This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi-asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto, and now generated assets, which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt.
From renewable energy companies with high-free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one-of-a-kind index, and lets you backtest it against the SP 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like EFTs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com/slash podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio.
That's public.com/slash podcast. Paid for by Public Investing, Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc., member F-I-N-R-A-S-IPC. Advisory Services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC Registered Advisor. Generated assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not investment recommendation or advice.
Complete disclosures available at public.com/slash disclosures. Hey, this is U.S. Olympic gold medalist Tara Davis Woodhall. And I'm U.S. Paralympic gold medalist Hunter Woodhall.
As athletes, our lives are about having a clear path and a team that you can absolutely trust.
So when it came to getting the best mortgage, we chose PennyMac. PennyMac is proud to be the official mortgage provider of Team USA and you. Learn more at pennymac.com. PennyMac Loan Services LLC, Equal Housing Lender, NMLS ID 35953. Licensed by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act.
Conditions and restrictions may apply. Want to buy your way? Of course you do. That's why CarMax offers an experience designed just for you. Want to start online, then visit the lot, then go back online?
Sure. Want to talk to a real person or chat online? Either works. Want to take your time and compare all the makes and models? No problem.
Then make up some time by filling out the paperwork at home and schedule express pickup or home delivery? Done. When it comes to how you buy, CarMax puts you in the driver's seat. Want to drive? CarMax.
Delivery restrictions apply. See CarMax.com for details. Wasn't that delicious?
So good. Your bill, ladies. I got it. No, I got it. Seriously, I insist.
I insisted first. Oh, don't be silly. You know me. Don't be silly. People with the Wells Fargo Active Cash Credit Card prefer to pay because they earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases.
Okay. Rock, paper, scissors for it. Rock, paper, scissors. Shoot! No!
The Wells Fargo Active Cash Credit Card. Visit wellsfargo.com/slash activecash. Terms apply. This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star. and the American people.
For nearly 50 years, Josephine Earp Was married to the most famous lawman of the Old West, Wyater. Here to tell her story is Anne Kirshner, author of Lady at the O.K. Corral. The True Story of Josephine Marcus Earp. Let's take a listen.
Uh In the 1950s, Wyatt Earp was everywhere on television. Every single American network had a Wyatt Earp or Tombstone-themed show on. White Earp, Bet Masterson, Gunsmoke. And so when we were watching television and watching Wyatt Earp, we certainly never thought about White Earp having a Jewish wife. And we thought we knew something about the gunfight.
What we didn't know was that there was this. Gutsy, busty broad, who had a lover on both sides of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. And we thought we knew something about Wyatt Earp himself. He was the one with the white hat, right?
But what we didn't know was that the Wyatt Earp that we knew was in large part a story of Josephine Earp's making. She had the extraordinary sense of celebrity that in some ways shaped the legend of Wyatt Earp into what she would call a nice clean story.
So let me take you back to Josephine's beginnings. And in later life, Josephine would always say that she was the daughter of a. wealthy German Merchant. Not true. In fact, most of what Josephine Marcus told us about herself was not true.
So the the Marcus family came from the Posen region around 1850, and they came first to New York. Josephine was born in 1860, and the family was struggling. He was a baker, her father, and They were reading in the many Jewish newspapers in New York at the time about the wonders of San Francisco, and you could make your fortune in San Francisco. And they really were not making their fortune in New York, so they decided to emigrate again. And off they go to San Francisco via the Isthmus of Panama.
But the San Francisco that they arrived in was A highly stratified Jewish community. The most successful San Franciscan Jews were German Jews. And then there were the other Jews. And the Polish Jews, and that would be Josephine's family, they were definitely on the wrong side of the tracks. And this prejudice goes back to those early days of the German Empire when it was the German Jews who were better educated, more affluent, more secular.
The Polish Jews spoke Yiddish rather than German. They tended to be peddlers and much more religious than the German Jews. And that was the stratification that existed in San Francisco as well. And so Josephine found herself once again in a community that was highly stratified and there was nothing second class about Josephine. She was an extremely pretty, active, outgoing young woman and she felt she had the world to conquer.
The spark for what would change Josephine's life came from an unexpected source, and that was the HMS Pinafer craze, which swept America in this time. Every town had a Pinafore troop. And the Arizona Territory, which was just out there to the east of California, had several touring companies. And they were so desperate for performers that they would go into the amateur dancing academies and attract young singers and dancers to join the troupe.
So Josephine gets recruited to go to the Arizona Territory. And this strikes her as a terrific idea. She's going to run away from home. She's going to become an actress. Josephine had a bit part.
So she was just part of a dancer in the chorus.
