pursuing mining claims and working in fields including gambling, horse racing, and real estate. The sources cited here establish where and when he died, but do not establish a medical cause of death.
How and where did Wyatt Earp die?
Earp died in Los Angeles on January 13, 1929, aged 80, according to the PBS American Experience chronology. The University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Encyclopedia of the Great Plains also records the date and characterizes his death as peaceful. The City of San Bernardino’s history says he was buried in Colma, California.
These sources do not give a medical cause of death. Without a reliable source establishing one, claims that a particular illness or condition killed Earp should not be presented as fact.
What happened to Wyatt Earp after Tombstone?
Earp left Arizona Territory in late April 1882, after the violence that followed the murder of his brother Morgan. His life afterward was not a long, continuous career as a lawman. Instead, he traveled with Josephine Marcus and pursued a changing mix of ventures across the West.
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From Arizona to California
In fall 1882, Earp joined his brother Virgil in San Francisco and became involved with Josephine Marcus. Beginning in 1884, Earp and Josephine traveled through the West looking for gold and running horse races. Earp sometimes represented law enforcement, but did not remain in a position for long.
They spent time in San Diego in 1888, where Earp was involved in horse racing and gambling and refereed boxing matches. They returned to San Francisco in 1893, according to the PBS chronology.
Nome and the years before his death
In fall 1897, Earp and Josephine joined the Nome gold rush, where they ran a saloon and pursued gambling ventures. They returned to California in 1901. Earp then pursued gold and copper claims near the Whipple Mountains and supported himself through a combination of mining, police work, gambling, and real estate.
The City of San Bernardino gives a more specific local account, placing Earp and Josephine in the remote southeastern Mojave near the Whipple Mountains in 1906, with claims around Parker, Arizona. By the 1920s, Earp had an honorary or non-salaried appointment as a San Bernardino County deputy sheriff. He began working on memoirs in 1923 with secretary John H. Flood, the PBS account says.
How the historical Earp became a folk hero
The varied work and movement of Earp’s later life contrast with the more focused lawman image that became familiar in popular culture. PBS describes him as a wanderer who pursued opportunities in boomtowns, and notes that his folk-hero reputation grew shortly after his death.
One influential source in that transformation was Stuart N. Lake’s 1931 book Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal. The Encyclopedia of the Great Plains says Lake’s account embellished, idealized, and romanticized Earp. The book is therefore useful for understanding how the legend developed, but it should not be treated as neutral proof of every story it tells.
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