Editing Morgan Earp (section)

== Aftermath ==

While Wyatt was out of town, Coroner Dr. D.M. Mathew held an inquest into Morgan's death. [[Pete Spence]]'s wife, Marietta Duarte, was ready to talk to the Coroner's Jury.<ref name=marks/><ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Tombstone Epitaph|location=Tombstone|date=March 31, 1882|title=Splinters|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84021939/1882-04-03/ed-1/seq-6/|page=6}}</ref> She had been abused by her husband and may have had motivation to implicate him. She implicated her husband and four other men in Morgan's murder.

She testified that the day before, her husband and Indian Charlie were on the front porch, when they saw Morgan Earp walk by. She said Pete Spence told Indian Charlie; (Florentino Cruz<ref name=boardman>{{cite magazine|last=Boardman|first=Mark|title=BBB's Blog|url=http://blog.truewestmagazine.com/2010/03/march-17-2010-working-on-classic.html|magazine=True West Magazine|access-date=21 May 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140814202232/http://blog.truewestmagazine.com/2010/03/march-17-2010-working-on-classic.html|archive-date=14 August 2014}}</ref>) "That's him; that's him," and the Indian walked ahead of Earp to get a good look at him. The night of the shooting, her husband was away. Around midnight, Cruz and Frank Stilwell showed up, armed with pistols and carbines, and her husband arrived soon after with Freis<ref name=DeArment1989>{{Cite book  | last1 =  DeArment | first1 = Robert K.| title = Bat Masterson: The Man and the Legend | year= 1989| publisher = University of Oklahoma Press | isbn = 978-0806122212 | page =  206}}</ref> (Frederick Bode)<ref name=boardman/> and a fifth unidentified man (later identified as Hank Swilling),<ref name=boardman/> all carrying rifles. They talked in low and excited tones.<ref name=marks/> The next morning, her husband struck both her and her mother, and threatened to shoot Marietta if she told what she knew.<ref name="historynet1">{{cite web|url=http://www.historynet.com/wyatt-earps-vendetta-posse.htm/1|title=Wyatt Earp's Vendetta Posse|date=January 29, 2007|access-date=February 18, 2011|publisher=HistoryNet.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005161307/http://www.historynet.com/wyatt-earps-vendetta-posse.htm/1|archive-date=October 5, 2012}}</ref> Witnesses said they saw Frank Stilwell running from the scene.

The [[Coroner]]'s jury concluded that Spence, Stilwell, Frederick Bode, and "Indian Charlie" were the prime suspects in Morgan Earp's death.<ref name=barra>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1998/8/1998_8_76.shtml |title=Who Was Wyatt Earp? |first1=Alan |last1=Barra |magazine=American Heritage Magazine|date=December 1998 |volume=49 |number=8 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060507101535/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1998/8/1998_8_76.shtml |archive-date=2006-05-07 }}</ref>{{rp|250}}<ref>{{cite news|title=The Arizona Trimble — The Earps and Their Opponents|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SDU18820324.2.8.1.3&srpos=1&e=-------en--20-SDU-1--txt-txIN-%22virgil+earp%22-------1|access-date=19 February 2018|issue=27|publisher=Sacramento Daily Union|date=24 March 1882}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Morgan Earp ... came to his death in the city of Tombstone on the 18th day of March, 1882 ... by reason of a gunshot or pistol wound inflicted at the hands of Pete Spence, Frank Stilwell, a party by the name of Freis, and two Indian half-breeds, one whose name is Charlie, but the name of the other not ascertained.<ref name=boardman/>}}

When the prosecution called Marietta Duarte to testify at the preliminary hearing, the defense objected because her testimony was [[hearsay]] and because a spouse could not testify against her husband.<ref name="historynet"/> The judge agreed and the charges were dismissed.

On May&nbsp;27, 1882, a "strong Democrat" was quoted in a letter in the Yuma, Arizona newspaper ''The Arizona Sentinel'' describing the events following the "murder of the noted desperado Frank Stilwell." Readers may want to know "how these so-called Republican outlaws are regarded by decent, law-abiding people in Tombstone, regardless of politics." The writer was of the opinion that Cochise County Sheriff [[Johnny Behan|Behan]] wanted the warrant from Governor Fremont with the "object was to have them assassinated... Neither the Sheriff nor any of his deputies have ever turned a hand to find the murderers" of Morgan Earp. "There is no hope for any honest man to get justice here against these scoundrels as long as Behan is in office."<ref>{{cite news|work=The Arizona Sentinel|location=Yuma|date=27 May 1882|publisher=Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84021912/1882-05-27/ed-1/seq-1/|title=A Democrat's Opinion of the Earps|access-date=September 11, 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140912092037/http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84021912/1882-05-27/ed-1/seq-1/|archive-date=12 September 2014}}</ref>

=== Wyatt seeks personal justice ===

{{main|Earp Vendetta Ride}}

Wyatt Earp finally concluded that he could not rely on the court system for justice and decided to take matters into his own hands.<ref name="wgbh"/> He concluded that the only way to deal with Virgil's shooters and Morgan's murderers was to find and kill the Cowboys he believed were responsible. He gathered a band of loyal men and deputized them. They rode out to find those responsible.<ref name="historynet"/>