So she would not have had a shout-out. And she was also using an assumed name because she was afraid that her parents would find her and drag her back by the hair, which is in fact actually what happened the first time.
So Josephine goes off to what is not yet the state of Arizona, but the territory. When Josephine first came to Tombstone, she came as the common-law wife of Johnny Behan. She had chosen very badly. Johnny was a dirty dog. He was a womanizer.
And she soon left him. And in the intervening months, she met Wyatt Earp. who had a wife. he left his wife, and he and Josephine had an affair. The gunfight, one part was allied with Johnny Behan, and one part was allied with Wyatt Earp.
But the feud that had been ignited just before the gunfight really never ended, and Wyatt had work to do, and so Josephine left Tombstone. She left she had already left Johnny Behan, now she left Wyatt as well, went back home to wait for Wyatt. While Wyatt took his wife, put her on a train, and sent his common-law wife, Maddie Blaylock, back to his mother and father. I think that was probably the most cowardly act Wyatt Earp ever did, was to send poor Matty Blaylock back to his mother to wait for Wyatt. But he did, and it took quite a while before she she figured out that he was not coming to to get her.
Their adventures from there on in, Wyatt Earp picks up Josephine in 1882, and for the next forty seven years they are together. They had adventures in every boomtown that you've heard of and probably quite a few boomtowns that you haven't heard of. When they got together, Josephine and Wyatt, in 1882, they didn't have any money and for the next 47 years, that's really what they did was make money, lose money, make money, lose money. They never seemed to care about money for the sake of it, but it was adventure that drove them. Josephine Her love of adventure, which I think is what first led to that running away to the Pinafore troop, really never left her.
And you've been listening to Ann Kirshner, author of Lady at the OK Corral. And we know so much about why it through myth, through legend, and through. American Westerns, but so little. I knew nothing about his wife. and did not know she was Jewish.
And the family emigrated from Europe to New York City, then to San Francisco. And from 1882 on, after meeting Wyatt Earp, Adventure All over the frontier is what her pursuit was. with her husband. They never cared about money for the sake of it. It was adventure this couple sought, and it is adventure they found.
When we come back, more of the story. of Weirdarp's wife, Josephine. Here. on Our American Stories. Here at Our American Stories, we bring you inspiring stories of history, sports, business, faith, and love.
Stories from a great and beautiful country that need to be told. We can't do it without you. Our stories are free to listen to, but they're not free to make. If you love our stories in America like we do, please go to ouramericanstories.com and click the donate button. Give a little.
Give a lot. Help us keep the great American stories coming. That's ouramericanstories.com. Want to buy your way? Of course you do.
That's why CarMax offers an experience designed just for you. Want to start online, then visit the lot, then go back online? Sure. Want to talk to a real person or chat online? Either works.
Want to take your time and compare all the makes and models? No problem. Then make up some time by filling out the paperwork at home and schedule express pickup or home delivery? Done. When it comes to how you buy, CarMax puts you in the driver's seat.
Want to drive? CarMax. Delivery restrictions apply. See CarMax.com for details. Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously.
On Public, you can build a multi-asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto, and now generated assets, which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high-free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one-of-a-kind index, and lets you back. Tested against the SP 500.
Then, you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like EFTs with infinite possibilities. Completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com/slash podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com slash podcast.
Paid for by Public Investing. Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc., member F-I-R-A-S-I-P-C. Advisory Services by Public Advisors LLC. SEC Registered Advisor. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool.
Output is for informational purposes only and is not investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com slash disclosures. Hey, this is U.S. Olympic gold medalist Tara Davis Woodhall. And I'm U.S.
Paralympic gold medalist Hunter Woodhall. As athletes, our lives are about having a clear path. And a team that you can absolutely trust.
So when it came to getting the best mortgage, we chose PennyMac. PennyMac is proud to be the official mortgage provider of Team USA and you. Learn more at PennyMac.com. PennyMac Loan Services, LLC, Equal Housing Lender, NMLS ID 35953, licensed by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act. Conditions and restrictions may apply.
Mm-hmm. This is Vali Devlukia from A Really Good Cry. I absolutely love being outdoors, even if it's just stepping outside for a bit of fresh air between meals or taking a mindful walk to clear my head. But the one thing that can really ruin that is when my feet feel cramped in my shoes.
So I switched to ultra running and honestly, it made such a difference. What I love most is their signature ultra fit comfort balance strength. They have this roomy toe box that lets my toes actually spread and move naturally. And I personally have some wide feet, so I really appreciate that. I feel more grounded and balanced with every single step.
