Wyatt Earp in San Diego
The narrative surrounding the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and Wyatt Earp’s subsequent Vendetta Ride has been debated, researched, and written about for 139 years and counting. We will never know who fired the first shot, and that’s okay. Some things are better left for speculation. The remaining 47 years of Wyatt Earp’s life were filled with just as much adventure, yet much lesser-known.
In this series of articles, the goal is to dig beneath the legend and understand more about Wyatt Earp, the man. Wyatt was relatively well known in social circles at the time, but how did he earn a living? Who were his friends? Where did he travel? Depending on your perspective, Wyatt Earp either had hustle or was a hustler. Today, notoriety is associated with wealth; this was not the case for Wyatt. Always an opportunist, and like many men of the boomtown era, Wyatt earned a living in a variety of ways: running saloons and gambling operations — some illegal, real estate, mining, oil, and racehorses, and he even refereed boxing matches. More on the Fitzsimmons vs. Sharkey fight in a later post.
After Tombstone and his Vendetta Ride, a formal law enforcement job was not an option. Wyatt was a wanted man in Arizona for the murder of Frank Stillwell.
Wyatt Arrives in San Diego
On November 3, 1886, a mere five years after the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Wyatt Earp and his wife Josephine arrived in San Diego. They checked into room number 57 at the St. James Hotel. Wyatt’s older brother Virgil had visited San Diego in June and September of 1885 and described it to Wyatt as a wide-open town with plenty of opportunities. Inevitably, a portion of the opportunity Virgil described came from running an illegal faro game, an occupation familiar to both men. Wyatt operated faro tables in many boomtowns, including Tombstone, and three years prior, in 1883, Virgil was arrested for operating a faro game in San Francisco.
The speculative growth in San Diego was not from gold or silver. Real estate was the source of the boom. And Wyatt arrived just in time for the much advertised Coronado Island land auction. He and his wife attended the much-advertised event on November 13, 1886, where the future site of the Hotel Del Coronado sold for $1,600. The other lots auctioned also sold at a substantial premium, a trend which has continued ever since. The high prices of property on Coronado Island spurred the already booming real estate market in San Diego. Having been in town for less than two weeks, Wyatt was still getting the lay of the land and remained a spectator at the auction. He went to work dealing faro instead.
A Note on the Legitimacy of Faro
The fast action game of faro originated in 17th-century France. The dealer simultaneously handles bets from multiple players, creating a buzz of activity similar to modern crap or roulette table. In the West, it was common for faro dealers to operate independently in a saloon and split a percentage of the profits with the saloon owner.
Casinos in Las Vegas offered faro until the 1970s, but the house’s odds are so thin that no casino currently offers the game. Displayed inside the Las Vegas Historic museum is a faro table nicknamed the “suicide table” because three of the table’s former owners committed suicide after incurring large gambling debts.
It [faro] vanished for a simple reason. It had the most favorable odds for players of any game of chance in a casino.
Joe Briggs (The Vegas Guy)
Faro quickly earned a reputation in the West as being a rigged game, which was likely justified. Given the house’s small advantage, why was it that Wyatt Earp and many other gamblers turned to running faro games as a steady source of income? We will never know whether Wyatt continually had lady luck on his side or ran a crooked faro game — the latter is certainly possible.
Wyatt Earp’s Faro Games in San Diego
When Wyatt arrived in San Diego the town was indeed wide-open, just as Virgil described it. But the respectable citizens would soon insist on eliminating the illegal gambling operations that were taking place in many saloons. Laws against gambling were already in place, enforcement was the problem. The battle between concerned citizens, the mayor, city council, and police played out in the San Diego newspapers. As one of the men running an illegal gambling operation, Wyatt was caught in the mix.
Wyatt’s political connections kept law enforcement away from his faro games. The president of the city council was personal friends with Wyatt from his days in Tombstone and Wyatt attended horse races with the chief of police. In addition to those powerful connections, the building Wyatt used for one of his faro games was owned by a city councilman and another other of Wyatt’s faro games operated within eyesight of the police chief’s office.
Map of Wyatt Earp’s Faro Games in San Diego
*Note that the buildings on this map have been demolished and rebuilt since the late 1880s when Wyatt Earp was in San Diego.
Wyatt operated at least three faro games in what was then known as the “Stingaree” district of downtown San Diego. His illegal game at the corner of 4th and Broadway (then known as D street) was within eyesight of the Police Chief’s office.
Although the name Wyatt Earp is synonymous with law and order, he undoubtedly operated in a morally grey area for periods of time in his life. Does that make Wyatt Earp a bad person? Certainly not, it makes him a human being.
More to come on Wyatt’s years in San Diego and beyond.
Recommended Reading
Wyatt Earp in San Diego: Life After Tombstone by Garner A. Palenske
A Wyatt Earp Anthology: Long May His Story Be Told by Roy B Young, Gary L Roberts , Casey Tefertiller