=== Cowboys in jail ===

Unknown to Wyatt, three of the Cowboys he sought were in Behan's jail. After the Coroner's Jury ended, Spence immediately turned himself in, protected in Behan's jail. On the day of the inquest, two of Behan's deputy sheriffs arrested two of the suspects for other reasons. Cochise County Deputy Sheriff William Bell brought Indian Charlie from Charleston and placed him under arrest in the Tombstone jail for shooting a man in Charleston. Separately, Cochise County Deputy Sheriff Frank Hereford arrested "John Doe" Freeze{{sic}}<!-- as in original-->.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015133/1882-03-26/ed-1/seq-2/#date1=1836&index=0&date2=1922&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=Bode+Frederick&proxdistance=5&state=Arizona&rows=20&ortext=&proxtext=Frederick+Bode&phrasetext=&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1|title=Arizona weekly citizen. (Tucson, Ariz) 1880–1901, March 26, 1882, Image 2|date=26 March 1882|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222114731/http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015133/1882-03-26/ed-1/seq-2/#date1=1836&index=0&date2=1922&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=Bode+Frederick&proxdistance=5&state=Arizona&rows=20&ortext=&proxtext=Frederick+Bode&phrasetext=&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1|archive-date=December 22, 2015}}</ref> They were all later released.<ref name=boardman/>

While accompanying his brother Virgil to the rail head in Tucson, Wyatt spotted [[Frank Stilwell]] lying in wait. He was a suspect in Morgan's assassination. Wyatt and others pursued Stilwell and killed him. Earp then assembled and deputized a federal posse. They set out to track down others they believed responsible for shooting Virgil and killing Morgan. During the [[Earp Vendetta Ride]], the federal posse looked for Pete Spence but found he was already in jail. They killed Florentino "Indian Charlie" Cruz, who had been identified by Pete Spence's wife as taking part in ambushing Virgil. They also accidentally came upon [[Curly Bill|Curly Bill Brocius]] at a spring and Wyatt killed him with a single shotgun blast. Wyatt shot Johnny Barnes in the same gunfight and he died soon after.<ref name=heritagebarra>{{cite web|last=Barra|first=Alan|title=Who Was Wyatt Earp?|url=http://www.americanheritage.com/content/who-was-wyatt-earp?page=show|publisher=American Heritage|access-date=21 June 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060507101535/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1998/8/1998_8_76.shtml|archive-date=7 May 2006}}</ref><ref name=shootout>{{Cite news|url=https://truewestmagazine.com/shoot-out-at-cottonwood-springs/|title=Shoot-Out at Cottonwood Springs?|date=2009-05-01|work=True West Magazine|access-date=2017-11-15|language=en-US|archive-date=2017-11-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115201304/https://truewestmagazine.com/shoot-out-at-cottonwood-springs/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="historynet">{{cite web|url=http://www.historynet.com/wyatt-earps-vendetta-posse.htm/1|title=Wyatt Earp's Vendetta Posse|date=January 29, 2007|access-date=February 18, 2011|publisher=Wild West|first1=Peter|last1=Brand|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005161307/http://www.historynet.com/wyatt-earps-vendetta-posse.htm/1|archive-date=October 5, 2012}}</ref>

=== Remaining suspects ===

Wyatt and his brothers were unable to apprehend or kill the other suspects in Morgan's death.
* Hank Swilling was last known when he was questioned in August 1878 about robbing the U.S. Mail.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014896/1878-08-09/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1836&index=0&date2=1922&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&lccn=&words=hank+Swilling&proxdistance=5&state=Arizona&rows=20&ortext=&proxtext=Hank+Swilling&phrasetext=&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1|title=Arizona citizen. (Tucson, Pima County, A.T. [i.e. Ariz.]) 1870–1880, August 09, 1878, Image 1|date=9 August 1878|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151118113858/http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014896/1878-08-09/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1836&index=0&date2=1922&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&lccn=&words=hank+Swilling&proxdistance=5&state=Arizona&rows=20&ortext=&proxtext=Hank+Swilling&phrasetext=&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1|archive-date=November 18, 2015}}</ref>
* Frederick Bode was last listed in the 1880 US Census in Charleston, Pima County.<ref>[https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MH2H-SFQ Fred Bode] Arizona: Apache, Maricopa, Mohave, Pima, and Pinal (part: beginning-E.D. 11, sheet 7) Counties (NARA Series T9, Roll 36)</ref>
* [[Johnny Ringo]] was found dead on July 14, 1882 with a gunshot through the temple. The coroner's jury ruled his death to be a suicide.<ref name = "thewildwest">[http://www.thewildwest.org/cowboys/wildwestoutlawsandlawmen/186-wildwestoutlawjohnringo John Ringo] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150130224744/https://thewildwest.org/cowboys/wildwestoutlawsandlawmen/186-wildwestoutlawjohnringo |date=2015-01-30 }} at thewildwest.org, retrieved October 4, 2016.</ref>
* [[Ike Clanton]] was wanted for [[cattle raiding|cattle-rustling]] when he resisted arrest on June 1, 1887. He attempted to draw his rifle on Detective Jonas V. Brighton who shot Clanton through the heart.<ref name="Brighton 1887">{{cite web|url=http://www.roundvalleyaz.com/acc1.html|title=Detailed Statements of the Killing of Ike Clanton|last=Brighton|first=Jonas V.|date=1887-06-18|work=Apache County Critic|access-date=2009-07-08|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071216051952/http://www.roundvalleyaz.com/acc1.html|archive-date=2007-12-16}}</ref>
* [[Phineas Clanton]] was convicted of [[grand larceny]] for cattle rustling in 1887 and served 17 months of a ten year jail sentence in the [[Yuma Territorial Prison]]. He died in 1906.<ref name=phinclanton>{{cite web|last=Clanton|first=Terry|title=Phin Clanton 1843-1905|url=http://clantongang.com/oldwest/gangphin.html| publisher=TombstoneArizona.com|access-date=3 May 2011}}</ref>
* [[Pete Spence]] was convicted of [[manslaughter]] in 1883 and served 18 months of a five year sentence in the Yuma Territorial Prison. He married his friend Phineas Clanton's widow in 1910 and died in 1914.