Is That Really Him in the Photograph?

A Tarnished West Photo Investigation

Old photographs have a way of acquiring identities over time. A name gets attached to an otherwise unidentified face, the photograph is copied, and eventually the identification begins to be repeated as fact.

One photograph of Tombstone Engine Company No. 1 provides a good example. The image shows members of Tombstone’s early volunteer fire department gathered in front of their engine house. At the extreme right stands a man who has sometimes been identified as Wyatt Earp.

There is a good reason the identification might seem plausible. Wyatt Earp really was connected with Tombstone’s early fire department. But that does not necessarily make the man in the photograph Wyatt Earp.

Tombstone Organizes for Fire

Fire was an obvious danger in the rapidly growing Tombstone of 1880. Businesses crowded together along the town’s streets, much of the construction was wood, and lamps, stoves and open flames were part of everyday life.

On September 9, 1880, local citizens organized Tombstone’s volunteer fire company. L. F. Blackburn was elected foreman, and among the other officers was a name much better remembered today for events that had nothing to do with fighting fires: Wyatt Earp was elected secretary.

At the time, Earp had not yet become the legendary figure associated with the gunfight near the O.K. Corral. He was one of a number of Tombstone residents taking part in the affairs of a young mining town.

Less than a year later, the need for an organized fire department became painfully clear.

The Great Fire of 1881

On June 22, 1881, fire erupted in the heart of Tombstone’s business district. The blaze began at the Arcade Saloon on Allen Street and spread rapidly through the closely packed buildings. Contemporary reporting and later histories describe extensive destruction across several blocks of downtown Tombstone.

The disaster exposed the limitations of the young town’s firefighting capabilities. Only days later, on June 26, the Rescue Hook and Ladder Company was organized as Tombstone continued to improve its firefighting organization and equipment.

The chronology is important. Wyatt Earp’s connection with Tombstone’s fire organization predates the great fire of 1881. His membership is not an assumption made because someone thought they recognized him in a later photograph. There is documentary evidence connecting him to the organization independently of the photograph.

Then There Is the Photograph

The surviving photograph of Tombstone Engine Company No. 1 shows a large group of men posed outside the firehouse. At the extreme right of the group is a man who has attracted particular attention. He has been identified in some reproductions and discussions as Wyatt Earp.

The identification is tempting. We know Wyatt was associated with the fire company. We know he was elected an officer when the organization was established. And here we have an early photograph of members of that organization.

It seems to fit. But there is a problem.

There appears to be no firm contemporary documentation establishing that the man at the right is Wyatt Earp. Historian and author John D. Rose has reproduced the photograph while describing the man at the far right as someone who has been speculated to be Wyatt Earp.

That distinction matters. “Speculated to be” is not the same as “identified as.”

The Photograph Came Later

There is another important detail. The fire company was organized in September 1880, while the Engine Company No. 1 firehouse shown in the photograph dates from the following period. The photograph therefore cannot document the September 1880 organizational meeting.

That certainly does not prove Wyatt was absent when the photograph was taken. He remained in Tombstone during this period and his association with the fire company is documented. But it removes one possible argument for the identification.

The documentary evidence and the photographic identification are two different questions.

Does He Look Like Wyatt?

Comparing the man with authenticated photographs of Wyatt Earp is naturally tempting. It can also be misleading. Facial appearance changes with age, lighting, camera angle, facial hair and the quality of the original photograph. Copies made from copies introduce still more distortion.

Appearance can provide a reason to investigate an identification. It rarely proves one. In this case, visual comparison cannot overcome the more important problem: no contemporary documentation has been located identifying the man at the right as Wyatt Earp.

What We Can Say

The first claim is well supported: Wyatt Earp was associated with Tombstone’s early volunteer fire department and was elected secretary when the organization was established in 1880.

The second claim is not established: the man standing at the extreme right of the well-known Tombstone Engine Company No. 1 photograph is Wyatt Earp.

He might be. But “might be” is where the evidence presently leaves us.

Historical photographs frequently acquire names long after they were taken. Once an identification appears in a book, collection, website or social-media post, later reproductions may repeat it without preserving the original uncertainty.

Eventually, speculation becomes a caption. And a caption becomes “fact.”

The Tarnished West Verdict

Tombstone Engine Company No. 1. The man at the extreme right has sometimes been identified as Wyatt Earp, but that identification remains disputed and should not be considered established.

There is no need to stretch the evidence to connect Wyatt Earp with Tombstone’s fire department. That part of the story is already documented. Wyatt Earp was there, and he was elected secretary of the organization.

Whether he is also standing at the edge of this particular photograph remains another question entirely.

Sometimes historical research establishes who is in an old photograph.
Other times, the most accurate answer is simply: We don’t know.

Research Notes / Sources

• Contemporary Tombstone newspaper reporting concerning the organization of the fire company, 1880.
• Contemporary and later accounts of Tombstone’s June 22, 1881 fire.
• Historical compilation of the Tombstone Fire Department, Tucson Fire Foundation.
• John D. Rose / Wyatt Earp Explorers, discussion and reproduction of the Engine Company No. 1 photograph.

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The Tarnished West Team recently visited Tombstone and took a trike tour through the streets. During our ride, we stopped at the corner of 5th and Toughnut, where we discovered the original Tombstone Hose Company #1, the city’s first firehouse.

It was incredible to see this 1881 building in such good condition and still in use, now serving as a Senior Center.

Was Wyatt Earp ever connected to the Tombstone Fire Department? Previous searches have not confirmed or documented any role he may have had with the department. However, an article from the Arizona Nugget, published on September 10, 1880, indicates that Wyatt Earp was a founding member of Tombstone Hose Company #1.

The discussion about this issue may continue indefinitely—or until more definitive documentation about the picture and the individuals in it is found. The Tarnished West team will persist in its research, striving to document the rich and fascinating history of the “Wild West” without the embellishments of Hollywood or other misinformation.