It's like my feet can finally do their job. Using all those little muscles that make me feel stronger the more I move. Whether you're a marathon runner, beginner, or advanced, or just getting outside to train, ultras have become my go-to for running and moving mindfully. They fit so well, they're so comfortable, and they just move with you. Shop now at ultrarunning.com.
That's A-L-T-R-A running.com. Experience Ultra and stay out there. And we continue with our American stories and the story. of Josephine Earp. as told by Ann Kirshner.
Let's pick up where we last left off. And that title, Lady at the OK Corral. Is in part ironic because Josephine did have those two sides to her. Part of her wanted to be gung-ho for adventure, always, and the other part of her wanted to be a respectable lady like her sister, her younger sister, who became a very successful businesswoman and society lady in San Francisco.
So they roamed around and as they aged they spent most of their time in a circle between Los Angeles, the desert between Arizona and California, and San Francisco, Oakland, where Josephine's family lived. And she was very close to that one sister in particular. Um In 1929, the era of Tombstone and the O.K. Corral, which had already been famous throughout their lifetime, got a new shot in the arm. First of all, by the town of Tombstone itself, which launched what it called Hildorado Days, but much more importantly and lastingly, by the creation of Hollywood and the first films, so many of which had cowboys, Indians, Western themes.
And two of the most popular stars were William S. Hart and Tom Mix, who became very, very close to Wyatt and Josephine.
So the story of Tombstone and the O.K. Corral was being told, but Josephine didn't like how it was being told. You know, first of all, she was nervous that somebody would find out about her as Mrs. Behan or the sad story of Maddie Blaylock. But more importantly, she wanted the image of Wyatt to be heroic and scrubbed clean like a Sunday school teacher, as somebody said later on.
What made her so nervous about Maddie was not simply that Wyatt had had a common-law wife before. But after Maddie figured out that Wyatt was not coming back for her. She didn't have too many options. You know, women at that time, particularly women who were not at all educated, it wasn't as if she could go and get a job someplace. She became a drug addict.
She was a prostitute. And she committed suicide, and on the day before she died, she was cursing White Earp as the man who who'd done her wrong.
So this was the story that Josephine was most terrified about. When an enterprising writer named Stuart Lake approached the Earps to tell the story the way Wyatt and Josephine wanted it told, they thought that was a really dandy idea. And Wyatt began to sit for interviews with Stuart Lake, Josephine there almost all the time, making sure that she caught every word. And so it was Stuart Lake who published the first biography of Wyatt Earp, and it was an immediate bestseller. America, particularly in the era of the Depression, was ready for a hero.
Mm. To the end of his days, Wyatt was this. good-looking aristocratic guy, while um Josephine well Ladies, that's not really fair, but she didn't quite keep her looks the way Wyatt did. And when Wyatt died, In 1929, it was a national news story, and the newspapers seized on it as the passing of the old west. Josephine didn't even attend the funeral.
She was too distraught. And it took years before she was seen again in the public eye. But one of the things that really brought her out of hiding and into a new era of her life was a letter from Lincoln Ellsworth, the Arctic explorer. Who had read Stuart Lake's book? thought that Wyatt Earp was the epitome of American individualism and heroism and decided that he would name his boat the Wyatt Earp when he went back to the South Pole.
And he wrote to Josephine, and Josephine, with that modern sense of celebrity that I think is very special to her, immediately realized this was a really great thing. In our parlance, this would be like naming the moon landing, you know, the shuttle or something after White Earth.
So she sends Lincoln Ellsworth Wyatt's last eyeglasses and one of his shotguns, and Lincoln Ellsworth creates a little shrine on the boat. Yeah. And it's hard to imagine today, but Lincoln Ellsworth's name and the White Earp, the name of his ship, was in the New York Times every month for about six years. And when Lincoln Ellsworth was lost at sea, it was a front-page story. And when he was recovered, it continued to be a front-page story.
Story.
So, this was as great a polishing up of White Earp's reputation as you could possibly have.
So perhaps the good feeling about Lincoln Ellsworth was what emboldened Josephine to think: nah, now it's time to tell my story. And she met some distant cousins of Wyatt's, two women, Venolia Earp Ackerman and Mabel Earp Kaysen. And began to talk to them about writing her memoirs. And they worked together on it for several years, and during these years, Josephine lived mostly with Their family. And they even went back to Tombstone.
So imagine it's her first trip back. Since 1882. You know, we think America has changed in the last, you know, 10 or 20 years, but the era that Josephine lived through with Wyatt was a time of unbelievable change for America. You know, going from stagecoaches and horses to planes, trains, and automobiles, going from an era when a man like Wyatt could make his money as a saloon keeper and a gambler.
Now you're in an era of prohibition, and gambling is illegal.
