Thanks in no small part to his enduring pop
culture value and the way that cowboy guns look super cool, Wyatt Earp's legacy as a
lawman and stone-cold, pistol-whipping, American badass continues to live on nearly a century
after his death. But how did the life of the gambler, gunfighter,
and legend in his own time, Wyatt Earp, come to a close? Chronic cystitis, or, for the layman, a nasty
UTI. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Wyatt Earp was born March 19th, 1848 in Monmouth,
Illinois, and relocated with his family a year later to Pella, Iowa. At 13, he reportedly tried on multiple occasions
to run away from home and enlist in the Union Army, but his father always found him and
put him back to work on the family farm. "I'm going to enlist, Pa! I wanna fight the rebs with James and Virg. I'm ready." "Are ya?' Earp would spend the majority of his adult
life on the move, going from town to town across the United States working in a variety
of fields, including hauling freight and grading rail for the Union Pacific Railroad. His first recorded job in law enforcement
came when his father resigned as the constable of Lamar, Missouri and Earp was appointed
as his replacement. Contrary to the image portrayed in popular
culture, Earp wasn't always a force for law and order. After the death of his wife in 1870, he was
accused of failing to turn in funds collected for the local school board, then arrested
on charges of horse theft. Instead of standing trial, he climbed through
the open roof of his jail cell and booked it for Peoria. Earp's life was intensely multifaceted, and
it would take hours to get into the full details of his work as a brothel bouncer, silver miner,
card dealer, and, if the movies are to believed, a lawman who had quite a way with words. "Your friends might get me in a rush, but
not before I make your head into a canoe, you understand me?" Today, he's best known for his involvement
in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and the ensuing violence that was part gang war, part
vendetta ride. The shootout and the events surrounding it
are still remembered to this day; an oversimplified tale of good versus evil, right versus wrong,
and a grim reminder that Kevin Costner had a really difficult time making a good movie
there for a while. Wyatt was the last participant of the Gunfight
at the O.K. Corral still standing when he finally passed away in 1929. At 80 years old, he had a good run, especially
considering how much of his life was spent with bullets flying around his person, and
had survived what was arguably a more dangerous situation than any shootout: his involvement
in a professional sports scandal. In 1896, Earp refereed a boxing championship
between two of the preeminent fighters in the world, Bob Fitzsimmons and Tom Sharkey. Earp called the fight for Sharkey after announcing
a blow below the belt that nobody in the audience seemed to witness. In the ensuing court cases, a conspiracy to
rig the fight was revealed, and Earp became synonymous across the United States with corruption. He held onto his reputation as a crooked referee
long after his death. Helped in large part by the publication of
an aggrandizing biography and the birth of Western feature films, Earp started to redefine
himself as old west royalty. Even with all of this, when he passed away
from a urinary tract infection in 1929, he was still considered by many to be less of
a frontier hero and more of a punk who ruined a lot of peoples' Wednesday night when he
messed up the bets they had on whatever the 19th century equivalent of Pay Per View was. In the end, what can be learned from the life
and death of Wyatt Earp? That's a complicated question, but here's
one takeaway: encourage your grandparents to make an appointment with their urologists
before it's too late, because UTIs are astonishingly common during old age and, if left unchecked,
can lead to life-threatening infections. "That's a promise." Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus, even more Grunge videos about your favorite
historical figures are coming soon. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the
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