Family of Gunslingers Put Colton on the Map

Colton carries the name of an obscure railroad man, but a famous family helped put the Inland Empire town on the map.

The Earps have lived in these parts for more than 130 years, mostly keeping to themselves and keeping quiet about their famous ancestors who won the shootout at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Ariz., in 1881. But within the past decade or so -- after Colton tore down the old jail, the Gem saloon once owned by the Earps and the tourist attraction called Movieland Frontier Town -- they went public.

Three brothers -- Don, Zack and Cliff -- formed the Earp Society, dedicated to the preservation of and education about the Old West. They aim to show, Don Earp said, that “lawmen and policemen aren’t bad guys.”

This may seem like an odd thing to have to prove, but in some quarters the shootout is considered an early example of police brutality.

The Earp brothers visit county fairs, charity events and classrooms, clad in long black dusters, wide-brimmed hats and silver marshal’s stars. In their periodic reenactments of the famous Oct. 26, 1881, shootout that became a Wild West legend, they defend the Earp name and the legacy of their famous distant cousins, Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan.

With their six-shooters slung low, the Earps take their portrayals seriously. But shooting isn’t their strong suit. “We’ve never won any shooting awards,” Don Earp said. “Well, actually, we’re not that good.”

None of the three, who grew up in Riverside, went into law enforcement. Don is a general contractor, Cliff runs a veterinary supply store in Apple Valley and Zack serves on the Riverside School Board and is the family historian. All are on the boards of historical societies and museums.

Don Earp, 61, moved to Colton with his wife and children in 1968. “Growing up, we just took our family history for granted,” he said.

His great-great-great-uncle, Nicholas Earp, settled in the Inland Empire a few years after the Civil War. Three of his sons had fought for the Union. He and his family helped found the town that was named in 1875 for David D. Colton, an early partner to the founders of the Southern Pacific Railroad.

Nicholas’ sons ended up in Arizona, owning a saloon, prospecting and working as stagecoach guards and lawmen. The much-chronicled 1881 shootout in Tombstone left three men dead and three wounded.

Lawmen’s stars or no, the three Earp brothers and their friend, John Henry “Doc” Holliday, were arrested and charged with murdering three members of the so-called Clanton Gang. After a six-week trial -- an eternity in those days -- they were acquitted.

Curiously, the Earp and Clanton families have lived fewer than 20 miles apart in the Inland Empire since after the Civil War. But even now, they don’t have much to do with each other.

Gordon Clanton, 63, is a distant relative and a sociologist at San Diego State University. He offers a perspective that could offend both families: “The Earps were friends with the judge, who thought they were upstanding citizens,” he said. “Yet the town citizens considered them somewhat unsavory newcomers. It’s an old feud that has many elements to it.”

Both sides, he said, “were all crooks, the town crooks and the county crooks. The Earps were capitalists and Republicans, while the Clantons were landowners and cattle rustlers. They were different kinds of men who stood for different kinds of life, with profound democratic differences. It’s like a Shakespearean tale that will be retold for years.”

Less than two weeks after the acquittals, Virgil -- still the U.S. marshal -- was ambushed on a Tombstone street. Men using double-barrel shotguns blasted his left arm to pieces.

On March 18, 1882, Morgan was playing pool with Wyatt when he was killed by a shotgun blast in the back. Virgil, his wife and another brother, James Earp, left for their parents’ home in Colton, where Morgan was buried.

Wyatt stayed in Arizona, tracking down and killing the men he believed had murdered his brother: outlaws Frank Stilwell, “Indian Charlie” Cruz and “Curly Bill” Brocius.

“As Wyatt rode up to the outlaws’ campsite, Curly Bill walked toward Wyatt shooting, missing all his shots,” Don Earp said. Wyatt, like most riders, had loosened his gun belt to be more comfortable on the horse. When he dismounted, the gun belt fell to the ground.

“Grabbing his shotgun off his saddle, he blew Curly Bill in half at close range,” Don Earp said. “Wyatt was downright lucky. Hell-bent on taking care of business.”

A murder warrant was issued for Wyatt’s arrest. He fled to other states, eventually returning to California, and never faced trial.

The next year, the Earps figured in a local railroad war. Nicholas Earp and his five surviving sons -- Newton, James, Wyatt, Virgil and Warren -- were hired by the Southern Pacific Railroad to stop the rival California Southern Railroad, a Santa Fe subsidiary, from crossing the Southern Pacific tracks in Colton to get to San Bernardino, less than 10 miles away.

On Sept. 13, 1883, the Earps and a few allies lined the south side of the tracks in Colton. San Bernardino townsfolk armed with picks, shovels and shotguns lined the north side. Southern Pacific parked one of its locomotives across the track intersection.

Tempers were running high. As violence loomed, local politician (and soon-to-be California governor) Robert Waterman showed up with a posse and a court order to allow the California Southern train to pass. The Earps holstered their six-shooters, put down their shotguns and ordered the Southern Pacific locomotive to get out of the way. The bloodless “Battle of the Crossing” ended without a shot.

A photo of the armed blockade is on display at the Perris Valley Historical and Museum Assn., but its authenticity is in doubt.

“There is a lot of skepticism whether that is an accurate photo,” said Nick Cataldo, a local historian who has spent years researching the Earps and who is past president of the San Bernardino Historical and Pioneer Society. “It seems unlikely -- not impossible -- that all Earp brothers could have been at the same place at the same time. Wyatt looks too heavy and Virgil’s left arm [looks normal, but] was quite a bit shorter than the other. No one seems to know where the photo originated, but it’s been around a long time.”

Four years later, when Colton was incorporated, Nicholas Earp served as the town’s first city clerk and justice of the peace. Virgil was elected Colton’s first marshal, while James ran saloons in Colton, San Bernardino and Los Angeles.

Nicholas, a veteran of the Black Hawk and Mexican American wars, died in 1907 and was buried at the military cemetery there.

Morgan was buried at Slover Mountain Cemetery, but his remains were moved to Hermosa Garden Cemetery five years later. Quarrying had encroached on the original burial ground.

Warren, the youngest brother, was a “roughneck,” said Don Earp, “involved in brushes with the law in Riverside and San Bernardino before being killed in a gunfight over a card game” in Willcox, Ariz., in 1900.

Newton died in Sacramento in 1928 at age 91.

Wyatt, the most famous brother, continued prospecting. He worked as a lawman in San Bernardino County and on the LAPD for a short time around 1910, Cataldo said. He died in Los Angeles in 1929 at age 80.

The Earp Society plans to reenact the Tombstone shootout for Colton’s annual Unity Days in May 2006. The Earps haven’t invited the Clantons to take part. If they did, Don Earp joked, “I’m afraid they’d put real bullets in their guns.”