Some historians pass this off this account as the ramblings of an old man whose memory played tricks on him. The second account, though based on testimony given right after the shooting, leaves questions unanswered to this day about the erratic behavior of the two principals. An inquest was held the same day of Warren’s death by W.F. Nichols, justice of the peace and ex-officio coroner of Cochise County. Bill Whelan apparently was not called to testify, but O.W. Hayes and saloon owner Henry Brown did testify.

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Hayes testified that John Boyett and Warren Earp came into the Headquarters Saloon together about one o’clock on the morning of July 6. He soon heard Warren say: ‘You was paid $150 at one time to kill me. Go get your gun. I have got mine.’ Boyett, according to Hayes, then walked out proclaiming that he didn’t want any trouble. Warren probably thought he had seen the last of Boyett and walked into an adjoining restaurant. But soon Boyett came back into the saloon with a gun in each hand. ‘Where is the SOB?’ he yelled. When Warren came to the open door joining the restaurant and saloon. Boyett fired two shots at him but missed. Warren went out the restaurant’s front door, and Boyett walked to the center of the saloon toward that door. For some reason, Boyette fired two more shots into the floor.

Henry Brown testified that Warren then entered through a side door to the saloon. He opened his coat and vest and, advancing on the man who had just tried to kill him, said: ‘I have not got any arm. You have a good deal the best of this.’ Boyett, with guns still pointing at his adversary, kept telling him to stop. But when Warren got to within about 10 feet of his foe, the fifth shot was fired. Warren Earp fell face down, dead. M.J. Nicholson, a local physician and surgeon, testified that he had done an autopsy and that Warren was killed by a bullet that entered from the front and ranged from left to right and obliquely downward, passing through the heart. As a result of the inquest, Judge Nichols chose not to indict Boyett. Furthermore, for some reason he didn’t explain, he believed no jury would convict Boyett and a trial would therefore be a waste.

Whatever was said that day, it seems clear that Warren Earp had provoked John Boyett into a killing rage. Although Warren had said he had a gun, according to Hayes’ testimony, he most likely was unarmed, as Henry Brown testified. In any case, it seems that Warren was again trying to live up to the Earp name. He had tried to frighten Boyett into running, and when that failed, he had courageously approached Boyett in hopes of buffaloing and disarming him — something Wyatt or Virgil would have done.

Some historians believe that Virgil Earp and/or Wyatt Earp tracked down Boyett and killed him, largely because Josie Earp later recalled that her husband and Virgil went to Willcox after Warren’s death. More likely, though, Wyatt Earp was in Nome, Alaska, when he got news about Warren, and he remained there that whole summer.

Today Warren Earp lies in an abandoned cemetery on a hill near Willcox, his grave overgrown with weeds. His resting place is noted only by a wooden plaque marked with a cross, his name and the day he died. A Warren Earp Memorial was unveiled and dedicated on Saturday, July 8, 2000, in Wilcox, Ariz., as part of ‘The Warren Earp Shooting, 100 Years Later,’ an event that also included a guided walking tour of related locations, a re-enactment of the shooting and a book signing involving several Earp researchers.

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