More interesting trivia/history for you from Arkansas. Everybody knows Wyatt Earp, the famous lawman associated with Dodge City, Tombstone and the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. But how many people know that years before he became a legend of the Old West, he was arrested for horse theft and brought to Van Buren, Arkansas? In March 1871, 23-year-old Earp and two other men were accused of stealing two horses in Indian Territory, near present-day Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. Deputy U.S. Marshal J.G. Owens arrested Earp on April 6 and brought him to Van Buren, which was then the seat of the federal court for the Western District of Arkansas. That's right, the federal court was in Van Buren before it moved to Fort Smith in 1871. Earp was indicted, and his trial was scheduled for November 13, 1871. But Wyatt apparently had other plans. He disappeared before trial and never faced those charges in court. Some historical accounts even describe him escaping from the Van Buren jail through the ceiling with several other prisoners. Ten years later, on October 26, 1881, that same Wyatt Earp would become famous alongside his brothers and Doc Holliday in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. There's something pretty remarkable about that. One of the most famous lawmen in American history had once been on the wrong side of the law right here in western Arkansas. And that's a piece of Van Buren history you probably won't see in most Wyatt Earp movies. I checked this against the National Park Service's account of Earp's Arkansas arrest and court proceedings. The jail escape appears in additional historical research, although accounts differ on whether he escaped custody or jumped bail. He was never convicted of the horse theft. Have a good Monday y'all.