VIRGIL EARP

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, Virgil 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.

528 West H. St, Colton.

In 1883, the California Southern, a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad wanted to connect San Diego to Waterman Junction, Santa Fe’s hub. The only problem was they needed to cross through Colton, California and over Southern Pacific tracks. As the upstart railroad approached from the south and north, Southern Pacific parked a locomotive and tender blocking their path.

Standing atop the engine, six gun at the ready, shotgun cradled across his bad arm, stood Special Railroad Agent Virgil Earp. Armed with both weapons and an imposing reputation across the west, Virgil Earp held the work up for over a month, until California’s Governor arrived with a San Bernardino posse in tow. Mobs of armed factions from both Colton, (pro Southern Pacific) and San Bernardino (pro California Southern) stared each other down. Governor Robert Waterman ordered the Sheriff and Posse to open fire on Virgil if he made a move. The mob could smell a fight coming and a riot and bloodbath seemed likely, until Virgil Earp, ordered the locomotive moved. The Battle of the Crossing, as it became known, ended without bloodshed, without a shot being fired, due to Virgil.

This Southern Pacific train is on the exact spot that Virgil Earp stood in The Battle of the Crossing.

 In 1887, when Colton became a city, Virgil Earp 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.

Riverview Cemetery
Portland
Multnomah County
Oregon, USA