So the changes in America were unbelievably powerful. But the closer that Venolia and Mabel came to the real story of Tombstone, and they were fine writers and researchers, the more nervous Josephine became that even now, and now it's in the late 1930s, even now she hears those hoofbeats from Tombstone coming closer. And what if they out her as Mrs. Behan, or what if they tell the terror? Of the demise of Maddie Blaylock.
So she loses her nerve. And she forces them to stop writing the memoir. She has them burn the manuscript. She watches them burn the manuscript. She puts a hex on anybody who will tell her story.
And as far as she's concerned, that's the end. You know, her story will never be told. They didn't burn all the copies.
So, one of the copies is in the Ford County Historical Society in Dodge City, and it was my great pleasure to spend three days in Dodge City reading that manuscript. She takes to stalking John Flood, who had been her very close friend and Wyatt's, and he writes all of this down.
So, this is his writing on the back of an old calendar. She comes to his house, she tries to put her hand through the screen door. I'll get back at you good and hard. That's what Mrs. Earp wrote to him.
But when she eventually dies, which is in 1944, it is not a national news story. It's a tiny little piece in the Los Angeles Times that the widow of Wyatt has passed on. Nobody attended her funeral. She died penniless. Sid Grauman of Grauman's Theater and William S.
Hart paid for her funeral. And interestingly, it was officiated over by a rabbi. Josephine's relationship to Judaism was very tenuous. She wasn't ashamed of it, but she also wasn't very engaged with Judaism in any way. And yet, at that darkest moment of her life, when Wyatt dies, She decides that she will bury him in the family plot in a Jewish cemetery in Colma, California.
And then when she dies, she is buried right next to him. And there they are. It's the most visited grave in Colma.
So, when it comes to American stories, you don't get much more American than the story of the Frontier West. and Tombstone and the OK Corral.
So I think the great joy for me was putting this woman back in the picture. And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Greg Hengler. A special thanks to the Library of Congress. where so many researchers, historians, and ordinary Americans go to learn more about their own country. And also a special thanks to Ann Kirshner, author of Lady at the O.K.
Corral, The True Story of Josephine Marcus Earp. And my goodness, what she and her husband did together was, in a sense, create the American West. at least the mythology of it. And what we love doing on this show is separating mythology from reality. We do it every day.
There's a great line, all fiction is autobiography, and all autobiography is fiction. And we try and do the best we can to make the people we all know and love become real life human beings because they were with flaws and imperfections just like this great country. The story of Josephine Erpier. on our American stories. At CVS, it matters that we're not just in your community, but that we're part of it.
It matters that we're here for you when you need us, day or night. And we want everyone to feel welcomed and rewarded. It matters that CVS is here to fill your prescriptions and here to fill your craving for a tasty and yeah, healthy snack. At CVS, we're proud to serve your community because we believe where you get your medicine matters.
So visit us at cvs.com or just come by our store. We can't wait to meet you. Store hours vary by location. Uh This is Radhi Devlukia from A Really Good Cry. I absolutely love being outdoors, even if it's just stepping outside for a bit of fresh air between meals or taking a mindful walk to clear my head.
But the one thing that can really ruin that is when my feet feel cramped in my shoes.
So I switched to ultra running, and honestly, it made such a difference. What I love most is their signature ultra fit comfort balance strength. They have this roomy toe box that lets my toes actually spread and move naturally. And I personally have some wide feet, so I really appreciate that. I feel more grounded and balanced with every single step.
It's like my feet can finally do their job. Using all those little muscles that make me feel stronger the more I move. Whether you're a marathon runner, beginner, or advanced, or just getting outside to train, ultras have become my go-to for running and moving mindfully. They fit so well, they're so comfortable, and they just move with you. Shop now at ultrarunning.com.
That's A-L-T-R-A running.com. Experience Ultra and stay out there. Well, the holidays have come and gone once again. But if you've forgotten to get that special someone in your life a gift, well, Mint Mobile is extending their holiday offer of half off unlimited wireless.
So here's the idea: you get it now. You call it an early present for next year. What do you have to lose? Give it a try at mintmobile.com/slash switch. Limited time, 50% off regular price for new customers, up from payment required: $45 for three months, $90 for six months, or $180 for a 12-month plan.
Taxes and fees extra. Speeds may slow after 50 gigabytes per month when network is busy. See terms. Running my small business was like playing basketball five-on-one, and I was the one.
Now, QuickBooks gives me access to a team of AI agents and trusted experts for the assists I need. Nothing but now. Outdo It with Intuit QuickBooks. Feature availability varies by product. This is an iHeart podcast.
Guaranteed human. Mm-hmm.
