So the question is: Did Wyatt Earp need pallbearers at his funeral in 1929? After all, his remains were cremated. It wouldn’t take six men to carry the box of his ashes.
The answer is found in a Los Angeles Times article covering Earp’s funeral in January of that year. It mentions that attendees walked by the bier at the front of the funeral home—and that the casket lay upon it. It was only later that the remains were cremated and interred in a Colma, CA cemetery. The pallbearers did carry the casket.
There was a real-life Grizzly Adams (but very different from the 1970s TV character). John…
One day during Tombstone’s boom times, a Gypsy came strolling into town with a bear…
Mountain man Jedediah Smith leads an exploration party of fur trappers in search of wealth…
Mark Boardman is the features editor for True West Magazine as well as the editor of The Tombstone Epitaph. He also serves as pastor for Poplar Grove United Methodist Church in Indiana.