] Silver was discovered in 1877, and by 1881 the town had a population of over 10,000. Western story tellers and film makers made as much money in Tombstone as anyone, thanks to the arrival of Wyatt Earp and his brothers in 1879. [ 186 ] They bought shares in the Vizina mine, water rights, and gambling concessions, but Virgil, Morgan and Wyatt were soon appointed as federal and local marshals. They killed three outlaws in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral , the most famous gunfight of the Old West. In the aftermath, Virgil Earp was maimed in an ambush and Morgan Earp was assassinated while playing billiards. Wyatt and others, including his brother Warren Earp , pursued those they believed responsible in a vendetta and warrants were issued for their arrest in the murder of Frank Stilwell . Wyatt later pursued various business interests in Colorado, Idaho, California, Arizona, and Alaska. Walter Noble Burns's novel Tombstone (1927) made Earp famous. Hollywood celebrated Earp's Tombstone days with John Ford's My Darling Clementine (1946), John Sturges's Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) and Hour of the Gun (1967), Frank Perry's Doc (1971), George Cosmatos's Tombstone (1993), and Lawrence Kasdan's Wyatt Earp (1994). They solidified Earp's modern reputation as the Old West's deadliest gunman. [ 187 ] Members of the Dalton Gang following the Battle of Coffeyville in 1892. Banditry was a major issue in California after 1849, as thousands of young men detached from family or community moved into a