JOSEPHINE "JOSIE" EARP - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED

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JOSEPHINE "JOSIE" EARP - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED:
$2300.00

Josephine “Josie” Earp Letter Concerning Wyatt Earp’s Biography, 1927

Josephine Marcus Earp (1861–1944), companion of legendary Old West lawman Wyatt Earp, writes to John H. Flood Jr. from Vidal, California, on March 15, 1927, discussing Flood’s efforts to prepare a biography of Wyatt Earp.

Josie opens the letter warmly, explaining that Wyatt—whom she refers to familiarly as “Mr. E.”—is away at a mining camp performing assessment work while she remains at Vidal with her two nieces. After commenting on the weather and activity around Vidal, she turns to what she calls “our little affair,” an apparent reference to the ongoing Earp biography project.

The letter provides a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes as Josie, Wyatt, Flood, and others considered how Wyatt’s life story should be presented. Josie discusses proposed alterations, urges Flood to confer with “Bill,” and repeatedly cautions against proceeding until everyone involved has had an opportunity to discuss the matter. Her comments reveal how closely she was involved in the project and how carefully the Earps considered what should—and should not—be incorporated into Wyatt’s biography.

Of particular interest, Josie tells Flood that she is forwarding material to him and instructs him to keep it secure until they can meet in Los Angeles. She expresses concern about others seeing the documents and asks that they be sealed and preserved. On the final page she explains that she is also enclosing a letter written to Flood several days earlier, adding that she wants him to have “an awful hard time to read this.” She instructs Flood that when the letters are returned, he should “put them in same lot I am sending, seal tight and send by Express.” These passages provide an unusually intimate picture of the exchange of correspondence and source material surrounding the proposed Earp biography.

Written nearly two years before Wyatt Earp’s death on January 13, 1929, the letter is particularly significant because the biography was being developed while Wyatt himself was still alive and able to participate in the telling of his story. Josie’s words demonstrate that preserving—and to some extent controlling—the historical record of Wyatt Earp was already a concern of the couple during his lifetime, rather than an effort undertaken solely by Josie after his death.

John H. Flood Jr., a trusted friend of the Earps, eventually completed a lengthy biography based substantially upon Wyatt’s own recollections and information supplied by those close to him. Although Flood's manuscript failed to secure a publisher, it survives as an important early account of Wyatt Earp, made especially valuable by Flood’s direct access to Earp during the final years of his life.

Vidal, California, from which Josie wrote this letter, was the Earps’ base during Wyatt’s later years of mining and prospecting in the California desert. With its references to Wyatt’s mining activities, Flood’s manuscript, proposed revisions, and the careful exchange of private correspondence, this four-page letter offers a remarkable firsthand glimpse into Wyatt and Josie Earp’s efforts to shape the written record of one of the most celebrated—and controversial—figures of the American West.

Here is my best full transcription of all four pages, preserving Josie Earp’s wording, spelling, punctuation, and informal style as closely as the handwriting allows. I’ve marked uncertain readings in brackets rather than silently guessing.

Page 1

Vidal March 15/27

Dear Mr Flood:

Very glad to get
your nice letter. All chipping, I
was just thinking what had happened
to you. Well, Mr E. is at camp doing
some assessment work, so I am here
with my two nieces. Weather windy
not very nice for the last two weeks.
Lots of surveyors here for the
L.A. Water. Think a boom just now.
I have never seen so many people
here at one time before. Brown wells
are very busy. Well, now about our
little affair. Will you please call
up [illegible] Bill. Yes I think
it is better to write to him. Tell him
that I think what I mean by all
of us think it just the right thing
to do, to modify it, hack until we
can get together and talk it
over. I am wondering in all letters
found the first one Bill wrote all—

Transcription note: The final sentence carries directly onto page 2.

Page 2Main text

thing. I saw by a paper some time
ago, the [Tucker?], that Billy the Kid
was going to be put on the screen
and blame [until?] the story. Lucky,
but not for us. I have that to [will?]
find it. I have everything put away.
I will be glad if you should come
to visit us. But I know how very
busy you are. We will be in L.A.
the later part of May and hope
if we can make it. My nieces are
doing fine. I am enclosing your
envelope. It looks so funny to
me. I am sending this letter by
Express and I wish you would
do likewise and seal it good,
just the same. Now don't forget.

Please attend to that at once—
tell him you will get in touch
with us, to write to you and
you will let us know. I am
anxious as we will have to do
something about it and not send
it away again until we know what
he thinks is. Did it is safe
with Bill I know you will get
in touch with him soon. And—

Left margin

The writing begins near the bottom and runs vertically upward. My best reading is:

Darling, I will be so very sorry. I am sending this
[illegible] to my [illegible] and [illegible].

There are several words here that I would not consider reliably deciphered from this image alone.

Right margin

The right-hand marginal passage appears to begin:

[illegible] and [illegible]
when we come [illegible]
[illegible].

Again, I would classify most of this margin as uncertain rather than supply guessed wording.

Page 3Main text

The sentence from page 2 continues:

I know you will have a good laugh at this
I will—and tell you to put them
away for safe keeping but luckily
I have found them and am sending
them to you and please keep them
until we come to L.A. Seal them
in an envelope, stamp them, and you
will know then that they are safe.
I don't care to have anyone see them.
I am so sorry, can't understand
what the trouble is. We have had
a long letter from Burns. He wants
to [go?] Oakland address. Wants to know
several things, wants [her?] life,
and is going to give Mr E. a great
write up. I will save the letter
for you. Don't care to leave it out
of my hands in case it will get
lost. Now please do as I ask
you. Write Bill a letter. Tell him just
what we thought would be good.
The same as he said. Any
one crazy to get to write his life
and yet can't do anything with
it. Tell him so many people
have been after him to write the—

Left margin

There is a substantial marginal addition running vertically. My best partial reading is:

Darling [?] will be [illegible]
[illegible] when I [illegible]
[illegible]...

I don't believe the scan permits a sufficiently confident word-for-word reading of this portion without rotating and enlarging the original.

Right margin

The right margin appears to continue the discussion:

[illegible]
[illegible] what [illegible]
[illegible] Mr E. [illegible].

The final portion seems to lead back toward the main text concerning people wanting to write Wyatt's life, but I would not merge it into the body without greater certainty.

Page 4

Just had this letter finished to send
to you. Hope you will be able to make it out
and as you can see I am also enclosing
you a letter written to you several days ago.

I know you are going to have an awful
hard time to read this. If you return letters
put them in same lot I am sending, seal tight
and send by Express.

E -

END OF LETTER

Important observations

A few readings in my earlier transcription should not yet be treated as definitive. Josie's handwriting becomes particularly difficult when she writes rapidly, crosses words, or squeezes additional material into the margins. Rather than turn plausible guesses into historical “facts,” I would keep those words bracketed until they can be established.

The passages I consider especially significant and comparatively clear are “Mr E. is at camp doing some assessment work,” “our little affair,” “please keep them until we come to L.A.,” “I don't care to have anyone see them,” “Write Bill a letter,” “so many people have been after him to write [his life],” and the final instruction to “seal tight and send by Express.”

Taken together, those passages make this a very interesting piece of Earp correspondence: Josie is not merely writing socially to Flood. She is discussing Wyatt, the effort to write his life story, other people interested in writing about him, and private papers that she is entrusting to Flood with explicit instructions that they be kept secure and returned by express.

A four-page autograph letter signed/initialed by Josephine Earp to John H. Flood Jr., Vidal, California, March 15, 1927, concerning Wyatt Earp, biographical efforts surrounding his life, and the confidential transmission of Earp-related correspondence and papers.