Featured in this lot is this collection of ephemera and articles about Wyatt Earp's first cousin George Washington Earp with signed letter dated circa 1958 two years before he died at the age of 96 in 1960; Provenance: From the Tombstone Western Heritage Museum in Tombstone, Arizona. The collection of ephemera shows a typed letter with George Washington Earp's signature at the bottom right hand corner, concerning a conversation about surveying in Western Kansas locating homesteaders on Federal Homesteading land. The letter comes complete with its original envelope written for Mr. and Mrs. Ovid R. Martin dated 1958. There is a newspaper clipping with an article from the Joplin Globe about George Washington Earp's 94th birthday two years before his death. In this collection includes a Reader's Digest of the 37th year with a tabbed article transcribed with a few stories of George Earp's recollection of his cousin Wyatt Earp and his time in Dodge City before Wyatt moved on to Tombstone, Arizona Territory. George Washington Earp was a first cousin to Wyatt Earp and also served as a lawman in Kansas. George was born in Montgomery County, Missouri, on December 13, 1864. At the age of 18, having a burning ambition to be a cowboy, he went to Dodge City, Kansas, just about the time Wyatt was ready to head southwest to Tombstone, Arizona. Wyatt, however, wouldn’t help him in Dodge City, determining that the town was too tough for him. He sent him to the more “civilized” Garden City, where George got his wish and worked as a cowboy. In June 1883, George married Anna Maxwell in Marion County, Kansas. The couple would eventually have three children. He then went to work for the Garden City government land office. The Ulysses Townsite Company was organized in Garden City and George was made company manager. By the spring of 1885, George was surveying the townsite of Old Ulysses in Grant County, Kansas. He soon became one of the town’s first promoters, and the same year, at 21, he became the first postmaster. Earp and other early settlers built the first structure — a hotel. At 23, he was elected mayor and constable and, according to legend, was just as “free with his gun” as Wyatt and his bunch. After Grant County was established in 1887, Ulysses was embroiled in a fierce county seat battle with nearby Tilden (later called Appomattox.) Though Ulysses was named the temporary county seat, an official election was held on October 16, 1888, to determine the permanent location. Like many others at the time, the county seat fight was corrupt and vicious. George would later say that the Ulysses Town Company imported several noted gunmen “to protect the security of the ballot” at the elections. Among them were Bat Masterson, Luke Short, Ed Dlathe, Jim Drury, Bill Wells, Ed Short, and others. In 1893, Earp was appointed as a U.S. Deputy Marshal in Wichita and later worked for the United States Revenue Service field office. In 1933, he moved to Joplin, Missouri, where he worked as an income tax consultant. He didn’t retire until the age of 91. A few years later, he suffered a stroke and died on December 21, 1960, at the age of 96. Earp was buried at the Maple Grove Cemetery in Wichita. He was the last of the line of the “Fighting Earps.” The condition of this ephemera and article collection is well preserved with no obvious signs of damage and shows some slight discoloration nd browning to the letter and article consistent with age but otherwise shows a well preserved condition. The measurements of this collection ranges from 11" x 8 1/2" to 4 1/8" x 9 1/2". The collective weight of this collection is 8oz. D226, D227