Celia Ann Mattie Blaylock Commits Suicide July 3, 1888

On July 3, 1888 Mattie Blaylock Wyatt Earp’s second wife dies for a lethal dose of laudanum. The coroner ruled it a suicide. Working as a prostitute in Dodge City she became the common-law wife of Wyatt Earp. She traveled with Wyatt to Tombstone and would remain there until the murder of Morgan Earp and the assassination attempt on Vergil Earp by the Cowboys. Wyatt Earp would send the remaining family to Colton California where his parents lived for their safety. Once the family was put on the train, Wyatt Earp went on the famous Vendetta Ride to hunt down the killers of his younger brother Morgan. After the Vendetta Ride, Wyatt would not return to Mattie. He would go on to continue a relationship with Josephine “Sadie” Marcus who would become Wyatt’s third wife. Mattie left Colton for Pinal City, Arizona territory where she work as a prostitute again until she died.