Wyatt Earps Embarrassing Moment
It was a moment Wyatt Earp wanted to forget. He was lounging in a Wichita saloon on January 9, 1876. His pistol slipped out of the holster, hit the floor and went off. Nobody was hurt, but Earp—on the police force was a bit embarrassed. It made the papers that week.
Earp later confirmed the incident to his biographer Stuart Lake—but asked the writer to keep it out of print. Lake complied. Instead, he quoted Earp as saying professionals would never

True West March/April 2025
In This Issue:
Western Books & Movies
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- Truth Be Known
- What Has Taught Me: Deb Goodrich
- Earp, Cowboy Songs & Prairie Hygiene
- Trails of the Old West
- The Frontier Characters of South Dakota
- The Bowie Knife
- The Kindled Flame 1835
- King of the Scatterguns
- Selling the Mythic West and the Real West
- A Gut Punch Turns into a Miracle Reprieve
- The Beginnings of the Bird Cage
- Frontier Colossus