Daniel Gordon Tipton (1844 - 1898)

Born 1844 in New York, United States

Died 28 Feb 1898 at about age 54 in Ohio, United States

Biography

Daniel died in 1898 and was buried in Ohio, United States.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ Burial: Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14817267/daniel-gordon-tipton: accessed 24 July 2022), memorial page for SMN Daniel Gordon Tipton (1844–25 Feb 1898), Find a Grave Memorial ID 14817267, citing Green Lawn Cemetery, Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio, USA; Maintained by Dave M (contributor 46499754).

Death

Cause: Bright's Disease

Date: 28 FEB 1898

Place: Ohio Penitentiary

Note: DAN TIPTON'S GRAVE MARKED

By Peter Brand, Jean Smith, and Mark Dworkin

Old West figure Dan Tipton, after more than a century, has had a grave marker placed over his final resting place. Tipton is notable in outlaw-lawman history for his association with Wyatt Earp's vendetta ride.

Australian researcher and WOLA Journal contributor Peter Brand discovered the location of Tipton's burial while researching his seminal article, "Daniel G. Tipton and the Earp Vendetta Posse" that appeared in the Oct-Dec 2000 NOLA Journal (Volume 24, No. 4). Tipton was active during many of the famous events in Tombstone in the early 1880s. It was during that time that he was present when Morgan Earp was murdered in Campbell and Hatch's Saloon. And it was Tipton who was entrusted with the task of delivering money and information to the Earp posse at Henry Hooker's Sierra Bonita Ranch. Later he relocated to El Paso.

Brand found Tipton had been arrested in June of 1897, charged with smuggling and with conspiracy to issue certificates to Chinese laborers in violation of the Chinese Exclusion Acts. Arrested as he crossed back into the U. S. at the El Paso border, he was held in prison due to an inability to post bail. In October 1897, Tipton was found guilty and sentenced to one year and eight months in the Ohio Penitentiary, which he entered at the end of that month. None too hale looking in the prison mug shots, described at the time of his admission as having "intemperate" habits, Tipton died of Bright's Disease four months later, on February 28, 1898. He had listed no family upon his entrance to the prison, and was buried in the unmarked grave.

Researcher and WOLA member Jean Smith of Safford, Arizona, who works with Peter Brand, found Tipton had served aboard the USS Malvern, a former Confederate blockade runner captured and refitted for the Union. Ontario researcher and WOLA member Mark Dworkin located Tipton's unmarked grave, and a conversation with journal editor Roy Young led to an effort to get the Veteran's Administration to supply a grave marker. The marker was supplied in late 2005. On July 1st of this year, Jean Smith, accompanied by her husband and co-researcher Chuck Smith, and Mark Dworkin (speaking for Peter Brand, who could not be there) addressed a group of historical preservationists at Columbus, Ohio's historic Green Lawn Cemetery about the life of Dan Tipton and his association with the famous Wyatt Earp. The Columbus Dispatch reported on this event.

Thanks to Mark Dworkin for writing and submitting this article to the Fall 2006 edition of the WOLA (Western Outlaw-Lawman History Association) Saddle Bag Newsletter.

Note

Note: Daniel G. Tipton

(1844 - 1898)

By

Peter Brand

© 2006

Dan Tipton is arguably the least known of Wyatt Earp's Vendetta riders. With no known surviving family members, researching Tipton's life has presented plenty of challenges for Jean Smith and myself. Despite the difficulties, our persistence was rewarded in 2000 when I was able to locate the only known photos of Tipton. These were published for the first time in an article written for the National Outlaw Lawman Association, titled Daniel G. Tipton and the Earp Vendetta Posse: © 2000. The following introduction is extracted from that article-

In late March 1882, Wyatt Earp and his federal posse had arrived at Henry Clay Hooker's Sierra Bonita Ranch. Earp and his men had travelled to Graham County seeking shelter and a safe haven to rest their horses, before resuming their infamous "Vendetta" ride. Here, they also waited for news and funds to be delivered from their friends in Tombstone.

The man trusted to deliver the much needed money and information was a tough miner named Daniel Tipton. His shadowy role and reputation led the Epitaph to speculate wildly regarding his character and ultimate fate. The truth however, regarding his past and his unfortunate death, is more compelling, and provides insight concerning the many and varied types of men who made Tombstone their home.

Daniel Gordon Tipton claimed to have been born in 1844, in New York state. He also stated that he had served as a Union seaman, aboard the USS Malvern towards the end of the Civil War. The 1890 Veteran's Census for El Paso states that he enlisted July 15, 1864 and was discharged April 15, 1865.

Details of his movements and life during the period 1865 to 1881 are also hard to come by. Like a lot of veterans, he appears to have headed west after the war to seek a new life. Tipton eventually found himself in the middle of the Cochise County War in Arizona, allied with Wyatt Earp and his brothers.

During his Tombstone days, Dan Tipton was a friend and an associate of the town's "law and order" faction, which included among others, the Earps, Robert Hatch and George Parsons. He may also have been friendly with fellow Earp supporter and business partner Lou Rickabaugh, as the two men appear together again in El Paso after the Earp-Clanton feud.

For a complete copy of the above article Tipton article, please see -

Daniel G. Tipton and the Earp Vendetta Posse

By Peter Brand © 2000

Quarterly of the National Association for Outlaw and Lawman History: Vol. XXIV No.4 (October - December 2000).

Information about Tipton is also contained in the following magazine-

True West, December 2001, Doc Holliday Collector's Edition

Friends and Enemies: Dan Tipton and Johnny Tyler, page 54.

Dan Tipton and the Earp Vendetta Posse by Peter Brand.

Doc's Nemesis: Johnny Tyler by Roger Jay.

For a good discussion of Lou Rickabaugh and his gambling interests in Tombstone see -

The Gambler's War in Tombstone: Fact or Artifact?

By Roger Jay

Western Outlaw Lawman History Association Journal, Vol. XIV, No.1 Spring 2005.

Acknowledgment

This person was created through the import of 229-Davies.ged on 19 October 2010.